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I have been moved on from a couple of places, one by a guy who claimed he was the police and said if he seen me using my boat there again he would smash it, im sure the police wouldnt say that and i would like to see him try! and another by a park ranger at another location. Both said it was because of birds. i totaly respect the wildlife and would never run my boat by birds, and they usualy move off the water when they hear the boat and its not like they are rare birds its just ducks and swans but now im running out of places to run my boat and i was wondering if you guys ask permission at places or what as i dont have any boat clubs near me with their own waters. The only place i can think of is a resivoir that has small sized real boats on.
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It all depends on where you live. Where I'm at, there are a lot of lakes/ponds and I have never once had a complaint. If they do have a problem, I'd simply tell them to call the police. At that point, I'd ask what law was being broken. -
This is a little different story but my buddy got a ticket for running his nitro rc car in front of his house! They had road work up the street a little ways and a sign for 25mph. That damn cop radar his rc car at 51mph and wrote him a ticket for speeding and then tried to get him into trouble for no insurance. He went to court for it and it got dropped. What a waste of time! He has the ticket framed in his bedroom on the wall lol!Comment
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Go onto google earth and look for lakes around your part of England. I've found more bodies of water in my area than I knew existed like this. We cannot run our boats in reservoirs around where I live.Comment
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I go very early in the morning when there is just enough light to see clearly from one end of the lake to the other. Here, there are very few people around then and certainly no fun police.
You could also try asking at your local council or other government department that controls the use of water.
The Google Earth idea is a good one also.
Always ask anyone who claims to be the police for some ID. If they refuse to show it pull out your mobile phone and call the police. Tell them you have someone there who claims to be a policeman but will not show you his ID. You will probably find he will disappear real quick.Several boats in various stages of destructionComment
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He did show me a badge but i didnt look that close, i suspect he was what is called a police special. In the Uk we have normal people that do voluntary police work but they dont have any power to arrest you, they are just a jobsworth! Ive done the google earth thing and know a few pools but most have some sort of wildlife on. I think contacting the council is a good idea and at least that way if i have anyone giving me hassle i can tell them where to go, i will also ask at my LHS as they sell boats so should know somewhere local.Comment
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Hard to get the police to do police work here
Sounds like your friend just likes to throw his weight around. He certainly would not have permission to damage your boat. I work as a security guard and I despise the same type of guard.
I have been going to the same pond for at least 2 1/2 years now and there has been no decline in the wildlife due to my boats. We all like to see the wild life in our ponds as it shows us the water is healthy.
Yes your LHS would be another good place to ask.Several boats in various stages of destructionComment
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WM = West Midlands I guess.
Redhouse park in Birmingham has a small lake, I used to race there but were going too fast these days, its good for Minis and maybe mono/hydro1 at the very most, it is small and has brick wall banks so theres no way I would put a 12cell/4s boat in there with the speed we have these days.
Branston water park in Burton on Trent has a large lake big enough for any boat, the local club there is mostly IC and petrol boats but there open to FE and the FE speed records event is being held there this year as was the last one.
I'd call it north west not west midlands but well worth a visit if its not an insurmountable distance away is Bury in Manchester, probably the best club in the UK for Fast Electrics with many FE champions and record holders amongst their members, I have never raced there myself as I live in the south east so can not tell you what the lake is like, but I guess it must be reasonably large as they have the biggest haul of supermonos in the country.
Willen lake is in Milten keynes, to my southern viewpoint thats the midlands but maybe its too far south for you, is a VERY big lake plenty for any RC boat but unsheltered from all sides so if it is windy it will get rough and they also have full size boats on it too pedalos, canoes, kayaks, windsurfs, dingies and even speedboat rides, we have raced there in the past but will not be doing so again due to them no longer being willing to stop full size use of the lake while we are racing, god knows what would happen if a FE boat was to go out of control screaming across the lake and hit a kid in a pedalo, It might be worth a try during the week or when the weather is less than ideal and the lake is quieter though if you are close.
There may be others but those are all that I know of, unfortunately a combination of the speeds we are doing and the massive popularity of worm drowning means that we have less and less lakes available to us all the time. my own local lake used to have a decent FE contingent but when we started to get rare earth motored boats doing over 40mph the park ranger got concerned abut his waterfowl and banned us, it is scale and sale only now, I found an alternative lake in the next town, an ideal lake very long sheltered on all 4 sides so relatively calm, its called Campbell lake as its where Malcolm Campbell tested his record setting Bluebird hydros, and there is very little in the way of waterfowl there so I felt sure I would be OK with my FEs but I got turned of because its now a fishing lake the boat club only has access to it one evening a month and I was scaring off there fishes, as I had the decency to go to the opposite side of the lake to the worm drowners and with it being a stocked lake if I was indeed scaring away the fishes the water at the bank with the fishermen must have been so thick with fishes you could walk on it but that was besides the point, if 1000 worm drowners pay £50 a year for there membership and then £8-12 a peg to fish the FE membbers of the club would have to pay £6000 each per visit for the lake owners to give them priority over the fishermen, understandable economically but it sucks for us that are in a minority interest part of a relatively small hobby trying to compete for water with the most popular "sport" in the country.
Like you I now run at a lake I found on google earth without permission it too is a fishing lake but a natural lake not a stocked one and as such it isn't very popular, it seems most worm drowners prefer "shooting fish in a barrel" and I have never seen a fisherman there on a weekday.Paul Upton-Taylor, Greased Weasel Racing.Comment
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I live in an area called Land O' Lakes. Lakes are everywhere. All private. NObody will let us run our boats. We drive 80 miles each way, once a month, just to run our boats. What a bummer!Mini Cat Racing USA
www.minicatracingusa.comComment
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i dont much about laws. if i did i probably wouldn't do half of the things i do.but being an avid fisherman i know this. there is a local pond with all the big boys in it.a lawer friend of mine told me people only own up to the water line.( high or low im not sure) and cant tell you to get out of the water .i have walked the shoreline and never been kicked out again. bear in mind these are not private lakes. the same police who kicked me out now dont say anything.so i enter @ public area and walk in 1ft of water around the whole pond. after meeting some of the neighbors and explaining i always leave with more than i brought(i.e trash) and i catch and release. i know sometimes can stand on shoreComment
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