V-32 Sailing Schedule:

Unfortunately, the 2009 scored sailing season has come to an end. We will continue to practice race each Sunday as long as the weather cooperates. Thanks to all the skippers who continually sailed in good and bad weather. The overall skill of our skippers has improved a great deal this season. The starting line is always crowded when the bell sounds, and very often the boats cross the finish line so close it is hard to write them down. First place finishes are shared by a large number of skippers, and there are many win-by-a-nose finishes that are hard to call. We are having fun! Delco Park has a big pond and there is room for more boats. If you have an interest in starting this fun hobby, join us on Nov 21, and get ready to sail with us next spring.

During suitable weather, the KMSC sails every Sunday afternoon at 2:30 to 5 or 6 PM. We race with formal scoring that counts toward the season standings almost every other Sunday, We just fun sail or practice sail with no formal score keeping on the other days. See 2009 Sailing Schedule.

Scored Racing is cancelled if less than three boats show up, the temperature is less than 50 degrees F, the winds exceed 12 mph, or are less than 3 mph. However, we have had some sail days in winds from 12 to 16 mph and it was pretty exciting. The V-32s are tough boats.

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2009 Activities

Sunday, Nov 29, 2009. Did anyone attempt to sail on this windy, rainy day? Not I. (Ralph)

Sunday, Nov 21, 2009. Nine Skippers Sailed at Delco Park. The weather was great. Wind started out at about 8 mph and got down to ~4mph for good sailing all afternoon.  We used three throw out markers for the course and practice raced without keeping score.  Aside from the 54 degree temperatures it was perfect day.

Saturday, Nov 21, 2009, 5:30 pm. AWARDS DINNER. The KMSC held the Fall/Awards meeting at the MCL Cafeteria at 4485 Far Hills Ave, Dayton, OH 45429. The first five Places for the entire season received a beautifully framed awards made by Dave Eckard. Thanks, Dave.

1st Russell Hardie
2nd Ralph Kanko
3rd Jose Garcia
4th David Eckard
5th Dave Kovaks

Russell Hardie was the only skipper that sailed in every scored race we held.

An extended business meeting was held. The most significant decision was to host the 2010 V-32 National Championships. Our Race Director, Steve Pratt will lead the planning committee and needs volunteers for various planning tasks. A date will be established soon. Need to coordinate with communitiy agencies to find a appropriate weekend in Aug or Sept, that does not conflict with other events. Meeting minutes were sent to all members. We plan to hold another meeting in Feb or March to finalize Regatta plans and close a number of issues we tabled at this meeting.

DIRECTIONS: The MCL Cafeteria is located at 4485 Far Hills Ave, Dayton, OH 45429. Ph (937) 299-9009. This is on the NW corner of Far Hills and David Road, but the cafeteria is not visible from that intersection. MCL is located on the west side of the parking lot behind the bank, and it is the southern most business in the strip mall.

Sunday, Nov 15, 2009. The forecast called for 4 to 5 mph winds. When we got there, it was so quiet we began to wonder if someone had snuck out in the middle of the night and laid a mirror on the pond. Two eager skippers sat and visited while waiting for a gust, maybe a breath, even a sigh of wind to grace the water. No such luck! The temperature was nice; the sun was out, but no wind! After an hour, we went home. Aren't you glad you didn't come out today?

Sunday, Nov 8, 2009. Six skippers sailed today in nice weather. Temperatures in high 60s and winds were at 5-7 mph. We raced around the throw-out marks and had a good time.

Sunday, Nov 1, 2009. Fun/practice day as will be all the rest of the Sundays until the weather chases us out. Four skippers sailed today, and Jerry brought his star 45.  Although some skippers failed come out because of the light wind, the wind was very nice. Sometimes it was low, but there was always wind.  The park had removed the marks on Friday, so there was nothing to race around. Not much fun without buoys.

Sunday, Oct 25, 2009. This was our last scored day of the season. Ten V-32s raced in beautiful weather. The sun was shining most of the afternoon with temperatures in the mid 60s. The wind was very cooperative, ranging from about 5 to 8 mph, with its normal behavior of switching direction at unexpected times. Russel took the honors today of having the best score, but he was not the only one to cross the finish line in first place. Seven of the ten skippers had at least one first place.

Sunday, Oct 18, 2009. Eight V-32s sailed on this Fun sail day. Weather was a just a little over 50 degrees, but it it was fun. We did not have the starting recording so rabbit starts were used.

Sunday, Oct 11, 2009. Eight boats sailed on this scored race day. The wind was very light, so we used a shorter course. Scores have not been sent out yet, but I am pretty sure Russell is in first place today.

Sunday, Oct 4, 2009. We had nice weather and five V-32s sailed the waters in moderate to strong winds with very few lulls.  We sailed practice races with the starting tape, and had a good time. We did some sail trimming on Dale's new boat and it was sailing better by the end of the session. The Star 45s sailed a scored day today, so some of our V-32 skippers were gone.

We quit a little early because three boats were out of commission  One boat had the transmitter batteries go low, another had the rudder block come loose, and a third boat was T-boned which punctured the hull about an inch below the deck line.  Did not notice when it happened, but that boat was sailing very low in the water and almost sank. Water was already up to the servo mount rails!  It was very heavy to lift out of the water.  All items are repairable.

Sunday, Sept 27, 2009. Eleven boats were out racing on this scored race day. The wind was very strong, at times the boats just seemed to lay down and could make no headway. There were a few little whirlwind gusts that actually tacked some boats from port to starboard and back to port without changing course. The V-32s are tough little boats, none were damaged due to wind. First place was taken by five different skippers on various races, and I think everyone has noticed that it is very hard to get to the sweet spot at the starting line, since so many skippers seem to know where it is and managed to be there. Results were mailed out to all members.

We had one boat lose its sail rig--it was due to the screw at the bottom of the mast unscrewing itself. Recommend that the screw at the bottom of the mast be examined, and if it has little or no friction to turning you should use some method to lock it.  Check the ease with which it screws when the mast is NOT ON THE BOAT. We have seen this problem occur on several occasions. 
Here are some ways to stop that screw from unscrewing:

        1.  Add a lock nut made from nylon or use a nut with the self locking nylon insert feature. You need to use something that resists turning.  Snug it up against the bottom of the mast each time before you sail.  Recheck if this nut actually stays where you put it, or if it, too, starts moving.
        2.  Use blue locktite on the screw. This will need to be reapplied about once every five to eight sailing sessions, depending on how much you screw the adjustment.
        3.  Add a loop of string that goes from the side stay eyelet and hooks over the little tab to keep it from unscrewing.  I have two boats with this currently installed. Cheap, easy, and reliable.
        4.  Tape the tab to the deck with electical tape.
        5.  Use a plier to damage the screw thread so it binds a little and resists screwing. This method is not recommended because unlike the other ways to do this, damaging the bolt threads will also cause damage to the internal threads and you will soon have the same loose problem in addition to damaged threads on both parts.
        6.  Some skippers are lucky and there is just enough corrosion and rust that the bold never does get loose.  Unreliable.
        7.  Devise another clamping method and let us know how good it works.

Regatta Report, Saturday, July 18, 2009.

The First Annual Ohio V-32 Invitational regatta at Delco Park in Kettering was a success. We got to sail our boats in competition and met a lot of great sailors from the club in Indianapolis.  I want to thank the Indy Admirals for coming over to Kettering and participating in this regatta.  Thirteen skippers attended this First Annual Ohio Invitational Regatta.  Five Indianapolis Admirals raced with eight Kettering Model Sailing Club members. We raced all thirteen boats as a single fleet. This establishes a new record for the number of V-32s on Delco Pond.

Temperatures were a very nice 70 degrees as we sailed under cloudy skies in winds of 4 to 8 mph with infrequent lulls. A big, dark cloud passed to the south of us and for a while it looked like we were going to get rained out--but we never got rain at all.

Congratulations to the three Indy Admirals who earned first, second, and third place! Here are the top five skippers who received trophies: 1st Brian Brozek    Indy Admirals 2nd Gene Wisner   Indy Admirals 3rd Pete Pippen     Indy Admirals 4th Russell Hardie  Kettering Model Sailing Club 5th Ralph Kanko    Kettering Model Sailing Club Photos of July 18 Regatta are posted on Mark Camden's website.

See the rest of our 2009 season activities and the previous years' club history on the KMSC History Page.

No V-32 National Championships were held in 2008 or 2009

V-32 National Championships 2007

The National Championship for the V-32 AMYA Class was held in Bondurant, IA, about 30 mi NE of Des Moines on Aug 9-11, 2007. The first five places received trophies. Congratulations go out to these great skippers.

1st Place Bruce Zemke

2nd Place Charlie Rhinehart

3rd Place Dave Haggart

4th Place Paul Thompson

5th Place Hank Evans

V-32 Region 4 Championship 2006 See photos of this event.

Our Club

The KMSC races model sailboats in accordance with AMYA Racing Rules and our boats comply with AMYA Class rules. We require our skippers to be AMYA members.

You can find us sailing on most weekends sometimes Friday, Saturday and almost every Sunday.

If you are considering getting a V-32 and joining us, please look at the Radio Frequencies page to determine what channels we are be using. You are always welcome to join us sailing even if you don't have a V-32. The pond is a public pond and open to sailing by anyone at all times. However, we would ask that the regularly scheduled Club activities of racing V-32s be given priority on the assigned channels. Thank you for your cooperation.

V-32 Fleet

KMSC has only one fleet at this time. The V-32 fleet. We now have ten members. The races get very interesting while the lead as well as the last place positions change ownership with almost every race.

Come out and join us this spring! We start sailing in April.

The V-32 was chosen as the initial fleet because of its overall performance, reasonable cost, durability, factory build/kit option, and beauty. No other low-cost factory built boat comes in such a wide variety of hull and sail colors, and with a beautiful wood deck. This boat is manufactured in California and can be purchased online in as a kit or as a fully built, Ready-to-Sail (RTS) boat from the Victor Products factory. The V-32 is a recognized AMYA Class and boats participating in KMSC club racing as well as AMYA sanctioned events must comply with the V-32 Class rules.

THE Footy

This is AMYA's smallest sanctioned fleet. This cute little boat is only 12 inches long! KMSC does not have enough boats right now to even run a match race. However, some of our club members have expressed an interest in building these boats. If you have a Footy or are considering getting one, we can start a fleet and sail regularly at Delco Park. Please go to the Contacts page and let us know.

The Footy Class Rules allow almost any design or configuration that complies with the rules. Free plans are available and kits can be purchased online, but you can design, build, and race you own original "winner" as well. See Links for more information about this boat.

AMERICAN MODEL YACHTING ASSOCIATION

This is the US model sailboat association that keeps the sport of RC sailboat racing organized and fair. Please go to the AMYA web site to find the most complete compilation of information about this hobby.

If you are thinking of buying your first RC sailboat, please visit the AMYA FAQS and Getting Started pages to get some good advice about choosing the right boat. The AMYA Hints page contains a information about sailing and troubleshooting and is strongly recommended reading for novice and experienced sailors.