Here’s how to go sailing, no worries, without getting your feet wet. No HR issues either with finding and retaining crew. And all for a lot less outlay than a boat and a mooring or a trailer or new marina berth. And, probably, more bang for your buck by way of uncomplicated fun.
Welcome to the world of radio-controlled yachting, via the Waiheke Island Radio Yacht Club or Nelson Radio Sailing Club Inc – the newest and perhaps the oldest clubs for radio-controlled yachts in the country.
Here’s how to get into it.
STEP ONE: Mosey on down to their patches of sailing water, to chat with the yacht racers and to see if steering one of these slim sailing machines rings your bells. The skippers will be happy to talk while piloting their craft. Only don’t expect eye contact. That’s reserved exclusively for the diminutive sailboats out there.
STEP TWO: Buy a DragonForce 65 one-design model yacht. They are surprisingly cheap; only a coupla hundred bucks, and come complete with the radio, a display stand, and options for three rigs of differing mast height and sail area. There are other, often more complicated, classes of radio-control yachts – but these DragonForces appear to be the best/easiest place to start
Personalise your boat with dazzle paint or groovy graphics, all the better to identify it in the fleet from
