Water Skating on Lake Heidsee

For quite some time now, I’ve been thinking about organizing a seaplane event myself. When I got to talking with Hugo Peyer about this at last year’s seaplane event in Davos, we realized we were both thinking the same thing. The result was the first seaplane event on Lake Heidsee in Lenzerheide, which we organized and carried out ourselves.

Since I already had experience organizing a model aircraft operation from my aerobatics workshop, and Hugo had a strong network of contacts with the local authorities in Lenzerheide, the tasks were quickly divided up: Hugo took care of all the permits and organizational matters, while I worked out the details of flight operations.

Three weeks before the event date, we traveled to Lenzerheide with our models in tow to familiarize ourselves with the on-site conditions and verify the feasibility of our detailed plans. This included such important points as the feasibility of safety rules, launching and retrieving the models, the use of a rescue boat and fire extinguishing agents for any overheated LiPo batteries, emergency planning, overnight storage of the models, and so on.

We were able to count on the municipality’s generous support. I would especially like to mention that the hunting and fishing warden, Beat Kilgus, actively stood by our side and provided us with extremely generous support on site. In addition to the Badi kiosk and the nearby lakeside restaurant, we also had access to a barbecue area, including

Firewood (!) was available. Some of us couldn’t resist turning our grilled meats into

crispy treats. Hugo’s brother-in-law, who lives in Parpan, also let us use his private

Chargers.

A “POWER” electrical distribution system was provided—one that would likely have been sufficient to power a medium-sized festival tent! So, with satisfaction,

that our planning had met the diverse requirements and traveled home full of confidence and anticipation. →

On Saturday morning, June 23, 14 pilots gathered at Heidsee under glorious sunshine and, after the mandatory briefing, began flying. However, the forecast Bise soon brought us a stiff wind that really put our flying—and especially our driving—skills to the test. So the rescue boat was launched fairly early on, and it would be called into action several more times over the course of the day... It’s truly amazing how the models seemed to handle the backflips—and in some cases, complete submersion of the entire propulsion electronics—without a hint of trouble... No smoke, no burning LiPos, nothing.

The same wind that was blowing the models around turned out to be—

At the very least, it’s the ideal drying fan for wet regulators and motors...

In the evening, we all got together for drinks and dinner at a nearby hotel. It turned out that some of us have quite a bit of “stamina” when it comes to sitting!

In any case, it seemed to me that the hostess was visibly relieved when we finally got up from our chairs.

Sunday greeted us with noticeably lighter winds and light cloud cover. This had the pleasant side effect that the rescue boat

could stay in dry dock. We were able to enjoy many beautiful flights, take breaks to relax and do nothing, and, as evening approached, load our gear back into the cars with a sense of satisfaction.

Thanks to the smooth execution and the very positive feedback from the participants, we can look back on a successful event that had all the right ingredients: impeccable organization, great facilities, time for socializing and relaxation, and, of course, many wonderful flights against a unique backdrop!

The date in June falls exactly between the MG Wohlen’s spring seaplane flying event and the Graubünden Model Flyers’ fall seaplane flying events, making it an ideal addition to the calendar of seaplane flying events. Also, as predicted by the authorities, the swimming season had practically not yet begun at that time. So it’s very possible that next year, the second edition of the seaplane event on Lake Heidsee will take place again under the same circumstances. As always, you can find more information at www.modellflug.ch/Veranstaltungen.

See you there!
Daniel Dietziker