The Fifteenth Annual SubRegatta at Carmel, Indiana, Part-1

A Report to the Cabal:

Just got back from Carmel Indiana where Kevin Rimrodt, Fred Freketic and I spent the weekend participating at the SubRegatta. For those not in the know, the SubRegatta is a full weekend (Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday) engaged in the activity of model submarining -- most of that activity involved with radio controlled submarine operation.

This was the second event held at the Carmel Reflecting Pool, a great site: three feet deep, crystal clear water in a pool about the size of two football fields, side-by-side. The Carmel city officials bent over backwards to welcome us and to work with the Subcommittee national leadership, the local SubRon-6 chapter and the 'Admirals' local r/c model boating club to ready the site for the weekend activity. It all worked like clockwork -- not one administrative or site screw-up to be seen.

Well done to all who made this event possible and saw to it that we all had a delightful time.

OK. Now, for the pictures:

Fred Freketic was kind enough to provide the 'wheels' and motel stays for Kevin and I. Amazingly all of our gear fit within his van. I brought six boats, Fred had two, and Kevin brought along two bags of photographic gear. All that as well as our personal luggage and tools needed to keep the boats running.

Fred's one of the nicest guys I know, and a good customer. Thanks, Fred!

And here's a look at only a fraction of the water available to use at the Carmel site. Wow! This year ... unlike last year ... the water was crystal clear. As you can see, launching and recovery of the models is a simple matter: just reach down from the overhanging cement edge and the model is in or out of the water. For the larger boats, the Admirals club provide a 'marine elevator' to save us from back-pain.

Vendors selling food and submarine stuff were on hand to take care of just about any need. The Admiral's and SubRon-6 set up tents for the participants, vendors, and administrative sites, all located within feet of each other -- the layout was conducive to registration, transmitter storage, boat display/maintenance, gas charging, battery charging, subswap, and raffle prize display. I have never attended a better administered and physically arranged modeling event!

Here is a site showing more of the good works performed by SubRon-6 members:

http://www.subcommittee.com/SubComm/photos_show.cfm?CID=203

The Admirals club provided much of the infrastructure needed, the boat elevator for example. These guys and the local SubRon-6 members (many members of the two groups) constituted the brains and brawn that make this event possible.

For more information on this St. Louis based model boating group, go to: http://www. stlouisadmirals.com/Home.asp

When you first arrive you go to the registration tent (center) where you get your badge, enter specific events, and receive a very complete, informative information packet. From there you take a few steps to the left to the transmitter impound tent where Steve Jensen and his team of ruffian's insures that frequency control is maintained -- a well run and friendly environment there, as well as all other areas administered by the SubRon-6 and Admirals folk.

For safety a specific, well removed, tent was set up over a table dedicated to the operations dealing with ballast system gas charging and discharging. Not only a good idea, but smart!

Fred Freketic and Kevin Rimrodt ran a sort of 'submarine school' at the event (Submarine U). Under this tent, waterside, these guys invited attendees and visitors alike to grab a transmitter and operate a non-toy, fully capable r/c submarine under the tutelage of an experienced 'driver.'

These two kept at it during the weekend and did much to foster an interest in many potential future r/c submarine builders and operators.

And here's Kevin McLeod (the guy in the Red shirt). Many of you have been following his on-line scratch-build project dealing with this 1/96 OSCAR. To get all the gory details I refer you to the following site: http://www.subcommittee.com/cgi-bin/

ikonboard.cgi?s=436c839d5fedac59e2ec29af14c616e0;act=ST;f=21;t=3994

Though in primer gray, the boat was operational. I got a little stick time on this monster, and even without the bow planes (to be added later) the boat was reasonably easy to drive in depth. And the turning radius was nothing to sneeze at either; pretty good for such a big boat.

Kevin is a builder of the first-order. Would you believe this is his first r/c submarine?! But, his extensive background building and flying r/c jet aircraft is quite apparent: his creation and use of masers, tools, and GRP fabrication techniques reveal him to be an efficient, thoughtful, and skilled builder. And ... he's Canadian!

Look at that freeboard on Kevin McLeod's 1/96 OSCAR! His glass lay-up was so good that he managed to keep the above waterline weight so low that he could yank it up into the air with the buoyant force produced by a standard WTC-3.5 mod 2. No small trick!

Damn! This guy is good! And he's looking to make this model a torpedo and missile shooter ... that declaration would normally be met by me with an, " yeah ... right." But this guy is a doer, not just a talker.

Be afraid NATO ... be very afraid!

Another Canadian (God Damit!), Rick Teskey. This guy goes way back: Various sized scratch-built SEAVIEW kits, various sized FLYING-SUBMARINE kits (my big FS-1 is one of his), and innovator and inventor of various propulsion and WTC systems. And one hell of a nice guy.

I see that the powers-that-be saw too it that most of the Canadian's were rounded up and sat in the back of the tent; the Candadian/American DMZ established by the flag. Good move...

... Only way we could be sure to secure the beer for ourselves.

Ever the peacekeeper, I made it my job to do everything in my power to moderate the situation back there ... at any moment this disruptive, hair-triggered, wild and crazy bunch threatened to burst into a squid throwing hockey game.

It was simply awful back there!

Next show we'll have ICE busses standing by to cart these guys back to where they came from.

The guy with the big camera, his back to us, is Kerry Addington. He produced and sells SubRegatta annual DVD's. Last years was a stunning success. He's following that with a two-DVD set that will chronicle this years event -- supplemented by the excellent four-speaker seminar conducted Saturday evening.

It's amazing how well received the Polk's Hobbies Tracker-2 and Tracker-3 systems have become within the r/c model submarine community. Couple Polk's outstanding service and synthetic crystal transmitter (which is fully programmable) and receiver, for under two-hundred bucks, and you have a winner! Here are just some of this years SubRegatta participants who use the Tracker system to control their boats.

I've used just about every brand of r/c system out there and I'm sold on the Tracker!

And the point is made in this shot. Note the heavy preponderance of 'big names' who prefer this r/c system: Me, Skip Asay, Art Broader, Tim Smalley, Rick Teskey, and others.

If you don't buy, use, and love the Tracker-3, you're a dumb-ass!

Tim Smalley again was the head honcho of the SubRegatta. Here's a look at his scratch-built HUNLEY model. An excellent piece of work.

I had the privilege of working with Tim on the Hunt For The Alligator TV show we did effects work on a few years back. A good guy, and a vital spark-plug who supports and grows this hobby of ours.

He's put up with my shit over the years -- so he's clearly a tough guy who can overcome adversity with the minimum of wrong turns.

Tim's the current President of the Subcommittee, a good resource for those interested in the hobby of model submarining. For more information on that international organization, check out this site: http://www.subcommittee.com/