By Sally Eeles
...Almost two dozen yachts — white sails unfurled and flapping in the breeze — race back and forth on a sparkling, blue sky day at Manly Harbour in Brisbane.
Passers-by, especially children, stop in awe of the action.
"Oh look at that one," a little boy calls to his parents.
"I like the red one and the orange one," he adds.
This is no ordinary yacht race.
That's because ordinary yachts are far too big for this event.
This is a race for radio-controlled model yachts, the largest of which is about one metre long.
Life-size boats and cruisers, moored in the harbour, provide a backdrop for the proceedings.
The yachties, mostly men over the age of 60 with a long love of boating, line the shore, eyes peeled as they manoeuvre rudders and sails via remote control.
"It's just a load of fun — using all of your experience, not getting wet, racing all the other guys," said Russell Gray, commodore of the Wynnum Manly Radio Model Yacht Club (WMRMYC).
"The banter is fantastic. We have a session every now and then about why old men are grumpy — they should be doing this!"
It all began when two men decided to sail their model yachts around the Wynnum wading pool in the late 1980s.
A club formed in 1996 and ever since, it's become a passion for a growing number of people.
Eduard (Eddie) Cowell is one of the two original sailors who started at the Wynnum wading pool. He now has a race named after him — a three-day international event, held at Kawana.
"The Eddie Cowell Perpetual Trophy! It's quite flattering to be honest," he said.
Eddie's love of sailing began at the age of 13, when Australia won the America's Cup in 1983.
But he would never hit the open ocean as he'd hoped, because a few years later, his life changed irrevocably.
"I had a diving accident — a diving accident at home," Eddie said.
"I jumped off a fence into a shallow pool when I was 17 years old."
"I'm a quadriplegic. It was terrible, but you get used to it and I've made the most of my life."
Despite the accident, Eddie's fascination for sailing never waned. When he saw a display for model boats at the supermarket, he decided to pursue it.
"I thought that's something I could get into. I tried to source one and found a guy in Toowoomba who would make them," he said.
"We just started sailing on a Monday morning and more and more people would walk past and say, 'where did you get that?'"
"So it just grew, and now they have world titles, they have state titles — all sorts of things."
Unlike other members of the club, whom Eddie affectionately calls the 'able-bods' (able-bodied), he cannot run up and down the shore to check how his yacht is tracking or even use two hands to operate his radio-controller.
"I can't use my fingers. I've got one control that does the winch and the rudder," he said.
"It's quite difficult. The 'able-bods' can't do it. They're amazed that I can," he added with a laugh.
"It's the only sport that I get to compete against able-bods — being disabled."
Eddie has won plenty of events over the years, from north Queensland to New South Wales.
"In my younger days I did. I'm not as competitive as I used to be. Now, I just do it more for social reasons," he said.
There are plenty of sailors just like him.
Andrew Wilson has been sailing since he was five years old.
"When my dad built my first boat on our kitchen table," he said.
He's taken part in some of Australia's biggest ocean races — the Sydney Hobart, Brisbane to Gladstone, Fremantle to Bali.
"If you are really serious about ocean racing then you need to be prepared for very little sleep. You've got to train and adapt your mind and body to sleeping 15 minutes on the hour — brutal regimes like that — as well as being cold and hungry," he said.
"I found out after a year or two of that, it wasn't for me."
However, there was no cure for his sailing addiction.
"There's a lot of fulfilment to sailing by yourself. You have a lot of time to think and a lot of time to relax and enjoy nature," he said.
"But a lot of people enjoy competition and this is a low cost competition where you can still be with a group of mates — have a laugh and play."
It was Andrew's know-how that was called upon a couple of years ago when a complaint — the club's first in 25 years — threatened to close them down.
A boat owner claimed that lines from the club's marker buoys could become entangled in propellers and cause a crash.
"We were told that we couldn't sail here anymore and I was looking around the members here — many of them well north of 80 years of age — and one or two had bloody tears in their eyes," he said.
"I wasn't happy about that so I went away and had a chat to a mate of mine who's very big on electronics and I said 'can we make anchorless buoys?'"
It turns out, they could.
"It's two little motors. There's a GPS, an accelerometer and a gyroscope in this little package. The GPS drives it to the location and when you tell it to stop, it stops and stays on that."
Not only did the invention mean the model yacht sailing could continue in Manly Harbour, but now there's offshore interest and orders for the motorised, GPS-fitted buoys.
Russell Gray and his wife spent three years sailing the Queensland coast and learned so much in that time, he wanted to pass on the knowledge.
The club now offers a 10-week course in sailing model yachts.
"It's like a 'Men's Shed' on water," he said.
"The 'Men's Shed' is a meeting place for older people. It teaches you how to use the tools and that. We teach people how to sail or how to get better at sailing."
Grant McDuling is a recent graduate.
After a career in the navy, he thought he knew a fair bit about boats, but discovered there was much more to learn.
"I originally thought there was not much to it — turning the rudder to port or starboard but a lot of that course was involved with the physics of sailing, the wind direction … and how to balance your boat," he said.
"Then of course there's a lot of stuff about the rules of racing. It's not just about getting to the end first."
His wife bought him his first radio-controlled yacht for his birthday in February, and even though he's still working on winning his first race, Grant sees grand things on the horizon.
"I can see another yacht coming along," he said, laughing.
"You know, they say he who has most toys wins!"
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Our sailing course, “Beginners to Winners”, has been a great success since it started in May this year.
Every Tuesday we have around 12 sailors attend our class. Our students are progressing rapidly and their results in club competitions have been outstanding.
We have students who had never sailed a yacht prior to joining our course who can now maneuver their boat around the racecourse. After 12 weeks that is impressive.
The social side of the school is fabulous. Many friendships are being made. Students are baking at home and bringing along brownies etc. to share with their fellow students. It is a lot of fun.
If you would like to join our sailing school call Commodore Russell (0401 641 443). Everyone is welcome We have spare yachts available for interested people to try.
Tuesday 7th of June was the sixth week of the ten week course. The skill improvement of the 13 participants is outstanding.
The cookies that the participants bring are also very enjoyable. Thanks to Ross’s wife for the treats that he bought along on Tuesday.
Enrolments are now being taken for the next 10 week course beginning on the 26th of July 2022.
Sailing School details learn to sail (link)
Wynnum Manly Radio Model Yacht Club and Redlands Radio Sailing Club
Radio Sailing School
“Beginners to Winners”
Aim
To teach people how to sail and race radio controlled yachts. Students will range from those that have zero sailing experience to those that have or are racing yachts and want to get better.
Format
Teaching will be “hands on”, on the water using radio controlled yachts (mainly DF65) supported with classroom demonstration and discussion.
Course Content
Principles of Sailing basic physics, sails, keel, bulb and rudder
sailing terms, points of sailing e.g. beating, reaching, running
wind directions e.g. where the wind is coming from?
Yacht Parts& Sailing Terms parts of the boat and rig,- learn yachtie language
e.g. windward, leeward, port starboard
Basic Rules what tack are you on?, starboard has right of way, overlap in the zone, weather boat keep clear
Boat Handling &Set up balance, weather helm, lee helm
terms
yacht performance adjustments
Boat Maintenance preparation (water proofing) and maintenance
radio controller set up and adjustments
batteries
Race Starts rules
starting techniques
Buoy Rounding rules and strategy
windward mark, leeward mark
More Rules upwind, downwind
finishing
Penalties, Protesting & Hailing sportsmanship, behaviour and race officials
Racing Technique strategy
tactics
Course Dates
Weekday course begins on Tuesday 3rd of May
Weekend course (Sundays) to be confirmed
Venue
These venues will be used :
Wynnum Wading Pool
Manly Boat Harbour
Sovereign Lake
Cost
The course cost is $60. This includes one year’s membership to the student’s preferred Radio Sailing club. Students that already are members of an affiliated RS club the course fee will be discounted to $20.(or $2 per lesson)
There is NO sailing on Easter Sunday 17th April. Instead, the Handicap event will be held on the following weekend of 24th April.
On May 1st the inaugural Inspiration Point Cup Round 1 will be held. This is the first event of four "open water" race days, the cumulative points from which will form the Inspiration Point Cup for IOM's. We have schedule four days, thinking that for what ever reason, we may only be able to race three. Dates have been deliberately and carefully selected to coincide with favourable tides. We are going to give it a go from Inspiration point, (behind RQ) a terrific venue, not for sheep stations, but who knows what this could grow into. We look forward to seeing you there.
So due to the above, our normal 1st weekend in the month scratch event will be held on 8th May
All information contained in this Website is provided in absolute good faith as a general reference source only