That's the USVMYG Burgee flying at the Museum
of Yachting in Newport, RI. We had a major Exhibit there in 2004: "The
World of Model Yachts." We have a 32 page Catalog
for the Exhibit, with pictures (some in color), descriptions of the boats,
all woven through a history of model yachting in the United States.
A good place to start is with the history of model yachting in the USA.
We have located an 1894 article about the earliest days of model yachting in the New York area.
After you've digested that, you can check out the evolution of the Marblehead
Class , also known as "M" Class or the "50/800" Class, probably the
most popular class of model racing yachts ever.
If you already sail R/C model yachts, you may be interested in learning about the first radio controlled model yacht.
If you're interest is in the "big boats" (called "major yachts" by model yachtsmen), you might like to see how some full-scale designers like Herreshoff and Skene enjoyed model yachting.
Model yachting has always be intimately associated with secondary school education. We have a short history and pictures from the Detroit area, whose tradition of student construction and competition goes back to 1927. Al Suydam attended the 1998 Detroit Schools Regatta and took pictures.
Jim Dolan, our archivist, has done a terrific job of digging out old pictures of model yachting in the Boston and Marblehead areas.
We also have some web pages describing sailing at the 100-year old Christchurch Model Yacht Club (New Zealand).
The USVMYG has taken over the coordination of the historic A Class , which had dropped below the AMYA requirement of 20 registered boats. Class coordinator is Rod Carr.
