The Buoybot story

The Wynnum Manly Radio Model Yacht club (Brisbane, Australia) in early 2021 was advised to “cease and desist” at its Marina venue where they had operated since 1996, due to a single complaint from a yachtsman that he risked fouling his propeller on one of the clubs’ buoy anchor lines. 

To the clubs membership, particular the more senior people, this was very upsetting. Life is not the same without the simple pleasures of sailing regularly with your mates, from a local venue. The club faced a stark choice. Close or relocate. Until a spark created a third choice, anchorless Buoys, which quickly became a flame, and became a reality.

The instigator, a club member (Andrew R Wilson) contacted his good friend, sailing buddy and seriously clever bloke, Trevor Jack, and together they responded to the feasibility of BuoyBot with enthusiasm and the seriously ugly, but workable prototype was in the water in about six weeks. Unfortunately, Trevor had to give it away after 3 months in favour of his paid employment for which he actually has some relevant expertise, but the project was rolling. Steve Keep, a technical genius with an RC aircraft background, then added incredible value for a period, but alas he too had to withdraw. Andrew Crocker, who was independently working on a similar solution agreed to collaborate and has been instrumental to the solution we have today. All this while the COVID years rolled over us.

So we have been under development now since early 2021. The WMRMYC club remains the beneficiary of the prototyping work. WMRMYC confirms that the specification criteria drawn up, has been meet in full. Permission has been granted to operate Buoybots at the venue. A further clear indicator of Buoybot success is the club’s launch dinghy has not been wet for over two years, and the routine of old blokes hauling an awkward dinghy up and down slippery steps every sailing day has been eliminated to the extent that surplus equipment has been sold off. 

Buoybot has also been used by experienced operators to rescue boats that have run aground, or tangled up on the course….

The following ABC video, primarily concerned with the efforts our club leadership is directing towards the growth of the sport, but also featuring Buoybots in action.

You will also find many club racing videos, featuring Buoybots under development, under the “results” section of the WMRMYC club’s website.

Since the beginning of development, we have included a number of videos chronicling our development journey, and will continue to do so. The link to our Youtube channel, please subscribe!