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[dodes]

Hi everyone, thought I would give you all a bit of a laugh today. I have large RAF target tow boat (27 hundred class), I recently fitted a new  600 motor in it and also a 40mm 4x blade coarse prop, to see if I could improve on its speed. Went to the pond and there was a large swan there , anyway as it appeared to be going I put the boat in and started it up, it went like stink and the controller batteries started to fail, yes you guess right it rammed the swan up the Khyber and it showed its disapproval, I got the boat back minus several fittings and a man overboard lost at sea. But I have been contemplating altering it to the one of this class used as a fast courier launch at Great Harbour Greenock, so now i have no excuses to proceed. I remember having the privilege of using that launch once to do a boat transfer with a sub using its forward diving plane to transfer from. Great fun, she would start to plane at about 37 knots and over 42knots flat out. She is reputed to have left Faslane to go to Belfast did her business there and was back at Faslane in 5.5 hours. So the moral of the tale before trialling a boat make sure there is no Swans close by, totally my fault and not the swan(which unlike my boat was not harmed in any way.

[JimG]

Reminds me of an incident  quite a few years ago at Dundee. Our ponds have a family of swans that nest in one of the ponds but come down to the pond we use to feed (why they are called the Swannie Ponds) We were holding a fast electric race one Sunday and a swan swam next to the course during the race passing close to a corner bouy. The boats we were racing had a tendency to dive if they hit a wave going round a corner The swan arrived just as a boat was turning and it dived under the swan resurfacing on the other side, the swan just quietly swam on while we got on with the race. Note this was before 2.4 GHz so the boats had a small vertical aerial at the stern which must have hit the underside of the swan.
Jim

[Dave_S.]

At Oxford model boat club's water we have had quite a bit of trouble from an aggressive male swan. He attacked and badly damaged a friend's Dragon Force 65, and when he had replaced the yacht, the swan did it again.


The same swan flew/ran over the water from the far side of the pond to jump onto my metre long police boat, causing a fair bit of damage.


The swan is still there and has been seen attacking geese and generally acting like he owns the place.

[jaymac]

          The swan is still there and has been seen attacking geese and generally acting like he owns the place.




                  Bit like some Model Boat Clubs

[Colin Bishop]

The swan is still there and has been seen attacking geese and generally acting like he owns the place.

Common behaviour for this time of year, the swans are nesting and want to protect their eggs and the cygnets. They will attack any perceived threat. You can't blame them.

Colin

[Neil]

And so it should protect its  teritory............it's his for the mating/rearing season.............not a model boaters.


There are nine adult swans at the moment on Fleetwood lake.......and the boaters keep well clear...........

Just common sense and a duty to look after nature and beautiful birds............

Don't forget Swans are a ward of the Royal House hold and very strict penulties for anyone who injures of kills a swan in any way at all..........

STEER CLEAR OF THEM!!.........most will be gone by late june.

[kinmel]

We usually have swans at Colwyn Bay, eleven at once last summer and six at the moment.

We buy Swan & Duck feed pellets in 25Kg sacks, we give small bags of the feed to children visiting the park and ask them to feed birds in the far top corner of the lake away from us. Some families come to the lake every Sunday, just to feed our swans.   

As soon as our model boats appear, all the swans and ducks etc move quickly up to that top corner and leave us alone.   Eventually the swans move on along the coast to another of the many ponds.


A club that sailed at Llandudno used to run "Swan Herding" competitions - guiding the swans from one end of the lake to the other !    The swans seemed to enjoy mixing with the slow moving boats.

[Bunkerbarge]

So the moral of the tale before trialling a boat make sure there is no Swans close by,

Surely the moral of the tale is before trialling a boat ensure you have fresh batteries in the transmitter and receiver if necessary.   

[dodes]

Yep cannot agree more, have been toying of converting the model to RMAS Osprey, now it is happening. The only saving grace and which I am glad of the swan was not injured. They do appear to retreat normaly to the other end of the pond when the model boats are there. What really riles the swan are dogs, an it is known to come out after them.