On a recent visit to the Deltaville Maritime Museum, a display of Pond Model boats captured my attention. More than 150 models of various kinds of boats, from tugboats to sailboats, are on display. This exhibit is a collection of pond boats amassed by Genevieve and Robert Boxley of Winchester, Virginia, over 50 years. One of the models ignited a memory of a model sailboat I owned as a young boy. I sailed that boat in Jamaica Bay, the Hudson River, Lake George, Lake Champlain, and the lake in Central Park adjacent to the Central Park boat house. It was a rugged little sailboat and looked very much like a model sailboat on display in the Deltaville Maritime Museum. The model that caught my eye is 28 inches long. It has a blue hull with a white stripe and a red keel. It has three sails on a single 37-inch mast.
My visit to the Central Park Model Yachting Association Regatta introduced me to the fascinating world of model yachting, also known as Pond Model. Over the years, it has become a global hobby. By the mid-1800s, serious model hobbyists came up with the idea of building authentic miniature sailboats, complete with sails and rigging, and sailing them locally on ponds or lakes. Hence the name “Pond Model.” The sport of sailing model boats on a pond began when more people, who also had built miniature sailing vessels, got together to sail their boats. As the sport grew in popularity, it took on a new name, “Model Yachting.” The sport of model yachting was already gaining in popularity in Europe, particularly Great Britain, when it was introduced into the United States on Independence Day in 1872. The large lake in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York was the meeting place for a regatta sponsored by the Prospect Park Yacht Club. In 1875, The New York Times reported that model yachting was occurring in Manhattan’s Central Park as well.
Model yachting was becoming so popular in the New York area that Prospect Park Superintendent, John De Wolk, designed and ordered built a building to house the model boats of the Brooklyn Miniature Yacht Club. It featured a broad float running down from the boathouse to the water to be used exclusively by club members. Enormous crowds of spectators came to the model yacht regattas in both Prospect and Central Parks. Soon, model yachting took hold across the country.
The American Model Yachting Association (AMYA) describes model yachting as a hobby focused on building, racing, and preserving model sailing yachts, with a particular emphasis on older designs and historical preservation, according to the AMYA. This includes both free-sailing and radio-controlled (RC) models, and the association actively promotes the sport through events, publications, and interaction with other sailing organizations. It is the governing body for the sport. website: www.theamya.org/.
In the early days, the model boats were prodded with poles to keep them sailing in the right direction. Then, model yacht sailors developed innovative mechanical methods to control direction. The miniature devices they developed are similar to those used on full-size sailboats. Control improved as companies began manufacturing wind vane gear devices to control the sails and rudder in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The major innovation came with the radio-controlled remote control (RC). In 1898, Nikola Tesla developed the first radio-controlled vessel, which he called his “robotic boat”. Tesla demonstrated his control system at a grand event in Madison Square Garden.
Ken Young wrote in an article published in The Model Yacht, Fall 2021. “Most important to the R/C world was his design and propulsion. His patent description was, “Method of an Apparatus for Controlling Mechanism of Moving Vehicle or Vehicles.”
In 1898, at Madison Square Garden, Tesla set up an indoor pool. He had a 4-ft long miniature ship and a control box with several levers. The deck of the ship had three antennas. The tallest was in the middle, and the outside two had lights on top to indicate position and direction at night. Inside, there was an electric motor that drove both the propeller and rudder, a storage battery, and a device for receiving radio waves sent from the control box. He called his invention a ‘Teleautomoton’. This particular demonstration craft was dubbed Devil Automata.” Young writes: “We have to remember that at that time, few people knew that radio waves even existed. Tesla was an inventor to make money and was a showman who promoted his creations in a sometimes flamboyant fashion. At the beginning of the demonstration, he informed the crowd that it worked by magic. He would yell at it to make it do what he wanted, leading some observers to speculate that there was a trained monkey inside. He demonstrated that it could answer questions from the crowd. Someone called out for the cube root of 64. The lights on the antennas flashed four times. Of course, Tesla was moving levers on the control box.
He then showed what was happening with the control box. Since there was no visible connection between the control box and the boat, he said the boat had a ‘borrowed mind’ that responded to orders from a distant and intelligent operator. He saw great potential for military use. He eventually developed unmanned torpedo boats carrying an explosive charge directed by radio waves, much like modern-day drones. It wasn’t until the late 20th century that the military made significant use of his invention.” The modern-day drone has its origins in Tesla’s invention.
The website centralpark.org describes a model yachting in Central Park this way: “ Whether you have a radio-powered sailboat, or a wind-powered sloop, model sail boating on Central Park’s Conservatory Water is a delight for participants and observers; whether adults, children, or, in one case, a rather notable rodent. And now model boats are being rented on the pond for the first time since 2019, the last full year before the coronavirus hit. The new concessionaire is Rocking the Boat, a nonprofit from the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. The organization also teaches teenagers how to build and pilot full-size boats on the Long Island Sound. They will be renting sailboats on Wednesdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. In June, they will add Thursdays and Saturdays to the schedule, and in July, the operation will expand to five days a week, from Wednesday to Sunday. The rentals are separate from races organized by the Central Park Model Yacht Club on Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.”
Model yachting enthusiasts often come from a full-sized yachting background. Many say the hobby of model yachting offers many of the same challenges as a full-size boat without the hassle.
Model Yachting is the premier magazine for the sport, featuring articles about model yachting and ads for the equipment needed for all sorts of model yachts. The magazine has made available a special one-time web edition, which offers insight into the sport (one-time edition? Recurring? Confusing). It is available free online at www.theamya.org/model-yachting-overview.asp
The sport of model yachting offers a wide variety of model boat classes, regattas, and specialties that appeal to a vast variety of boating interests. There is even a group devoted to preserving vintage model yachts. (but not speedboats or sailboats?) www.https://usvmyg.org/ The sport is, in many respects, boating in miniature and is available to a greater number of people. Judging by the enthusiasm this writer has observed at model yachting events, it is an exciting sport that provides competition and fellowship to a growing number of people, young and older. Model yachting involves a fascinating combination of skill, technology, and imagination to create and sail some extremely beautiful model yachts.