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AN ARGUS SPECIALIST PUBLICATION APRIL 1988 £1.30 [n> movet MAGAZINE 4 again with an up date on what has been happening over the last few General Secretary Russell Pott Unfair Sailing on There were two new faces after theiselecti Mike Chelmsford raised the problem of unfair and unsportsmanlike sailing inofradio right of races, in particular the failureand to give sion colli d avoi to s way boat room and opportunity to keepghclear. The discussion showed that thou unacceptable standards of behaviour, both Guildford. Vice Presidents to cause concern to a numb there skippers. It was agreed however that t of the months. MYA News The AGM was held on 12 December. of officers. The new PR secretary new Critchlow of the Leeds club and the League Secretary is David Coode of # | With Model Yachting Associati —_ s on Rape eice hire unintended absense of the column last month, here we are —— on and off the water, are by no means ly widespread universal they are sufficient er of active Council’s Motion to elect as Vice Presidents of the Association Ken and ed Walter Jones of Birkenhead was carri ted, by acclamation, as was to be expec given the great popularity of the two brothers and the many many years of service to the Association and to the sport had that each has contributed. Ken, who his travelled to attend the meeting with grandsons (who are both active in model yachting) made a brief speech of thanks on behalf of Walter and himself. League and Ranking List results The ng were not available in time for the meeti and thus no awards could be made. I will let you know the final outcome of last season’s strivings as soon as I have them. The expected main business of the on meeting, a plethora of conflicting ideas best could ials mater c exoti of use the how d be controlled in the 6-metre class turne into a bit of a damp squib as in the few days before the meeting all the clubs who had put in Motions and Amendments decided that they needed longer to think about it and withdrew them. The intention is that there will be further informal s discussions among the interested partiein words of form a at pt attem and a fresh time for next year’s AGM. If you have ideas get in touch with the 6-m Registrar, Bill Green. Commercial Interests Two topics came up for informal discussion without a motion; the first was the effect of the increased commercial interest and influence in the sport. Derek Priestly was concerned about the increase est in in those who had a commercial interthat we the supply of equipment and asked should consider the possibility of excluding such individuals from the st controlling bodies of the sport. Againwere such action it was argued that there great problems of definition and that to est exclude all those with a financial inter ofa would needlessly deprive the sport was no need to seek any amendmen Rules. They are adequate as they stood but needed to be strictly applied. Race Committees had the issue in their own hands and, if they chose to do so, could insist on better standards from for competitors. All that was needed was ea befor clear make to e itte Comm race the firm be to and ted expec they meeting what about disqualifying skippers who chossetoto need ignore the warning. That said, itgive will cil Coun that od rsto be unde who strong backing to Race Committeestitor s. need to be firm with wayward compe Other points that were raised under AOB included the possibility of the MYA spawning specialist groups for e.g., sace sail, rather than see the growth of a as has number of competing organisations happened in aeromodelling, and a table to question as to whether it was accep xt of run team events within the conte Both major individual championships. the at er furth ssed discu be will these January Council meeting. IMRYU Permanent Committee The PC met in London in early January. the Among the more important issues were to final approval of the Certificate form match the new M Class Rule. This now been sent to clubs and with the new Rule and the extract from the IMYRU ibuted Measurement Instructions also distr measurer to clubs provide everything your needs to measure a boat to the new standards. Additional copies of all these goodies are available at moderate prices7. from David Hackworth. Tel: 0642 59557 1-Metre It looks as though IMYRU are going to approve a Rule for the One Metre Class, e and that it will be, as we wanted, a simpl and cheap class for beginners. For instance there will be a minimum hull weight and the sail plans will be to fixed one design patterns. On the other hand however the ideal of a Rule that is common to IMYRU and Naviga has gone out of the window, at least as far as the maximum draft is concerned. IMYRU feel that the Naviga limit is too great. There are unconfirmed rumours that Naviga may be having second thoughts about this aspect of their Rule. The Technical Committee are to go away and titivate the Rule a bit more, but the hope is that there will be a formal promulgation in the ee ermenred number of able and keen administrators, who would not easily be replaced. Analogies were drawn with the position on the status as competitors of those who earned their living from the supply ofin equipment, where the practice, both model sailing and in full size was much more relaxed. The sense of the meeting to was strongly against taking any action exclude anyone from holding office in the association unless and until there was much stronger evidence of harmful conflict of interests. 214 MODEL BOATS Opposite top, twin fin 10-rater from the Port of Plymouth MYC before 1914. Middle and bottom, Twenty-rater Eagle, 1890s. Massive and heavily built, restored from a moderate state of dilapidation. Possibly a Serpentine boat? This page, Dart MYC Challenge Trophy 1899. Won by F.W.K. Keeley with his boat Edefrede. RM World’s that they are going to run in 1990. Winches After my mention of new sail winches in earlier columns I had a good natured rebuke from Mick Wilshere of World Electronics to remind me that they have been doing a number of types of sail winch for some time now, in both single drum and twin drum styles at £42.70 and £54.35 respectively. Sorry, Mike. It wasn’t an attempt to put you out of business, just an oversight. The telephone number for further details is 0923 671240. Vintage The most important item on the Vintage front, for those of you who have not become members of the Vintage Group, (and why not?) is that the Vintage days this year are to be held on 24 April at Dovecote, which is just off the M1 at Milton Keynes, and on 4 September at Gosport. Dovecote is not suitable for free sailing boats and a pair of wellies is advisable for launching. Gosport, as I expect you all know, is an all purpose water. During the Dovecote meeting, I hope to hold a very brief General Meeting of the Vintage Group. Now we have 50 plus members and look to have an assured future, I think we needa little bit of formal structure. For instance, a couple of other people to act as a committee and give me someone to consult when we need to take a decision. If you have any other points that you think need discussion let me know. Bibliography Spring. It can’t been too soon as the number of boats in Britain is already growing fast and new manufacturers are coming forward all the time. The latest is Tony Abel who has a new kit for the class on the market now. In this context, there is a proposal before Council in January to establish a “Shadow register” of 1-m boats in advance of the Rule coming out and of the appearance of “50 boats in four clubs” that triggers off MYA activity in support of a new class. I will keep you posted on developments. Vice Chairman Torvald Klem, who has given valuable and thoughtful service over a number of years in the post of Vice Chairman of IMYRU, has decided to resign at the next General meeting, that will be held in London in September. In looking for APRIL 1988 someone to fill his shoes, we might consider that Norman Hatfield, who has had a long innings as Chairman, may also decide to go in the foreseeable future and that the new Vice Chairman will be his natural successor. Overseas Competition I’ve just had a letter from Armando Betancor in the Canary Islands warning us that he and five others of his club hope to compete in the RM Nationals at Gosport in May. They have ambitions to reverse the result of the last Anglo Spanish match in the area held in 1588. So if you hear a hollow rolling noise, it’s Drake’s Drum being beaten hard. Armando also invites entries to his club’s International RM event to be held at Easter (31 March, 1, 2, 3 April). This is going to be a dry run for the As I’ve worked my way into the history of model yachting, I have put together a fairly comprehensive bibliography of what has been written on the sport. I don’t pretend that it is absolutely complete; I know that Gerry Hooper has seen a few books that I haven’t got round to yet, but this is most of the field and I’ve seen all of these and have indicated in the notes what you get for your money if you come across one in a catalogue. If any of you are particularly interested in one or other of these titles, let me know and I will look out for you as I scan the catalogues of the specialist booksellers. No, there are no specialists in model yacht books (yet!), but they tend to drift to the maritime specialists. Over a period of three years, I have managed to find at least one copy of one edition of all these. If you find this interesting, I could go on to do a similar study on the magazines that over the years since 1852 have carried the torch and acted as journal of record and controversy for model yachtsmen. This would tend to become a study of great editors of the past, as there is no doubt that the influence of the written word on the development of the sport has been very great and those who bothered to get themselves into print have been a power, whether for good or ill far outweighing their number or their achievements off the page and on the water. 215 il the 1890’s that sailed on the open water of the harbour, but whether this is the same group we have no way of knowing. It may not have been a model club as we understand it at all, as in the middle years of the 19th century there were a number of clubs that called themselves model yacht clubs that actually sailed small manned craft, with the intention of using them to try out design ideas for larger “real” yachts. Birkenhead had one in 1851, linked to the Laird shipbuilding yard. Though they sailed “model” models as well, and ran the first recorded international model yacht race in 1853, most of their sailing was done on the Mersey in craft up to 5 Tons measurement and with crews of three or four. The London MYC in the 1850’s sailed 5 Tonners on the lower Thames and 12 foot manned craft and six foot unmanned Old Boats A few of the oldies that have swum into my ken since I last wrote a full length column. First is Eagle, a 20-rater from the 1890’s that is on the way to restoration. Though built to the Length and Sail Area Rule, she still retains much of the style of the preceding Tonnage Rule boats. The “Fiddle” bow originally sported a carved eagle as figurehead, but this was too badly damaged to be used in the restoration. The photo does not give sufficient impression of the massiveness of the boat; in the flesh she is very large and heavy indeed. The mast and spars had all gone and Roger Daniels, who is restoring her, has made a models on the Serpentine. PRESENTED —imrn: — Queenstown MopenYacur $138 1 —— .Gouooor: — Peeess Pte-4 roth Ras, | RUC & heb dase par Pie ey ree ere ya ers =e eae — aaa. Wor by the i Yoon, Wut? LINSUER new lower mast by turning a taper onto a broom handle. The original inch and a quarter diameter fits the mast tube beautifully and the finished article doesn’t look at all too heavy for the hull. The sail area is going to be massive, and the stern fittings suggest that the steering gear was either a weighted tiller or a sheet operated reverse tiller, with the amount of rudder movement controlled by pins in the sector plate. The rudder is very small for the size of the boat and it is possible that she was not intended to be sailed off the wind. On the other hand, her size suggests that she was sailed by a club with a permanent boat house. She would be no fun to take to lake on a horse bus. She was found in London and if she was a London boat originally, this suggests that she belonged to the Serpentine club, who were almost the only London club at the period to sail 20-raters. They sailed a fixed course back and forth across the Serpentine and thus had to have a capability to reach and run as well as beat. Trophies Silver dish won in 1875 by W.A. Stone with his boat Banshee, Queenstown MYC, Ireland. Opposite, cup won in 1867 by W.G. Knight with his boat Libya at the West London MYC. Bottom, Walter Keeley with one of F.W.K.’s boats 7 907. should have been working at something more profitable. There is some evidence that in the 1880’s he was the owner of a full size yacht and a member of the St Kilda Yacht club in the Melbourne area. So it is true that you can better yourself down under. The next one is a very substantial and London MYC. The club is otherwise misspellings and other nonsenses get carpenter living in St Pancras at the time, it may have been an unrecorded predecessor of the many well known clubs that have sailed on the Round Pond over the years. This is the oldest trophy that I know of, but evidence of others would be very welcome. Knight was a relatively young man who emigrated to Australia shortly after 1867. Family tradition has it that he went because his father destroyed a model boat that he had built when he 216 a rather later date: 1907. The lad holding the boat is Gordon’s father, Walter. Gordon recalls learning to sail models during summer holiday visits to Paignton in the 1930’s. His grandfather was then a apparently without any form of steering. Also a few photos of fairly elderly trophies from model yacht clubs. The unknown to me, but as Knight was a way in Harrogate. He has also sent me a photo of one of his grandfather’s boats at member of the Paignton club. The boat is valuable silver platter given by the oldest is a cup won in April 1867 by WG Knight in a competition run by the West Finally, a cup that has come down ina family that is still active in model sailing. It was awarded in 1899 to F W Keeley, a young gardener at one of the local big houses who had travelled from Kingswear to Plymouth to compete in and win the South Western championship. The family tradition is that the town gave him a hero’s welcome on his return and the local gentry, many of whom were members of the full size yacht club, subscribed for a cup to commemorate his win. The inscription on the cup suggests that it may have been an annual award for the most meritorious performance by a member of the club. It has come down to his grandson Gordon Keeley, who is now Commodore of the Leeds and Bradford club and a motive force in a club that is getting itself under “Comodore” of the Queenstown MYC for a race in 1875. (Note the Irish spelling; it amazes me the frequency with which perpetuated on silverware and inscriptions on buildings. I particularly like the “Jubile Parade 1935” on a local row of shops). The club is again totally unknown to me and and to the family of the original winner. Cork harbour was in the 18th century the home of the oldest formal! full size yacht club in the world, which eventually became the Royal Cork YC: it is of even earlier foundation than the “Cumberland Fleet” that became the Royal Thames. There was a model club in the Cork area in The hull form is “modern” for 1907, owing something to full size Linear Rating style of boat that replaced the Length and Sail Area Rule in 1897, though the keel is deeper than would have been permitted under that Rule. The rig is typical of the period. The boat looks a bit small to bea 10-r, and it is fairly unlikely that the 1899 boat, Edefrede looked like this. She was probably more like the twin-fin design shown in the next photo, which was a Plymouth boat in the pre 1914 period. She is very similar in style to several boats in photos of the Port of Plymouth MYC that appeared in the “Yachtsman” and in “Model Engineer” in 1904 or 5. This particular example was built before 1914 in paper and is typical of the deep chested style of hull used with twin fins for open water sailing. The length of the boom gives an idea of the very large sail area she would carry. The rudder is free swinging and has a lead weight to carry it over as the boat heels. Contact address: R R Potts, 8 Sherard Road, London SE9 6EP. Tel: 01 850 6805. MODEL BOATS : A. REGATTAS _ Class thampionship Ce = 10 (L) RM __ Docklands t Memorial Trophy —i—itrstss 10 (L) 10 (L) Whyte Trophy RA Woodspring 16/17 Diamond Jubilee Race —_ Woodley Ashton R3G6R/ Leicester _ RM A RM __ RM Cotswolds Leeds — A Bibliography of Model Yachting All these book are out of print. They may be available through libraries and inter-library loan. The more substantial volumes turn up fairly regularly in specialist book dealers, but the little handbooks tend to get thrown away with the workshop rubbish when houses are being cleared. Tyrrel E Biddle Model Yacht Building and Sailing Charles Wilson, 1879; 2nd 1883 This is the first “How to do it” book and contains comprehensive instructions on the building and rigging of models in the style of the period and earlier. Biddle was an active model yachtsman in London from at least the middle 1850’s and was a founder member of Clapham in 1863, Victoria in the middle sixties and MYSA in 1876. The first edition contains lines for a two foot model cutter and the second adds lines for a 36 inch lw] boat to the Victoria MYC Rule and a 30 inch Iwl yawl to the MYSA Rule. J Black Yachting with Models 1939 (USA) A little known book by a well known US skipper of the period, who made at least one visit to the UK to sail in the “A” Class International and won the “M” Class International races in Hamburg in 1936. Contains lines of two of his Marblehead boats. “Cheerioh” and “Cheerioh II”, but to a very small and indeterminate scale. Construction and rigging details are standard for the period and not as well laid out as in Daniels and Tucker. C E Bowden Model Yacht Construction & Sailing Percival Marshall, pre 1949?; 2nd 1949, repr 1952 Claude Bowden was a pioneer APRIL 1988 __Dovecote Drury Anchor Trophy 17 Canada Cup Guildford | Birkenhead < . Mayoral Cup Open Race S. West District Championship 24 (R) Leicester 24 (L) 24 {L) Jesmond Bow! Open Race Newcastle M R36R/ Sandwell 24 Trojan Cup ce A _—S
