Bit late coming in on this, and my first post for a while, but…
Can I just point out to the people put off by the 'battle' idea a couple of things. As already said, it would be a tiny portion of the weekend, it'd be a bit like saying you're not going to the Warwick show, because for 15 minutes they've got a model car ferry on the pond and you only like tugs or something.
My 2nd point, will be quite harsh. Sadly, model boating has an image of old me sat in stripy deck chairs and knotted handkerchiefs, counting the rivets go by. As the members get old and die, the hobby is dying with it. Sailing scale models at a scale speed in a big circle, isn't really going to capture the imagination of the young, and inspire them. Something that's A: cheap, B: relatively easy to build, and C: is actually lively and fun to use when it is done, may well just encourage them to then make something else, and something after that etc…