Maritime Miniatures

Even the ducks seem interested in the dozen or so guys who gathered on a recent Sunday on the eastern edge of Lake Balboa in Encino to race model yachts. The feathered spectators park in the shallow water or line up on the grassy shore, along with passing walkers and joggers, to watch men ages 30 to 86 pace this way and that, radio controls in hand, as their vessels sail windward and leeward around buoys and, occasionally, meddlesome peddle boats, to the finish line.

It would be tempting but foolhardy to dismiss the members of the 8-year-old Lake Balboa Model Yacht Club as boys with toys, or frustrated seamen. First of all, the club has a female member. More to the point, model yacht racing is a lot like the real thing, says retired design engineer Joe Sullivan, 74, of Porter Ranch. “I used to race larger boats,” he says. “There are the same rules, the same arguments, the same competitiveness.”

“The models are built with the same performance level as standard racing yachts,” adds O’neil McInnis, 30, of North Hills, who skippered a 58-foot catamaran in his native Jamaica. “We use the same high-tech materials.” These include fiberglass and Kevlar. “You still get an adrenaline rush when you’re leading.” Model yachters also experience problems familiar to big boat captains. “We’ve had sails come off,” says club commodore Scott Rubke, 55, who teaches aviation at Glendale Community College. “We’ve had collisions.” Leaky hatches are common. “But we’ve never lost a boat.”

The models feature single masts and Bermuda rigs, and operate via radio waves akin to remote-controlled toy cars. Crafts range in length from one meter (3.3 feet) to 70 inches. But they don’t feature details such as deck hardware and galleys. “It’s really about the sailing, not the boat,” says Rubke.

Still, a lot of care goes into those boats. Many members build theirs from scratch. Others buy kits that start around $120 and take 40 or so hours to assemble. It is possible to spend far more money (in the thousands on a single model) and far more time. “Half the fun is waiting until my wife goes to bed so I can play on the dining room table,” says Eric Conn, 57, an advertising executive who drives up from Long Beach. Like most club members, Conn has several models, and can compete in all four classes the club sponsors: ODOM (One Design One Meter), U.S. One Meter, Soling One Meter and Santa Barbara. The Santa Barbara models are the most impressive, weighing in at about 25 pounds.

Races are held the second and last Sunday of each month, and the course changes depending on wind conditions. Typically, it is about a quarter mile. Each race begins with the touch of a button on a CD player. An authoritative voice booms, “One minute ‘til mark, 50 seconds, 40 seconds,” all the way to final countdown. Usually there are a total of 12 races each week. Winners earn respect and a fair amount of ribbing. “Sometimes [the races are] a little boring because the wind doesn’t blow enough,” admits Ron Thornhill, 68, a retired school psychologist from Ventura.

But, hey, that’s life at sea. As for those ducks, Thornhill says they rarely get in the way. “They’re very aware of us. So it’s pretty hard to get into duck trouble. But when it’s real slow and you’re down here by yourself, it’s fun to chase them around. Just don’t tell the environmentalists that.”