For any one in the bay area.
The SFMYC had listed their Tug boat regatta set for Sept. 17, 2006 at Spreckles Lake. The web site has not been updated and have herd that this might not be taking place this year. Any one know if it is still a go? Might end up down that way that weekend so I was going to try and make it over.

I will check my paper calendar when I get a chance and let you know but I recall seeing it on the latest distribution of the club's newsletter which came out at the beginning of this month...

I hope it isn't cancelled! If I lived closer to SF, I would definately volunteer to help with the behind the scenes effort that goes into these events...

I E-mailed their commodore. I'll reply if he sends any info.

Thanks guys. Appreciate the help!

Ok. I got the information I needed last night. I will be there on Sunday along with a couple of others from the Pacific NW. Ron Burchett, his son Allen, Gary King and myself are going to make the trip down for the Seaways Cup. We have not been there for about 10 years and we all decided we need a road trip. Will be bringing a bunch of models with us to come have fun. Hope to see those in the northern Califonia/bay area there.

Sounds like a good one - look forward to hearing about it, and seeing some photos.

Keith,

Randy from NWRCSM mentioned the possiblity of a huge Westcoast event for any and all clubs along the Pacific coast. The tenative proposal would place the event in Tualatin Oregon, and coincide with the Crawfish Festival 2008. Westmoreland pond may also be available by that time, and it may provide a possible venue, though not as accessable for lodgings.
Run this by the SFMYC guys, And see if this is something they would be interested in attending or collaborating on for events and planning.

Originally Posted by keith S

Ok. I got the information I needed last night.

Glad to hear this is on. Maybe I'll dust off a boat and keep you guys from up North honest. Don't want you walking away with all the trophies.

I am sure it will be a fun and interesting "Road Trip"

Umi, will do that. This road trips are fun as we usally do one every 3-4 years. Boat geeks on the road, sounds like the start of a bad country song.

It was a GREAT (and Hot) Sunday in San Francisco. We had 36 boats entered from 21 captains. Here are some basic coverage shots of the set up. First we have the captains meeting and the course. Not bad with a few sneaky spots to mess you up. Average of two to three boats on the course at any time, not to mention folks getting their practice in. Some of the sticking points were the "Emanon" 180 turn at dock side. The mearest bump or contact lost you a point. (bad time to glitch) Sounds easy, but there was no way to hold the bow off the dock when she came around. Only one person scored the full 20 points as far as I know. (Z-Tech tug) The so called "drunken monkey" at gate 10 caused much confusion also. Stopping for 5 sec at the re-fuel area (gate 11) ended up being a contest of depth perception for some, and playing hold still in the wind for others. At the other side of the course the dreaded channels caught a few tugs, but for the most part it was ann excellent course with just enough to keep people on their toes.

Here are some of the contestants boats. Many types ranging from small log broncs and springers to Darby's and modern Z-tugs. Full range of light weights to amazons. More on the big boats in a minute.

Thanks for posting those - a few more showing boats, etc would be great!
Mike (Victoria BC)

Another Springer hiding under a cute (and working) tanker. The barges for the event. The heaviest at about 400lbs. middle weight roughly 275lbs. and assortment of lighter ones. The Emanon getting loaded up with the additional 155lbs of water weight.

More boats coming..I have like 120 pics and movies to sort out... Some good, some not so much.
Did someone say power tugs?? we'll start with this one. Not quite finished yet, but what a monster. Gene S. Falcon. Weighing in around 110lbs loaded, she runs 24vlts through two 3/8 drive shafts. I heard surplus garbage disposal motors. One motor gave her umpf...two motors was enough to push you back a bit if you tried to hold her down. The motors are going to two ~5 1/2" 5 bladed props working inside 6" korts. I asked what the amp draw was but got no answer. LOL ~30-40 amps is what I'm going to guess. (I think the info is correct)

Another big tug which most have seen. The Ajax. edit...Gary King's creation captained by Keith S. for the event. How many have seen the inner workings? Seems simple enough..get a handfull of oddball gears and belts and toss them onto a few motors. Attach a few eggbeaters to the bottom and couple it with a cutting edge radio and you're done. LOL you may need to practice on the motor bit and linkage a tad though.

The next big tug is a familiar one also. Tiger Sun built by Gary, and operated by Ron's son Alan Burchett. Hey what is that other boat beside her???

Why it's Ron Burchett's latest creation the Z-Tech. Fancy Z-Tug out to show off. Here is another simple build with a few spare parts. This was a clean build and cleaner install. This boat had the fancy transmitter with the life like control horns. Just like the real one they tell me. Better not let me drive it. hmmm I wonder.

Well..believe it or not I did get to drive the Z-Tech. It's like trying to control a styrofoam cup in a room full of fans with nothing but body english and mind control. It was pretty fun to give it a go.
Now I wasn't going to let me be the only one having fun. I had Ron, Keith, and Alan give the Snake a spin around the lake. Old technology can still bring us all to our knees. Alan had the best go of it and in 5 minutes was racing up and down the lake front.
Thanks guys...I really REALLY appreciated it.

More boats during the contest. No order in particular.

More tugs in action.

Some fun moments during the event. That sailboat was a free runner. She came to the fuel dock for soda's or something..backed up before the tugs could get to her and sailed away.
Getting late, so tomorrow more pics and a movie.

The AJAX is Gary King's model also. Just to clear it up. Great shots and looks like you have a great place to run. Jerry J

Originally Posted by jerryj98501

The AJAX is Gary King's model also. Just to clear it up. Great shots and looks like you have a great place to run. Jerry J

Thanks..so much info to keep straight...LOL edited to correct.

Great pictures!!

I enjoyed having a spin with the Snake River, It was like driving my helicopter all over again, Except with out the fear of crashing it into something.

In regards the Z-tech it takes time to learn how to handle well with the point and shoot controls, once you master them its like a dream come true!

Boatfox,
Great pictures and GREAT looking boats. Thanks for taking the time to post them. Keep them coming.
Steve

Great pictures, a very nice regatta of boats from north and south of the border.

Thanks to everyone at SFMYC for a great event. Ron, Allen and myself would like to congradulate them on having a fun event. It was great to see old freinds as well as Boatfox and Aerominded at the event. Had fun running the 3 boats ( Ajax, Island Champion, and Liberty) on the course. I was happy to get a score as high as it was while running the Ajax as that was the first time I had ever run it in a compition and with a barge. Fun running the Snake River that Boatfox had there also. It was another challenge that one has to try before you can appreciate the difficulties of running a boat like that. Lots of boats, challenging course, and great commeraderie makes the travel there all worth it. Thanks again!

Great meeting you too Keith! Boatfox, Great pictures of the event, sorry I didn't meet you there!

Sure looked like all of the contestants and spectators were having a great time- Has me jazzed to start a Springer or get Jim Wilder going!

Hummm, what was that that Umi was saying about a west coast meet?

Let's see some of your pics guys...I know you all had cameras...LOL
Some more boat pics and a few of the SFMYC club house.
A list of the attending captains. By the way I forgot to give results last night. Alan Burchett took first place (with Alan B.???) George DeSousa took second place with Elley Foss, and I took third with Snake River. We only had 1 point difference and third place had a 4 way tie. I think The order of signing up made the decision. Hmmm..good thing I signed up early. I didn't get a final score tally, but I know three other guys scored right up there. The rest of the captains were right behind us in points so over all it was very close. If anyone knows the other names or scores let us know.

More still...gotta love Digi cameras. More tugs at work. Snake River doing her thing. Barges being tied up etc...

Fantastic pictures and report, Boatfox!! Thank you! Will have to take a longer look when I get back home.

Glad to share...what do you do when the event is over??? Blow off some steam of course.Tug Fun Wheeeeee......

Very Nice, synchronized swimming for tugs. A new team competition
Steve

Thanks Boatfox for the nice pictures and the tugboat ballet.
A great time was had by all

Congrats to Alan Burchett - I think he has an award(s) from every event he runs in! An impressive collection of boats down there - thanks for posting the photos for us work-bound types.

Score wise I know that I had a 225 with the Liberty and Island Champion and 223 with the Ajax. Ron B. also had a pair of 225s with the Island Guardian and Ztech which we were tied for 6th. Tight scoring as you can see with only 4 points difference between 1st and 6th!

What a great looking facility and club house.
More cities should maintain ponds and support modeling in such a manner.

Thanks for posting the course map and all the pictures.
It's nice to see other club events and how they set things up.

We don't have much in tugboat gatherings here on the east coast, it would be fun if we did. The closest we have is when some of the guys in the Toronto club get together. The amount of detail on some of these models is incredible.

Wish I could make it to one of those events---. (sigh)

Der Kapitian

There were two that I know of this year.

Baltimore had one to mark the 100 b-day of the restored tug, and South Street Seaport usually has one yearly. These are more like shows, We didn't move allot of logs or 4 city blocks of barges but if they could work it with model railroaders it would be interesting, We would have to get a couple of movie prop ocean liners for ship docking, and allot of garabge to fill the barges to be dumped at sea.

having fun in wny,
Rich

Actually, the Baltimore event WILL happen, Oct. 21/22 to be exact.
www.steamtug.org
See you there!

Pat Matthews