Locals enjoy Radio Control Sailing Club at VOA Park

Nick Graham/Staff photographer The Radio Control Sailing Club of Cincinnati gathered Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at Voice of America Park.

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Mark McCormick competes in a race during a gathering of the Radio Control Sailing Club of Cincinnati Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at Voice of America Park in West Chester Twp.

Nick Graham/Staff photographer Mark McCormick competes in a race during a gathering of the Radio Control Sailing Club of Cincinnati Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at Voice of America Park in West Chester Twp.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Haley Day, Contributing Writer 2:51 PM Monday, April 25, 2011

WEST CHESTER TWP. — A 7-miles per hour wind streams over Jerry Callahan’s sail boat as he pushes downwind and lets his sails out.

“That’s where you want to be, where there’s more ripples in the water. You see that puff of wind?” Callahan, of Trenton, asks as he motions to the lake, his feet planted on the shore.

His Soling One Meter isn’t a “people boat,” as the sailor of about 70 years says, but a model of the 27-foot-long Soling keelboat, used in Olympic sailing. He can’t climb aboard the 10-pound model he pilots with a radio controller, but can still skipper the replica just like his 18-foot Y-Flyer boat, as he’s done with sail boats since he was 15.

At Voice of America Park in West Chester Twp., 29 members of the Radio Control Sailing Club of Cincinnati sail at 6 p.m., every Tuesday from April to mid-October, and at 1:30 p.m. Thursdays, starting in May.

New boats are purchased, readymade, for around $600, or used, starting at about $200. Most members build boats from kits at around $400 from Victor Model Products in California that take about 70 hours for experienced craftsmen to build.

All boats have the same measurements, but sailors can use different controllers and batteries, and rig the rudders and sails to the controllers differently. Before sailing, members can adjust the shape of the sails.

Each race is about one-third of a mile, or about 15 minutes long. Eight races on every other Tuesday are averaged over the season and a trophy is given to the member with the most wins.

“Tonight, it’s just for bragging rights,” says Callahan, who won half the races he was in, Tuesday, April 19.

“It’s hard to beat Jerry, he’s a sailing instructor,” said Ken Tatsuno, 65, from Loveland, who has sailed few large boats, and began the hobby for its calming sense and to maintain depth perception and concentration.

“I don’t know all the rules of sailing, but I do it for fun,” Tatsuno said.

A $10 fee is issued to join.

For more information, contact Callahan at aftermath2@juno.com or Bob Bottenhorn at (513) 681-5705.

More online

Victor Model Products: www.victor-model.com Radio Control Sailing Club of Cincinnati: www.rcscc.org  American Model Yachting Association Soling One Meter: www.theamya.org/boats/s1m

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