RobStagis
Posts: 362
Joined: 6/17/2002
From: Plainville,
CT, USA
Status: offline
|
As long as we're on the subject, here's the *long* letter I sent them initially...I laid it on a little thick 
To whom it may concern:
The members of our small club, Paderewski Model Yacht Club, will explain in this letter what is entailed in our hobby. We are all members of a national association, the American Model Yachting Association, and as such are part of a worldwide community of model yachtsmen.
How our club was formed:
I have had a life-long love of models of all kinds and started sailing radio-controlled model yachts about 5 years ago. I didn’t realize at the time that the founder of the Boy Scout troop (Troop 76 at Toffolon School) of which I was Scoutmaster was also an avid boat modeler. At Boy Scout summer camp, I got out my model sailboat while Hans Berger (the troop founder) went and got his. We sailed them in the swimming areas at Scout camp. That made 2 of us.
I was sailing my boat in Paderewski Pond about 3 years ago when a gentleman walked over, introduced himself, and said he had 2 model yachts at home. One of Hans’ friends also was a longtime boat modeler. In that hit-and-miss fashion, a club was born. We now total 8 adults and 2 teens and have been sailing for 2 years on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons, weather permitting.
We have never had a complaint; eau contraire, people stop and relax on the benches while watching our boats. We allow anybody to sail the boats. Our youngest ‘sailor’ was about 2 years old, being held in his dad’s arms while he pushed the sticks this way and that. The boats are not dangerous, nor do they ‘crash’ as model airplanes or helicopters do. My boats (I have 5) range in age from 5 years old to more than 20. The oldest boat in the club was built by Hans Berger when he was 13 – I won’t mention how old that makes the boat for fear of letting the world know how old Hans is. He used to sail it in Stanley Quarter Park in New Britain and Plainville Pond (now defunct – on the Plainville/New Britain town line).
We all wish we were younger, but we’re not ‘kids’ anymore. Our youngest adult member is 30. We show up, set up our lawn chairs, put our boats in the water and sail until the weather gets the better of us. We have always made every attempt to be polite and low-key. If the fishermen are here, we go there. If they’re there, we go here. It’s sad to say that some of the fishermen don’t feel the same need, but if one sets his rod and reel up right in our midst, we’ll all pack up and move. It’s easier that way.
Along the way, we wrote up a constitution and set of by-laws. I’ve attached the constitution for your information. While it starts semi-humorously, please read it to the end. This is the official constitution of our club and we abide by the rules therein. We had our club chartered by the national organization, and became AMYA Club #101. The AMYA’s web site can be visited at [url]www.amya.net.[/url]
Paderewski Park is a recreational facility intended for use by the public. As a model yachtsman, I can’t imagine a better use for our pond (especially since I couldn’t catch a fish even if someone paid me). While we are at pondside, we make it a point to leave it in better shape than we found it. As Scout leaders (there are 3 of us now as well as two of our Boy Scouts) we have a profound respect for the outdoors and are very conservation-minded. We typically leave with everything we carried in with us as well as any number of fishing lures, rusty beer cans and fishing-line snarls that we pull out of overhanging branches. The continued presence of adults at the pond also, in our opinion, has resulted in a reduction of vandalism and loitering in the vicinity.
While the town ordinance says that “no ‘self-powered’ boats” may be used on the pond, I’ve taken that to read “no ‘motor-driven’ boats”. Our town parks are meant to be a pleasant and safe environment for all town residents. The ordinance’s intention was to eliminate noise from model aircraft and rockets as well as keep the parks safe from hurtling, out of control aircraft and projectiles. Depending on how it’s read, it would also eliminate kite-flying! Our sailboats are neither loud nor dangerous and we would like to petition the town for permission to sail our model yachts in both Hamelin and Paderewski Ponds.
The town recently received a certificate of insurance from the AMYA’s insurance carrier. This was a step taken by the club to ensure that the town bears no liability for any of our actions. In reality, I can’t envision any way a person could be injured by our boats – and frankly, our boats have less of an environmental effect on the pond than the fishermen with their spray-on lure scents (made with oils) and pounds and pounds of lead sinkers lost in the pond every year – or the homeowners who blow all their autumn leaves into the pond. We use no oil, no fuel, and even if a boat sank we would retrieve it – they are too valuable to leave in the water.
As a club, we would be more than pleased (actually, we’d be proud) to attend a town meeting, display and explain the functions of our boats. I think this would be a reassurance to the town officials that the boats are both safe and beautiful. For what it’s worth, the only comments we’ve ever heard from spectators are along the lines of, “Wow! Those are pretty! I didn’t know things like that existed! Where can I get one?”
In closing – we are using the town’s ponds in a way that we think fulfills their intended use and would like official permission to continue.
Thank you
Rob
_____________________________
There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Kenneth Graeme - Wind in
|
Printable Version
All Forums >> RC Boats >> RC Boats General Discussion >> Wish me luck with my town Rec. Dept. 
Wish me luck with my town Rec. Dept. - 
