Coniston Model Boat Regatta 2023

On 13th May 2023, the Ruskin Museum were to hold their 2nd model boat regatta on Coniston Water. I arrived a few days before the event keen to do some testing prior to the event on the Saturday.

On the east of Coniston Water, I decided to do some testing near Rigg Wood Jetty, as there was nice easy access to the lake.

I had a few runs trying building speed slowly or even bringing turbine up to speed very quickly but each time I faced the same problem water was being sucked in through the air inlets and being ingested by the jet engine and extinguishing it.

Here are some pictures from various attempts. The water disturbance can be clearly seen around the rear of the sponsons followed by a plume of steam from the jet exhaust as the water extinguishes the engine.

My options for making modifications to try to limit the water ingestion problem were extremely limited with the tools and equipment that I had taken with me to Coniston.

The only option available to me was to alter the ballast that I had put into the bow to try to get the centre of balance where I wanted it.

So that evening whilst drinking a few beers with my wife Lesley and our friends Brian and Stella I made some modifications to the ballast in a hope that I could minimise the water being taken into the jet engine.

On the Saturday I loaded up my car and set off for the model boat regatta with hopes that the modifications I had made would allow some high speed runs.

Unfortunately, the changes to the ballast had not made enough difference to the problem and each time I tried a high-speed run I had the same water ingestion issue. Although I did get some fabulous shots of my model on Coniston, a big thank you to Neil Draper and Anthony Stuchbury for some of these photos.

After the problems at Coniston, I decided that a few modifications were required to minimise the water ingestion problems. Ironically, Donald had the same water ingestion issues with K7.

The changes I decided to make were as follows:

• Look at options to change the trust direction of the jet engine.
• Improve accuracy and enlarge the spray baffles.
• Modify fins on bottom of sponsons to reduce turbulence.