Great setup Bill. Your in the L.A. area right? What pond is that? Did you pick up your Ozone from Steve?
What's up Rhino.. I'm in Cali, but not quite the LA area, I live up here in Nor-Cal in San Francisco, and the gorgeous lake you see me running at is the famous Spreckles Lake..
This pond was built over a century ago with the sole purpose of being uesd for Model boats..
The place has a model Maritime Museum with boats that date back to the 20's!!!
Read this, now this is NEAT!:
In other words, it’s a model of a lake: less than 1,000 feet long by 500 feet wide, 5 feet deep in the middle with vertical edges to prevent boats from running aground.
The lake was built in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in 1903, named for Adolph B. Spreckels, scion of the Spreckels Sugar Company. As San Francisco Park Commissioner, Spreckels was committed to the development of Golden Gate Park.
Established in 1898, the San Francisco Model Yacht Club serves as primary custodian to the lake. Its members sail regularly throughout the week and the club often stages special events such as races, parades, tug boat and barge pulls and displays of building craftsmanship.
Adjacent to the lake, the group’s clubhouse was built as a WPA project in 1937. It serves as a boat storage facility and meeting site.
According to the San Francisco Yacht Club website:
When the club house is open and attended by a member, all are welcome to come in and have a look at our beautiful collection of boats, most of which are in sailing condition and operational. And of course, the lake is open to everyone, regardless of whether one is a member. The lake is available to powerboats from 10:00am until 1:00pm, and to sail boats from 1:00pm on. The only proviso is that normal courtesy prevails with regard to radio frequencies and sailing rules.
“In the early days,” notes the website, “carefully crafted sailboats were released from the shore and allowed to sail freely while their owners watched closely and kept them away from the lake edge with long poles.”
A sailboat makes its way along Spreckels Lake.
Even in this time of cheap and ubiquitous radio control, some free-sailer boatsmen take pride in their ability to achieve hands-off navigation.
