We are a radio-controlled model yacht club and we sail from a beautiful location at the water sport and fitness centre at Lo Pagan on the Mar Menor. We sail on Wednesdays from 11am to 1pm with an hour or so either end to set up and pack away. We are multicultural and currently have members from the U.K. Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Spain. The boats we currently sail are from the class IOM. International one meter. As the name implies, they are a world class boat and the models we sail are the same ones being sailed by the top skippers in the world.
The 2022 worlds’ just finished in Croatia, the Spanish champion whom we sometimes sail with, came sixth. There were entries from many far-flung countries including Ukraine, that’s not to imply that we are at that skill level yet’!
One of the most successful designs to date is the Britpop designed by a top skipper in the U.K. and built in the U.K. and Spain and a good used one can easily change hands for €1500 without radio or rigs. The boats need three different suits of sails to suit different wind conditions, A suit being the most often used, an A rig main and jib sell for £84 for the bare sails and suitable for light to moderate conditions. On top of that is the mast and booms and all the rigging. Oh, and the radio another €150 minimum new.
Setting all this up is not for the novice but we will always guide people willing to try. The easiest route is to buy second hand, and these can be had locally from about €600 for a complete outfit ready to sail still competitive at club level
To be able to sail competitively takes a lot of practice and there are many adjustments and tweaks that make for good results. Although we are predominantly male retirees there are both young and old, females and youngsters.
The most common question we get asked is “ where is the propeller “ these boats are only wind powered the sails are by a winch and there is a servo that works the rudder for steering although in reality in medium to strong winds the boat is actually “aimed” by the angle of the sails.
There are some quite good “out of the box “boats available now and they mostly sail well but They can’t compete with an IOM in most cases they are smaller and not suitable for the open sea only for ponds and lakes. Despite the fact that there are quite a few very good Spanish sailors there are not actually very many venues. Several times a year there are regattas held at Torrevieja and there have been international events there too but it is not a club venue like Lo Pagan.
Even some of our members travel for an hour or more to sail and we have one travels from Calpe. Most of these skippers only sail at regattas and they often travel from one end of the country to the other to compete. There are some very big clubs in France and one of the best is at Pierlotte where the worlds were held a few years ago. There was excellent film and commentary coverage and it can still be watched by putting “IOM worlds Pierlotte into you tube.
This is such a satisfying hobby the scenery is amazing, it’s silent, no noise or pollution but at competition level quite stressful the level of concentration required is quite tiring.
Come along and join us you can always go into the restaurant above for a coffee and watch us from the balcony.
