Model Boats Magazine March 2019 Back Issue

I’m sat here in my cozy office looking out on a frozen landscape, just pondering the decision I made a few weeks ago to test a new fast electric boat at the Boston MBC. It was a pretty cold day and it had not entered my head that the pond could be frozen – what in winter time? Anyway, on arrival, yep, you guessed it, the middle of the pond was frozen, however in my over confident head I could see an ice-free patch in one corner big enough just to try the boat out if nothing else. After a shaky start I felt like I was getting the hang of the boat and kidding myself that the ice did not look that thick in the middle set about breaking it up! Within seconds the vessel was across the pond, made contact with the edge of the ‘thin’ ice, launched ‘itself’ (I had nothing to do with it from this point) into the air and came to an agonizing halt a couple of feet from the comfort of free water. It was effectively ‘grounded’ in the middle of the pond! Thank goodness a white knight came along armed with a fishing rod, complete with a tennis ball on the end to recover the stricken vessel! Lesson learned – show some patience, especially with a new boat!