THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9408140079
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
It was a fine day for racing. A stiff breeze. Bright sun and blue sky. The 11 yachts, with their high twin sails and sleek hulls, cut across water while their skippers maneuvered their crafts to be first between two buoys that marked the finish line.
The skippers, though, stood not on the decks of their boats but on the bulkhead beside Nauticus in Town Point Park. They twiddled radio transmitters and anxiously paced back and forth on the bulkhead, looking a bit like dogs watching their masters from shore.
The men had come from as far away as Florida and Vermont to race their boats - loving creations crafted by hand. The occasion was the Virginia Harbor Fleet Model Regatta, an invitational event sponsored by Festevents. The event goes on today from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Francis Angel, 53, had come with his wife, Linda, from Graham, N.C. Dressed all in white, including a jaunty hat, Angel kneeled on the grass about noon Saturday and adjusted the rigging of his boat, Windsong.
Like other men, Angel said he sailed for fun, but he was a bit more open about the competition part.
``It's fun, but it's more fun if you win,'' he said wryly in a Carolina drawl.
``Every time you put your boat in the water, you put your manhood in the water with it.''
Building the boat was part of the fun, Angel said. Although a few parts were pre-made, Angel's boat was mostly his own creation, like the other craft there. Windsong's sleek-looking aluminum boom, for example, had been made from the shaft of an arrow.
The fasteners between boom and mast were the remnants of an old key chain.
Windsong had cost Angel about $2,000 over the 12 years he had been racing. The minimum to build a boat was about $500, others said.
Linda Angel came to watch but not to race. All the racers at Saturday's event were men, which was typical, the yachtsmen said.
The tinkering, the competition, seemed to appeal to the little boys in men who once assembled model airplanes or raced toy cars.
Saturday's racing, Angel said, was difficult. Model boats most often are sailed on placid ponds with unruffled surfaces. But in Saturday's midsized chop and strong wind, the boats resembled full-sized sloops in heavy seas.
The sailors though, were happy to be racing. They said they were particularly grateful for Norfolk's hospitality. Festevents had given the men free lodging and meals, an unusual occurrence for them. The nearby Marriott Hotel had donated hotel rooms, so the total cost was only about $1,000, said Karen Scherberger, executive director of Festevents.
The yachts raced around a triangle-shaped course marked off by buoys in the small harbor in front of Nauticus.
Half of the 22 skippers competed in each heat. Carter Cain, regatta director and an expert model racer, said he expects to hold 20 to 25 heats by 1 p.m. today, the end of the event.
The small boats race under the same rules as full-sized yachts in the America's Cup races with a few modifications.
The American Model Yachting Association governs the races and building of the boats.
The sport, said Joe Lupton of Newport News, actually goes back hundreds of years when yachtsmen built models of their favorite sloops and raced them across ponds. The introduction of radio-controlled sails and rudders came in the 1950s.
Lupton is a model racer, but was not participating in this weekend's event.
Many of the yachtsmen here also said they have boats they could actually stand on, but not everyone. Francis Angel's only boating is with his model yachts.
``You get more actual playing time with these,'' said Linda Angel, pointing to her husband's two miniature yachts.
``And you don't have all that cleanup and mess that you do with a regular boat.'' by CNB