Chuck Lage

More than a fireplace model, this miniature iceboat is a scale replica of a championship ice speedster and a snappy little racer. Model iceboat racing is becoming as popular as model yacht contests afloat.

The design of automatic steering gear for model yachts is a subject that permits of a lot of experiments in different directions. My own efforts went into the production of
a device that would be simple and easy to build, and the result is detailed in the sketches on this page.

Frank Donnebacker of the Prospect Park M. Y. C. was O. O. D. And here we found an officer who went places. Instructions were clear, quick, and to the point, as one can imagine considering that with thirty-three entries on a course of nearly a mile in a near-gale the first day, and a forty- mile wind the second day, he was able to run off four complete rounds by noon of Sunday.

Another writes that I should render reports like court records—seventy five write they enjoy the fun. Majority rules skippers—and anyway, I couldn’t be serious long enough to dot “I.” Life is too sad for the saddists.
Me—I prefer to laugh, even at my own pests—so if I step on your toes, well, it’s all in fun.

A great many people are very interested in watching model yacht races and would love to possess a model and take part in this fascinating sport, but the thought of
building a model seems to scare them;
they imagine it is far beyond their constructive powers.

And still skippers continue to fall overboard! At the Deeper Hudson M.Y.C. picnic-race on June 5th, two members went “in the drink.”

Get a yachting picture, for the July cover,” said the editor. Well, this model yachting business was something new to me. It was a hobby I had never become well acquainted with, but one that I have always
wanted to learn about. Knowing that two clubs sail on Clove Lake in nearby Staten Island every Saturday, I decided that Staten Island was the place to go.

The spectators gasped when the model boats of the Washington M. Y. C. were baptized in a wind that averaged thirty miles an hour.