Swimming Pool Racing?

[kacordy]

I’ve been thinking about this topic lately and maybe it already exists. I just think it would be neat to use a very large Olympic size pool to race Eco, mini, 2s and maybe 3s monos on an offshore course. I believe it would be a great way to introduce young kids to the sport. It would also allow our senior racers a place to run slower and smaller boats and still race. The boats are inexpensive, easy to transport and almost every city has a large public pool that is not being used during the winter. Yes, I realize some parts of the country have severe winters but half the country has fair weather. I believe there is a great opportunity here to have easy to access race water. The majority of towns have a large public pool. They're perfect RC boat racing bull rings. And no pick up boat. You could have stock out of the box classes and open 2s or 3s classes. Could it become national with a rule book under Namba and or IMPBA? I think it might be a way to introduce the sport to a younger generation that could move up and join us on our big ponds. Please share your thoughts, Thanks, Allen

[fweasel]

The Indy Admirals club has been doing something like this for years. They call it Duel in the Pool. Lots of videos on YouTube from past events. Nevermind the kids, it's a blast for the adults and I drive down to Indy from Chicago to participate. It's more work than you'd imagine and the facility rental costs are probably what will stop it from happening this year unfortunately.

[trigger]

You are sadly correct, still nothing on the calendar for pool racing my first event was at the pool and is what got me hooked.

[Fluid]

When the Anchorage FE club was active in the 90s and early 2000s we raced indoors for seven months each year. We ran 4, 6 and 8 round-cell classes under the standard IMPBA FE rules, back then speeds were a lot slower though. Boats were in the 20-30 inch range, mono and cat hulls mostly. We ran different boats outdoors in the summer.

The fastest class was 6-cell cat running the old Graupner Key West cat in the 30s. We ran a triangular course, so two very tight corners each lap. I am still amazed at how well those boats cornered so tightly at full throttle, a real adrenaline rush with six boat heats. We ran in a municipal pool and the driver?s stand was the mezzanine level so the view was outstanding. We charged each racer around $10 per night to cover the costs. It was a lot of fun.


.

[kacordy]

I cannot thank you gentleman enough for your posts. Super Cool stuff. With today’s Eco boats, brushless motors, and Lipo cells, I can only imagine how intense the pool racing would be. It’s something I would like to pursue in the future to introduce RC boating to Redding California. I will keep you posted on my research and progress. Thanks, Allen

[ray schrauwen]

This is something I would like to see in Canada. It's easier to find polls than ponds it seems. Good for winter too.

This would take some work though...

I still keep a few little boats in case...

How do you talk the pool organizations into running boats in their pools?

[kacordy]

Hello Ray, I’m going to start off approaching the city of Redding. They have a marketing and recreation department that is super easy to work with. They want to support family activities in the City. I worked with them to help build a Fly Fishing Club house for 250 local members. I was involved in the community fund raising for the project. A 500k freestanding club house. I’m going to build a book that has the history of RC boat racing with photos of the different events that I have personally attended across the country. A really professional and organized presentation of the RC boat hobby. The City managers will be your best Allies. They will be very positive and supportive of our intentions of adding another family activity for the local community. I’ve been through this process with the club house. I’m very confident they will be supportive and grant RC Boaters access to a public pool. I will have to do some research about insurance, liability insurance etc. and looking for advice. I’ve watched a few YouTube videos and would be concerned about drivers standing on the pools edge exposed to flying boats. I think some freestanding fencing would be appropriate. So there is a lot to think about. I will also get the local RC hobby store involved. It will give them some additional business. Allen

[NativePaul]

Gromov on here has a fair few videos of pool racing on his Youtube channel "ECOMASTER RC boat" They do Mini Mono and Mini ECO around a rectangle and Mini FSRE around the M, which is similar to your offshore course.

The pool he races at looks like a 25x10m pool which is typical for towns where I live, but maybe big towns or citys with 50x25m olympic size pools could handle full size boats too, ECO and FSRE for sure, as they turn so well, but you would have to come up with a metric to limit the power/speed of full size 2/3s surface drive classes.

All the pool racing videos I have seen have drivers at the water's edge, but most pools that I have been to have some sort of raised spectating area that could be used as a drivers stand.

[kacordy]

Hello Paul. Thank you for sharing the video. Now that’s what I’m talking about. Those boats are gettin it on!

[kacordy]

C6CEDA55-1B93-4ED4-A4A9-D607A143233C.jpgSo I have some Pool inventory, lol, now I need to find a pool

[sampeshirl]

I find it interesting what you're talking about here. I have thought a lot about this subject, and I want my children to compete in sports competitions. So we decided to build a fixed Olympic swimming pool according to the required characteristics. Everything went perfectly. Every day, children trained for a better time on 100 meters. And I did not know how to keep the pool cleanfor children, and I found several ways with the help of a forum. I'm a crazy man after cleaning. I don't like there to be clutter around me.

[properchopper]

I’ve been thinking about this topic lately and maybe it already exists. I just think it would be neat to use a very large Olympic size pool to race Eco, mini, 2s and maybe 3s monos on an offshore course. I believe it would be a great way to introduce young kids to the sport. It would also allow our senior racers a place to run slower and smaller boats and still race. The boats are inexpensive, easy to transport and almost every city has a large public pool that is not being used during the winter. Yes, I realize some parts of the country have severe winters but half the country has fair weather. I believe there is a great opportunity here to have easy to access race water. The majority of towns have a large public pool. They're perfect RC boat racing bull rings. And no pick up boat. You could have stock out of the box classes and open 2s or 3s classes. Could it become national with a rule book under Namba and or IMPBA? I think it might be a way to introduce the sport to a younger generation that could move up and join us on our big ponds. Please share your thoughts, Thanks, Allen

Brings back some fun memories - while not a pool, these boats could race in one (minus the Tequila)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zNdWgRZAeU