Shipbuilders usually build scale models of the boats they’re constructing. But they never thought of racing them. However, a lot of other people thought that racing model yachts would be a fun hobby and formed model yachting clubs all over the world.
In the United States, the American Model Yacht Association (AMYA) promotes model yachting throughout the country. The AMYA divides the US into six regions and recognizes thirty classes of yachts for racing. The AMYA even has a class of vintage sailboats for vintage-sailboat lovers. There’s plenty variety among the classes of yachts. A yacht type for just about everyone – from the twelve-inch “Footy” to boats over eighty-five inches long. In the US, over 4,000 model yachters have registered their sailboats with the AMYA.
The Back Bay Skippers chose the one-meter soling class for their yacht because the soling is inexpensive and easy to build. The soling also is the most widely sailed yacht among model yachters in the US. Over a thousand are registered with the AMYA and thousands more unregistered solings are sailed by hobbyists as well.
The New Hampshire Boat Museum welcomes you to join the Back Bay Skippers. Our friendly group includes men, women, and children. If you don’t have a model yacht, you can build one over the winter during our model yacht building workshop.
If you’re not ready to “take the plunge” or just want to look, please visit us on the Cotton Valley Rail-Trail on Back Bay in Wolfeboro on a Tuesday or Thursday afternoon. And if you want to try your hand at sailing a soling, we can lend you a spare.