I am interested in getting into sailboats an have absolutely no experience with them. I have run gas boats. Does anyone have suggestions as to a good book and/or video on the principals of rc sailboats? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

There's planty on the internet. Try www.amya.org first and go from there. The instructions that come with most boats also include advise on sailing them and its a lot easier to get by than, e.g., with setting up an i/c boat well.

rhpeltz,
Learning all the 'buzz-words' is harder than learning to sail. After you get a 'taste' of it, it really does get easier (just have to learn the 'proper' reactions for things...just like powered boats).
Since wind is sort of hard to see, a wind indicator on the boat is a pretty good idea. A sting, penant, flag, whatever on the top of the mast works well. It needs to be large enough for you to see, but not very 'large' at all. Wish someone had told me that when I started!
After you have done some sailing and learning what things are called, you can make it seem as hard as you want to (I mean you gotta be a sailor to sail, right? [spreading that attitude on a garden makes for amazing sized plants!]).
Have fun!
- 'Doc

Hi all,

It depends on the type of sailing that you want to do. If you want to buy a small RTR yacht then dont buy a book. Buy the boat and play. However, my advice is to buy the largest boat that you can afford as the smaller the boat the more restricted you are and the more unrealistic it is to sail. You will find that the small boats fall over in a small gust of wind and its very frustrating.

I sail a 6 metre Panther yacht and it is 54 inches long and stands 8 foot tall with the sails on. Its an impressive sight on the water and is very realistic to sail, its just a bugger to carry. I also sail a 48 inch long thames sailing barge but restrict it to lighter winds as it is a scratch built scale model.

If you are going to stay with the smaller boats the the one metre boats are great fun, very fast and do great tricks. If its a budget thing Kyosho do a boat called the fairwind that is a one metret boat and is in the uk £500 to £1000 cheaper than the specialits versions.

When you start to sail stand with your back to the wind and practice sailing from right to left, once youve had a go then start sailing towards and away from yourself, you will soon pick it up

Once you are into it then the decision on reading material will be more apparent.

One further thing make sure you buy a boat the has a jib boom to help control the jib.

Happy sailing

Regards

Mike

The suggestion of going to [link=http://www.modelyacht.org]www.modelyacht.org[/link] (the website for the AMYA is no longer www.amya.org--it's changed) is a great one. There are tons of resources on there. While you are there, go to the 'club finder' option and see if there's a model yacht club in your area that you can contact.

I know this point has been made numerous times, but it can't be stated enough. See what the club(s) in your area are sailing before going out and buying one. It's always more fun to sail with other people, and the resource of having other people to assist you and possibly sail with is what makes the hobby so great. If you live in California (as your info says) I'm sure there is a club within an hour or two's drive. Contact them, then maybe go and meet with them. Usually clubs will be HAPPY to let you try your hand at sailing with one of their boats.

Good luck! I'm sure you'll have a blast.

Andy

Footy's don't fall over[X(] Easy boat to sail and transport.
http://footy.rcsailing.net/
These boats are now a sanctioned AMYA class! Join the FUN!
Here is a good way to start
http://www.scalesailing.com/intropag.htm
Bob

hi im also new to sailing boats and im in the process of building one from scratch ,i got some nice plans from the net of the luna rosa and ive scaled them down slightly my boat will be 34 inches long the masts around 4 ft high from the deck.heres a cpl of pics of my build i also have a thread on here of the build .called new sail boat build, check it out its coming along slowly but its coming lol.(lack of spare time ).its not as hard as you think and so far the cost has been reasonable so i think by the time im finnished ill have a super boat that looks great and hopefully sails great too at a fraction of the cost of a ready to run boat but with the quallity of one of the better boats out there.[img][/img]ive just finnished glassing the hull and she looks good (first attempt at glassing ).i think the hardest part of the build will be the setting up of the controlls etc.thers a lot of good links out there on how to build a boat and how to sail one too.[link]http://www.velarc.it/[/link]
[link]http://www.myrc.org/Library/Library.htm#SailboatBuilding[/link]
[link]http://www.amya.org/[/link]try some of these for a few tips ,also check out the boats available to you and how they sail too if you do go rtf.

Hi Nice build,

The controls are I think the easier bit as there are many tried and tested ways of doing it. At 34 inches long you might want to take a tip from some of the one metre bots and use a sail arm servo from hitec which will control the main and jib together and keeps it simple. Otherwise their drum winch is also good and will keep all in check.

My 6 metre uses a drum winch but this is needed as the boat is huge and the sails have tons of power in them.

Mike

once again thanks mike yes i was looking at the sail arm servos ill check out ebay.hey might be easy to you lol but ive never seen a sail boat set up so im totally new to it.

hi mike i just remembered my grandad sailed on the barges not on the thames but the river ouse in yorkshire and on the canals between goole and leeds if memory serves .my dad also worked the barges but not the sailing type from the age of 14 then moving onto been a river pilot on the ouse between goole and selby on the ships of all sizes and shapes.he also took a sailing barge that promoted bells whisky up the river to york a few times and he loved it as it brought back memorys of his dad my grandad.cant remember the name of it,also the last one my grandad sailed is still afloat i think having been totally restored back in the early eighties i think unless somethings happened to it since lol.ill find out its name when i next speek to my dad for yaa.post a pic of youres if you could my dad would probably enjoy seeing it as would i.

Hi there,

I will try to post pictures once my home computer is fixed. If you look at the websit for Lady Daphne (Thames barge) mine is a scale replica of her. I also had the pleasure of sailing her down and up the thames for my 40th birthday. She is a wonderful boat that is so alive. That was 4 years ago and I can still feel her in me.

I will look at home and see if I can find the rigging plan for my old 1 meter yacht and then if I find it I will post a message to you with my email and arrange to send it to you.

Regards

Mike

top man mike that would be great,ill find out the name of that barge for you tomorrow .they look awesome under sail i saw the one my dad took to york and it was lovely ,red sails and just awesome to see.take care

Mike
Any more on your Thames Barge as I am Very interested.

I have also PMd you

martno1fan,
Taking a look at several dozen typical builds is a pretty good way to find out how 'things' are done, (several dozen? ... well, two or three builds anyway). After seeing one or two 'servo/sail arms' you will have the general idea of what they are supposed to look like and how they work. Making your own isn't all that difficult at all, really (if I can do it, ~anyone~ can!). Same for almost any part of a sailboat, sort of, some harder than others. But so what? It's all fun, even the 'goofs', cuz then you'll know better next time...
- 'Doc

thanks for the tip doc!! seems like our friends not listening to us though he never bothered to reply to any of us who tried to help.i cant see the point in asking for advice if you cant say thanks or at least no thanks .im allways asking questions and most people are willing to help and give advice i hope im at least civil and show my grattitude for the help i get from you guys.

hey guys new to the forum here i have a 50" Thames barge Celia Jane that id like to add sail control to only has rudder servo at present any ideas ??

ELECTRIC/SAIL ,
Not all that difficult, just requires some thought about where to put a servo, what size 'arm' to put on the servo that allows enough movement to the sails. The wind moves the sails to start with (you didn't know that, right??), the servo just 'tells' the sail how far to swing, sort of. Then it sort of depends on what type sails you use. Simple is easier than complex. A very simple sail like on most sailboats (jib and main?) is easier to rig than a 4 masted square sail boat. Since the sails on a 50" boat are going to be larger than on a 18" boat, the servo will need to be stronger. Or a winch instead of an 'arm' on the servo. (Unless you can find a really short guy who wants to be a crewman on a sailboat?)
Good luck!
- 'Doc

hi mate try sending mike richards a pm he has a thames barge ,im sure he will be able to help you out !!.go back up the page a bit for his id and send him a pm.

CHEERS DOC YEH IVE GOT A WINCH HERE BUT THESE BARGES HAVE A SAIL TRACK and no boom on the jibs or main the main being a sprit sail configuration ( sorry about the caps there )thinking maybe a loop type setup ??

now there logic and common sense why didnt i think of that must have been later than i thought last night gonna give him a go right now cheers man

ELECTRIC/SAIL ,
"Why didn't I think of that?"... None of us here have ever said that in our entire lives!
- 'Doc

[And if you believe that, OOoh have I got a deal for you!]

hi mate did you get sorted out yet ,hows the conversion coming along?.why dont you show us some pics of her wed love to see them ,who knows maybe we can help you out .by the way heres a link to the hydrogen my dad skippered a few times when he was a river pilot some yrs ago.[link]http://www.thamesbarge.org.uk/barges/charter/TChydrogen.html[/link] and heres a pic of her ,you can actually charter her for trips on the rivers and along the coast too.[img][/img] my grandad actually sailed on the sailing barges but not on the river thames on the river ouse from age 13 till about his 30s when he changed to the deisel powered barges.check out this site also about the hydrogen built in 1906 and the largeest surviving sailing barge!!.[link]http://www.top-sail.co.uk/hydrogen.htm[/link]

Hi Guy's i'am thinking of starting sailing , i like the look of the Kyosho Seawind is it as good as thay say ??? thanks lad's

fonzzy

We all have our own bias but to come up with the best solution for you we need a little more info.

Where are you going to sail?
What is the budget?
Do you want to race?

There are lots of other questions but these should help us help you.

As far as the Seawind is concerned I think I'll keep my thoughts to myself, like I said I'm biased

thank's

Where are you going to sail? at the club lake
What is the budget? about £200 GBP
Do you want to race? only at my club

hope this help's