Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[offshore1987]

Hello boys and girls

After all the messing about with the Langestone advent and the member that tried to do something and pulled the plug, I thought to myself dang it i will try and do something myself, with no outside people messing about with it ( trying to help or not )

Have spent a lot of time thinking planing and talking to the locals and right people and so on

After looking at a number of lakes and waters and finding more problems than its worth, have come across a perfect place, the Chichester Canal.

Around the 2 Mile mark from the basin to the cross over bridge, easy path to walk along and great viewing of your model the whole distance. But wait you say 2 Miles isn't another god no the plan is to go from the basin to the bridge then back to the basin   Around the 4 mile mark.

First rule, ONLY electric powered boats, pretty much what ever you want, scale, fishing, tug, submarine... Anything  
               ( NOTHING other than Electric )

Rule two, NO boats to go over WALKING pace at any time ( For the electric powered craft )
              This is not a RACE  its an ENDURANCE run

Rule Three, AT all times you will move out of the way for ANY other full sized craft on the water, in GOOD time not to hinder the other craft.

Rule four, AT all times you will not hinder or annoy anyone FISHING folk.
              They have the right of way and have paid to be there!

Rule five, very simple don't go in the water to recover a boat, someone will be on hand to get models.


Their will be THREE class's

Class ONE, any Electric boat to do the ENDURANCE trail

Class TWO, any yacht or sail boat that wishes to try the ENDURANCE trail at a slower pace

Class THREE, any yacht or sail boat that wishes to RACE the ENDURANCE distance ( 1st, 2nd, 3rd will be award something )


Date to be added, but it will be in the next 2 or 3 months

The best thing about this, is it will be FREE for all to enter, but please do by tea and food from the canal trusts shop at the basin   ( i can happy say its ace as i was stuffing my face yesterday there, and its very cheap )

I will probs think of more things to add as time goes on, but it is fresh water so no salt water moaners, poping your boat in the water is perfectly easy with some very good access, we will more than likely be joined by the Chichester canal model boat club ( which is free to JOIN ) One last thing please do not turn up with anything other than a model boat, a model boat is not something you can sit in or on...


Thanks for looking and who's up for it?

Daniel

Please see pictures below

Basin



Half way





Crossover bridge









Highlighted a few thing for you Daniel!  
 Martin

[Neil]

Looks very well organised, and simplified to it's best form. and I hope you do well.......enjoy the sail.
neil.

[triumphjon]

looks good dan , you can count both ann and myself to join you , with the possibitlity of both kev , meg  , and mark providing it isnt clashing with any of the olyimpic marshalling hes already involved with

[offshore1987]

Thanks Neil, am going to try and keep it simple as pos

Nice one Triumph ( john ) i was hoping to get at least 10 people but you have got half anyways 

Hopefully we can do it as a yearly thing then that might get the colleges and schools to take part by buildin a boat or two with solar power, askin the papers to come and so on to make people notice the canal which would help the trust ( in the next few years ) maybe im thinkin to big but its nice to aim for something in the long run

Anyone else that fancys a go just say so we can try to get a ruf guess at the amount of people, but ofcourse you dont have to sign up for anything and its free so just turning up on the day is all good  Main aim of the day is to have fun


Thanks

Daniel

[Colin Bishop]

I recently walked the canal from the basin down to the harbour and, as the photos show, it is a lovely spot and ideal for an event of this type as long as the boats can be recovered if necessary. I don't have anything with the endurance required but would hope to come along and watch if possible.

It would certainly be nice to see a regular event of this nature, the canal people are very friendly and do nice food!

Colin

[offshore1987]

Spot on about the food 

Recovery will be on the water via a kayak or small tender on the day  but recover points arewell  spred out along the bank

Daniel 

[offshore1987]

Few other notes that might need to be made clear

Parkin is upto you, there are a few car parks and so on around/near the area, nothing will be laid on

Models need to be of a good size to carry incase you dont make the distance it will need to be carryed along the canal, back to your car or the basin ( upto you ) This is comon sense but just incase 

Much the same with most lakes

Anything else anyone wants to ask or bring faward please do  This is something that will be hopefully run from the forum if Martin allows, so if you would like to comment please do join the forum, hopefully will be a joint run frendly advent with chichester model boat club, but a chat with them will take place propley over the next few weeks, then a date can be set for either a sunday or saturday, if we do a Saturday then we wont clash with the club.

Thanks

Daniel

[Colin Bishop]

The canal towpath is mainly packed gravel so a trolley would be feasible for recovery.

Colin

[Martin (Admin)]

You could always bring a fishing rod and tow your own boat home if yo run out of battery power.

[tugnut]

This sounds interesting, not to far to come 

[Colin Bishop]

Boats could always be ferried back by car from the halfway bridge.

It needs to be noted that onsite parking at the canal basin is limited although you can always drop off models. There is a council car park at Basin Road a few minutes' walk away, albeit with the usual council car parking charges of £4 for over 5 hours. There is no free parking around Chichester centre unfortunately.

Colin

[Guy Bagley]

could be fun.... just needing a date as it may be close or during my summer holiday....have no idea if my boat will cover 4 miles.... only one way to find out !

[offshore1987]

You could always bring a fishing rod and tow your own boat home if yo run out of battery power.

The canal towpath is mainly packed gravel so a trolley would be feasible for recovery.

Colin

Perfect idears, the only thing with the fishing rod would be to get around any of the guys fishing, but im sure if some tugs are going they could lend a hand in towing back some boats

There isnt much chop at all on the canal and at a walkin pace i would hope most boats would make the distance, even if alittle driftin is needed

Daniel

[offshore1987]

Boats could always be ferried back by car from the halfway bridge.

It needs to be noted that onsite parking at the canal basin is limited although you can always drop off models. There is a council car park at Basin Road a few minutes' walk away, albeit with the usual council car parking charges of £4 for over 5 hours. There is no free parking around Chichester centre unfortunately.

Colin

Very nicely noted, the parkin is alittle hit or miss apart from the car park, as stated im sure dropin off a model wouldnt be a problem, if left with a trusted person while you park

It looks like there may be a fair few Micro magics that would like to come along so if anyone on here wants to try? 

And bait boats, why not?? Good way to test how long they run for

Date will be added over the next few weeks, as soon as i know you guys will

Thanks

Daniel

[Colin Bishop]

Just set up a supervised boat pound at the basin so that people can safely drop off their models and kit while they park. I would be happy to help out depending on the date.

Colin

[unbuiltnautilus]

Sounds interesting. We have run the manned battleships down the canal a number of times and may be able to provide these as safety boats, with walkie talkies for 'ship to shore' communication. We would have to sit in them though

[offshore1987]

Sounds interesting. We have run the manned battleships down the canal a number of times and may be able to provide these as safety boats, with walkie talkies for 'ship to shore' communication. We would have to sit in them though

Thats kind to offer but not something at this advent, i did see the vids of, one of your boats bashin around the basin on youtube sometime ago. Safty boats will be about, all be it myself doing the saftyin rather than using a model on the day, im happy to not play but to help others

At first guess it will even be my kayak or a blow up tender, had kinda been tempted to use a fishing whip, to get back the models to the side of the canal, but that brings its own risks, chunky boat = fine, detailed boats = bits fallin off

Its a nice run along the canal with no weed seen the other day, other than in the basin itsself, normal electric powered boats will be 100% fine, the yachts will have to be alittle more well controled as to not tack and hit the offside bank  again i dont see a problem myself as long as your not lookin away from the model for more than 2 mins, wind can be perfect on one turn and gone on the next so again some skill needs to be their on the yachts, im sure electric models can aid some stuck boats along the way as well, a pusher would be perfect.

Colin that sounds ace, as long as we dont shut off or put anything up propley it would be fine, at a guess i would say its a safe place with a police station just across the road.


To please alot of people  and to make it easyer and so on for people that have to travel to come along, it will be a chilled out day with a 1pm turn up and 2pm start, no rushing around early braking models ( hopefully this sounds fair to everyone? )

Daniel 

[Colin Bishop]

Chichester is busy on Saturdays, I'm not sure to what extent the Basin car park fills up (might be worth checking)  but you could arrive earlier and have something to eat at the Basin cafe beforehand. As Daniel says, just make it a fun day out in attractive surroundings.

Colin

[offshore1987]

Chichester is busy on Saturdays, I'm not sure to what extent the Basin car park fills up (might be worth checking)  but you could arrive earlier and have something to eat at the Basin cafe beforehand. As Daniel says, just make it a fun day out in attractive surroundings.

Colin

Going down on a sat and sunday to have a ganders, at the parking and to see how many people are fishing on each day, at a guess i would say the sunday would be worse for the amount of anglers as they sometimes do matchs on the sundays, and its more of a fishy day  The other plus with the Sat is if the weather is bad we can use the sunday as a lay day 

Im kinda thinkin of sortin out a springer for the day as well ( buildin one if time allows ) that can be walked along the canal and put in when needed 

With the ganders on the weekend soon to come will also take a model and probley John if hes about and we can have ago and test it propley and see if we have any problems with the route  ( plus it gives an excuse to go fishing and play with models 

If time allows will have alittle walk as well and take pic or two of the near by parking, havnt seen the carpark myself as i parked in a near by road

Daniel

[pompebled]

Hi Daniel,

That's a very nice initiative!
If I didn't live on the other side of the Channel, I'd be tempted to join you.

I do something similar overhere nearly every weekend, if the weather allows, if there's sufficient wind with my 1M Voyager sailyacht, if the conditions are not so favourable, with my modified Dickie tug, I circumvent our town.

Both boats can run up to 4-5 hours continuously, so those 4 miles (= 6,4 Km, right?) would be a piece of cake...

I hope you have a nice run and lots of boats joining you.

Regards, Jan.

[offshore1987]

Hi Daniel,

That's a very nice initiative!
If I didn't live on the other side of the Channel, I'd be tempted to join you.

I do something similar overhere nearly every weekend, if the weather allows, if there's sufficient wind with my 1M Voyager sailyacht, if the conditions are not so favourable, with my modified Dickie tug, I circumvent our town.

Both boats can run up to 4-5 hours continuously, so those 4 miles (= 6,4 Km, right?) would be a piece of cake...

I hope you have a nice run and lots of boats joining you.

Regards, Jan.

Thank you kind sir, would of been nice for you to join us  Like you have said i think most models will do the run with ease, though most modelers probley dont know just how long there boat will run for, we normaly ( when the weathers right ) sail the magic for at least 3 hours 

All the best budy

Dan

[triumphjon]

jon is very often about , so will gladly join dan on his trial run along the towpath !

[offshore1987]

jon is very often about , so will gladly join dan on his trial run along the towpath !

Good news 

Dan

[unbuiltnautilus]

Looks like an interesting event, might come along. Nice to leave the big battleships at home. You may need more than one rescue boat though...

[offshore1987]

Update on the run, triumph ( John ) is going to be joint running this with me, hopefully one of us will be about on here to help people when the other isnt

You could be right about the safty side, the only people i would at a guess get stuck are the yachtys    90% of yachts are rather tuff bits of kit and most can be helped out of problems with a fishing whip ( much like a fishing pole with out the elastic )  although there arnt going to be range problems so no excuses 


Dan