Originally Posted by ClayH

Rubbing is racing...... Now that you've traded some gelcoat, it's On! Clay

Love it. Ha! (:

That said, rubbing one meter boats may be no-harm-no-foul when beer-can racing. But when/if the 26lb SB and 32lb Wheelers hit….yikes! The sound of a 50 lb to 60 lb impact can be heard across the lake. Notsomuch!

Note: Wheelers require a 720 turn for a "touch" violation.

Just one more thing about collisions. RSS says, "All boats are required by rule to avoid a collision if possible!" And, "Leeward boat has Right-of-Way, but has to give the Windward boat time and room to keep clear during the manuver."

Here, we are working through an appeal which may define what "…time and room…" is.
Are we having fun yet?! (:

All parties to this appeal agreed to withdraw from this proceedure because of underlying flaws in the orginal protest. The DQ boat's score for the heat in question was restored and the regatta's race results were re-calculated. All have aggreed to participate in a discussion/class, in the near future, where the RD will use this incident as an instructional tool. See you there!

maybe you should do like our club does, 3 years ago after getting tiered of being hit, 2 of our members started a preseason rules refresher and BBQ , it has been a great successes, we have a plywood board with a circle with a rounding mark on it, we have 4 small wooden sail boats, the bottoms are cut on a angle so you can tilt it so can see what tack it is on, we set up different situations and we all talk about what rule apply, everybody has learned a lot about the rules, this years get together is this Saturday in Yorkville, Il. if any of you guys want to attend your welcome. lol
John R.

Our Victoria fleet does the same activity, but in addition, we put out a round "mark" on the lawn, and laydown a 4 boat length circle using light cord or heavy twine. This has helped the skippers develop a sense of where the circle is, how big it is, and how quickly boats can transit it while sailing. It's amazing how many people start to realize that they are continually tacking inside the circle, and forcing their way around the mark. The result has been continuing improvement in mark roundings with fewer raft ups and associated shouting!!

Yesterday, the second event of 2015 for the Sacramento Model Yacht Club season, brought out 8 Santa Barbara's to play in the 6 -13 mph winds in gusty conditions, along with three other classes of boats. The Seawinds and US1M's went off first in the building winds, then came the Infinity 54's and finally the Santa Barbara's as the winds built to the maximum for the day.

There were two skippers absent and two boats are still under construction, so next month we could see 12 boats on the line! The Robinson's (SB Yachts) keep churning out beautiful short kits and the we keep having to make the starting line longer. It sure helps to have a quality local builder to promote a class.

I brought out my new #2115 with a new set of sails and a 5 lb keel. It had a few "new boat problems" (first two finishes were a 6 and an 8 ) but after a bit of tuning the boat went well and the next 3 heats were 1, 1, 3. I know the things that need a bit of tweaking, so it should more consistent next time. The next SB race will be with the Elk Grove MYC next Sunday with many of the same boats. The builders of the two that did not make it yesterday are pushing hard to finish them in time for that race.

At the end of the day of 5 heats with one throwout, it went in the books as follows:

1. #280........Ryan S.........6 pts
2. #115........Steve V.....11 pts
3. #2101.... Gene N......13 pts
4. #2009.... Steve B..... 13 pts
5. #166........Ron E.........16 pts
6. 2101........Dan R.........19 pts
7. 1386........Jeff S...........21 pts
8. 2110.........Bill R..........27 pts.

Santa Barbara racing is back big time in Sacramento.

Yes the racing on Sunday at Bridgeway Lake(s) was very challenging with lots of close racing. Very difficult to get a good start on the short line in Sacto that is close to a concrete wall. Overall I had an up and down day, with a fourth in the first race although ending the day with a win in the last race by a large margin. Like Steve said, very gusty winds, but the gusts sure got the boats moving well. Steve's boat with some tweaking is going to be very fast. His craftmanship is top notch putting the boat together. The new sails he used were fast in my opinion. Good to see Jeff Snyder back racing. Always glad to see the Robinsons out especially Bill. Ryan

Congratulations, Ryan!
1st Place Santa Barbara Regatta1, SFMYC, Saturday.
1st Place Santa Barbara Regatta2, SACTO, Sunday.

Race hard!

Been a little quiet lately, so how about this - is RC telemetry for boat speed legal in the AMYA? With all the advances in affordable radio features, just wondered if this issue has been addressed. Could be helpful on tuning days when you are sailing alone and testing out your remotely adjustable vang.

How would I get boat speed from the boat? GPS sensor of some sort? I don't have any idea if my TX can handle telemetry. Ryan

Telemetry allows the skipper to read and display critical racing data (including speed from a GPS modual) while underway. Depending on Tx & Rx, speed can be displayed & recorded for later reference.

Telemetric speed is a racing advantage now with cars and AC. Perhaps, GPS speed will be part of RC racing sailboats in the future.

Meanwhile, Futaba's T8FG Tx- has telemetry if coupled with receiver T8 R6308SBT . This receiver comes with a telemetry-transmitter on board.

But, the T8FG transmitter has no possibility of showing the telemetry-data on the screen.
In order to receive the telemetry-stream, an additional box is needed.
And, here is the word from Futaba: You can only use the Futaba Sensors with a receiver that is capable of Telemetry. The R617FS and 8FG are not capable of Telemetry.

Apparently, Futaba has no plans to make their recent radios telemetry-able through a software update, they will very likely introduce a new series of radios, IMHO.

If racing with direct feed-back, I doubt it. Check class rules and structure (anything NOT illegal is legal ?) Even with the costs of radios, and servos almost "free" these days - most classes still stick with the old days mentality, and 2 channel only.
AMYA has no rules - it's up to the class.

If not racing - and tuning and practice ---nothing wrong with recording (or seeing) how you are doing.

Above is my personal view/opinion, of course

Originally Posted by Dick L.

If racing with direct feed-back, I doubt it. Check class rules and structure (anything NOT illegal is legal ?) Even with the costs of radios, and servos almost "free" these days - most classes still stick with the old days mentality, and 2 channel only.
AMYA has no rules - it's up to the class.

Telemetry doesn't add a control channel. If you're running an FPV system with OSD telemetry or one of the sailplane systems, you can even use the bog-standard Rx/Tx pair that everyone else is using.

I'm sure it would be frowned on ethically, even if it isn't against the rules. But I can see that it could be a lot of help in tuning a yacht, or tuning your skills. If nothing else, having an accurate answer to how fast you're going would be interesting.

Maybe this topic deserves it's own thread?

Originally Posted by Mike Meyer

Maybe this topic deserves it's own thread?

Or could be dropped into the RRS thread.
I recall in the stone age when on board electronic instrument packages for full scale boats that would calculate VMG first became commercially available (although very very expensive at the time) there was a great deal of discussion about whether they should be legal or not.

The answer was for those classes or rating systems who did not want to allow them to specifically restrict them. If the rules weren't changed to exclude them, then they were legal. That may needs to be what happens here.

With RC sailboats classes that have minimum and maximum all up weights, it may be self regulating based simply on the weight penalty.

(I sure wouldn't mind at least knowing my on board battery packs voltage)

Originally Posted by FoamCrusher

(I sure wouldn't mind at least knowing my on board battery packs voltage)

Battery voltage is easy - at least if you're willing to use an aircraft Tx. It may have something to do with running out of power being a lot nastier for them. A telemetry-capable Rx should report the voltage it sees at the very least, and some of them have second voltage sensors that can report the raw on board voltage, but it may need a resistor to drop it into range. I like the FrSky kit.

I can't see that being illegal, as it just keeps you from running out of power, and in no way helps with sailing.

I was actually thinking of a thread for using them, not whether or not they would be legal, as that will vary from class to class..

Although my original post on the telemetry idea was based on tuning, voltage updates would sure be nice. I will redirect this topic to it's own thread, and add a link here for those that wish to follow it.

Here is the link

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...0#post31215694

I posted the question in the thread on the RRS https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...834314&page=14 (post 203) and got one opinion from a guy who has been an excellent source in the past and he says that unless it is one of the classes where you cannot do something unless it specifically says you can, or is specifically restricted by class rules, telemetry would be legal.

He did bring up the point of "skipper overload" and too much data taking away your attention from actually racing the boat, however.