I’m into building and sailing radio controlled model sailboats. In August of 2009, I went to the Tualatin Crawfish Festival (the oldest in the nation – but that’s another story). Part of the festival was a model boat show at the Tualatin Commons pond. There was a contingent in attendance from the Oregon Model Yacht Club (OMYC) sailing their radio controlled model yachts. One of the members graciously handed me the control of his boat and I had my first RC sailing experience. It was so much like real sailing and I was hooked! I decided to build a boat and chose a Footy as a first boat. Footy is a developmental class, meaning there are a few rules and that any boat that lives within them is OK. A major feature of the rules is that the hull must fit within a box 12” long X 12” deep X 6” wide. The paucity of specific rules means that one Footy might look (and sail) very differently than another (as you’ll see from my three Footys included here). For a while I worked unsuccessfully with a couple of other skippers to gain acceptance of Footys within OMYC. We decided to go our own way and form a new club. The Rose City Model Sailing Club (RCMSC) was sanctioned by the American Model Yachting Association as Club # 311 in March 2011. While our primary emphasis is on promoting, building and sailing Footys, we decided to add a second class of boat, the Micro Magic. This German-designed boat is a bit bigger at 21″ long. Two RCMSC members have Micro Magics in the water and a third (me) is in the process of building one. We welcome skippers of Footys and Micro Magics to join us. Whether you have a boat or not, if you are interested in finding out what RC model sailing is all about, visit our website and our Facebook page, and plan to join us for some fun sailing.

Looking into servo swing arm design alternatives while building my Razor 3, I was intrigued by the Powerlever developed by Roger Stollery in the UK for his Bug 3 Footy. Heres a link to plans for the BUG 3, as well as plans for a more recent design, the AWK. Both plans provide details on the Powerlever swing arm. Roger is an incredible asset to all things Footy!