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SHippP! GC ‘uty ises £1.30 ws AN ARGUS SPECIALIST PUBLICATION ew of the naval base which has a quay about 150 metres long that runs parallel to the prevailing North East by North wind and provides good long windward legs parallel to the shore. It is immediately adjacent to the main road that runs round the promontory on which Las Palmas is built. There is ample room for a decent sized course and, on the quay, for a boat park of World Championship proportions. They will need to provide boat storage on the quay and one or two other facilities, but nothing that can’t be arranged in time. The water is tidal, but because it is part of Las Palmas International Trophy Over Easter I, together with Graham Bantock and Ian Hall, went to the Canary Islands to sail in a three day meeting run by the CMN Los Guaires, the model sailing club in Las Palmas which is going to run the 1990 RM World Championships. The idea was that there would be a substantial overseas entry, together with a large local element to give the club the opportunity to practice the organisational skills needed to run a large meeting of high quality. In the event, the overseas entry was very small, only two from the Spanish mainland apart from the three Brits, and many of the locals decided that they had better things to do over the Easter weekend than act as guineas pigs for the organisers. They gave us a very good week’s holiday and looked after us very well. For instance, when Ian’s boat shed its lead during the practice sailing, they took him off to the club workshop, found a suitable lead from stock and helped him get it fixed in time for the start of the serious racing. They also made hima couple of rudders when he discovered that he had omitted to pack his. We and our wives had the use of the Real Club Nautico (the local full size sailing club) and its facilities, including the swimming pool; we ate well every night and there was sufficient wine and sun to make us feel we had been on holiday. It was a great pleasure to meet so many new friends, particular the two Spanish visitors who were in the same hotel as us and with whom we spent most evenings. Overall, I enjoyed my stay. The significance of this judgement will become clearer as the rest of the tale unfolds. The small entry meant that there were an enclosed harbour there are no significant currents. For the World’s there will be floating pontoons for launch and recovery of boats. The local boats are mainly French in origin and inspiration, with a substantial crop of Cedar Clubs. I had borrowed one of these, belong to Armando Betancor. Parts of it, like parts of the curate’s egg, were excellent. The hull for instance was well moulded, light and stiff. The rest was a disaster, far outrunning the attempts of the Australians to sabotage my efforts to do myself justice in their Nationals eighteen months ago! Rather than detail what went wrong, let me just say that of twenty three possible starts, I managed to make four and I finished in two of those races. I have promised Armando that when he comes to England for our Nationals, I will provide a boat for him to borrow. My interest was clearly concentrated on the prize for bad luck and good sportsmanship, which I won without much competition, partly because I was able to do my cursing in a language that few of the competitors understood. Of the more serious prizes the first place went, by a distance, to Graham. He was sailing an Anagram (the wooden version of Top Secret) fitted with his unstayed conventional rig. This is an ingenious piece of kit, designed to combine the convenience of the swing rig with a Above left: Graham Bantock’s Anagram in Las Palmas; unstayed rig with clip down forward spar. Left: Esteban Galeano’s Cedar Club; very neat. Below: boats on a windward leg; their is ample room for good sized courses. Opposite top: Rafael Marques from Seville. Opposite upper middle: Esteban Galeano from Valencia. Opposite middle: compensations for not getting much sailing in: left to right: me, my wife, Rafael, and lan Hall. Opposite bottom: how | spent most of Easter, fiddling with Armando’s boat. only two fleets at the start and by half way through the second day we were down to a single fleet. This was not a real test of organisation, which was perhaps just as well as there is still some way to go before they are going to be ready to handle seven fleets of top quality skippers who have come for serious competition rather than an exterided Sunday morning stroll about in the sun, I think they can get there, but they desperately need to practice and refine the organisation and to make some effort to adhere to the programme they set themselves. The Sailing Instructions provided for a start each day at 9am; we actually started at 10.30, 10.15 and 10.45 on each of the three mornings. Part of the trouble was that there simply weren’t enough people on hand to do the organising. The regatta site, which will be used for the World’s, is an arm of the harbour, part 400 MODEL BOATS the boats stay simple. As it stands at present, neither the MYA nor IMYRU recognise the class and recognition at National and International level will depend on people out there registering boats to the new class until there are enough to trigger the recoghition process. Vintage conventional arrangement of the sails. It depends on using a CF mast section rather larger than usual and a clip-down deck level spar that carries the jib. Because of the different characteristics of the new mast section, it’s not just a question of substituting part of your existing rig; but if you’re starting from scratch it has a lot to recommend it. Second was local skipper Armando Rodriguez and third Esteban Galeano from Valencia. He is the Provincial champion back home and works as a designer and industrial model maker. This showed in the very neat and clean preparation of the Cedar Club he was sailing. Ian was respectably placed and I was not actually last in the finishing list, so someone must have had even more troubles than I did. I didn’t notice as I spent a large part of the meeting with my head down the inside of Armando’s boat. One side result of one of our evenings in I’m writing this just before the Vintage day arranged for 24 April at Dovecote, from which I hope to have lots of fresh pictures and news, so this month two pendants to last month’s story on schooner models. First some photos of a schooner model that has turned up in Suffolk. She appears to be of considerable age as the hull form is distinctly 19th century and the ballast is all carried inside as in a full size trading craft. The semi-scale approach is carried further in the provision of two very small hatches, neither of which could serve any useful purpose on a racing model, but which are very typical of a full size trading schooner. I think she must have been intended as a sailing model as the rudder is free swinging and made of solid lead and she is very big to be just a display model. There is no rig at present and there seems to be no provision for sheet horses or other fittings to assist in the operation of the sails in a practical model. Nevertheless, a very nice model and a good example of the earlier style of schooner that I wrote about last time. a restaurant called the “Ding Dong” was the inauguration of a Ding Dong Trophy for international competition over the length of a bath or measuring tank between sailing craft constructed from wine corks, tooth picks and the lead from the seal over the cork. A set of rules is being elaborated and will be sent to the IMYRU Technical Committee for ratification shortly. One essential aspect of the competition is that the bottles from which the corks are drawn must be emptied during the construction period and before the sailing competition starts. You can see that the idea has possibilities that put mere World Championships into the shade. 1-Metre The IMYRU Rule for the 1-m Class is now issued and is available from David Hackwood in a complete package with the MYA’s rating regulations for the class. Ring David for a price before ordering, as this has not been fixed as I write. The Rule looks pretty formidable and runs to eight pages of A5 print, but this is largely a result of drafting the Rule to ensure that JULY 1988 401 crown and an elaborate monogram that can, with some difficulty, be deciphered as “BMYC”. I also include some photos of Ian Howlett’s collection of model yachts. These date from a visit I made to him last summer but they have only come to light when a film in the other camera was used up and developed. The general view shows, among others, three “A” boats, including Col. Holden’s Naiad which won the Championship in 1935, and Charm, a boat that was originally built by Bill Daniels for T O M Sopwith at the time of his Endeavour challenge for the America’s Cup. She is a full keel design and bears some resemblance to Endeavour above the waterline. She was originally christened Effort, but was renamed Charm by Philip Leigh some time after the war when she passed through his hands. She now hasa fearsomely complex piece of engineering mounted on her in the form of a one-off The other is a schooner to the 10-rater Rule that I bought some time ago and had rather forgotten about when I was writing about schooner development. This is understandable as she is right out of the line of development of both schooners and 10-raters. She belonged to the Brighton Model Yacht Club, which sailed on the lake in Queen’s Park in the 1890’s and the design of vane gear by another of her postwar owners. So that it can accommodate the raking rudder post that early years of this century. I know nothing about the club or its activity other than a single photo from 1902. This shows a fleet of typical 1890’s cutters with the huge rigs appropriate to a lake in a hollow and surrounded by what, even in 1902, were mature trees and bushes. The schooner rig on the model is not the original, though it is clear from an examination of the interior of the hull that she has never carried anything other than a schooner rig. I think it almost certain that when built she must have had a bigger, or at any rate a teller, rig if she was to have any chance of competing with the other boats in the club. She is clearly intended as a racing craft; the deep fin keel and substantial ballast give her good stability and great effort has been expended to produce a hull that is as light as possible. The hull has been moulded over a male plug from sheets of brown paper and glued up with ordinary scotch glue. There are very substantial coats of paint on the outside and the inside is heavily varnished. This varnish has now perished in the bilges, where it has been wet off and on for perhaps 90 years, and I have laid the boat aside while I think how best to render her seaworthy again. I have in mind some sort of very thin resin that will capillary up into the structure the way the water did on the one occasion I had her in the bath to take off a waterline. It took three weeks in the sun to get her dry again and to stop the bottom feeling very soggy indeed. The hull form is curious and obviously stems as much from 402 the method of construction as any ideas about hydrodynamics. There is no rudder, nor any provision for one, so I conclude that she was intended to race only to windward. This is rather odd, as the 1902 photo shows the boats on a quartering run towards the camera, but this may have been a course arranged for the benefit of the photographer rather than a normal practice of the club. The hatch cover bears the name “Coroneta” in what I always think of as cigar box lettering, together with a painted MODEL BOATS goes with the full keel, it has much of the mechanism mounted below deck in a specially excavated cockpit with a sliding cover. Very complex and, I am told by Philip, not terribly effective. Also in the picture is a 10-rater which is also seen in some close up shots. This came from the Rick Pond and must date from the late twenties or early thirties. The hull form is still very shallow in the style of the Daniels’ skimming dish 10-raters of the pre-1914 period, though she is a pretty large example of the style. In the pictures with her is a 5-rater of the turn of the century, called Happy Thoughts and in remarkably good condition for her age. No rig of any sort with this nor any history before Ian rescued her from under a bench at the Wolfson Unit’s towing tank. This is one of only two or three boats of this style still in existence that I know of and far and away the best in terms of construction and condition. I was disappointed to find that Ian is not open to offers for her. However, I was able to do a trade with him in which I took the tank test model of Bill Daniel’s Crusader of 1923 in exchange for a 6-m, K444 Helvig. She was designed and built in 1934 by a Bournville member and sailed regularly until a year or two ago. In the late 50’s she was rebuilt and rerigged and a mould was taken from which at get into the act. E. W. Hobbs published least one hull was made. She is a very good example of the 6-m style of the 1930’s and remains competitive in vane racing ot the present; there can’t be many classes in which there are still competitive boats fifty years old. It’s not just that the pace of development is fairly slow in a small class. A lot of this stability derives from the qualities of the Rule itself, which while allowing a modest degree of latitude to the designer, keeps the boats well together in performance terms. It seems to me that this just what we need in model classes and it augers well for the future of the radio 6-m class that is beginning to get itself off the ground in England. Other examples of boats to the International Rule are shown in the photos; the 12-m KS 251 that Chris Mackenzie in Edinburgh has restored is a 1930’s design, but apart from that I know nothing of her earlier history. Chris has made a fine job of the restoration and I’m told that she sails well too. Another 6-m from the thirties: this was designed and built by a man who was a technical director of ICI in the middle thirties and so far as can now be determined was not sailed after she was finished. The designer wasa full size sailor and the design shows some traces of JULY 1988 three schooner designs in his Model Sailing Boats of 1923, including Siren, designed to rate as a 10-rater. The lines are not as subtle as those of Prospero and the hull is very similar to the skimming dish type of 10R being produced around the period of the 1914 war. The lw] is 36in. and the displacement would have been about 16 or 17lb. The sail area of 1600sq. in. disposed in a rig thatis almost exactly similar to Prospero, though it uses a gaff sheet, rather than a kicking strap to control the foresail. A very similar design to 15-rater size, displacing 24]b. was done by Hobbs for Bassett-Lowke. One example of this design, Beatrice, was owned by Bassett-Lowke full size influence in the shape of the canoe body, which is not so full as was typical of the model 6-m of the period; otherwise the construction, fittings and rig are straight out of Daniels and Tucker and represent the normal best practice of the period. She has survived in a very fine condition and I hope she will be seen on the water before long. Schooner Models In the years immediately following Prospero, lots of other people managed to personally. Hobbs also gives an example of a schooner “typical of American Practice” and a photo of Albatross, and American design built by H. E. Boucher. She is 50 loa, 36 lwl and carries about 1500 square inches of sail. The displacement is 19]b, rather heavy by British standards for a boat of this size. Recently I had a letter from Tom Brinkman in Cincinnati enclosing photos of his own model to the Albatross design and a copy of pages from the Blue Jacket Kit catalogue containing plans by Boucher, including Albatross. The photo illustration to the catalogue is the same as that which appears in Hobbs’s book. The rigs have 403 10 ” 12 13 4 rh ‘ \ a ee 5 $ = P41) 4 yin thaw att ae af i 1 2 3 – Hat BREADTH PLAN [ ae 13 12 . ” | 10 Bopy PLAN__ Pee : REST/L| cf FA WI 4 3 | 3 2 _ <= Me 5 55 > oo ; tt : LW 1012345678910 12 SCALE LL ‘age PS w oe ae 7 ga eS a | se rae Sneer PLan Hace BREADTH Pian % Deck Pian ALBATROSS model yacht enthusiasts. It has- powerful An especially beautiful boat designed for water sailing. May be constructed with o lines and ample sail spread. Well suited for schooner rig or sloop rig. The schooner rig is not as fast as the sloop rig but for model yachtsmen it has often more interest because it typifies a seagoing Length water line……….+.++- 36” oie 50” – Length hull ………. ota sible eer 9” DYERICSS craves o.oo asia secon tree cae ii!” Beam c oh istewecatcsise 6s. see elec 1500 sq. in. oSallcared..0. Weight …..ceccecceces 1914 Ibs. your Albatross may be obtained completely fin ished, ready for sailing, in colors to suit own ideas. Prices complete-— Sloop Rig ee Schooner Marconi Rig eee ee eee et Top: 10-r schooner by E. W. Hobbs 1923. Above: 10-r schooner in the American style; E. W. Hobbs 1923. Left: page from Blue Jacket oooS 1941 Albatross by E. H. Boucher 922. designs of the period and the topsails and foresails are really very small and would hardly be effective or worth the trouble and complication of fitting them in a smaller size than the 40 loa version proposed. I sees Schooner Gaff Rig…. should be interested to know if any reader has experience of sailing any of these Complete construction sets consisting of hull of glued up lifts closely cut to shape inside and out, ready for finishing, keel ready for.attaching; deck and d beams ready to fit and finish, sails and designs other than Prospero. mast materials and all fittings in brass, polished and nickel plated: *Contact address: R.R. Potts, 8 Sherard Road, London SE9 6EP. Tel: 01 850 6805. Complete Kits Sloop Rig $40. 00 Bibliography Schooner Marconi Rig Priest & J A Lewis BH Model Racing Yachts $45.00 Sail Plan, Gaff Rig Schooner Gaff Rig $47. 50 MAP, 1963? Sail Plan, Marconi Rig Complete set of Blueprints (showing three types of Rig) eocerseeesee been updated to give a Bermuda rig option, but otherwise the design is as it was when Boucher first drew it in 1922. The prices for completely finished models and for the kitted versions are worth thinking about, even for 1941. The fact that this model was kitted and was probably available from Blue Jacket for twenty years or more suggests that there ought to be other examples around in the States. Tom’s own is of course scratch built and is in balsa plank on frame with a GRP 404 oer eseeres $2.50 sheathing. Sails are in Ripstop nylon and there is three channel radio. The sail area on Tim’s model is a little bigger than on the original, and he reports that she sails well. Finally, alate example from F. J. Camm’s 1940 Model Boat Building. This is smaller, only 40 loa and 30 1wl with a sail area of 591sq. in. and a displacement of 9.5lb. Camm suggests that even smaller versions “should give satisfactory results”, but I beg leave to doubt this. The rig is exactly the same as all the other schooner This is the most up to date comprehensive treatment of model yacht design and draws on the experience of two of the top designers of the 1950’s. Though the designs it contains are now outdated, the treatment of design procedures is as good as it ever was, except that they were writing towards the end of the era of the fin that incorporated the lead in a single whole and there is no treatment of the rather freer design procedures that are permitted by the fin and bulb concept. There is detailed treatment of the A, 10-r and M Classes and some discussion of the history of design developments in the A Class since the early 1920’s. The MODEL BOATS eon ” 77 2 + 2 $ i 1 ! : ‘ = ‘ei PY x 7a nat ‘ Ea ” ‘ T Ml . : , < ° ' : 3 [Sai ae 6 BSC en tee nr S| 4 2 4 : 8 > STERN ‘ ‘ gi ! -4 +‘ _j l ‘ re su ‘o! . 4 ay 1 ’ – Pa eA “al Pa) ba} ‘ 2 Seer ? . “waren | gove = 7, ‘ ‘oy my a 1 ? ‘ r al) = “Te! ai ro ! + ‘ ‘ | H Si , 7) eee ‘atm ey “ Wa + ! ae Inrnes miniaturised, all the material is entirely typical of Daniels practice for larger boats. Lines of the boat and full size templates for cutting the B&B layers. The last of the three is expanded and has lines and instructions for a 30 inch sharpie in plywood and a 36 inch B&B built model to the 36R Class. Again full size templates are provided. E W Hobbs Model Sailing Yachts a) 1931 1 ‘ . ! $ ~~ = bee ew eae | ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ wom we ee oe @ WATER, ‘ ‘ t ’ ‘ ‘ a ‘ ‘ e ‘ ‘ . H i cot ‘ i] ‘ ‘ wwe ec See ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ : ‘ ’ ‘ ‘ eee S Use E W Hobbs Model Yachts (Model Maker Series) 19342 E W Hobbs (Rev N G Taylor) Model Racing Yachts (Cassell’s New Modelmaker Series) 1954 These three all slight paper backed pamplets aimed at the boy’s market, rather than at serious model yachtsmen. The early ones supervised by Hobbs have some lines plans but all of non class yachts. The post war revision is even more down market and has no useful drawings of its own to offer, but curiously contains small reproductions of lines by H A Andrews of the Newcastle club for his “A” “Pandora”, the 10-r “Allegro” and for an “M”. These were successful and famous boats in their time, and “Allegro” is an early long 1wl boat. An example of the ‘ awe ce’. ene ww ew www ew tw ewe meee ee Fic. 66.—The body sections. design is still sailing at Newcastle, or was when I was there a couple of years ago. C R Jefferies MAIN G@AET FORE MALT Radio Control for Model Yachts MAP, 1977 MAIN SAIL massa Soom oper section on trimming and sailing is excellent and throws interesting light on the systematic approach to sailing his boats that Dick Priest employed. There is a very brief treatment of construction with some fittings drawings. Lines plans, of ample size include the “A” boats “Top Hat’, “Commando”, “Saxon”, “Highlander”, “Moonshine” and the 10-r “Whirlwind” and the M8s “Witchcraft”, “Witch” and “Bewitched”’. W J Daniels & H B Tucker Build Your Boy a Model Yacht “Marine Models”, 1936 W J Daniels & H B Tucker How to Build a Model yacht JULY 1988 Smaller and later schooner model from F. J. Camm Model Boat Building. Right: Tom Brinkman’s model of Albatross. “Marine Models”, 1938 W J Daniels & H B Tucker Build Yourself a Model Yacht Percival Marshall, 1950 These three titles are essentially the same book and give thorough coverage to construction techniques (no design discussion), in the context of the construction of a 30 inch loa sloop by bread and butter methods. Though This is the only British publication addressed solely to radio control of yachts and is in my view disappointing. Bob Jefferies has been active in radio yachting for almost as long as it has existed in Britain, but his book tends to encapsulate the practice of his earlier days and was a bit behind the game when it came out; and is now superseded as a guide to how to do it in competition. 405
