Prepared two tug models on Saturday for the local club's Tug Towing event today (Sunday). Arrived at the lake and found buoys laid out for the sailing course but no one else there. Waited a half hour, listened to a Queen CD in car and watched joggers running around the lake, still no other members appeared so I drove home...?
Yes, I'll admit it was raining but I've never believed that this was a reason for abandoning a clubs event. Now I'm not advocating that you deliberately plan to sail in the rain but, in the UK at least, rain is hardly unexpected. Yet it is not uncommon to see some modelers at the first spot of rain quickly recover the their pride and joy and then dash for shelter. This is something I confess to finding amusing.
Our models are usually designed, built and finished to be waterproof. Well, at least the hull should be waterproof but the decks and superstructures should be at least "water-resistant" and able to cope with the inevitable splashes of water that occur on the sunniest of days. So, unless your model has a openings to allow rain inside, sailing in rain ought to be little problem.
A perhaps unrecognized benefit of sailing in rain is that it tends "flatten" the water's surface and produces small ripples that can be more in keeping with the scale of our models. The result can be a more lifelike appearance as the model moves through the water. Add the darkening, if not downright murkiness, that rain creates and photographs or video's taken under these condition could be hard to distinguish from the real things.
Like most things, there is a limit to how far you can sensibly push the idea of sailing in the rain. If it is really hammering down then delicate details on scale models could be damaged of even lost overboard. Also, whilst the human body is reasonably waterproof, getting your clothes drenched, especially on cold days, might not be such a good idea.
My first experience of rain sailing was many years ago when sailing a warship model. The rain started just after launching the model and I carried on sailing but moved to stand under a convenient tree. The rain increased and turned into a thunderstorm but I was amazed how realistic the model looked under these conditions, just as if it were ploughing through some miserable mid-Atlantic weather, the lightning flashes adding to the effect. It was only after returning home did I realise the aerial of my 27 MHz transmitter could have become a lightning conductor. This ought not to be a problem with 2.4 GHz RC outfits!
Glynn Guest
