We had a family gathering in Folly Beach, SC this past weekend so I looked up the local r/c sailing club and found out that they have club race events every Wednesday and Sunday. I sent an email to the webmaster at their website and was quickly invited to join in with the understanding that most of the club sails Soling One Meters. I packed up Bonnie, G’ma, the dog, and the boat and headed to the coast on Friday evening. After surfing with my brother, playing horseshoes, a low country boil, and a whole lot of relaxing on Saturday, I found the park and the beautiful pond easily on Sunday morning. We drove up a little late and there were already several boats on the water. Bonnie helped me carry some of the gear from the parking area across the street to pond side and I was immediately and enthusiastically greeted by the club’s Commodore, “Crazy Erv”. While setting up my boat, I inquired about radio channel and told Erv I was on 68. I was informed that there was already a club member on 68 and I felt myself on the verge of disappointment when Erv quickly said “no problem” and returned with a crystal set that I could use for the afternoon on 65. Elated, I quickly swapped out the crystals in the receiver and radio and finalized assembly of the boat.
At the beach house, the wind had been howling all weekend with gusts in excess of 22knots. At the pond, the breeze was a bit more gentle but there were some lulls, some crazy shifts, and some monster puffs still finding their way down the pond. The rest of my family eventually joined us and hung out at the park watching the racing as Erv creatively announced the races providing entertainment for all. Immediately Erv began referring to my boat as “Gray Ghost” and I think I like it. (NOTE: he later said that he always thought primer was fast for it’s hydroscopic properties….if ONE MORE person asks me “what color are you going to paint the boat”…..:-) )
I started my first ever r/c race with approximately 10 Soling One Meters and I was cautious to stay out of their way as I was the odd ball and didn’t want to mess with any club series or anything they had going on. I started in a big pack on the start line and struggled to get clear around the course. As I was near several other boats I steered wide letting them duke it out for their racing and I think I finished in 3rd. Several races later, I felt more comfortable mixing it up with these guys and when I started elbowing for starting room and getting clear, I would quickly jump out to a several boat length lead by the first mark as the US1M is a bit more powered up than the Solings. I won several races and didn’t win some more because of poor tactics or boat handling on my part. I did learn several new things about the boat and seeing it compete with other boats was very helpful (even though it wasn’t a fair fight). I’m ecstatic about the speed the boat displayed and several club members who were familiar with US1M boats expressed opinions that the boat has great potential and really had great speed when I wasn’t “dumb thumbing” it (my wording).
I also had my first ever collision with the boat as I tried to roll under a couple of starboard boats toward the finish line. I was also on starboard and close-hauled as one of the boats in this group peeled away reaching under the two other boats I was trying to pass (I believe he was trying to get somewhere he could do a penalty turn or get back to the mark he missed). I couldn’t see him through the other boats until it was too late and I t-boned him at full speed. Neither of us received any damage (although I am amazed he came out of it unscathed) but I was surprised at his reaction that seemed to imply that I was on port and at fault. I let it go since I really don’t know these personalities and I didn’t want to start a fuss.
As far as the boat performance goes, the mast and rig are not quite right yet. Under heavy close hauled pressure, the mast inverts and bends rearward in the middle even though I had a ton of backstay on. This is undoubtedly a result of having straight spreaders and I think installing a set of raked spreaders will prevent this reverse bending. The second issue I had was with the sheeting post in the middle of the boat being too high. The boom is not clearing it when the vang is really tight so I couldn’t crank on the vang and get the mainsail to gybe properly. Additionally, I was losing a lot of leech tension between setting it up on the beach and sailing - but I believe that is a result of not being able to maintain the mast prebend while under sailing loads. The last issue I had was with the Futaba servo. After about 1.5 hours of sailing, I lost the ability to sheet in under load. I would have to tack immediately after rounding C to give the servo a chance to reel in the sails. Once there, it would hold them fine. I had full rudder control so I doubted I was having a battery problem but I changed out the battery pack anyway to find that it didn’t solve the issue. I kept racing but will need to remove and test the servo later this week. I suspect something has gone awry inside the servo guts….I was impatient when I mounted that servo and radio board - removal of the servo is going to be difficult.
I want to take a moment to give a “shout-out” to the Charleston Model Yacht Club for being so inviting and accommodating to me and my one meter. I had a blast and can’t wait to go racing again! Next time, I hope to get some one design racing in for a fair challenge.








































