What’s Buzzing Around Williams Lake?
[Continue to enjoy our 2020 April Fools Joke here.
Past April 1st postings are available on the April Fools Archive page (click here)]
If you’ve been walking in the woods around Williams Lake lately, you may have noticed a certain buzz in the air. It’s not your imagination, and no – mosquito season hasn’t started early. What you are hearing is scouts from the World Air Sports Federation, checking out the shoreline of Williams Lake as the site of their Fall 2020 competition. But why drone racing, and why here?
Teens, Tweens, and Screens
Every parent knows how hard it is to get teens and tweens away from their screens, and out in nature, even though health experts extol the benefits of “forest bathing”. Fortunately, drones are a natural draw for tech-loving youth, and competitive drone racing is the adrenaline-enfused version of this growing sport. That’s why drone-racing in the Backlands is being seen as a key way to boost use of the trails and promote awareness of the unique geographic features of this area, for this special hard-to-reach demographic.
What can regular park users expect? Leo Bourdonner, who competed in the 2018 DRL Alliance World Championship in Shenzen, says to watch out not only for the racing drones, but also for the people controlling them. “The drones have such a fast reaction time, they can be going 80-100 kilometres an hour one way, then spin around and go 80-100 the other way”, he enthuses.
Be Alert – Stay Safe!
Will walkers see them coming? “You’ll definitely hear them” says Bourdonner, “though it can be hard to tell which direction the sound is coming from”. It’s not just walkers who need to beware – swimmers and paddlers need to be alert as well.
While the drones are incredibly agile, their owners may not be. Drone operators will be wearing Virtual Reality (VR) headsets, or watching their screens, so they likely won’t see someone in their path. The best advice is to give drone operators a wide berth.
Unintentional Water Sport?
Girls are just as active as boys in the sport, and they are especially nimble on the obstacle courses that are key to competition. “The Backlands around Williams Lake are just incredible” says Nadia Rumorosa, a lead course designer. “We don’t have to set up plastic hoops and channels, the terrain provides all the obstacles we could ever want – inclines, forest canopy, glacial erratics, fallen logs”. Best of all, in Rumorosa’s view, is Williams Lake itself – “it’s the ultimate hazard”. Though drones will undoubtedly be lost in the water, Bourdonner hopes to encourage “drone salvage” – so the machines are recovered before their electric components can dump toxic metals into the lake. Local kayak and canoe paddlers might be offered a reward for returning lost equipment to their owners.
21st Century Technology Meets the Backlands
The impact of drones – with their annoying whine, erratic flight paths, and frequent crashes will likely have some impact on local wildlife – loons are notoriously shy of intrusions into their habitat and always erupt with worried territorial calls when helicopters from Shearwater fly over the lake. But that is a small price to pay for seeing the woods full of excited teens from around the world, tramping through the underbrush, and fiercely competing in one of the globe’’s newest sports!
Hopes Up In Flames
Drone owners are lucky if their machines happen to crash in the lake. The alternative is far scarier.
“Drones are full of highly combustible material”, says local fire inspector Carter Ignis – “not just the lithium batteries, but the wiring too.”
Drone crashes mean drone fires. “We have to rely on young operators to do the right thing” continues Ignis. “If an operator fails to get to his crashed drone in time, tragedy can and will result.”
A Taste of Forest Drone Racing to Whet Your Appetite
To learn more about how you can participate in the Atlantic Drone Competition, check out the posting under April Fools Day on our web site – which, come to think of it, is today!
Happy April Fools Day! …and no, drone races are not permitted anywhere within the Shaw Wilderness Park that borders Williams Lake. 🙂
If you missed any of our past foolishness you can retrieve them from our April Fools Archive (click here).
