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OCTOBER MODEL SHIPS- YACHTS – I/C. ENGINES LOCOMOTIVES:-CARS:- RADIO CONTROL © 1957 MODEL MAKER THE 1957 A CLASS , CHAMPIONSHIPS DESCRIBED BY H. B. TUCKER PICTURES BY VIC SMEED Dick Priest, seen carrying Highlander with the help of his mate in our heading picture, has now established himself very firmly as the top A class designer. Pictures below show Highlander (left) rail down and. taking it green on a beat, and (right) completing the board which put the race result beyond any doubt. Inset is a shot of her on her magnificent record run, during which she averaged 6 knots! Total score, possible maximum. HE Fleetwood Regatta of 1957 will long be remembered as one of the stormiest ever held. There were 34 starters (as listed in the results) and before dealing with the actual racing, a few notes on the competing yachts may be of interest to readers who were unable to be present. Let us start with the International competitors. Miss Grisbi is a new boat which our friend, M. Boussy, has designed and built, and takes the place of his well-known Vivianne. She is very similar to her predecessor, but a much more powerful craft. She was only launched shortly before the Regatta, and her owner had not had time to find her windward trim. She, however, proved both fast and steady on the run, and will later be very dangerous. Her L.W.L. is 54.0 in., displacement 60 Ib., S.A. 1600. The Danish boat Revanche II is also a new boat. She seems steadier downwind than Kai Ipsen’s last yacht, but not so fast, though at times she showed a nice turn of speed. Her dimensions are: L.W.L. incidentally, was 83% of 53.0 in., 49.5 1b. displacement and 1580 S.A. Actually in the very heavy weather encountered, she appeared to be of too light displacement and lacking in power. Scotland now ranks as a separate country and was represented by four boats, but of these only one was eligible to enter for the Y.M. International Cup Race, as three of them are by English designers. The fourth, boat, Elma, was designed by A. Smith of Glasgow who was Head Draughtsman to one of the leading Clyde Yachtbuilders. Of the others, Tommy Tucker produced a remarkable innovation in the form of a double vane feather. This consisted of two feathers set parallel about 3 or 34in. apart. The area of each feather was about two-thirds of that of a normal feather. This seemed to have a sort of box kite effect, and to eliminate vane flutter. It produced remarkably steady running. Unfortunately, the actual vane gear was not as reliable as it might have been on the self-tacking motion, and this caused the boat to lose quite a number of windward points anes 480 wee !957 OCTOBER, Position |Number 1 2 Name | K.751. | Highlander K.716 | Jill… 3 4 5 Sn K.750 | Serica K.753 | Nordlys … K.746 | Moonraker II 6 K.711 | Commando 8 K.743 7 K.723 | Shikara lo K.726 | Tango K.600 | Shalimar il K.652 | Cumbria 9 | .. | A. Levison . | J: Pollitt … Club Sun | Mon, | Tues. | Wed. | Thurs. . | ¥.M.6-m.O.A. .. ; | ¥.M.6-m.O.A…. Gosport M.Y.C…. Gosport M.Y.C…. .. | J. Towers… .. | E. C. Porter 2 19 29 39 55 Fleetwood M.Y.C. 22 29 43 64 7 46 33 = 64 46 26 37 44 | 27 bt Mame pea 38 38 36 «. | ¥.M.6-m.O.A…. ive | WePlate 20 D.41 21 =| KS.568| 22 24 25 , Happy Daze… KS.570 | Tommy Tucker F.32 Miss Grisbi =| K.603 =K.664 Rayo | KS.500 | Elma 28 | K.706 29 30 31 32 33 34 >; — ~=| *K.692 K.734 et -| 10 | | Bournville M.Y.C. | Doncaster M.Y.C. | Bae Poole M.Y.C….. | Bury M.Y.C. : … | Coronation Finality … | Pinnochio | K.742 | Whirlwind | KS.563 | Lady Love ; | Fleetwood M.Y.C. | Danish M.S.C. . | C. McKechnie | Le Jinks… | J. W. Roberts … a North Liverpool M.Y.C. | C. H. Taylor Norfolk & Norwich M.Y.C. | Helensburgh M.Y.C. | H. Atkinson Bradford M.Y.C. | F. Dutton… R. Pilling … J. Lynn 5 | | 6 IS | 12 | | | Ulster M.Y.C. 8 East Hull M.Y.C. 5 -| 10 Port Glasgow M.Y.C. … 4 Morecambe M.Y.C…. | II | 122 120 116 99 | 97 | 1054 1034 95 lold 76 | 94 974 75} 79 89 85 82 87 55 55 70 82 64 | 76 864 34 51 50 46 62 él 56 76 76 794 784 77 18 24 42 48 53 64 65 72 15 27 46 53 65 70 52 62 | 67 | 634 18 31 52 27 22 65 45 37 50 32 6i 32 «4i 49 61 14 21 30 45 55 15 22 24 40 | 44 24 29 41 | ll 33 | 36 17 10 | 4 | 24 13, | 13 | 5 | 22 25 33 9 45 31 965 924 91k 8l 70 66 19 32 964 72 23 7 | | | | 16 21 Y el ees 77 29 °;| 58: | 78 |. 90 16 7 80 | 13 30 16 | 1294 93 24 9 ll Bolton M.Y.C. | L. Paton 14 3 Doncaster M.Y.C. Bury M.Y.C. lo | 60 121 112 Hl | -| Ul | 25 … | Saltcoats M.Y.C. H. N. Amlot | K.642 | Wildfire … K.718 | F. Shackleton Cavalier … Oberon 18 10 J. T. G. A. Bissett | Saltcoats M.Y.C. 3 H. Boussy… … | Club Olympique de Billancourt | Marion 26 27 | H.. Miller … 7 | | | 38 123 89 | 102 | il Birkenhead M.Y.C. | Yeoman … | Kai Ipsen … 60 82 | K.707 |. Roberta … K.731 Aramis … Revanche II 66 35 59 | K.637 =… 44 23 | | | 47 18 19 .. | A. D. Davis . | J. Lofthouse 26 | 137 iol 97 101 104 30 17 .. | S. Williams 74 44 56 69 56 82 14 16 K.741 | Bimbo 59 22 36 33 Fri. | Sat. IIE | 132 25 .. | J. M. Fitzgerald… | Bolton M.Y.C. … . | J. G. Meir… … | Bournville M.Y.C. V. Crean … 81 15 Fleetwood M.Y.C. W.H. Jones 37 ieee 4 18 25 12 .. | L. K. Corrooin =i ‘ pea 18 | Tosca | Juanita Orchid at | 25 Ses K.728 | K.720 K.621 17 | 33 | 53. Birkenhead M.Y.C. … | Bury M.Y.C. 13 14 15 …, W. F. Hugman … | Morecambe M.Y.C. G. Redfern . K.752 | Firebird … | —… | Birkenhead M.Y.C. ve | N. D. Hatfield . | R.A. Jurd… . . | P. A. West … Reward … Skipper _B.H.Priest 694 57 | 44 | «i | 62 60 49 474 46 44 45 35—s«@4id | 444 18 | 23 NOTE.—On Sunday, August 18th, all competitors sailed five heats, but after that competitors were divided into four sections so as to shorten waits for competitors. The scores on Tuesday and Friday do not therefore represent competitors’ respective positions as they had not all sailed the same number of heats. By the evening of Wednesday, 21st, however, all yachts had completed 21 heats, and by the evening of Friday, 23rd, all competitors had completed 31 heats, leaving the last two heats to be sailed on the morning of Saturday, 24th. quarter she would have gained otherwise. The double vane, however, seems well worth further experiment. Scottish model yachtsmen are badly handicapped in comparison with their English competitors, as there is not a single lake North of the Border suitable for A-Class yachts. Given a suitable water to tune up and practice on, I am sure they would rapidly become formidable rivals. Of the English designers, B. H. Priest was represented by no less than nine boats, more than a Ouff! Arthur Levison turns off 7i//, second place boat. Co-ordination of hand and eye was essential under the of the whole fleet. His own boat, High- lander, which proved the winner of the British Championship, is a remarkable craft. Her dimensions are: L.W.L. 54.0in., L.W.L. Beam 13.5 in., maximum beam on deck 12.5 in., giving no less than 0.5in. tumblehome. Her displacement is 52.0 Ib., and her S.A. 1520. The bilge is carried very low, the turn being below water and she is decidedly flatfloored. (Plans and design notes will be published in November MopEL MAKER—Ed.). Two sisters of Highconditions. Fuanita. Right, third boat Serica neck and neck with &; 2 ’ : 2 481 i 4 ing a suit of sails, has completely confused our captioning! lander, Reward and Finality, were also in the race. There were four Roberta’s in Roberta, Happy Daze, Aramis and Pinocchio. His other two boats were Yeoman with which Mr. Priest himself won the 1952 British Championship, and Commando, sister to Calypso with which Mr. R. Jurd won the Championship last year. The late Admiral Turner was represented by Rayo, Orchid, Wildfire, Moonraker II and Nordlys. All of these are to the same design, but in building Nordlys, Mr. Jurd made a slight alteration to the after over- hang which much enhances the looks of the yacht without in any way affecting the basic design. Mr. W. J. Daniels was represented by the sisters Jill and Juanita, also Serica and Lady Love. Jill and Juanita are heavyweights of 62.5 1b. of displacement, L.W.L. 55.5in., maximum beam 16.0in., and approximately 1600 S.A. Serica made her debut at Gosport last year, and is a lovely looking craft. Shalimar is the yacht which Messrs. R. Jurd and Walter Jones took to the States in 1951 in a vain endeavour to recover the Y.M. Cup. She is based on Mr. Blogg’s Sharma designed by the late J. G. Two other competitors, Marion and Feltwell. Upper centre is the damaged skeg of Nordlys, and below Miss Corrooin proves that a lady mate can cope with even the heaviest conditions. Right hand picture is the patched-up Firebird, one of several boats dropped in the high winds. Shikari, stem from the same parentage. Firebird is a new Littlejohn boat this year. She started life as a full-keeler, but has been converted to fin-and-skeg. Another interesting boat was Cavalier, built by her owner with a fibre glass hull. SUNDAY, AUGUST 18 When the first pair of yachts were started by His. Worship the Mayor of Fleetwood, there was a fresh N.W. wind of some 12/16 knots, with occasional heavier squalls. This gave a beat and quartering run. Two heats were sailed by the whole fleet before lunch. After lunch the wind freshened somewhat, and many competitors changed down to 2nd suits. The wind also veered slightly making the course a reach each way. During the afternoon three complete heats were sailed, making the possible 25 points. for the day. Jill and Moonraker II both made a possible, followed by Cumbria with 22, and Shalimar with 19. MONDAY, AUGUST 19 Half the fleet sailed four heats during the forenoon, while the other half had five heats during the afternoon. It was blowing hard during the fore- (Continued on page 517) i, spinnaker. Right: Kai Ipsen’s Revanche II sets off Highlander in the abandoned international race. Below, the Scots boat Elmz leading from another boat which, by borrow- —— Aramis, foreground, ploughs along with fill) note well-reefed with 432 COMMERCIAL GLASS FIBRE YACHT HULLS MODEL MAKER VISITS A NEW VENTURE ALL OF INTEREST MODEL TO YACHTING ENTHUSIASTS. HE win of Scarab in this year’s 10-rater Championship must have convinced even the most sceptical that glass fibre as a medium for yacht construction offers no operational difficulties or disadvantages. Critics and traditionalists are reduced to the suggestion that making a one-off yacht in this way involves a lot of unnecessary fiddling about and that normal wood construction is cleaner, takes only the same time, and is no more expensive. This certainly might be true, but what happens when several boats to the same lines are required? Using one mould, the time and cost per boat are handsomely reduced; all huils are identical, and the operational advantages of glass fibre add the final weight to bring the balance down heavily in favour of these still relatively new materials. Briefly recapitulating these advantages, they include strength, toughness, resilience, constant weight, freedom from leaking, rot, or water absorption, ease of adding fittings, etc., a completely clear inside hull, free of any structure apart from mast step and deck beams, and so on. On the debit side there is the thought that a “mass production” process introduces the faintest hint of mechanisation into what has always been an individualist’s sport, but there will always be the one-off boats built by specialists and home builders, and.if one considers the sailing of models as being separate from building (as it virtually is) no possible objection can be sus- The stages in production. Starting from the back, the accurate dummy, the plaster mould, the hull as produced from _ the mould fitted with skeg, and the finished hull. tained to the introduction of a modern technique which will enable many enthusiasts to participate in two classes where previously they could afford only one boat. Commercial production of hulls in glassfibre has been considered by one or two model firms, but the small numbers of any one design involved have caused these firms to lose interest. Now, however, a considerable amount of research and experiment has been put into 490 ae. OCTOBER, the matter by P. D. Roberts of Hove, with the result that glass-fibre hulls are actually in production. Mr. Roberts is, of course, well-known as a sailmaker and has recently begun to offer a useful range of accessories for yachtsmen. When we visited -the Roberts establishment to take the pictures accompanying this article, two designs had started production runs, these being Tucker’s Windsong and Witty’s Hornet. At the moment Marbleheads are the main class envisaged, plus an A boat—it is hoped that Highlander may be available in this form —but Mr. Roberts is prepared to consider any design provided he receives a minimum of six examined an early experimental hull which had been moulded from a very old boat; the boat had defects in its surface which were exactly duplicated in the copy, hence the need for a really accurate dummy. We at MopEL MakER believe that the model yachting movement will benefit from the introduction of this new technique, which is why we have given it our support. If you are a potential purchaser of a glass-fibre hull, drop a line to Roberts at 14 Saxon Road, Hove 3— remember that the boat of your choice will only be produced if there are sufficient enquiries. rane firm orders for that particular boat. In order to difficulty in any avoid respect of copyright, choice of design is, for the time being at least, limited to boats available in Model Maker Plans Service. The two boats now in production sell for £6 10s. (including copy of plans) each, and naturally the model yachtsman will want to know what exactly he gets for his outlay. The finished hull, ready for painting and decking, is accurately moulded to the designer’s lines; skeg and rudder tube are fitted, and a wood garboard piece ready drilled for the fin bolts is strongly secured in place. Adequate section inwales are in place, and a plate to receive the mast step is fitted. A really accurate wooden dummy hull starts the moulding process, and from this is produced a split mould as seen in the photograph. The copies come out of this mould identical in all respects to the dummy—we Close-ups of some shown in our of the stages heading E957 picture. Yacht on left-hand page is an early experimental model fitted with the novel Roberts black terylene sails ll OCTOBER, A-CLASS CHAMPIONSHIPS (Continued from page 482) noon, but increased during the afternoon to a wind of 24 miles per hour, with terrific gusts. At the same time there were heavy rain squalls, and conditions were decidedly unpleasant. Most competitors carried 2nd suits, and some of the less stiff yachts were down to 3rds. Even then many yachts were obviously overcanvassed. Sailing was most spectacular as down- wind nearly every boat planed at one point or another. The French boat Miss Grisbi made one or two beautiful planing runs. I have never seen Mr. Levison handle his Ji// as well as he did throughout this Regatta, and by the end of the day he had only dropped three points out of a possible 40. His nearest competitor had dropped seven points. In the heavy wind, her crew dropped Firebird and she was very badly damaged, being out of action for the rest of the day. By strenuous work, she was patched up and able to start the next day, the heats she had missed being treated as byes temporarily. TUESDAY, AUGUST 20 The wind had taken off somewhat and backed a little giving a true beat and run. With a spanking whole-sail breeze and a fine sunny day, excellent sailing was enjoyed. There were no dead heats, but many boards were won by inches only. At the end of the day Jill was still at the head of the fleet, having only dropped six points during the first three days’ racing. As some competitors had sailed 13 heats and others 15, the scores do not represent the true position at this point. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21 The wind was very strong and had swung to W.N.W. giving almost a reach each way. Most competitors carried 2nd suits, but a few heavyweights hung onto their Ist suits, though most of them were obviously over-canvassed. It was blowing still harder in the afternoon. Pinnochio, which had broken one mast earlier in the regatta, carried away another one. Nordlys was dropped by her crew and broke her skeg. She was patched up, but this undoubtedly affected her position in the final scores. THURSDAY, AUGUST 22 During the morning there was a heavy 2nd suit breeze from S.W. This gradually lightened after lunch and backed to W.S.W. All competitors changed up to top suits. By the end of the day some competitors had sailed 26 heats and some 27. FRIDAY, AUGUST 23 The forenoon’s racing was started in a moderate S.S.E. breeze, which gave tricky reaching conditions. It soon freshened, however, with heavy gusts and a downpour of rain. The rain ceased about 3.30 p.m., and the wind lightened for a short time. It then swung more Westerly and blew really hard. Most yachts were over-canvassed, and many broached down-wind. By this time Highlander had almost overtaken Jill, and when Jill struck a bad patch, Highlander went into the lead. By the end of the day 31 heats had been completed, leaving the two last to be sailed on the following morning. The position then was that if Highlander lost all points during the last two heats and Jil] gained all 10, it was possible for Jill to win. Jill herself was vulnerable to Serica, and several other changes of position were possible amongst the leaders. SATURDAY, AUGUST 24 A furious 50 mile per hour gale was blowing straight down the lake, and white-capped waves started right from the windward end. By the end the seas reached the leeward end, they were over a 517 1957 foot high and breaking heavily over the pontoon. While it was just possible to sail a windward board, a run was far too dangerous, as not only were boats likely to be smashed up, there was grave risk of injury to competitors. The Officer of the day summoned competitors and gave them the choice of declaring the result on the overnight scores, or sailing the windward boards only of the remaining two heats, and splitting points for any runs or other boards it was impossible to sail. The competitors voted in favour of the latter course, only the top 10 boats being taken. The O.0.D. took Highlander first, and she met Firebird to windward, and was handsomely trimmed by the Littlejohn boat. Her next opponent was Rayo, but the latter’s jibsheet carried away, leaving Highlander to sail the course alone while Rayo flapped helplessly. Of the others, Nordlys beat Cumbria, while Serica lost to Juanita, and Tango beat Roberta comfortably. During the previous night, Mr. Harry Miller had his car stolen with many spares including his small suits of sails for Happy Daze. Nevertheless, sailing under a borrowed 3rd suit, he managed to beat Commando and Moonraker II, which in itself was quite an achievement. The general standard of sailing was far higher than in any previous Championship I have witnessed, and the fleet of yachts was equally praiseworthy. Moreover, competitors had equipped their craft well as regards sails and gear. In fact, generally speaking, the entry was worthy of the occasion. THE Y.M. CUP INTERNATIONAL RACES When these were started on Saturday afternoon, August 24, it was still blowing a gale of wind, and there was also some rain. Though conditions were still as bad as ever, it was decided to sail a couple of heats. In the first heat, Highlander (England) met Elma (Scotland), and defeated her both ways. Revanche II (Denmark) met Miss Grisbi (France), the former taking the beat and the latter the run. In the second heat, Highlander took both beat and run from Revanche I]. Highlander made a most spectacular run planing right down the centre of the lake. Her time of 75 seconds was the fastest run ever recorded at Fleetwood. Elma then met Miss Grisbi and defeated her to windward. On the run Miss Grisbi started to plane at the top of the lake, and seemed to be travelling even faster than Highlander had done. Unfortunately she broached about 25 yards short of the finishing line and came ashore, which spoiled her chance of beating Highlander’s time, but by then she was so far ahead of Elma that she was able to take a comfortable re-trim and yet make the points. Conditions by then were so bad that the O.0.D. called racing off for the day. The following day, Sunday, August 25, it blew harder than ever, with squalls of torrential rain; under the prevailing conditions, no sailing was possible, and the race had to be abandoned. This was particularly hard on Mr. B. H. Priest. He won the British A-Class Championship with Yeoman in 1952, but had no chance to represent this country in an International Race for the Y.M. Cup since that famous trophy was still in the U.S.A. Thus, for the second time, he was deprived of the honour of meeting our rival countries. The cancellation of the International Races also deprived him of the chance of winning the ‘““Wing-and-Wing” Cup with his wonderful run on Saturday.
