]]>
Before I get into the ‘how did it happen’ I need to explain why it even happened in the first place. This means going back to the winter of 2004 when I’d been looking for the right way to get back into sailing, bought a Laser Vortex, a fresh, new dinghy design that was catching on a my local club. Quickly discovered that it wasn’t suited to me, or rather, I wasn’t suited to it. Had a look at Finns, always fancied one, but one look at the complexity of the top boats rather put me off, but I still kept scanning the event reports on the Yachts & Yachting magazine’s website here in the UK. In early February I spotted something rather interesting, a winter series for quarter scale, radio controlled Lasers being held at West Lancs Yacht Club, famous for it’s twenty four hour annual dinghy race, and being run by a name I recognised from way back. I hadn’t been there since my youthful days as a dinghy sailor, so Liz and I decided to take a drive, partly for nostalgic reasons and to have a look at these RC Lasers. I used to sail a full sized one and Liz used to sell them to us. So we found ourselves at the lake and, from a distance, watched these little boats race. It looked like fun so we went down and introduced ourselves, within five minutes of shaking hands we each had a transmitter in our hands and the countdown timer was on. Several races later we were hooked, found out there was a national series and a national championship, but didn’t know anything else about radio sailing, in fact I’d never really heard of it! We ordered two boats and collected them at the next event two weeks later. Our dealer, Andy Kissick, had fully rigged one for us and explained all the little tips needed to get the best out of it - what service!
We had many great years racing the Lasers, but we’d also discovered the other classes and the garage was starting to fill up with our ever increasing fleet. The build up still continues and I’ve actually lost count of what’s in there now! However, that easy introduction to the sport that has taken over our lives has always stuck with me, the initial publicity, the readily available boats and the service that Andy provided is surely the right way to get more people into our sport. The further I got into other classes and experienced the long waiting lists for new equipment, the more I realised this was the way forward.I wasn’t the only one who thought this way, Mike Weston, now of RC Yachts fame, the go-to DF outlet in the UK, often discussed this over many red wine and cheese fuelled evenings. What we needed was a well designed, plastic, one design yacht with three rigs, probably made in the far east, that could be offered at a price unheard of previously and be available off the shelf, fully built. Great idea, but we didn’t have the funds or the contacts to make it happen. I put this idea to quite a few of the top UK sailors at the time and was amazed at the almost total lack of interest, perhaps they were happy just racing IOMs, A Class and Marbleheads and didn’t feel the need to develop an easy entry into the sport. A disappointing response, we still held on to the idea but didn’t have any plan to make it happen, even it it could be done we realised what a politically hot potato it could be.
Time went by and Mike was busy running his leisure park and doing very good business building race spec Micro Magics and selling a range of RC sailing components. In autumn 2011 he was looking for a cheap RC yacht to sell at the park. One of his suppliers, Ripmax, carried a range of Yachts made by a company called Joysway, they had a little yacht, the Caribbean, that seemed to fit the bill and he made enquiries. Ripmax’s John Wesley made contact and brought down their entire range of Joysway RC yachts for Mike to evaluate and give feedback as to wether they were any good or not. Mike spotted the opportunity and in December fixed up a meeting with John at the park and invited myself and Mark Dicks along to demonstrate some RG65s and discuss the Joysway yachts. It probably took John about ten seconds when he saw the performance of the RGs to make up his mind to propose a new yacht design to Joysway, drawn up by a group of ‘experts’ in the UK, his description, not ours!
As well as being a customer, John was also a trusted advisor to Joysway, helping them to develop the right products for western markets. So, on his advice things began to move quickly, a meeting with the three of us was held in mid December where John gave us the good news that Joysway would produce a new yacht. Then he dropped the bombshell on us, they were shelving a current project and needed a prototype boat in China in five weeks - What! Mild panic ensued, but we realised we already had a boat that we could base it on, Mark’s RG65 design ‘ICE’. Of course, Mark was in favour of it and we squared it up with the current builder of the carbon racing version and packed up my lovely new carbon ICE and shipped it over to Germany where Joysway were exhibiting at the massive, annual Nuremberg Toy Fair. Mike went over to meet them and I got busy producing many sheets of drawings to specify everything necessary to build a decent boat. After that we were entirely in their development engineers hands, we didn’t know them very well and they didn’t really know us, but it was happening!
If we’d had more time to design and develop the boat it might have been a very different product, perhaps 750mm in length, or somewhere between an RG65 and the IOM. But we didn’t have that luxury and that was probably not such a bad thing. Mark and myself were, and still are, keen supporters of the RG65 class, but like the other established classes it was suffering from a restricted supply of new boats, if Joysway could make a hull to the specification we gave them it might just be a cheap, available introductory boat for the RG class.
We had an anxious wait when all we could do was twiddle our thumbs, tap pencils on desks and keep checking our emails as their engineers translated our 2D design work into a production ready 3D model, would it be any good? A few months went by and as the time past our confidence took a bit of a battering. Finally, at the end of April the inbox pinged and there it was in all it’s 3D rendered glory. Sure, there where obvious things that needed changing, but what a good position to start from, their design for the keelbox structure impressed us greatly, clearly we were working with the right people.
Joysway’s normal lead time from concept to production is around nine months, allowing for shipping time the boat was due to be on sale late 2012. So there we were, early May 2012 with a lot still to do if the boat was to hit the market in the shape it needed to be in to be taken seriously. It was the start of many, many emails and reports to Joysway that have become a very significant part of my life ever since. It’s quite a lengthy process detailing the alterations we wanted, reviewing and reporting on what they were send through, but eventually it was push the button time and Joysway could then get started on the production tooling. At this stage we had started to build up a good working relationship, we had no prior experience in dealing with a Chinese company (I should point out that Joysway is actually a Hong Kong based company with production facilities on the nearby Chinese mainland), but John Wesley was always at our shoulder and without his early help things might not have gone as smoothly. It’s no good simply asking for something to be changed, you have to support that request with a full explanation as to why it needs doing, they can then appreciate what you’re asking for and are happy to make the changes. They really do care about the quality of design and construction and have continued to support the boats in this way ever since and have always absorbed the cost of modifications themselves, we couldn’t really ask for better product support from the manufacturer.
At some point in September 2012 the DHL delivery man man rang the doorbell and handed over a big brown box! here they were, no longer just a drawing and our first chance to handle the real thing. By this time we knew what the final retail price would be, when we first heard the proposed pricing our collective jaws hit the ground, it was almost half of what we expected, if the boat lived up to it’s promise and sailed well it would be way, way cheaper than any decent racing yacht before it truly would be the boat we dreamed of all those years ago. In a perfect world it would have been job done, sign it off and get on with production, and not too far behind schedule. Unfortunately life’s not like that, it was so nearly there but not everything worked as intended, so it was back to the drawing board for some of the components. But those were minor details compared to the big issue - weight! The target overall sailing weight was approximately 1050g incorporating a keel bulb weight of 550g. At that kind of weight it would be a reasonably competitive RG65, but these first sample boats tipped the scales at a shade under 1400g, it was never going to be a light weather flyer but I’m not sure it would have got far past the starting line in anything under a thirty miles per hour gale. It was strong though! Clearly it had to go on a crash diet, first to go was the full length threaded stainless rod running down the keel with heavy screw on fixings top and bottom, this was replaced by threading the ends of the tube running through the keel and using much smaller bolts at either end. This was a good start but clearly the hull moulding itself needed to shead a lot of weight. By early November the second prototype arrived, much lighter but perhaps a little too thin in certain parts. You might have seen this boat sailing in an early YouTube video I posted (search YouTube for “Dragonforce prototype” and you should find it). I can’t remember the exact weight of this hull but a compromise somewhere between the two samples should give us the best blend of performance and durability. Another long report followed detailing all changes needed to bring it up to production specification. December 2012 and the production boat was signed off, Joysway displayed a couple of production spec boats on their stand at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in February 2013 and the expected ‘on sale’ date was May 2013. Over the winter we had chance to test various B and C rig configurations whilst Joysway produced the final tooling for everything.
Unfortunately John Wesley died in the spring of 2013 and never got to see the launch of the boat he opened the door for us to do. We miss him, and in his honour we named the UK DF65 National Championship trophy in his memory and were delighted that his family came along to the inaugural championship in the autumn of that year to present it.
The all up sailing weight of the production boat ended up at 1250g including an allowance of 50g for a battery pack, so it wasn’t quite where we wanted it in comparison to top level RG65s. That was a slight disappointment, but we had to be realistic about it, we had been given the chance to get a into production, at no expense, other than a considerable amount of time, to ourselves, and in the process had formed a good relationship with Joysway. It is, after all, their product but they were prepared to listen, trust us and make, nearly all, the changes we asked for. During the final prototype testing we had a big decision to make, given the weight of the boat do we go ahead and bring it to market as a class legal RG65, or just brand it as a DragonForce and mention in the details that it does conform to the RG65 rules. We didn’t want to raise expectation that you would be buying a top level RG, and eventually decided that it still had a useful role to fill as a very inexpensive introduction to the class, after all, it is constructed to allow the fitment of a swing rig and also has deck eyes positioned for taller, high aspect conventional rigs. So it stayed with the RG65 branding and we’d wait to see what the owners wanted to do with it when they started to sail them. We also knew it had great potential as a restricted class and we needed to formulate a simple set of rules for that purpose ready for when the boat went on sale. Without those being available from launch we could foresee the urge for some owners to tinker with it, and at that stage it would have been very hard to pull it back into line as a restricted class.
Why did we make it a restricted class rather than a true one-design?
Well, you have to remember that it is a Joysway owned product and they had a fairly fixed idea of how it should be presented in terms of graphic appearance, hence the dragon printed sails. We did lobby for plain white ones but it had to have a certain showroom appeal! Not our taste but hey, did it really matter. We realised that had the rules been written on a one-design basis then you would have been forced to stick with the standard sail and we knew that one area Joysway would struggle to match the accepted standard for racing equipment would be the sails, that’s why they’re a single panel design supported by simple measurement rules, and opened up for anyone to make. Not only does this allow for some personalisation but more importantly, if the boat became a commercial success, would not exclude other sailmakers from benefitting from and supporting the class. I think it was a decision well made and I don’t think we’d be where we are now had it been restricted.
Writing the DF65 class rules was not a job to rush, but a lot more straightforward, I imagine, than formulating a set of rules for a new development class. Start from the premise that everything is to be used as supplied and rigged as shown in the instruction manual and then work out two things; how to resist peoples natural urge to improve the boats performance, real or imagined, through small ‘tweaks’ here and there, secondly, to eliminate the need for certification or event measurement where possible. Wrap all that up in plain English - sounds easy! I always have one test for the rules and keep it in mind when any amendments are required. Image you’re new to the sport, you’ve seen DF65s racing at your local lake, you’re amazed how affordable they are and that you can have one immediately. a day or so later you’re opening the box and getting stuck in to rigging your new boat, you follow the instructions to the letter (wishful thinking), then the big day arrives, you get down to the lake, everyone shakes hands, welcomes you aboard but start to point out that you could have done this or that so much better than it says in the instructions, you’ll be ok today but you need to go back and practically rebuilt it - how would it make you feel? That explains why some of the restrictions in the rules might seem a bit over the top and we have to give a frequent “No” answer to most enquiries as to whether this or that little tweak is permitted.
The DF65 and RG65 relationship
I’ve already covered the reasons why the DF65 was introduced as an RG65, but following the boats eventual UK launch in August 2013 we decided race it within the RG65 class and wait to see how things developed. We had the DF65 class rules published at launch which gave us the ability to award a prize for the first DF, it became an unofficial sub class of the RG65. Turnouts began to rise and everything was ok until the RG65 nationals in 2014, we sailed as one mixed fleet as usual, but the entry had reached a level where we had to run as a two fleet event under the HMS system. Conditions were mixed and a few of the top DFs always made it into the A fleet, but the bulk of the DFs could not compete with the lightweight thoroughbreds and remained in B fleet. It split the racing for the Dragons and affected the results, there was a unanimous feeling amongst the DF sailors that there should be a dedicated DF65 racing series and championships, as well as participation at RG events. It was a controversial decision in the UK to form the DF65 class, not as far as the DF owners were concerned, but others saw it as a dishonourable action, they’re entitled to that opinion, but given the growth of the DF since then it would have been inevitable at some point. I’m happy to say that there is still a DF presence at RG events and the RG65 class has grown in the UK in recent years with a significant number of owners who participate in both classes. Despite the DF having the ability to carry swing rigs and taller conventional rigs I don’t see any desire to experiment in that way, but the DF65 will continue to have that facility built in.
The DF65s big brother, the DragonFlite 95
In it’s first full year on sale three thousand seven hundred DF65s had been shipped and Joysway were, understandably very happy. Our working relationship with them continued to flourish and we got to know the owner, his family and the rest of the team very well on a personal level as well. They had tasted success in the radio sailing field and wanted to make an ABS constructed IOM yacht and turned to us to design it for them. Bad idea, it took a lot of persuading that they needed to leave the IOM class alone and respect it’s position as a development class that sits at the top level of our sport. Even it it were possible to produce a competitive plastic boat, the IOM did not need, or want, a mass produced boat, the class has a life of it’s own and a balance that seems to work. But I had been thinking of a big brother for the DF65, but designed to a very different brief.
I’d raced Marbleheads and you can’t help but be impressed with their windward performance - in a straight line! The rest of their sailing characteristics leave me bit frustrated, they don’t turn corners very well and are far too easily nosedive downwind. Why is this? You have to look at the development of the Marblehead, the hull has always stayed the same length but the rig height and keel length have have grown out of all proportion, the rules have been changed over time to allow this. The Marblehead, as it stands today, is now effectively a big powerful boat with a short hull length, quite the opposite of how it started out, and there’s the problem, downwind it can’t accelerate as quickly as it needs to to avoid tripping up over it’s long, heavy keel and the tall rig only makes things worse. In a strong breeze to windward, unless you have the stiffest carbon tube available, you end up applying a lot of kicker tension to counteract excessive mast bend, so as you go through a tack the rig is unloaded and the mainsail leech becomes bar tight, making it very hard to accelerate out of the tack as you fight the boat’s urge to luff into the wind. If you could dial out those issues you’d have a truly wonderful boat to race.
We all know that hull length is one of the key components of good boat speed, so what would happen if we stretched out the DF65 to one metre long and kept with the same keel, rudder and rig. In January 2014 Joysway had agreed to the development of a bigger yacht and we had a full year in which to work on and deliver the final design to them in person at the 2015 Nuremberg Toy Fair - game on! The initial prototype was a very radical boat, Mark Dicks drew up the hull lines of a one metre long boat with a maximum width of only one hundred millimetres. I had a wooden planked hull made locally and it was fitted with a fixed DF65 fin and rudder. It did carry a heavier, nine hundred gram keel bulb and had a larger rig, whilst the standard DF65 A rig slotted in nicely as a B rig. It looked a bit weird but it would give us some idea if the idea of a long waterline, lightweight design carrying a relatively small, low aspect rig would work. The first few times we got to sail it was in B rig conditions and it was a revelation, well balanced, tracked very well to windward, downwind it was absolutely amazing, so fast with almost no wake and eerily silent, it looked like you were fast forwarding the video. The acceleration was so rapid that it had almost no tendency to nosedive despite it’s slim hull, it fact it seemed to pick up it’s bow and just get on with it.
All the signs were looking good, until the first outing in lighter winds with the larger rig. It was awful, the small DF65 fin was obviously stalling out at low speed and to windward the balance was all the place, almost unsailable. I didn’t wan’t to go any deeper than the DF65 fin so we need to find out how wide it needed to be to work in light winds, but narrow enough to minimise drag downwind. Dave Creed helped out here by moulding a couple of aerofoil section sleeves that slid over the fixed DF65 metal keel, they were fairly crude but easy enough for us to keep trimming down until we seemed to have the correct balance. Now we had a hull and foils that worked and that gave me the platform to develop the sail plan. It was at this early stage that I got Buzz Coleman involved. He’s an excellent skipper with a wealth of design and prototype production experience and is pretty handy on CAD design systems. I’m a graphic designer by trade, confident with 2D design software but detailed 3D work is a little beyond my pay grade. We had to rethink the hull lines when Joysway informed us that the minimum width they would be confident blow moulding would be 125mm. It was a pity to go away from the rather extreme shape of the first design but perhaps a slightly wider hull would have more rounded handling characteristics. At that point we also had a rethink about the overall length. As people got to hear about the project one of the first questions was always “will it measure as an IOM?”. We didn’t want that confusion and reduced the length to nine hundred and fifty millimetres, smaller than the IOM to position it below that class, leaving a clear upward progression for newcomers wanting to go further into the sport. It would have been easy to go the other way, make it longer, putting it in direct competition with existing classes and that goes against the philosophy of DFs as readily available introductory racing yachts. So the hull got fleshed out and fine tuned for trim using all the CAD facilities available and knowing all the densities of the materials involved.
Compared to the DF65 this was such a leap forward in the time and resources we had available during the boat’s development, the complete boat, including every individual fitting was supplied to Joysway in CAD format, we had the time to properly test an accurate prototype on the water, superbly built in record time by Alex Cory. That final prototype and CAD files were handed over to Joysway at the January 2015 Nuremberg Show. I then had opportunity to contribute even further to the product by reverting back to my daytime occupation as a graphic designer and producing the rigging instructions and packaging design, very satisfying for me personally to see it all through in such detail. At the following years show the boat had just gone into production and was on display in it’s final form for the first time. Our first deliveries into the UK arrived later in April 2016.
One other design feature of the DF95, key to achieving the long waterline, lightweight boat idea, are the low aspect masthead rigs. “Is that the B rig” was often heard on peoples first sight of the boat. Conditioned to seeing the usual high aspect rigs on other classes it was an understandable response. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had to explain the concept, but now, after eighteen months of DF95 fleet racing it’s totally accepted and understood. Amazing how quickly things change. The comparison of masthead to fractional rigs would warrant an article all of it’s own but I’m happy that I got the chance to incorporate them into what is now a mainstream class.
The DF65 version 6 and the A+ Rig
The DF65 all of a sudden looked a bit dated next to the shiny new DF95. It had been through five versions to improve certain areas and strengthen the hull moulding. With the ongoing success of the DF65, Joysway had the confidence to invest in much higher grade tooling for the DF95, confident that it would be worth the considerable investment required. We knew what we really needed to do to bring the DF65 up to the standard of the 95. Joysway knew it as well, and offered to produce new tooling for it. We took it a stage further and discussed with them a complete makeover, improving the rig components, sail quality and just as importantly, the overall appearance of the whole package.
It was a golden opportunity but one thing could not change - the performance of the standard boat, it must not put any of the previous versions at any disadvantage, apart from cosmetically. Buzz and myself set about this redesign in the same way that we tackled the 95, I worked in 2D, we evaluated the designs and then produced final 3D files for all new components. Again, it was a year long process from agreeing the work to a production ready state. As in the 95s development we had access to 3D printing and Joysway were very quick to supply new hull mouldings for evaluation, when it finally went into production we’d tested it thoroughly and were confident that, although it almost looked like a new design, it’s performance was no better or worse than before, but I can’t help thinking that it looks faster, even before it hits the water. The rigging instructions and packaging also got refreshed as well. The version 6 was a big investment for Joysway and to their great credit did all this work at no significant price increase.
The DF65 has sold in amazing numbers since its launch in 2013, over twenty thousand boats to date. Incredible numbers, but it has failed to get a foothold into many notable countries that have predominantly light weather conditions. We all know it’s not a great light weather boat, but there was a simple fix for that, give it a bigger rig! A masthead design was the best way to achieve this, we didn’t want to go to a taller rig so we had to maximise the sail area within the existing rig height, the booms are slightly longer but the rig does fit into existing rig bags so portability has not been compromised. The rig is very effective up to around ten miles per hour winds, it will sail to windward in slightly stronger winds but getting downwind starts to get a little tricky. The standard A rig is good up to around eighteen miles per hour so it still has a very useful role to play. It has been, as expected, a controversial addition to the DF65, some clubs in the UK has decided to restrict their racing to the standard A rig, nobody is forcing the A+ on them and if the A rig suits the type of sailing they do with the DF65 then it’s fine with us. Nationally, in the UK, the A+ has been a class legal rig for most of the 2017 Travellers Series and those who’ve used it appreciate the better light wind performance. As time goes by I’m confident that it will be seen as a good thing and completes the DF65 package as an all-round performer and the A+ rig is not just a money making excersise as some of the forum posters would have you believe.
So where are we today and what does the future hold?
The DF95 came out as a well sorted boat right from the off, and since the introduction of the version 6, the DF65 has matured likewise. A period of product stability can now happen, Joysway and ourselves will monitor any issues and work to rectify any problems that may arise. These two classes are achieving what Mike and I dreamt of all those years ago.
With a lot of hard work and Joysway’s amazing support, radio sailing has, over a very short space of time, gained two new classes positioned to facilitate the growth of the sport. But that won’t happen all by itself, what happens next is down you, the early adopters, the distributors and the core of enthusiasts that will come together to organise the classes on an international level. The boats are there, what you want to do with them is down to your own imagination.
When an International Class Association is formed one of it’s first objectives must be to stimulate the formation of national class associations where they don’t already exist in those countries that are already sailing DFs and encourage them to affiliate to their national radio sailing authorities. We’re all too happy to run events using the Racing Rules of Sailing, but these rules are owned by World Sailing and we should all respect that and do the right thing to legitimise their use.
I would love to see a new kind of international event, run as a kind of a radio sailing package holiday, bring the family and charter your equipment from the organisers. Imagine a four day break to say, Lake Garda in Italy, fabulous location, all accommodation, entertainment, racing available as part of the package, just bring some clothes, turn up and sign in to get your boats for the event. No expensive air cargo or waiting for your damaged rig box to appear on the baggage carousel - sounds good to me.
Happy sailing, John Tushingham, UK
]]>It ended up being a 1 day event, but the weather was perfect with winds ranging from 5-15 kts, sunshine and about 60 degrees. One of the things I love about traveling and racing RC sailboats in competition is every venue is different and has its quirks
The Steveston venue is a nearly perfect sailing area, especially when the wind blows right down the pipe. It is located on a river so one of the fun challenges was dealing with about a 2-3 kt current from both the tide and the river, which basically ran right down the course, from windward to leeward ...(which you can see in the picture below.)
Not an easy thing to do with a DF65 class boat that weighs 1250 grams!
Sailing in this current really forces you to hit the start line running and really make sure you have plenty in the bank when you round the windward mark and offset! The downwind runs were FAST though!
That speed wind also shows how well the DragonForce 65 sails in breeze and illustrates why it is the best selling sailboat in the world. For its size, cost and handling it is an amazing bang for the buck!
Coming to this regatta was a last minute decision, and I had just completed a new boat and A+ Rig. In addition I had brought a new A+ Rig for one of the local skippers, but ended up finishing it instead of finishing the new standard A rig I had for my own boat. This means I was stuck with A+ rig for the entire 1 day event. Kind of dicey when you travel that far to race!
I also did not have a lot of opportunity to sail the new A+ rig in competition very often, especially in higher wind bands so it was a great chance to see how it performed.
The first several races were in winds of about 6-8 kts, and most of the boats in the regatta had the A+ rig and were sailing very fast! I had a couple bad starts and finished off the pace, but the boat performed well.
Just before lunch, the wind started picking up to about 10-12 and for a race or 2 everyone in A+ started rounding up going downwind and had trouble tacking. I managed to do well, mostly because I have spent many years racing in Texas winds , at the top of whatever rig I had, and could handle my boat in those conditions. I advised that the skippers who had the A rigs change to them. I also tightened the foot of my sail to about 15mm on the jib & main, opened up my jib slot a bit more, and added a bit of twist into the main to bleed off air.
Once this happened the skippers that were in A with the winds gusting up to 15 kts, could handle their tacks , and downwind runs with no problem, in fact it nearly got to B rig conditions a few times! I still managed to grind out top 5 finishes by sailing by the lee downwind, and cracking off my main and jib when going upwind so i didnt slide sideways (again the current made this even more of a rollercoaster ride!)
If you are properly trimmed in a DF65 you can still tack when overpowered, but it will stall a bit more than normal once the tack is completed... yet another reason to gear down when the wind is heavy and keep your boat in control!
I was quite pleased overall with how the boat handled, but I would have definitely changed at about 10 kts given the opportunity. and sea conditions.
Thanks to the Host Committee, especially Bob Lewis, Wilson Chong and the rest of the gang for hosting a really fun regatta at a beautiful venue! Also to Michael Steele for his support of the DF65 fleet in Eastern Canada!
Link to 200+ pictures from the event: https://flic.kr/s/aHsm54k3rX
Here is the file to download in PDF format!
]]>Joysway and the DF Design team have collaborated to design this tray so existing DF65 owners can retrofit your older Version 3-5 Dragon Force for a better electronic arrangement and no more tray flex!
All you need are the parts kits:
and 2 tools :
Procedure:
We were lucky enough to travel to Nuremberg, Germany Toy Fair to debut this new boat for our lineup and meet the great team that makes it all happen.
The management team at Joysway Hobby and the UK design team
have forged a partnership to making the DF Racing sailboats, both high quality and affordable. We all strive to continue to improve the product while maintaining a clean one design restricted class that can appeal to both racers, enthusiasts, and beginning sailors world wide.
John Tushingham, the lead designer behind the products, was gracious enough to give us a complete live walk through of the new DF65 v6 so you can get an in depth look at how we have tried to make this version of the DF65 the best and final version of one of the most successful sailboats in the world!
The new boat will be available this week in North America!
]]>
43 Skippers sailed in the 3 day event which also had the distinction of being the largest RC sailing regatta in North America in 2016! Both the conditions and the competition were challenging as the winds ranged from 5 mph all the way up to 20 MPH and B rig conditions most of day 2, creating big chop, big waves, and big fun !!
The Bass Pro Shop venue features an open dock and great control area and allowed the Race Committee to set up square and fair courses throughout the event. Principal Race Officer Fred Rocha, kept a brisk pace with nearly 50 heats and 16 total races. The top 10 skippers were all National Champions in other radio sailing classes so the competition was tough all the way through the fleet! The lead changed hands several times, but in the end Mark Golison, from Long Beach CA edged Gary Boell to claim the inaugural DF95 USA Championship! We are looking forward to a big 2017 for the DragonFlite 95 and expect the class to expand into regional regattas all over the USA! Check out the highlight video below:
The Markey / Boerema family in Michigan has found a great way to bridge that gap ... with radio sailing and the DragonFlite 95!
Age makes no difference in determining how fast your boat goes in radio sailing. Being fast on the water, all boils down to the sailing basics. Sail trim, course selection, and tactics are still what put you on top in a sailboat race. As Grandpa Larry says, "The reasons we decided to RC sail as a family are first it is fun, second it is very good practice for full size racing strategy.
Another thing I like is the DF95 has the same sail adjustments as a big boat. It is helping teach the kids how important boat setup and sail shape is." This Michigan family of lifelong avid sailors have found that sailing the new DragonFlite 95 is a great way bridge that gap, and have a great time doing it!
Of course having a great one design boat like the DF95 lets the crafty sailing veterans like Larry and Dick, make sure they can hang in there with their athletic kids and keep the competition on a level playing field on their home built summer course.
The youngest sailor in the family, 11- year old Schuyler, assembled his own DF95 ready to race kit and even put the same sticker on the boat that he uses on his full size Optimist Pram, "Need for Speed" .
Brother Chris also assembled his boat while Grandpa Larry, who is a veteran RC Skipper who has sailed EC12M's and Soling 1M's , answered any questions; a nice summer family project!
They have also set up their own race course, marks, and start clock to race with, as well.
This family will be sailing together for a long time to come and a new part of that tradition is now their DragonFlite 95s! Look for them on at the Kensington RC Sailboat Club in Detroit, Michigan or maybe even a regatta soon near you!
]]>
I was very frustrated with the high cost, constant loss of signal and breakage of even the best systems. but like anything, technology often becomes less expensive and better as time goes on, and often more reliable!
A couple years ago I switched to the FlySky FS-T6 system and I was very pleased. The relative low cost of the system ($65 USD) and also replacement receivers ($15) cut my costs by nearly 100-200%! The only hitch was that the receivers had a single antenna that needed a very specific placement to stay in contact. Than last year at the RG65 Nationals my friend Baron, showed up with the latest FlySky TX/Rx called the i6, which was lightweight, small, no antenna to break, dual antennas on the receiver and best of all.. TELEMETRY so you could see what charge you boat battery had in real time!
I immediately purchased one, and its all I've used on every boat I own since then. With all the tech built in to this radio, it's as reliable a system for RC sailing at an affordable cost! Similar systems with these features from Futaba , Spectrum, or Graupner will cost over $300!!
We decided that this radio system was simply as good as it got, so we decided to source them temporarily as our RTR radio for the new DragonFlite 95, but had to pay full retail price.
With our overseas contacts we have now become a distributor and are sourcing this radio directly. Additionally we have speced it out with the superior iA6B receiver which has a hard case ( better moisture protection than the iA6A park flyer receiver which normally comes in the package) coated antenna tips, and also plug ins for some of the other telemetry modules which are available! You can only find this combo on our site in North America!
We are offering this system for $65 USD
We are working with FlySky and hope that we will be able to offer a GPS module that you can plug in by the end of the year!
Here are some of the features
]]>
You can check out the AMYA at www.theamya.org and the DF95 USA Class Owners Association at www.dragonflite95.us
Here is the press release from AMYA President Ray Seta:
PRESS RELEASE: Newest AMYA Sanctioned Class
Attn - AMYA Members
I would like to take this opportunity to announce the latest Class to be recognized as an official "sanction" Class of the American Model Yachting Association(AMYA). With the help of the recently appointed Class Secretary Russ Gardner-AMYA # 17555, and two Directors At-Large Brian Mohs-AMYA # 16257 and Hap McGill-AMYA # 13236, their early dedication to this new Class and meeting all requirements set forth by the AMYA By-Laws, they were able to get all paperwork submitted and approved by the Executive Board of the AMYA under 45 days from when the first boat even hit the water here in the United States. They even exceeded the required 20 registered AMYA members to do so. I would personally like to Thank them for their dedication to the Class and the AMYA, and hope this will be the beginning of a positive relationship between the AMYA and the Dragon Flite 95 community. In the next few weeks the DF05 Class Secretary will be working with our dedicated staff here at the AMYA to get all information posted on the AMYA website. He will also be working with our "Model Yachting" staff on getting all information DragonFlite 95 listed in Model Yachting magazine, issue #185, for all to read. The DragonFlite 95 CS will also start to begin his communication to his members through Model Yachting magazine as a contributor for Class News & Tips. Dragon Flight specific regattas will now be listed in our AMYA calendar, not only in Model Yachting magazine but on the website also..... Again congratulations are in order to the DragonFlite 95 Class and it's members. Looking forward to reading and hearing about your Class as time moves forward!
I would like to recognize one person in the background of all this and has help the three mentioned above and the DragonFlite 95 Class and community make this a reality, and that is Chuck LeMahieu-AMYA #9450 for his vision of this Class and bring it current popularity and accessibility here in the United States.
Ray Seta - AMYA President
]]>
DSNA specializes in the Joysway product line, so not only can you find what you are looking for on our storefront at www.radiosailing.net... no other dealer or distributor in North America has our expert knowledge about the most popular boat on the planet, the DF65!
As a direct importer from Joysway, we are committed to expanding the DF 65 product line and becoming the main source for boats and parts for your club or organization!
We also offer club (5% off on orders of at least 4 boats) and fleet discounts ( 10% off on orders of 10 boats)
]]>We have purchased a number of the excellent Turnigy i6 Transmitters / receivers. The Dragon Sailing team will bind, install and set the end points for the transmitter and receiver, so when your new DF95 is delivered all you need to do is quickly assemble the
rig, plug in the batteries, and go! Bind plug and manual will be included in each package.
We feel the Turnigy i6 is one of the best values currently going for the radio sailing market and has excellent next generation features only found in radios usually three times the price!
If you havent enjoyed a transmitter / receiver with telemetry voltage feedback that displays real time on the LCD screen...you will wonder how you sailed without it! Also the transmitter features a low profile internal antenna, so no more antenna breakage!
Features:
• Entry level 6 channel 2.4ghz radio with telemetry capability
• Dual Rate/Trims/Gear/Flap/Gyro Gain Adjust/Flight Mode/Throttle Hold/Hover Pitch Switches
• Easy to use Programming & Navigation Buttons
• 20 Model Memory
• 8 Character Model Name
• Backlit LCD Screen displays real time transmitter and receiver voltage
• 4 Stick Mode Selectable
• Optional telemetry receivers and sensors available separately
Basic Program Functions:
Dual Rates
Sub Trim
Travel Adjust
Channel Reverse
Swash Mix
Gyro Sensitivity
Throttle Curve
Monitor
Pitch Curve
Throttle Hold
Model Name
Timer
Turnigy TGY-i6 Transmitter Specs:
Frequency: 2.4ghz ISM Frequency Range
Modulation: GFSK
Spread Spectrum Mode: AFHDS 2A and AFHDS
Band: 142
Number of Frequency Channels: 20
Output Power: <=20dbm
Working Current: <=100mA
Working Voltage: 1.5v x 4 AA
Dimensions: 174x89x190mm
Weight: 392g
Resolution: 1024 bit
Stick Mode: Mode 2 (Throttle Left)
Turnigy iA6 Receiver Specs:
Channel: 6
Frequency: 2.4g ISM Frequency Range
Power: 4.5V~6.6V/<30ma
Net Weight: 6.4g
Dimensions: 40.4x21.1x7.35mm
Requires:
4 x AA Type Battery For Operation
*Note: Receiver power telemetry feedback is available using the standard i6 receiver.
DSNA will be offering free shipping on any domestic US order over $100! Dragon Sailing North America now has over 400 boats and 1000 sets of parts IN STOCK!!!
In order to take care of our customers, processing your order is our top priority!
If you place your order with us before Noon Central Standard Time, on regular business days, your order will ship the same day! Weekend orders will ship the next available business day.
We have been working hard to launch our company and we will continue to work hard to make www.radiosailing.net your first choice for radio sailing products!
]]>
Check out the 16 page manual masterfully compiled by DF95 guru John Tushingham!
http://radiosailing.net/pages/dragonflite-95-rigging-instructions
]]>DF95 lead designer, John Tushingham, combined 3D modeling, exhaustive testing and his many years experience to create the specifications for Joysway Hobby to manufacture the effective foils and ballast of the DF95... and they have delivered!
The 100 gram carbon fiber keel fin is very stiff, and has an extremely efficient cross section that combine to give the DF95 good lift at low speed as well as good acceleration.
The fin comes with nickle plated plugs that have been designed to be inserted into the keel fin, and provide a stable machined platform for the bolts to secure the ballast and secure the fin into the keel fin box in the hull.
Weighing 1000 grams , the design of the DF95 ballast is tried and true with a flat tail to dampen the vortices left from the trailing edge of the bulb. Since the boat is manufactured and imported , lead cannot be used for the bulb , but instead it is an alloy.
The DragonFlite 95 will be available from Dragon Sailing February 2016 at www.radiosailing.net .
Pre Orders are being taken at: http://radiosailing.net/pages/dragonflite-95-preorder-form
]]>
Available February 2016!! : Pre order NOW at http://radiosailing.net/pages/dragonflite-95-preorder-form
Thanks Dirk-Jan Kann!!
]]>We will receive product in February 2016 and plan on adding a ton of content, articles, and support for our key Joysway Dragon racing product lineup!
Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks and welcome to the Dragon Sailing Revolution!
]]>