THE USUAL
From left to right: Designed For Joy co-founders Kristen Sydow and Cary Heise
SET SAIL
Meet the group that races scaled-down yachts on Lake Crabtree by AYN-MONIQUE KLAHRE photography by TRAVIS LONG
A
t the blare of the horn, eight-foot-tall remote-controlled sailboats speed past each other around Lake Crabtree, tacking left and right to finish a course marked by buoys. These boats are not toys, and their pilots aren’t kids: these are to-scale models of Olympic-caliber yachts, steered with all the finesse you’d find in a full-size race. “It’s the same kind of racing you see at the regattas around the country, except
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scaled down—and of course, the sailor is not on the boat!” laughs Rick Ferguson, a former commodore of the club, who’s been a member for about 12 years. On Sunday mornings from March through November, you’ll find Ferguson among about a dozen others setting sail on area lakes as part of the Triangle Model Yacht Club. It’s actually one of the older clubs in the country—the most famous one meets in New York City’s Central Park—and it attracts mostly
middle-aged-to-older men, tinkerers and ex-athletes. “We welcome new members of any age or gender—since most of us are of retirement age, recruitment is important!” says Ferguson. “And we are more than willing to help a total novice learn the ropes if they want to race.” The spirit is one of friendly competition and camaraderie, the kind that builds over years of spending Saturday mornings shoulder to shoulder with like-minded folks. “It’s a test of skill
