High winds and rolling waves put miniature yachts - and their skippers - to the test during the DF95 Otago Radio Yacht Championship on Lake Dunstan at the weekend.

Cromwell hosted approximately 20 sailers from across Otago and Canterbury for two days of competitive radio controlled racing on Friday and Saturday (November 7 and 8).

It wasn’t all smooth sailing. 

“It was gusting 20-plus knots earlier this morning and we were racing. It was really hard yakka,” Cromwell Radio Yacht Squadron commodore Alexa Bell told The Central App between races offshore

from the Cromwell Boat Club on Saturday afternoon. 

Sailors from across Otago and Canterbury compete in the DF95 Otago Radio Yacht Championship in Cromwell. Image: The Central App

“It was like ocean racing - literally, you’re boat is going up and down and you can hardly see it sometimes, but it’s a lot of fun.”

Alexa said while some call them “toy boats” those who race them prefer “mini yachts”.

Radio controlled yachts race on Lake Dunstan in Cromwell. Image: The Central App

“They’re like a large-scale yacht, but scaled way down,” she said.

Imagine something similar to an America’s Cup race, just downsized, with racing manoeuvring controlled by sailors on shore using handheld transmitters.

“You have two joysticks - a left and a right,” Alexa said.

“One of them is the rudder and the other is the sails - both the mainsail and the port sail go together.”

“You’re probably getting into the water for $1,000.”

Cromwell sailor Jonny Price said some of the weekend’s racers have full-sized yachts parked out the back of the boat club, but he came to the sport through a love of “playing with RC (radio controlled)

cars”.

“For a non-sailor, there’s quite a steep learning curve,” he said.

“You’re using all the sailing rules - starboard has rights over a port boat, windward boat must keep clear; all that sort of stuff.”

Jonny said the morning’s conditions had been “very challenging, with big waves and strong winds”.

“That’s probably the extreme for what these little boats like to sail in.”

Saturday afternoon saw the wind drop, allowing for some “good racing, in better conditions”, he said.

The Cromwell Radio Yacht Squadron holds regular sailing sessions on Lake Dunstan near the boat club on Sundays over summer.