Montgomery Model Boat Club (MMBC) Report

[Hoghappy]

I thought I would start a new thread to tell about the Montgomery Model Boat Club (MMBC) happenings begining with this past Sundays "Ships Log".

Why let Kmot have all the fun? :rolleyes:

Sunday Nov. 11, 2007. It was another spectacular day for sailing in Montgomery Alabama. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! We had 5 or 6 visitors try out the sailboats today. They all had fun and said they couldn’t believe how easy it is to sail one of these boats. Tug boat “Belinda” earned her keep as she rescued the fishing trawler “Bristol Bay” after a power failure, the “War Eagle” as she ran aground and the racing yacht “Crimson Tide” after she set sail with out being powered on. The later was the most interesting as the tug had to chase down the fast run away yacht, turn her toward shore where she beached herself out of harms reach and then snag and drag her back to port with the tow line. It was a very enjoyable day and one that will be remembered.

For a more complete picture you can visit our website :http://www.orgsites.com/al/montgomerymodelboatclub/index.html

Ohhh...check out the new wind vane on the "War Eagle"... :p

Commodore Slick

[Ghost 2501]

first its the hansen dam irregulars, then now Westport Mayhem, now MMBC thread,

Hoggy, I will be watching this thread with envious eyes, to see how you do it in, is it alabama? keep up the good work.

[Kmot]

Why let Kmot have all the fun? :rolleyes:

lol... :p



For a more complete picture you can visit our website :http://www.orgsites.com/al/montgomerymodelboatclub/index.html


That's cheating! You gotta post all the pictures and weekly reports here! :D

[Ghost 2501]

lol... :p

That's cheating! You gotta post all the pictures and weekly reports here! :D

most definately cheeting, Tom, aren't there laws and rules against that???

[Brooks]

Kingfishers are so cool :-). Thanks for starting this club report thread.

[Bikerider]

Looks like fun was had by all Commodore Slick!! Getting to cold here. Check out our website it has our last sail on it. Do you get bystanders that ask the question, "Does it have a motor in it?". Get that all the time here. Enjoy the winds and keep us updated.

Larry

[Hoghappy]

Another wonderful day to play. We welcomed Capt. Terry to the club and then brought his brand new Nirvana II to life. Capt. Terry brought a fleet to play including a beautiful Chris Craft. Capt. George brought his shiny new black Nirvana II "Cubasco" to life today too. We now have a fleet of 4 Nirvana’s and expect to double that by the years end.

We had 5 others to try out the sailboats on this perfect day to sail. A gentleman from Scotland, visiting the pond with his two grandsons, now expects Santa to bring them with some shiny new boats. I was amazed how quickly the youngsters mastered the fundamentals of sailing. Capt. Sunshine took photos and sailed today too.

The temp was in the mid 70’s with a nice southerly 5 – 15 mph breeze. It doesn’t get any better than that for these sailboats. Tugboat Belinda performed her duties of mark setting and retrieval without a hitch. No boats needed rescued this time….highly unusual. :p

Commodore Slick

[Kmot]

Very nice report Capt Slick. You have a lovely pond to sail on. I am very envious of all the shade trees close to the waters edge that you will be able to use in the summertime.

Belinda looks great!

[Hoghappy]

Thanks Kmot... ;)

I think she needs more power. :eek: The new marks she pulls have 6oz of weights attached and it's all she do to pull them with the weights bouncing off the bottom. I may need to request some help upgrading the prop to get more pull. The new club is starting to come right along.

C. Slick

[keith S]

Good job there Comadore Slick. Sounds as if you are building a good base of fellow modelers that want to have fun!

[Prins Willem]

Hoghappy,

Rub road salt in the wounds. We had 4" of wet snow turn to freezing rain and sleet over the weekend. My 8HP 26" snowblower went to the repair shop today after making a valiant but futile effort. Doesn't bode well for the season. I'm glad somebody got some boating in. It looks like as your club grows it will be adding quantity on top of quality. Great looking stuff.

[Hoghappy]

Today’s sail was interesting. The temperature was in the low to mid 40s with a cold gusty 15-25 mph NW wind. Captains Sunshine, Terry, Tom, Brian and James all stopped by for a while, but only Captain George and the Commodore got boats wet today. Tug boat “Belinda” set and retrieved the marks, and tested a new rescue device, while the racing yachts “Chubasco” and “War Eagle” tested their limits. Both Nirvanas’ did remarkably well considering the conditions.

“War Eagle” could have used some bow planes after imitating a submarine (only the mast was showing above water) on several occasions when hit with a gust, while running with the wind. The watertight hatch did its job well. All in all it turned out to be a nice afternoon once the sun came out.

The only hiccup was when “Barney Fife” told us we had to move our cars off the grass! I guess he had nothing better to do on a cold and quiet Sunday afternoon. The car he was in was just marked "Security", he was not with the City Parks and Rec. nor the Police...never seen him before...so when he sat up on the road, about 50 yards away, and hit his little siren a few times, I ignored it. I made him get out and walk down to us...shame on me! :p

It looks like we will either have to start parking in the road or park, unload and then move the cars to the parking lot. Hey…I can always use a little more exercise. No photos today…too bad…the submarine shots would have been classics! :eek:

[Kmot]

Another wanna be cop who couldn't pass the tests to be a real cop. They are the worse............

[Hoghappy]

Another wanna be cop who couldn't pass the tests to be a real cop. They are the worse............

Yip...and it wasn't like we drove on the grass and parked next to the pond. We only pulled off the asphalt enough to not be blocking traffic. People do it all the time...but we just happened to be the only ones there yesterday and he has to justify his existance somehow? :rolleyes:

C. Slick

[Hoghappy]

We had to cancel our rained out normal Sunday sail and move it to New Years Day…so this is the first sail for 2008. Today was another sunny southern day with temps in the upper 40s and winds N 15-25. Captain George was already sailing his yacht “Chubasco” when Sunshine and I arrived.

Captain Terry showed with his re-propped Chris Craft “Freebird” and the new driver….favors Elvis a little if ya ask me. She is a beauty. Captain Tom and his grandsons, Captains Brian and James arrived and we put another new Nirvana through sea trials. Captain Slick tested a new prop on the tugboat “Belinda” and managed to do a “Titanic” on his new Pro fisherman Bass boat. It was a good day at the park. :)

Captain Crash

[Hoghappy]

A little late in getting this up but....Today’s club sail was great. The weather was incredible. Captains Sunshine, George, Terry, Steve and Crash (formerly known as Slick) all sailed their Nirvanas today. We had a few potential new sailors also try their hands at sailing today, two of which have committed to buying boats bringing the club to a total 10 Captains, not bad for a new club.

Tugboat “Belinda” was kept very busy with rescues and mark setting/retrieving duties. She even needed rescued herself after wrapping the tow line around her prop...again. Other boats making appearances today was Captain Terry’s pleasure craft “Freebird” and Captain Crash’s bass boat now named "Miss Titanic".

Capt. Steve was bestowed a handle after being ugly (stepped on) to his radio and ever after will be known as "Captain Crunch"! This is what happens to you when you do something stupid...how did I know that? :eek:

Capt. Crash

[pkboo]

Good thread capt. Crash, indeed why let Kmot have all the fun :D

[Hoghappy]

Sunday 1/27/2008 Well….where to start on today’s events? On a hunch that the weather was going to be perfect, which it was…Commodore Crash placed an online ad in the “Montgomery Advertiser” about Sunday’s upcoming sail. The ad was almost instantly online and in print too. As a result we had an enormous turnout at the park. WSFA TV was also notified and did a very nice interview and piece for the Sunday evening news. The Advertiser sent a photographer who took some nice photos which are below.

Present today was Captains George, Terry, Crunch, Sunshine and of course Crash. Capt. George did manage to get in a maiden voyage on his beautiful new South Hampton tug. Tug “Belinda” was busy with her usual duties to include rescuing a ball that a little girl lost in the pond and a rescue of Elvis after his Chris Craft “Freebird” had engine problems.

A lot of folks got to try their hand at sailing and we had at least a half dozen commit to joining the club…the event was a huge success and we will try to do this a couple times a year.

Capt. Crash

[patmat2350]

Congrats on the success! Who knows, maybe you'll get a hobby shop to open in town yet?

Pat M

[Kmot]

Well done! Your club has come quite a way, very rapidly.

[Hoghappy]

Here are a couple just in of the news cast.

Capt. Crash

I think they misspelled Commodore! :eek:

[pkboo]

Here are a couple just in of the news cast.

Capt. Crash

I think they misspelled Commodore! :eek:

You've got your three minutes of fame, don't push it! :D Great show Capt. Crash ;) Eugène

[Hoghappy]

AL has no sea!

No...but we have the Gulf of Mexico!

Does that count? :p

Capt. Crash

[pkboo]

Ha, I like that Capt. Crash, scrutinizing the whole thing! You mean that tiny piece of the Gulf? :) Does seem that´s not enough by the spelling :D

[Hoghappy]

Today’s biweekly club sail was held in the presence of 72 degree sunshine and a gentle 5-10 NW breeze. It was yet another stellar day for sailing. Present today were Capt’s Murphy, Sunshine, Scooter, Crunch, Blaze and Crash, all sailing Nirvana Racing Yachts. Our newest member, Capt. Blaze put her yellow Nirvana “Life’s a Breeze” through her shake down maneuvers and showed us all how to put together a proper sail protector. No wonder she was Admiral Chester Nimitz’s secretary! Capt. Crunch presented his newly painted “Black Hawk” Nirvana with black hull, white deck and yellow cabin; looking sharp there Capt.

Tugboat “Belinda” showed with an all new power plant, two man crew and lots of weathering. She looks the part of a working tug now. She went about setting up the race course and when finished, it was discovered that the new crew member/line handler aft, was MIA. The search party was unsuccessful… he was no where to be found; he was lost at sea on his first day out. I guess he should have been wearing a life jacket!

Capt. Murphy presented a cool race countdown CD, and we had some very hotly contested races; but it was to be the “War Eagle” and Capt. Crash’s day. :p

Upon return to port, it was discovered that the missing crewman was hiding down in the engine room….he was not lost at sea…he was shirking his duties! Drug testing determined he was on crack! :eek: Captain’s Mast was held and the crewman was awarded 50 lashes, bread and water for 3 days, and loss of pay and liberty call for 2 weeks. He will have to go to rehab and straighten his act up if he wants to remain a part of this crew!

We picked up another new member today…welcome Capt. Jim!

It was another great day of fun and camaraderie. The club continues to get bigger and better every day. :)

Capt. Crash

[OhioMike]

I'm torn.......torn between being angry that someone in the US is haveing year round sailing while i look out the window at 3 inchs of snow and 20degree weather!!! The other part of me wants to find out where you live and smash your keyboard!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!

[mrwuffles]

ya really im sitting here in the snow and waiting for the pond to thaw so i can get out there and actually do something while ur having all this fun

[Ghost 2501]

nice hobby engine southampton, has it been tweaked yet with independent motor control?

[Hoghappy]

The sailing is at it's best this time of year in Alabama! It's in the summer that things get too hot...at least after 12:00 noon, so we can only sail in the mornings... :p

The South Hampton is a club members and it is in the yards for upgrades such as independent twin 380's, sound etc.

Capt, Crash

[Prins Willem]

Capt. Crash,

keep the pictures and reports coming. It allows us igloo dwellers to enjoy the hobby vicariously. Milwaukee is at 70+ inches of snow for the season with 2 to 4 more tomorrow. We need to know somebody is having fun out on the water. If anybody sees Al Gore tell him the Midwest want to know when global warming will get here. :p

Stay on top unless your a submarine.

Bill

[Hoghappy]

Although the winds were at times non-existent, we were blessed with a very nice day today. Present were Captains Sunshine, Murphy, Scooter, Jim and Crash.

Capt. Jim, AKA Capt. Doo-da, launched his new Nirvana “Miss Magic” for the first time. It sailed well and was one of the only boats not needing rescued today, which brings us to the tug “Belinda”.

Good ole “Belinda” performed flawlessly, sporting a brand new more powerful motor and another gear reduction unit. She is several times more powerful than ever before and needed every bit of that power today as she made a record 5 rescues…. 3 sailboats, Batman in the “Miss Titanic”, and Elvis in the “Freebird”.

“Miss Titanic”, with Batman at the helm, true to her name, took a wrong high speed turn and ended up out of the water and on the rock ledge…only minor damage to her hull this time…a little more glue will be required to reseal the new cracks.

We had several visitors/possible new members sailing and hopefully we will see them again soon.

The club has now had 10 different Nirvanas to show at the pond and several more are on order. We stand at around 15 members. My goal is to double this by our 1 year anniversary in Oct.

Capt. Crash

[SD rc boater]

The water is as calm as the Sargasso Sea.

Need more tugs, so you can have tug races when the wind is calm. :D

[Hoghappy]

Sunny, low 60’s, light and variable winds, sounding like a broken record, but it was another very nice day. Present were Captains Sunshine, Murphy, Scooter, Doo-da, Will and Crash.

Capt. Doo-da launched his new Victoria “Kashmir” for the first time. She was looking good on her maiden, and will sail in the newly formed “Open Class” of sail boats until there are enough Vics to have a class of their own. (As a side note here...the stock Vic is NOT able to compete with the stock Nirvana, as should be expected due to sail size.)

“Miss Titanic”, with Batman at the helm, tried a new hot 3800Nimh 8.4V battery pack, Titan T12 motor and matching Titan speed control but got a little too hot, cooking off that new motor after finishing a long crowd pleasing run. It seems the motor cooling system is not up to par with the new higher voltage setup. She cooked off after she was removed from the water and smoke could be seen coming out of the engine cover which was very hot...surprised it didn't melt. :eek: Hey she didn’t "Crash" today!

The “Freebird” made her usual appearance, and only one rescue attempt was made after a Nirvana ran aground on the other side of the pond and ended up with the rescuer being rescued after the tug wrapped weeds around her prop in the shallow water next to the bank. A couple lessons learned here today...next time a boat runs aground within reach of the "pole", the pole will be awarded to the skipper of the stranded boat and allowed to walk around to the other side of the pond to rescue their boat. Also...the 10 amp fuse in the tug will be replaced with a more robust one, so the slightest weed entanglement won't cause her to blow.

We once again had several visitors/possible new members sailing and hopefully we will see them again soon.

A very fun day.

Capt. Crash

Sorry about the smallish pics today...this is what Sunshine sent me...I have to get her to send me larger ones, so I can repost them.

Everyone wants to know why I seem to win all the races...here is my secret for today. If you look closely at the first 4 pics, you will notice that my Nirvana, "The War Eagle" in orange, has been trimmed out for the light conditions with more sail curvature than all the others......shhhhhhhhhh...don't tell anyone! When they quized me, I told them it was because my boat is orange! :p I trimmed out Capt. Sunshines boat the same way, but I soon blew her away too. It really comes down to who makes the least mistakes at the helm....this racing is really fun stuff. :)

[Kmot]

I have had to be rescued once by a sail boat myself. Pretty embarrasing isn't it! :p

[Hoghappy]

I have had to be rescued once by a sail boat myself. Pretty embarrasing isn't it! :p

Tom...it is NOT the first time and probubaly won't be the last time. We really need another tug in the fleet...and that is in the works.

Did you see where I smoked the motor in the bass boat? Any improvements you can suggest here will be nice.

Capt. Crash

[Hoghappy]

Sunny, mid 70’s, 5-15 mph variable winds, it was a very, very nice day. We sailed at the Vaughn Road pond today after securing written permission from the City Parks and Recreation Dept. The consensus is everyone likes this pond better.

A great turn out today…8 Capt’s were present: Captains Scotty, Brian, Sunshine, Murphy, Scooter, Doo-da, Crunch and Crash.

Capt. Crash helped Capt. Scotty assemble trim out and launch his new Nirvana for the first time. She was looking good on her maiden and Scotty said she sailed great.

Other boats (not Nirvana's) present were Capt. Doo-da’s Victoria “Kashmir”, Capt. Scooter’s Chris Craft “Freebird”, Capt. Crash’s bat bass boat…which ran great with a new motor, the Tug “Belinda” and the 18 gun schooner “Prince de Neufchatel” flying the dark flag.

No rescues today but Capt’s Murphy and Crash continue to live up to their names. Capt. Murphy broke a mast fitting again and Capt. Crash ran the schooner full speed, head on into the stone wall after a wind gust caught him by surprise.

The “Prince” did manage to entangle and capture one the Nirvana’s by running her bow sprit through the Nirvana’s back stay rigging and then sent a boarding party to look for booty….ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

We had several visitors and hopefully we will see them again soon.

Capt. Crash

[Kmot]

Looks like some happy kids! Old, and young! :D

Do you have video online of that double masted ship?

[arrow5]

Looks like some happy kids! Old, and young! :D

Do you have video online of that double masted ship?
yes agreed , I would love more pics or video and some details, name , type etc.

[Hoghappy]

I no have, no videos, of no boats. :p
Even if I did, I wouldn't know how to edit and upload them. :confused:

Anyone notice how slow this place is lately? :(

Capt. Crash

[Hoghappy]

I haven't posted in a while so here's the updates:

Sunday April 6, 2008. A very nice day. Captains Sunshine, Murphy, Scooter, Doo-da, Crunch and Crash were all present and racing today, but it was Capt. Crunch’s day today as he lead the way with his beautiful “Black Hawk” Nirvana race yacht.

Capt. Murphy showed off his new Tippecanoe race yacht “Ragtime” and then proceeded to complete his maiden voyage with her. She sailed great…very fast and agile...and will be very competitive in the Open Class.

We had a few interested prospective sailors try out the boats and hope we see them again.

Saturday April 19, 2008. Today we sailed at the Theater pond. The weather continues to be perfect, sunny, the mid 70’s with a gusty swirling 5-10 mph wind. We got an occasional gust that made sailing interesting. At one point the “War Eagle” took a gust while running with the wind, took a nose dive and had her hull completely vertical with only the main mast, part of the keel and the rudder showing above water. It was quite a site as she popped back up, lay over on her side, and then righted herself. It was real fun sailing today.

Present were Captains Sunshine, Scooter, Murphy, Crash and Will. We had a lot of visitors to include Tom who has decided to join the club. We look forward helping him acquire the boat of his dream and can’t wait to have him join the fleet. The usual boats were present today to include 4 Nirvanas, Capt. Murphy’s Tippecanoe “Ragtime”, the rescue tug “Belinda”, the Batman driving his newly painted “Batfisherman” and Capt. Sunshine’s newly crewed Bristol Bay “Motley Crew”.

“Belinda” performed the day’s only rescue when Capt. Crashes straw hat went for a sail. That was a difficult rescue. Next we had a small copperhead, 3’ long and about thumb size in diameter come ashore at the launch site. Capt. Crash held down it with a pole, but didn’t have a means to kill the snake and it finally wiggled its way free to swim off to terrorize again some day.

Capt. Will finally got his new Nirvana into the water for its maiden voyage (a long story, but he needs to name it "Cat Scratch Fever" after the cat tore it up and dragged it into the living room....lol) and it turned out to be very fast, even winning its first race. Congrats go to the Capt. and boat with no name.

All in all another great club sail.

Capt. Crash

[Ghost 2501]

looks like I'm in the wrong country, its been far from sailing weather here in uk. :(

Slick, that southie that is in the line for upgrade, the guy who owns it, he doesnt need to change the motors, she pulls well enough with the stock motors.

[Hoghappy]

I almost stopped posting on this due to almost no interest....but we can't let it be said that the "Irregulars" are the only ones to post about their club. Maybe I need to get some of the MMBC Members computer friendly enough to post here too! :rolleyes: Sooooooo...here is the scoop this time:

We were once again blessed with a perfect day to sail. We had a large turn out of both members and visitors as we sailed at the Vaughn Road Pond. Present today were Captains Blaze, Sunshine, Doo-da, Crunch, Murphy, Scooter, Tom, Ray and Crash. The club brought out 8 Nirvanas, 3 other sailboats and various other boats.

Today we had another close encounter with a venomous serpent and a very bizarre encounter with a very large sea creature of an unknown nature that literally created quite a splash as it attacked and apparently tried to sink Capt. Scooters Nirvana. Capt. Tom sailed his new Nirvana “Ragtop” for the first time…and it sailed very well.

The racing was great and today it was Captain Crash and the “War Eagle” that took the honors. :p The rescue tug was called into duty as Elvis and the “Freebird” required assistance and Capt. Crash lived up to his name again when the stone wall jumped out and bit the Batfisherman on a high speed run causing significant damage. :eek:

Capt. Crash

[pops52]

Plenty of interest here Hoghappy. Please keep posting those activity photos. It is great to see an active club having fun. I wish I had one near me.

[Ghost 2501]

how often do you encounter snakes at the lake?

[Hoghappy]

how often do you encounter snakes at the lake?

Um...well...this is the time of year for them to make an appearance. I poked one last sail at the other pond and then this one yesterday. I have seen one or two in this pond but that was last year. When ya live down South ya have these things...at least it wasn't a boat eating Gator! :eek:

Capt. Crash

[MILLERTIME]

Plenty of interest here Hoghappy. Please keep posting those activity photos. It is great to see an active club having fun. I wish I had one near me.

Me too, what kind of snake was that?

[Hoghappy]

Me too, what kind of snake was that?

I'm not sure...but it is either a young copperhead or most likely a young cotton mouth water moccasion. Either one can ruin your day. Some of the ladies freaked...I was hoping it would come out of the water so I could stomp it and then it we won't see it again...when it gets bigger... :eek:

Capt. Crash

[Prins Willem]

"I hate snakes" Indiana Jones

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agkistrodon_piscivorus Cottonmouth, water moccasin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agkistrodon_contortrix Copperhead, death adder

[keith S]

Nice thing with modeling in the PNW--no snakes in the water to cause harm!! Ducks and geese--well that can be another story.

[Shaun Hendricks]

Well, looks like it matches more with the Copperhead than a Cottonmouth. According to the Wiki entry, non-fatal but painful if bitten. I think any snake bite would be painful! Ouch! :D

[Ghost 2501]

and there was me looking for one of them in SC in 2006! yeeeeeeeeeeeep!

[Prins Willem]

Seeing your wildlife problem makes me feel better about close encounters I have had. We used to have weed problems in our park ponds. The weeds were a European variety brought into the Great Lakes by salties in their ballast water. I understand they were a real problem in Hamburg harbor. One summer we were weeding the site and I'm in the water in waders using a garden rake to pull up the weeds. I would pull them off the rake and toss them to shore. As we normally do we are jaw jacking as we work so I'm not paying attention. As I reach in to pull the weeds off the rake I notice something reaching back. it was the biggest crayfish I have seen and it was P.O. ed. He was stretching out trying to get a hold of me. That crustacean just had a bad attitude. Shook him and the weeds back into the water and took a break for awhile.

A couple of years later at our current site, similar scenario. Pulling weeds in the water. A couple of days later on the local news there was a story about a kid catching a Red Piranha in a local pond. Guess what, that thing was in the water with me. The pet store owner they interviewed said the Red is the largest and most aggressive type.

Still in all I'll take the occasional mad crayfish and wayward piranha over water snakes anytime.

[SD rc boater]

Keep an eye on your little black dog that you guys bring out to the lake with you. I would hate to see him lying around sunning himself and get bit by one of the snakes. :(

[Hoghappy]

Oh yea...then we have these...an 80lb one was just caught and released this week....but they get much bigger and can be very aggressive...I wonder if that is what attacked the Nirvanna last Sunday?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrochelys_temminckii

Capt. Crash

[Hoghappy]

Today’s sail was another memorable event. The weather was once again perfect and we had a record 10 Nirvanas on the water. Members present were Captains Murphy, Crunch, Will, Scotty, Brian, James, Tom, Scooter, Ray and Crash. We also had other family members and guests to try out the boats.

Capt. Murphy showed off his new power plant in his South Hampton tug and the club had it’s first ever “Tug-O-War” between the “Belinda” and the “South Hampton”. The “Belinda” was too much for Capt. Murphy and the South Hampton… even with her 2 beautiful new belt drive motors.

The club also saw the first of the new Cracker Box race boats hit the water…and the wall…as Capt. Crash lived up to his name again. Only a couple of minutes into her maiden run the “Claim jumper” had a electronic speed controller (ESC) melt down, causing the throttle to stick wide open, then have loss of rudder control and T-bone the wall at full speed….ouch! Capt. Crash says she will repaired and be ready for round 2 at the next club meeting.

Pics of the mangled boat are here: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=851484&page=5

Pics of the sail are being mailed by a member and will be posted when available.

Capt. Crash

[Brooks]

SD - while I'd never expose a dog to a poisoness snake on purpose, I have read that dogs are not as suseptible to snake poison as humans. I don't know if this is an individual thing, or true of dogs in general. Some dogs even develop an immunity and seek out snakes, supposedly. Dog size matters, small dogs at more risk than large dogs.

I agree with Shaun, it's not a Cottonmouth - the snake does not have the right tail pattern for a Cottonmouth. I don't have photos of juvenile Copperheads to compare, but it appears to me to be a Watersnake, Nerodia species, not venomous. However, the bite would not be fun as some of the Nerodia have anti-coagulants in their saliva, so the bite would bleed a lot. Soap and water is the cure.

The trouble with killing non-venomous snakes, by mistake or by intent, is that that leaves the habitat space available for venomous ones to move in.

[Hoghappy]

SD - while I'd never expose a dog to a poisoness snake on purpose, I have read that dogs are not as suseptible to snake poison as humans. Some even develop an immunity and seek out snakes, supposedly. I don't know if this is an individual thing, or true of dogs in general.

I think it depends on a lot of things:

Snake type and age, dog size, condition, immunity factors and age.

I had a boxer get hit between the eyes by a Copperhead while trying to get it out of his dog food dispenser...he just had some swelling and was fine....a small dog might not be so lucky.

Capt. Crash

BTW...I was told that may have been a Brown Water Snake...I hope so...I hate snakes! :D

[nick_75au]

We at Tygum have on a regular basis either a red bellied black snake or a eastern brown snake swim between the two islands on our lake. Both are poisonous but apparently snakes cant bite when their in the water. They generally keep clear of any activity.

[Ghost 2501]

well run some IC boats and use the snakes as target practice :D

[Brooks]

Nick, I think that "can't bite while in the water" is an old wive's tale. Sea snakes can certainly bite, for instance. In the US, rattlesnakes have been said to bite waterskiers, but I don't personally know of any examples. Australia has lots of dangerous snakes, have you run this by an Australian herpetologist?

Most snakes are un-agressive towards humans; they see little profit in seeking out uneatable-sized prey. There are Australian snakes with the opposite reputation, and Indian King cobras are said to be territorial, making generalizations like I just made suspect :-). If you have not had bites among club members, then I'd say that your local pond dwellers are not out looking for trouble.

btw, I'm somewhat snakeaphobic, so assuming a role of snake defender is somewhat humerous :-)

[Hoghappy]

I’ve had water moccasins’ bite my stringer of fish….putting fang holes in them. I’ve heard of water skiers falling into a nest and dying from multiple bites as well…oh ya…snakes can bite under water! :eek:

Capt. Crash

[Kmot]

When I was 19 years old, I was in the Army and had just been stationed at Fort Lee, VA. I went fishing one day with a Sgt who was permanent party there, and another fellow. We were in a small aluminum boat, and fishing in a very small lake in a city IIRC named Petersburg.

Near the edges of the lake where the trees and bushes hung down, a huge freakin' snake started swimming toward and around the boat. It was at least as big as the boat it seemed. The Sgt was a 'good ol' boy' and he was familiar with these things and he started beating at it with the oar because he said it was trying to climb into the boat. Needless to say, I was a totally freaked out city slicker! The snake did not get in and we moved to another part of the lake. I couldn't get out of there fast enough! I never went near the swampy lake waters in Virginia again! :p

[nick_75au]

Hey Captain Crash, check this out.

http://www.snopes.com/critters/snakes/waterski.htm

But you guys are right on the snakes biting under water, bit of an uninformed statement.

regards
Nick

[Hoghappy]

Late but here they are, taken by a members wife.

Capt. Crash

[Hoghappy]

Today’s sail, even though we went to summer meeting times starting at 9:00am, was still HOT and humid…summer is here. We had a good turn out though. Present were: Capts. Scotty, Brian, James, Will, Crunch, Doo-Da, Tom, Ray, Murphy and Crash along with numerous guests and visitors.

We had 10 Nirvanas and various other boats to include the repaired “Batfisherman” and the repaired Cracker box “Claim jumper” as well as Captain Doo-Da’s brand new Cracker box “No Wind Situation”.

Rescue tug “Belinda” earned her keep making no fewer than 5 rescues to include both Cracker boxes: “Claim jumper” after she flipped in a turn, “No wind Situation” due to engine and radio problems and a couple of Nirvanas due to a rudder problem and one that snagged a buoy with its keel.

We also were visited by Jamie, President of the Prattville Flyboy Club. He brought one of his electric aircraft doing low flybys of the pond. We look forward to seeing him again.

Today belonged to Capt. Crash as he won the race with “War Eagle”. No Crashed boats to report on this sail so it was indeed a good one. :D

I didn't get any action pics of the fast boats due to my being the camera man and trying to drive too. Maybe next time. ;)

Capt. Crash

[Ghost 2501]

get the guy with the plane to do some aerial shots of the fleet as they sail.

[Bilge_Snipe]

Thanks for the club post and pictures Capt. Crash, looks like a nice boating day was had.

[pkboo]

Nice work on "Claim Jumper" Capt. Crash :) Boo

[Hoghappy]

Today was a first...only 2 Captains showed. A combination of heat, humidity, no wind and threatening weather was too much for most. Capt. Crash arrived early to test 2 new boats. He already had several tests on the brand new Cracker box boat P-88 "NAVY" when Captain Scooter arrived with his Nirvana and "Freebird". Capt. Scooter took some pictures of the new boats which are now on the web site.

Capt. Crash also tested another bass boat driven by none other than the "Joker". "Batman" should be on the look out as "Joker" is lookin for a "RUMBLE". Tug "Belinda" never left port today...a good thing. Today was a good day for electric boats but not so good for wind power, although the wind did start to blow a little by around 10:00am, which is when Capts. Crash and Scooter decided to pull out before a rain cloud arrived.

Capt. Crash

[Ghost 2501]

looks like a good days running :D

[Kmot]

That really crackes me up! Batman and Joker going at it in Bass Boats. :D:p

[Hoghappy]

This was a non-meeting sail day that started as a test session but got a lot more fun. Capt. Doodah showed around 7:30am with his Crackerbox but didn’t hang out very long. He is still having problems with the new Danvo boat. It is porpoising and the trim plates on this boat are made of ABS, glued on and not adjustable….not a good design at all. Motor power is also questionable. Capt. Tom and his lovely wife also showed early and the Capt. got in some more sail time with his new Nirvana. Capt. Crash brought both of his new Crackerbox boats, the tug and his Wilga float plane for her first flight since repairs following her….you know it….CRASH….a few months back. It took forever to find a motor mount for that plane…so he bought 2 just in case he loses one. :rolleyes:

Capt. Murphy showed with his Nirvana, Tippecanoe and South Hampton tug. His tug has issues but we finally realized that that counter rotating props are working against each other. One is in forward the other is in reverse. No wonder he had no power, no reverse and could rotate in place. He needs to reverse one of the motor leads. Capt. Crash asked the Capt. Murphy to take off, trim out and hand the Wilga controls to back to him, as Capt. Murphy flies several times a week and Capt. Crash flies once in a blue moon. Capt. Crash landed her softly and this worked great the 1st time….but the next time Capt. Murphy decided to do a low flyby before handing Capt. Crash the controls and clipped a bush on the island and spiraled her in. Luckily she fell into the water and not on the island and the damage is minimal and she will fly again very soon. “Belinda” got her first, and more than likely not her last air/sea rescue.

Soon after this we had several of the local flyboys to show. This was as a result of one of our visits to a flyboy meeting. We welcomed Capt. Morris as brought out his huge 12 meter sail boat and an Atlantic Harbor Tug. We also welcomed Capt. Dick who has a new Nirvana but didn’t bring it today. Visiting with them was James.

Capt. Morris took our first club video and I will try to post the link. We had a tug boat push off and Capt. Morris soon found that even the modified direct drive 1:1, 7.2v Astro motor with stock prop was no match for the stock 6v Bristol Motor and the 2.5:1, 55mm four blade prop of “Belinda”. We re-propped Capt. Morris’s Atlantic with a 35mm four blade and we went at it again. This was a very close match up but “Belinda” is still just a little stronger. Capt. Morris broke the coupler…in this battle so the Atlantic needed rescued.

Tug “Belinda” stayed pretty busy today…also rescuing a Nirvana after the batteries got too weak at distance to control her….that was a challenge due to the distance and old eyes. Rescue was done on the Crackerbox “Claim jumper” after she dropped her shaft.

Later Capt. Rudy (the same Rudy that had chased the Batman in the bass boat with his blue offshore V hull months ago) showed with a Black Jack 26 brushless….and a car full of planes. Capt. Crash absolutely was dying to see how the Crackerbox P-88 NAVY would do against someone and here was the 1st opportunity. Although the BJ26 was only in the water 30-60 seconds before it found the “Wall” it was long enough to see that the P-88 NAVY was faster than a scalded dog! No match...even from the stock BJ26…now to work out the over heating problems in her. The wall….Capt. Rudy temporarily lost signal while making the turn toward the wall and the boat went to wide open, rudder locked….not a good thing…as Capt. Crash can tell ya. Capt. Rudy will need to reprogram that boat to go to the off position when signal is lost…not wide open. Luckily again…the damage was pretty minimal to the two sponsons.

We now have a new sub-club within the club….2 members strong…”The Wall Bangers”…not a club you aspire to belong to! ;)

So…today we picked up 3 new members and another Nirvana. Pretty good for a non- sail day!

I hope y’all like pictures cause here are a few. :p

Capt. Crash

Link to video...hope it works...I can't test it from here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7o3KtthboQ

[Kmot]

It's nice to see a video of your club in action! Also, the pics of the stock Atlantic and Belinda side to side is quite good as a comparison tool.

[Ghost 2501]

nice pics, that southampton been modified for independent motor control?

[Hoghappy]

nice pics, that southampton been modified for independent motor control?

Yes a very nice pair of belt driven 380s in that dude...maybe now she will be able to haul the bacon!

Capt. Crash

[Ghost 2501]

what, like this ?

[dostacos]

Very nice report Capt Slick. You have a lovely pond to sail on. I am very envious of all the shade trees close to the waters edge that you will be able to use in the summertime.

Belinda looks great!yeah but their's is NOT a dry heat.... :D

[dostacos]

I thought I would start a new thread to tell about the Montgomery Model Boat Club (MMBC) happenings begining with this past Sundays "Ships Log".

Why let Kmot have all the fun? :rolleyes:

Sunday Nov. 11, 2007. It was another spectacular day for sailing in Montgomery Alabama. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! We had 5 or 6 visitors try out the sailboats today. They all had fun and said they couldn’t believe how easy it is to sail one of these boats. Tug boat “Belinda” earned her keep as she rescued the fishing trawler “Bristol Bay” after a power failure, the “War Eagle” as she ran aground and the racing yacht “Crimson Tide” after she set sail with out being powered on. The later was the most interesting as the tug had to chase down the fast run away yacht, turn her toward shore where she beached herself out of harms reach and then snag and drag her back to port with the tow line. It was a very enjoyable day and one that will be remembered.

For a more complete picture you can visit our website :http://www.orgsites.com/al/montgomerymodelboatclub/index.html

Ohhh...check out the new wind vane on the "War Eagle"... :p

Commodore Slick
did he help on the down wind legs? :rolleyes:

[Hoghappy]

It was a hot steamy day with early sprinkles at the park. The wind was swirling around the bowl shaped pond at about 5-10mph. Showing today were Captains Morris, Dick, Murphy, Scooter, Crunch, Doodah, Tom (now known as Die Hard), Will, and Crash. We had visitors to include James, prospective Captains Burk and Bob and their 90 something father/grandfather...wow. We hope to see them back again soon.

The Commodore gathered the club for a brief meeting today. With the inclusion of more and more members and various new boat types, safety was discussed. The club agreed to be more safety conscience and look out for each other and especially visitors. The club also agreed that it wanted to remain a club, but stay an informal club, with no dues, officers ...etc. The members agreed to sign “Hold Harmless Agreements” at the next club sail and the Club Commodore will keep them on file. All members will be required to sign an agreement. The club unanimously voted to drop the “Theater” pond as a alternating meeting place due to various reasons including: extremely poor launch facilities (an accident waiting to happen), dangers of hurting wildlife, too many children, the parking situation and generally poor sailing conditions. The “Vaughn Road” pond is the clubs’ home port for all regular future sails.

Capt. Murphy showed with a new toy, a twin 380 powered 18” Hydro. Unfortunately it also ran like a toy…it needs some serious work to get up on plane and take off! Capt. Morris showed with a new toy; a twin 550 powered 40” Admiral” cat. It ran ok for a RTR, fairly scale like in speed.

Captain Doodah is making good progress on his Danvo built Crackerbox boat. It was definitely faster today. Capt. Murphy’s South Hampton tug finally got the power plant working the way it should…only problem now is those twin belt driven 380s are power hungry and the 7.2v battery pack gives out too soon. Capt. Scooter got his Chris Craft “Free Bird” overhauled with a new motor and ESC and it runs great now. Other boats showing today; Capt. Morris had his Atlantic Harbor Tug, Capt. Murphy also brought along the yacht “Ragtime”, Capt. Crash brought the P-88 “NAVY” crackerbox boat, the club workhorse tugboat “Belinda” and the Wilga floatplane.

The club also produced 7 Nirvana yachts and today it was Capt. Will who out skipped the rest of us in the races. Congrats to Capt. Will.

Capt. Morris took video...that is forthcoming. :)

Capt. Crash

[Kmot]

Cap'n Richard brought one of those NQD hydros to Hansen one time. That was also its last time. :p

[Hoghappy]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTraRM_ByZg

Taken by Capt. Morris... :D :D :D

Capt. Crash

[wlrottge]

Nice video!!!

Going to start calling you "Capt Retrograde" after that backwards stunt at the mark!! ;)

[Hoghappy]

Nice video!!!

Going to start calling you "Capt Retrograde" after that backwards stunt at the mark!! ;)


Funny.... :p You didn't know I had a reverse gear did ya? :D

I know your secret...next time I will be ready! :p

Capt. Crash

[wlrottge]

secret?? what secret?? My boat is available for inspection at any time!! Just give me 30 seconds to de-tune it first ;) lol, just kidding, the faster/more competetive the fleet, the more fun for all of us.

[Hoghappy]

secret?? what secret?? My boat is available for inspection at any time!!


hahahahaahahaahahahhahahaah....got ya! :p

Capt. Crash


Tuning....your supposed to tune these things? :eek:

[wlrottge]

Tuning....your supposed to tune these things? :eek:

Oh, that's my "secret", lol... I tune mine!!

[ragss]

I'm beginning to think "Crash" has a CO2 capsule in his keel ballast.

[ragss]

Oh! forgot to mention last week he put it in backwards.

[Hoghappy]

I'm beginning to think "Crash" has a CO2 capsule in his keel ballast.

CO2 in the ballast bulb...wow...what a great idea! Ok...if I see bubbles around anyones boat....I will be checking ya out! And...don't be telling me that was just a turtle cutting the cheese! :p

Capt. Crash

[ragss]

Hate to tell you this but if you jetted it right you'd never see the bubbles. :rolleyes: :censored:

[Hoghappy]

You sound like an engineer...Hmmmmmm...since Capt. Will is already known here....must be Capt. Die Hard checking in?

You need to re-register as Capt. Die Hard or put it under under you login name like I did... :p

I saw your post about the tug hull...it gave ya away since ya just asked me about that this morning... :D

Capt. Crash

[Aerominded]

Nice fleet of sailboats! Looks like you are having fun and your club is going well!

[Hoghappy]

Although I haven't posted here in a while...rest assured we are alive and well and have been sailing every Saturday....it's just no one has been taking pictures and we all know that pictures is what everyone wants to see. So today I took pictures of what I could and attended to all the other duties at the same time. Sorry no pics of my fast boats...I couldn't run those and shoot at the same time.

Today was as perfect as it gets weather wise in Alabama in August. After a record low around 59 degrees and very low humidity, we had a nice cool NW breeze to start the day ending in a nice SW direction around noon.

We had a crowd for sure. Some 5 or so new Captains with new Nirvanas from the Dixie Sailing Club showed to try their hand at RC sailing. Several have decided to join the MMBC and will probably start/join a new Dixie RC Sailing Club too. We had a total of 12 Nirvanas in the water at one time…a new record for us. Here is the list of the Captains at the pond today…if I left anyone out I apologize, just let me know and I will update this post.

Doodah
Ray
Murphy
Crash
Crunch
Sunshine
Scotty
Scooter
Die Hard
Burke
Rudy
Bill
“D”
Alan
Ron
Burle
(and numerous guests)

Boats today included:

12 Nirvanas
1 Tippecanoe
1 Batfisherman
1 Chris Craft
2 Crackerbox’s
3 Tugs (including Capt. Scooters new Liberty Tug)

Tug “Belinda” stayed very busy today rescuing several Nirvanas, the Batfisherman after drive shaft problems, the P-88 “NAVY” Crackerbox after it flipped in turn 3… twice and her driver and throttle man after they decided to go swimming.

It was a very enjoyable day and we hope to see all of our new friends back again real soon.

Capt. Crash

[wlrottge]

hey Crashola, I think the MMBC forum is down. Might want to check it out... or the link on the site is wrong.

[Hoghappy]

Hmmmmm...working now. :confused:

[Hoghappy]

Yours truly decided to do another media day and we had a couple of TV stations show at the pond. Unfortunately we had a light turn out of members…everyone camera shy? Capt. Scooter interviewed with WSFA 12 while Capt. Will and Crash were filming with WAKA 8. WAKA spent the better part of 2 hours filming for “Positively Alabama” that airs on CBS 8 every Thursday night at 6 PM.

I also tried my best to do a photo shoot. Steve Lang, the Class Secretary, wants a photo of the Laser and Nirvana sailing together on the cover of the upcoming issue of “Model Yachting Magazine”. Capt. Burke brought out his newly acquired Laser “Stinger” and we tried to get some worthy photos.

Present today were Captains:

Will
Rudy
Murphy
Crash
Scooter
Die Hard
Burke
(and numerous guests)

While we only had a half dozen Nirvanas present, we also had Capt. Burkes Laser, Elvis and the Freebird, 2 Cracker box boats, the Batfisherman, 3 tugs, Capt. Rudy’s lightning fast Black Jack 26 and the 18 Gun Schooner Prince de Neufchatel weathering the conditions.

Capt. Murphy joined the “Wall Banger Club” today when he T-boned the wall with his Crackerbox “Yea Baby!” The Crackerbox P-88 “Navy” was skipping along nicely, hopping from one wave to the next and then did a high speed barrel roll, and lost it’s prop when it came back down. Rescued again!

It was very windy today and a challenge for all the boats and Captains. I think all the boats took on some water in the rough conditions. The schooner even had her deck awash as she took water over the top of the bulwarks and had water running out the gun ports….very cool! :cool: If you missed today’s sail, you missed a great one. ;)

Here is a link to the Video:

http://forum1.aimoo.com/MontgomeryModelBoatClub/Videos/Media-Day-September-20-2008-1-1045963.html

Capt. Crash

[wlrottge]

Crash, you ready for your first crackerbox race on Saturday???

[Hoghappy]

Windy with times of sun and clouds. Highs in the mid 50s and lows in the mid 30s. Precip. 20%. Wind: WNW 23 mph.

If that forecast holds up...I won't be making it to the pond...I will be sitting in front of the fireplace.

I want to see you get your sheet boat out in that! :p

[wlrottge]

Sheet boat? The Nirv or the Cracker??

Most forcasts I've seen said 10-15, I'm going to hold out hope! ;)

[Hoghappy]

Sheet boat? The Nirv or the Cracker??



Sheet boat...as in boat with sheets! ;)

I want to see you run that Nirvana with a 25mph wind at her back! :p