Glad to hear that people actually enjoyed the IC racing :)
Well here is my report on the Llanberis weekend its been sent to OMRA so fingers crossed guys!
Model Boat Mayhem Llanberis weekend
we were invited to an event held in the north of Wales in a place called Llanberis. The event was organised by a group called Model Boat Mayhem and the administrator was a man called Dave Jones (but as we knew him Stavros). Dave organised and controlled the whole day alongside him was his right hand man (steamboat) Phil. All throughout the day different boats set sail on the three lagoons each one having a different purpose. There where competitions held and we flew the OMRA flag high and proud winning a few of them ourselves. We saw Tugs, Grey boats, Springer’s, steam boats and even submarines and each one was controlled differently to the other. Some of the club members allowed us to control their boats and have a go; in exchange we answered questions they wished to know about our club and boats. We also took part in a night sail with electric and pilot boats with torches and LED lights all over them trying to support them as much as they supported us during our demo of how fast our boats really can go.
The weekend was extremely well organised with a first aider on site all day to help if needed, lucky he wasn’t but he had a great time experiencing all the different types of boats with his son. There was a lady called Margret who handed out free tea and coffee making sure we were all well watered and she was even nice enough to fill our flasks before we headed home. The warden showered us with intriguing visits and he looks forward to next year seeing more of the OMRA crew and there speed demon boats. There were two trade stalls on site, Model Power and Component Shop, where people bought fittings and electronics for their boats.
The venue was very sheltered by the surrounding Snowdonia National Parks’ mountains so the little amount of wind gave us a flat calm lake. The lake was huge, roughly 1 mile wide with a length of around 2 – 2 ½ mile (Plenty of room for our boats, big and small). The car park was £3.00 for the day with toilets next to the slate museum and there were train rides up to mount Snowdon suitable for all the family. There was always something to do even if you weren’t very interested in the boats.
There weren’t as many OMRA members there as expected as many pulled out at the last minute but we did have our representatives. Doing such a marvellous job so far, we have been invited back to do our stuff again next year! Many members of the model boat mayhem and the public seemed very interested in what we do and how it’s organised, questions where thrown around and answered easily so that they could be understood. We helped out a new member of the OMRA club called Gary who has made his boat by scratch due to sheer interest in IC racing. Over the weekend he had various problems and after some help from Bill Warder and Robin Butler his boat was soon up and running! With thanks to Andy and his waders for constant launching and retrieving, things finally worked out for Gary. He was so determined to make his boat run well he won the Welsh leek award for perseverance. So by helping new members of OMRA while we were there everyone seemed happy and all the boats worked well in the end! It was a decent and enjoyable experience for all, exchanging knowledge on subjects and just being helpful all round.
Overall I would say it was a very successful and enjoyable experience to be able to share our knowledge and experiences with newbie racers and the members of the model boat mayhem who haven’t even saw an IC boat race before! We learnt a lot about the other boats and even about our own , we were well looked after and basically had a ecstatic time, it is recommended that next year you go even if you only turn up for the one day because it’s a lot of fun and new friends can be made.
Report by Sally Butler
OMRA representatives
Bill Warder
Andrew Nightingale
Robin Butler
Gary and the Davey Jones Locker Club
Author
Topic: Mayhemers weekend in Sunny Llanberis 2008 (Read 163803 times)