Safety Fencing

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a rocky shorline works well lol you can ask a few I know, dont wanna mention any names, you can still race with a fuel jug for a cockpit nose though..lmao
 
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lohring said:
Don't expect orange construction fencing to stop a fast boat. It's mostly to keep people back from the edge of the pond. The pond shore is the real safety barrier, even though I've seen boats occasionally get fairly far from the shore. Sports netting has been used as a barrier where the boat really needs to be stopped. It has been tested across Lake Minden for several years in NAMBA District 9; stopping everything from fast electrics to gas monos. You need to think about boats going under the netting. In the water a weighted line holds the edge under water. It would take more on land.

Lohring Miller, NAMBA Safety Director
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Lohring is correct and if you read the NEW IMPBA safety rules the orange fencing is not recommended. Below are how the rules read now. Of course if the lake site is privately owned and is not registered with the IMPBA then you're on your own. Still do not recommend the orange fencing it is cheap for a reason! SITE RULES

Adequate provision shall be made for the safety of the contestants and spectators.

Each club should have a Safety Officer who will inspect the pond prior to Open Water, or the start of the race, to ensure that all IMPBA rules are in effect and adequate protection in place. This inspection should include a written check list as outlined in the Club Procedures. Contest Directors must check with the Safety Officer to be sure that the inspection is complete before starting the event. The club Safety Officer may provide a technical inspection prior to an event, and deny running privileges to any boat not considered safe.

No person may operate or assist in the operation of a model power boat, or enter the pit area, or operate a retrieve boat at any IMPBA sanctioned event on an IMPBA insured pond, and be covered by insurance, unless he is a current paid IMPBA member. Race officials, contestants, and their assistants should be the only ones allowed in the pit area.

Spectators shall be kept out of the water and a minimum of 20 feet from any operating boat. The spectator area should be back 20 feet from the shoreline, and signs posted: “No Spectators beyond This Point.”

The pit area shall be roped or fenced and kept clear of spectators. An effort should also be made to protect boaters in the pit area by using netting or a raised launch area. SAFETY NETTING should be placed on all sides of the pond exposed directly to spectators and contestants. Safety nets should be inspected prior to the race for tears and dry rot. Net supports should be spaced no more than 10 feet apart. Any area that is not covered by safety nets must be kept free of all people and animals during the event with signs and/or ropes or barriers of some kind. The plastic orange construction netting is NOT recommended. The recommended netting is; http://www.seamar.com/nets/squaremesh.html
 
Chain link dose no cost that much.

It is well worth putting it up. If you have ever heard the story about a boat hitting some one in the face wile standing in the pits and riping his mouth open you would feel the same.

Do the right thing and get chain link.

A 80+ MPH 15+Lbs boat will make a mess.

The hight of chain link will deflect any thing up over those in the way and slow it to a reasonable speed.

David
 
Blackout, our club uses the fish netting for our district events and it has worked well over the last 10 years. We attach floating bouys every 8ft. and it has stopped twins nitro riggers, scale boats, gas monos, and even a runaway thunderboat. Don F can send you some pics if he has them or Ray but it will do just what you need. Look up some of the fishing supply companies for nylon fishing netting in 16in width. The floats we made for it are the blue/white pool lane markers with a wood dowel through them and a 2lb fishing sinker tiewrapped to the bottom.
 
After a boat went throug our "industrial" type fencing across the safety barrier and landed in front of a spectators chair we decided as a club to go with chain link fencing. It looks great, easy to maintain and works..so far we have seen no tore up boats from hitting it. The people that go to these races should be top priority when it comes to safety..not boats..thay can be fixed..I am with Charleston Model Boaters...Thanks Ray..we love our site too.
 
Reasonoing given along time ago why fencing needed to be in the water was to protect the boats from damage. SO the rule changed to and is flexible to match with the specific sites requirement to PROTECT THE PEOPLE not boats. Obviously distance is the best defense against a spectator from injury but that is limited by the geography of the different sites, so the combination of the type of bank at a site, good quality fencing, and the max distance is used. Obviously Chainlink fencing is the best no boats will go through in one piece but they can hit the top of the fencing supports and be catapluted so distance from the fencing should be considered also. The protection of people at the races requires the use of a lot of COMMON SENSE which is scarce but still needs to be used at each site when coming up with what will be required to mitigate the risk of injury to an acceptable level. The only way to eliminate any risk of injury is to ban all people at the events, so we all need to strive to reduce the risk by many venues. One way for the indivisual racers to help is to perform range checks on their radio equipment and at least every 2 or 3 years send it back to the manufactureer for a CHECK UP! Make sure the radio euipment is maintained and is in good working order not conitually drenched by a leaky radio box.
 
COMMON SENSE??? I think we have a winner here folks. Most boats I've seen puntching thru the less expensive fencing were not well maintained cause the owner wanted to race 6-8 seperate boats in a one or two day race. Not enough time to check everything and dry out radio boxes before the next heat. Another problem is with identical looking boats coming out of a corner- are you driving the right one? Get some colored tape on it if your boat looks too much like someone elses.Most of the racers I've known only want low entry fees and would not shell out a few more bucks for better netting.
 
bzubee said:
Reasonoing given along time ago why fencing needed to be in the water was to protect the boats from damage. SO the rule changed to and is flexible to match with the specific sites requirement to PROTECT THE PEOPLE not boats. Obviously distance is the best defense against a spectator from injury but that is limited by the geography of the different sites, so the combination of the type of bank at a site, good quality fencing, and the max distance is used. Obviously Chainlink fencing is the best no boats will go through in one piece but they can hit the top of the fencing supports and be catapluted so distance from the fencing should be considered also. The protection of people at the races requires the use of a lot of COMMON SENSE which is scarce but still needs to be used at each site when coming up with what will be required to mitigate the risk of injury to an acceptable level. The only way to eliminate any risk of injury is to ban all people at the events, so we all need to strive to reduce the risk by many venues. One way for the indivisual racers to help is to perform range checks on their radio equipment and at least every 2 or 3 years send it back to the manufactureer for a CHECK UP! Make sure the radio euipment is maintained and is in good working order not conitually drenched by a leaky radio box.
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glenng said:
COMMON SENSE??? I think we have a winner here folks. Most boats I've seen puntching thru the less expensive fencing were not well maintained cause the owner wanted to race 6-8 seperate boats in a one or two day race. Not enough time to check everything and dry out radio boxes before the next heat. Another problem is with identical looking boats coming out of a corner- are you driving the right one? Get some colored tape on it if your boat looks too much like someone elses.Most of the racers I've known only want low entry fees and would not shell out a few more bucks for better netting.
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Them rules were written when fast was 60 mph, twins running at 80 mph, different story. COMMON SENSE B) .........==={}
 
When OCD was preparing for the 2008 Winter Nats I suggested that we replace our orange plastic fence with chain link. It's a good thing we did. We had 3 different instances were the fence saved racers and spectators serious injury. The first was during open water when a run-a-way gas sport hydro at full throttle hit the fence in the hot pits where several racers were standing with their backs to the fence. The hydro was stopped dead in its tracks by the chain link fence. The second was a twin nitro rigger coming around buoy's 8,9 and 10 lost it and went up on shore where a mother and her small child were sitting in the grass watching the race. Nitro twin was stopped dead in its tracks by the chain link fence. Third was a seaducer x mono that took a bad hop on the front straight-a-way and darted into the fence where a group of spectators were standing. Once again stopped dead in its tracks by the chain link fence. The mono did manage to penetrate the fence a little with its bow sticking through 4-5 inches but if this had been the plastic orange fence it would have gone all the way through. There is no way in hell that any of these people could have gotten out of the way of these boats. The chain link fence did it's job. Who cares about the boats when it comes to the safety of spectators or our fellow racers. Chain link is cheap at around a dollar a foot. The expense is in the steel post being around $12.00 each. At $5.00 for a 10' section of 1 1/4" sch.40 (thick wall) PVC cut in half makes great fence post. $2.50 a post won't break the bank.

 

What would you want to have between you and a 15 pound, 60-80 mph boat coming at you?
 
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I'm glad I started this thread. A lot of great info. Thanks!

I will definitely be going with a steel fence, chain link or something from our local farm supply store. 10 gauge steel wire in any form should do the trick.
 
VenomCC said:
When OCD was preparing for the 2008 Winter Nats I suggested that we replace our orange plastic fence with chain link. It's a good thing we did. We had 3 different instances were the fence saved racers and spectators serious injury. The first was during open water when a run-a-way gas sport hydro at full throttle hit the fence in the hot pits where several racers were standing with their backs to the fence. The hydro was stopped dead in its tracks by the chain link fence. The second was a twin nitro rigger coming around buoy's 8,9 and 10 lost it and went up on shore where a mother and her small child were sitting in the grass watching the race. Nitro twin was stopped dead in its tracks by the chain link fence. Third was a seaducer x mono that took a bad hop on the front straight-a-way and darted into the fence where a group of spectators were standing. Once again stopped dead in its tracks by the chain link fence. The mono did manage to penetrate the fence a little with its bow sticking through 4-5 inches but if this had been the plastic orange fence it would have gone all the way through. There is no way in hell that any of these people could have gotten out of the way of these boats. The chain link fence did it's job. Who cares about the boats when it comes to the safety of spectators or our fellow racers. Chain link is cheap at around a dollar a foot. The expense is in the steel post being around $12.00 each. At $5.00 for a 10' section of 1 1/4" sch.40 (thick wall) PVC cut in half makes great fence post. $2.50 a post won't break the bank.

 

What would you want to have between you and a 15 pound, 60-80 mph boat coming at you?
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Perfect example why to use the best possible fencing versus orange plastic fencing designed more to keep people from entering a construction area temporarily.
 
Please be aware that fish netting/volleyballnetting/sportsnetting will stop boats, but the details of installation can really affect things. Using the sports netting will be vastly more effective if it is not put in tension(like in strung across a lake on floats). There will be no way you will be able to keep the tension off if even a small amount of wind blows. Having the netting on the bank held up loosely by posts usually stops boats, but they will still push the netting a fair amount in the process. It truly makes me feel good that so many people spoke up and endorsed the chain link option. I hope your words will have some impact on the thinking of the West Coasters. They didn't put control line speed inside a fence until they cut a leg off a guy. (he happened to be an airline pilot.)
 

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