DID you know that the first radio-controlled yacht race in the world took place in Poole?

In the late 1950s and early 1960s two members of the then Poole Model Yacht Club, a Colonel Bowden, who owned a model shop in Westover Road, Bournemouth, and George Honnest-Redlich, who was a leading light in the model aircraft world, began experiments with radio-controlled yachts.

Their transmitters were housed in a redundant Walls 'Stop me and buy one' ice cream vending tricycle, the early years of radio-controlled yachting involving huge high voltage batteries, each boat needing 45-volt HT and six-volt LT just to control the rudder!

But the impetus and availability of transistors really got things moving.

There was no longer the need for the costly and heavy HT batteriesd required to power the thermionic valves previously used.

Soon so-called digital 27Mhz equipment became available and the sport of radio-controlled yachting really took off.

Subsequent technical advances gave the ability to control more than one boat at a time and the first radio-controlled yacht race in the world took place on Poole Park Lake around 1963.

Most of the gear needed at the time was self-built but, with the model aircraft industry leading the way, gradually production equipment became available.

The designs of model yachts were changing too and the then Club Commodore, Roger Dehon, was at the forefront.

Vice Commodore Frank Walker's engineering skills created sail winches with small six-volt ex-Ford windscreen motors, boats at the time having just one each.

Peter Wiles, a member for 28 years, unhappy with the unavailability and lack of technical development both of materials and cut, started manufacturing sails and has never looked back.

He has been full time making sails, and everything else for the radio-controlled Sailing world, for 15 years at his premises in Parkstone.

Wiles has been National Champion in the A Class six times and is the current Poole RA Challenge Cup holder.

Model yachts owners are just as obsessed with new developments and getting the very best from their craft as their full sized counterparts.

Peter Wiles has fitted three winches now allowing separate control of fore and aft sails, rudder and even halyard tension.

But I find it hard to imagine how it is possible to make all these adjustments and keep the boat going efficiently from over 100 yards away.

Sails often have tell-tails but these are only used for setting up the rig and controls.

Many well known yachtsmen have tried their hand at model yacht racing, Poole YC's past National Dayboat Champion Richard Cake for instance.

Boat builder and Parkstone YC's top Flying 15 helm Bob Hoare, famous for his 1968 Olympic Gold Medal-winning Flying Dutchman Superdocious, sails his own design 1 metre from the park-based club.

The club's secretary David Munro, well known as the original builder of the Tradewind 39 at Ridge Wharf, Wareham, and for International 14 sailing, is now making a name as a successful A Class sailor.

Asked why he prefers the scaled down version, Munro said: "You get to do more sailing and, comparing it with 'seat-of-the-pants' stuff, surprisingly you get a feel for it through the radio."

It is fair to say that since sailing began smaller sized equivalents have copied them and there is evidence of model yacht sailing at Poole Park from the time the park opened in 1890.

The year 1950 appears on Poole Radio Yacht Club's badge, but the Poole and District MYC existed in 1926 but sadly was disbanded in 1939 at the outbreak of the war.

When the present club was formed, boats were all controlled by vane steering techniques that required a skipper and crew to handle them and to run around the wall and cat-walk to turn them through each tack with a pole.

Then for a number of years both radio-controlled and vane were used at the club but gradually vane sailing became less popular and in the 1980s the club changed its name to Poole Radio Yacht Club to reflect the change.

The racing yachts at Poole are all of international classes, the biggest and heaviest of these being the A Class boats which conform to a complex rating formula and are generally between 30-50lbs in weight.

They carry about 1,400-1,800 sq ins of sail and have a draught restriction of something less than a foot.

The A Class encourages extremes of design as the formula determines the sail area that can be carried.

This formula, which was evolved by the editor of Yachting World in the 1920s, was used as a design guide for full-sized yachts and it has not changed since.

The 10-Rater Class is the fastest sailed at Poole, they tend to be around 60 inches long and carry a similar sail area as the As.

Poole also have a growing fleet of 1m Class boats, these being introduced as a more acceptable alternative to the Marblehead or M Class where high-tech materials and costly fittings were driving competitive boats into silly money expense.

There is a Scale Sailing Section which encourages members to create scaled down versions of any sailing craft including Bristol Pilot Cutters and Thames Barges, both of which have a national racing series.

Modern yacht design has often taken a lead from model sailing and even America's Cup teams have followed with interest developments in the radio-controlled world.

Model yachting allows freedom of design so even extreme variations can be created and tested at a minute fraction of full-sized counterparts.

Marblehead Class yachts are sailed by members of Parkstone Yacht Club and rumour has it that Lilliput Sailing Club are considering a radio-controlled fleet too.

Poole club members have a full sailing programme arranged, starting on March 7 with a shakedown sail and continuing with series, cup and area qualifiers as well as the social program.

Poole Radio Yacht Club's facilities, clubhouse size and proximity to the water's edge, have encouraged the biggest fleet nationally at 38 yachts registered for racing.

Anyone interested in finding out more should check out: www.poole-ryc.org.uk or phone David Munro on 01929 551656.