Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Model Boating => Topic started by: Dave_S. on April 11, 2024, 04:53:58 pm
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I was sailing my Robbe RP3 Police Boat at the Oxford Model Boat Club's water at Hinksey Park this afternoon. We have been aware of two swans who seem to be under the impression that it is their own personal stretch of water, and often hiss and move towards the boats. Today, the only swan there (we assume it is the male of the couple, the female may be incubating her eggs or caring for the cygnets), approached my boat while it was stationary on the water and jumped onto it, leaving the superstructure just afloat upside down, and the hull half full of water. I was able to drive it back to the bank, and then used the club's telescopic pole to retrieve the superstructure. Being an all plastic model, the full weight of the swan caused a fair amount of damage, and several fittings are now in a watery grave in the depths of the boating pond.
I had never seen a swan act so aggressively to a model before and wonder whether anyone has had a similar experience. I have often warned young parents with small children feeding the wildfowl about the aggressive swans, and I have been told that the swans have recently attacked a swimmer in the adjacent larger lake, and broken the mast of an R/C yacht on the boating lake.
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Swans are pretty big animals and on my temporary residences here in Oz we have the Pelicans. I suspect they could do even more damage with their large beaks/bills.
I wonder what one would serve with roasted swan?
Roy
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I think if you roasted a swan you'd serve time in jail! They are under the protection of the King.
Are pelicans as aggressive as swans?
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I wonder what one would serve with roasted swan?
Up to six months
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:D :D :D :D :-))
Roy
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It is the breeding season so Swans are very protective of their territory just now. On one of our local (non boating) ponds the Cob is constantly chasing off the resident Canada Geese.
Colin
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The swan that attacked my boat has a nest on the adjacent larger lake, apparently. They often follow our boats around but I haven't seen one attempt to sink one like it did today. I'll try to put a few hours in on it tomorrow and have it ready to sail again in Sunday. The swan was lucky not to have stabbed itself on the wire aerials on my boat.
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One of our club members had his boat blown up against a swim rope by the wind.
A passing mother duck, with her ducklings took offense, jumped on top of the model and
stomped and flapped till the model was sunk, and no longer considered a threat.
It happens... {:-{
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One of our club members had his boat blown up against a swim rope by the wind.
A passing mother duck, with her ducklings took offense, jumped on top of the model and
stomped and flapped till the model was sunk, and no longer considered a threat.
It happens... {:-{
Good grief, I've always thought of ducks as fairly docile creatures. I hope to have my Police Boat ready to return to the water by Sunday, but I need to find room on my workbench!
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We must have different swans in north Wales. Outside the mating season we usually have between 8 and 12 swans on the lake and enjoy "swan herding" almost as a competition. We use a team of 3 boats to move the swans from one corner to opposite one. Do it slowly and they move across very regally.
Once there we reward them with Swan and Duck food (https://www.food4wildbirds.co.uk/product/swan-duck-food/).
Each small child walking around the lake while we are sailing is given a small bag of the food and then sent up to the far end to spread the food onto the water. That keeps our launch and recovery area free of the birds.
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We’ve had numerous wildlife related incidents at our lake over the years, the ones where the fast boats are involved rarely end well for the bird, but recently a goose picked a scale boat as it’s target for landing and sunk it instantly. We’ve had a moorhen jump on top of a stopped Prather tunnel boat, a duck try to jump on top of a tug and a group of ducks try to attack a radio controlled decoy duck.
The latest (and probably funniest) incident was when I put out the bouys for the sailing boats to steer round a couple of weeks back. A cygnet took a particular liking to one of the bouys and decided to have a go at it, video linked below. It was at this for a good 10 minutes, and has been spotted since doing the same thing…
https://youtube.com/shorts/n7ep81ZY5CQ?si=bIy6ZMceHgj-_RSf (https://youtube.com/shorts/n7ep81ZY5CQ?si=bIy6ZMceHgj-_RSf)
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We must have different swans in north Wales. Outside the mating season we usually have between 8 and 12 swans on the lake and enjoy "swan herding" almost as a competition. We use a team of 3 boats to move the swans from one corner to opposite one. Do it slowly and they move across very regally.
Once there we reward them with Swan and Duck food (https://www.food4wildbirds.co.uk/product/swan-duck-food/).
Each small child walking around the lake while we are sailing is given a small bag of the food and then sent up to the far end to spread the food onto the water. That keeps our launch and recovery area free of the birds.
Good jpb you don't have the RSPCA inspector who regularly watches to ensure we don't go near any water bird :police:
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The latest (and probably funniest) incident was when I put out the bouys for the sailing boats to steer round a couple of weeks back. A cygnet took a particular liking to one of the bouys and decided to have a go at it, video linked below. It was at this for a good 10 minutes, and has been spotted since doing the same thing…
That might explain why the Oxford club's buoys often wander around when we're not there.
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We have a resident pair of swans on our home lake who have raised a brood (or whatever a group of cygnets is called) there for the last three years, and are currently incubating a clutch of eggs. They are very familiar with model boats and generally leave them alone (unless really provoked by a rare near miss or collision). There is an island in the lake where their nest is so they aren't bothered by people or dogs. The only time we need to be careful is just after the cygnets have hatched and are learning to swim around, when mum and dad (especially dad) get very protective. Dad is also used to being fed and can get quite insistent, pecking at your shoes or nipping your legs, fortunately not to the pint of injury. All that said, I think we are fortunate that our swans are comfortable living with us and our boats, and we are very happy to have them. Picture of last year's crop -
(https://modelboatmayhemimages.co.uk/images/2024/04/12/swans.jpg)
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Here in Dundee we have co existed with swans for many years (in fact our pond is known as the Swannie Ponds) Their nesting site is on an island in seperate pond but they regularly come to our pond for food. They are well used to models and normally stay away from us but do occasionally come through our sailing area if they think there are members of the public with food. We have had one coming through the course while a fast electric race was taking place, just swimming sedately onwards. On one occasion it was next to a bouy and one boat trying to get out of its way hit a wave and submerged passing under the swan and surfacing on the other side of it. The swan wasn't fazed and just kept on going. (No swans were harmed in the running of these races)
Jim
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We used to have a similar problem in Southend where there were a pair of aggressive swans who would attack models without sails particularly if they had any cygnets about. The only thing they liked better was female ducks who they would drive off the water and if they were able to produce any ducklings the male swan would kill them I actually saw this happen!
For some reason they were generally fine with yachts as long as you stayed clear. The swans have gone now as a younger pair drove them away and the new swans seem to be perfectly fine with the models and no issues as far as I'm aware.
Quite a few years ago a member of the public put his yacht in the water near the swans and cygnets and before we could warn him the male was on the yacht and smashed it and sunk it.
Swans can be very territorial at times and there is little we can do about it. If you have a fast launch just sail away as its unlikely they will pursue or if they do you have plenty of time to get the model safe.
I sail on other lakes with swans and they have never been a problem and have showed no interest in the models. I guess it varies swan by swan!!
I believe the King only owns swans in a certain region of the Thames but the rest are protected under various wildlife legislation with stiff penalties - Otherwise I would suggest about 25 mins per pound and onions at 200C!!
Cheers
Geoff
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There was one very funny incident a few years ago as a member radio controlled a decoy swan and the real swan came racing up the lake paddling furiously and he was faster than the decoy so a race ensured across the lake with the swan gaining ground - he wasn't amused at all!! The owner manged to get the decoy out just before the swan got it. If I'm honest we all wanted to see what would happen as he ignored every other boat on the lake!! :-)
Cheers
Geoff
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A police boat ?, Just no respect, no respect at all !
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A police boat ?, Just no respect, no respect at all !
Absolutely, the swan in question is of a very dubious character. I might need reinforcements to arrest him for his crimes, though.
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Another incident from Dundee, many years ago the resident cob died and some dozen or so swans spent a couple of weeks fighting for ownership of the ponds. Traffic was forced to stop on the adjacent road at times when the battles spilled over into it and sailing was largely suspended because of the risk of collateral damage. We even had one loser hide in our clubhouse till the coast was clear. It just sat down behind the door and dared anyone to go near it!
Ralph
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The RSPCA have powers, the rspb on the other hand.....
I thought it was just drone userd and some model fliers that were a problem.....
Give swans particularly a very wide berth and respect, it's their water habitat as well. Don't give the rspb any ammunition.
Enjoy the waters....
I/we do not fly during lambing season at the "field"...
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Good jpb you don't have the RSPCA inspector who regularly watches to ensure we don't go near any water bird :police:
We think the swans see the boats and think of food. O0
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We think the swans see the boats and think of food. O0
I think the swans see the boats and think of threat. The swan last Thursday wasn't trying to eat my boat, just to kill it and sink it.
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On one of our local (non boating) ponds the Cob is constantly chasing off the resident Canada Geese.
Colin
Thank goodness! Dreadful animals, very embarrassing that they're named after my country. No idea who thought it would be a good idea to import them over there, I guess we'll call it even for carp and gypsy moths.
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We have Canada (sorry, eh) geese on our lake, they’re an absolute menace. Thankfully though when the swans have young they chase the entire flock away %)
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Our club's water isn't very large, though there is an adjacent lake which is much bigger, but we don't use it as anything other than a controlled return to the launch point would mean a lost model. The swans live on the big lake, but spend a lot of time on 'our' pond as people walk there and often feed the swans (and the ducks and geese, if the swans let them).
I'll be there in an hour or so with a different boat (police boat requires more bench time to repair the damage inflicted on Thursday), hopefully the swans will keep themselves to themselves.
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We have Canada (sorry, eh) geese on our lake, they’re an absolute menace. Thankfully though when the swans have young they chase the entire flock away %)
We had problems with them at one particular sailing location, or rather, problems with their poop absolutely despoiling everything in sight, pond and shoreline. I'd estimate their population in the city alone as well into the thousands. People of course love to feed them which is like giving laxatives to a hippo and sending it around a public park.
Thankfully we haven't had any violent incidents, they prefer to go after people on the shoreline who they think are withholding bread from them.
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No sign of the swans at the club's water yesterday, and today I started on repairs to the boat that was jumped on. I think I've done all I can to the superstructure, there're a few fittings missing, but I can live with that. Hoping to get the deck/hull join resealed tomorrow. I popped into Howes this morning and bought glue/solvent suitable for ABS. With luck, it'll be back on the water by Thursday's afternoon meet at the pond.