Capital Area Model Boat Association

Capital Area Model Boat Association
CAMBA is the New York Capital District’s organization for radio control sailing. We are sanctioned club #32 of the American Model Yacht Association. (AMYA). Currently, we sail one class, the Soling 1 Meter one design.

The Soling 1 Meter
The Soling 1 Meter is an inexpensive one-design class. These boats are governed by a strict set of rules which keep the boats very evenly matched. This way the skipper is the most important factor in performance. More specific information about the Soling 1 Meter can be found at the AMYA web site: www.modelyacht.org.

Where and When
Currently, we sail on Tuesday and Friday afternoons at The Crossings of Colonie on Albany Shaker Road (See links for map). Tuesday is a Soling One Meter race day. We start sailing at 2:00 PM. Friday is a more informal Open Sailing day. We start sailing at 1:00 PM.

The club also has weekend sailing at 10 AM on the first Saturday of the month, and 1 PM on the third Sunday of the month.

Interest and Follow Up
If you have an interest in R/C sailing, we invite you to visit us at the Crossings to watch, and then try your hand at sailing.

Friday and weekends are better if you want to talk to the skippers, and try radio control sailing. Several club members have Soling you can sail. If you are interested, please let us know in advance to insure the boats are available.

Feel free to contact Peter Meixner at: 518-439-5947, or at: soling62 at aol dot com.

Lake George / Bolton Landing
There is a Soling One Meter group forming in the Lake George / Bolton Landing area. If you are interested, please contact Mark Ackerle at: sail1fast at yahoo dot com.

CAMBA Captains,

Nine of us gathered Tuesday in open defiance of a bad weather forecast and we prevailed. The YKnot folks decided to postpone and ironically, it was sunny when we went home. We did start out in rain and we managed to get in four races in light rain; just enough to wet down my sails, render my tell-tales useless and make my jib and main sheets stick to themselves. But I'm not complaining; I still had fun. Jeff Walshe had his new boat out on the course after an official weigh in with the Fleet Captain. I think he said ten pounds, one ounce. Good going, Jeff.

Having to cancel two race days in a row has the steering committee talking about needing a set policy for rescheduling cancelled race days. We also noted that some members have said they'd like to get together for fun, tuning and practice but Fridays aren't the best day because of weekend plans, family obligations, etc. So we polled the group at the pond on Tuesday about changing Friday to Thursday as our open sailing day and having a set policy of using Thursdays as the make up day when we have to cancel Tuesday racing. Everyone was amenable to both ideas. So we're asking the rest of you who weren't at the pond Tuesday to express your opinion. Meanwhile, I've asked Bill Morris to take a look at the pond tomorrow to see if any established groups seem to be meeting where we sail. If the space seems free and your responses sound like a consensus, we'll begin a Tuesday/Thursday schedule as early as next week and Thursday will be our default make up day. We do still have one more cancelled race day to make up.

So let me know as soon as possible if you support these two changes.

Peter M

Results - Week 2 - Spring Season - May 18, 2011

Standings - 2012 Week 2 - May 18, 2012

Race Recap / Observations - May 18, 2012 from our Commodore

CAMBA Sailors,

Greetings,

We finally got a nice sailing day for rescheduled race day number two by converting our usual Friday open sailing session to racing. It was a gorgeous day with classic Crossings light wind conditions. The wind was generally in the South so we had some nice long weather legs from the green start line up to the yellow buoy. Ted and Bill Z. worked out a nice triangular course with a finish on the orange line. Good amount of windward/leeward and time for tactics and strategy. Later in the day we worked in the yellow/black and red buoys to extend the basic trangle a little. We got in six races by 4 PM. I thought it was a good day of racing. Starts were generally clean; not many fouls out on the course. It seemed like everyone missed a buoy or two in the glassy conditions.

Bill Z. and Ted sailed a match race for Phil's Cadillac. Ted chased Bill up the weather leg just close enough on his windward quarter that Bill couldn't tack over to port without fouling; a textbook tactic. Ted finally tacked over to port for the yellow buoy which they both then missed. Bill managed to jibe and round first and stay ahead down to the blue buoy for a nice clean rounding and tack to cover Ted then one more tack to seal the deal.

Bill Z. brought out his new US12 with its B rig which is just like the S1M and meant for much windier conditions. He said he still has some work to do on the A rig which would have been the set up for yesterday at ten inches taller and 700 square inches to the Solings 600. Still very graceful on the water and very agile in spite of having a longer heavier keel and keel mounted rudder.

Tomorrow is a third Sunday open sailing day at the pond from 1 - 3PM. Come out, do some tuning, get some sun. Next Tuesday will be another race day. We still have to find a make up day for last Tuesday to get us back on schedule for a seven race series. We're interested in your suggestions for a regular policy on rescheduling race days cancelled due to weather.

As of now we're also planning on the YKnot folks next Tuesday so I anticipate needing a half dozen of us to stay for a while after racing. More details on this as I get them.

By the way in case you haven't heard, Victor announced a May only discount on the Soling kit. I think it's to $159. Good time to get a spare.

That's it from me,

Peter M