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MODE OATS = REPORTS Steam Days Papplewick ’95 & Windermere Preview | 04> ~ 9 v 0144°2 9105 0 3 NEXU S aaa perm Sth small YF we _ YACHTING 6 Metre Rule Revision. This picture shows the stern shelf at work on Thought and Reflection time. They say that idle Nemesis to Graham Bantock’s Polaris design. This hull shape was prevented by the hands get into trouble, but what about the idle mind? 1985 Revision, yachts built and registered before that are protected by the ‘Grandfather’ muses clause. he rules they are a’changing: to misquote a once well known song. The Marblehead rule is undergoing another cycle of change with what seems a never ending sequence of questionnaires accompanied by explanatory notes and letters exalting us all to reply. At least those of us who have any interest in the development of the class rule should have replied. From what ! hear, the numbers replying in the UK have been pitifully few, which must say something about the level of interest in the developments. I suppose it might be that we have become so used to being led by the ‘experts’ that we feel Below: If you’ve not seen a multihull before; they are usually fast, we don’t need to respond in these matters. nearly always That may not be such a bad idea but there are times when numbers speak – particularly when the debate becomes international and someone elsewhere in the world wants to impressive and fun to sail – once you have mastered the art of keeping them the right change the class beyond recognition. The recently revised 10 Rater and International A class rules were possibly evidence of what happens when the ordinary ‘rank and file’ let a few vociferous voices lead the way. Once the changes have been made it — is too late to shout; until the next time. The One Metre rule was led through a similar process after the first, and – so far – only, World Class Championship. Sheer weight of numbers and common sense carried the day and the rule remained basically what the majority wanted. Will that be the case with the Marblehead which still forms a large part of the Model Yacht Development scene even though it has been eclipsed in many places by * the One Metre? Nearer to home the 6 metre rule has been going through some very intensive study over the last two and half years, or more. There are those about that probably do not realise that the latest revision of the 6 metre rule started that long ago – but it did. The way this change has been managed has been somewhat different to that adopted for the classes previously mentioned. It started as an investigation into the possibilities by a member of the Owner’s Association technical committee. A sample, almost a prototype, was produced showing that converting the old format of the Class rule into the ‘new’ style was feasible. As much of the Technical Committee then went into a period of slumber, principally brought about by work commitments, the: development was put on hold for a while. Much of the ‘donkey work’ of drafting the rule in its new format was then informally sub-contracted to one person who produced numerous versions which were subsequently ‘knocked into shape’ by a committee and presented to the ‘owners’ for consideration and potential approval. A different, but equally effective approach some would say. Not so say others! This particular revision has been generating alot of polarisation amongst the minorities that __ have been involved: indeed, as I write, there is a fair amount of animosity flying across the South of England. Meanwhile the majority seems to be happy with the idea that a MODEL BOATS APRIL 96 way up. This one was at Witton Lakes, Birmingham. package presented in an almost complete form is just as acceptable as long as it doesn’t mean they have to make wholesale changes to the yachts they are building and/or currently sailing. Because of the vociferous nature of some of those involved in the current ‘dust-up’ I suspect that we shall see the arguments rumble on for a while. Will it all produce a ‘better rule’? I somehow doubt it, because one of stated aims of the current incumbents is to reproduce the class rule in a form which conforms to what it is perceived as the latest ‘approved’ format while not really changing the shape and definition of a class that has truly stood the test of time. Many little design avenues have been tried over the years since the class went through its recent revival yet nobody has succeeded in coming to the line with a yacht which disappears to the horizon while the others are still wallowing around the start. A good skipper who can trim the sails and point it in the right direction can probably take hold of just about any of the yachts currently sailing and zap the rest of the field. What of all this? One person’s consultation is another’s dictation! When ever one gets involved in developing a new recipe some eggs are bound to get broken: in the model yacht world it seems that some of those eggs contain the basic friendships without which our hobby ceases to be good fun. I think it is a crying shame when people become so obsessed with having their own influence that they cry foul after they see others revise or reject their suggestions. The saga continues…. The Oliver Lee I fully intended to maintain my habit of reporting on at least one race event in every issue: I failed with this one when the weather stepped in and froze the Chelmsford Club’s water close to the Channels Golf Club in Essex. The annual race for the Oliver Lee Trophy, traditionally sailed on the last Sunday 45 fea02, VIVO — |] who may be reading this are not members of With thoughts on revised Marblehead rules I thought we could their local affiliated club yet but may be interested in going along to see what we all rave about. I do not plan to publish the full have a look at some of MYA Calendar; although I have back copies of the stranger this magazine where that was the case. developments that have tested the rule in the past. This was one of the rare canards from However here are a few key events that newcomers might find it interesting to seek out; events where they can see both typical and the best that this sport has to offer. Fleetwood, with its world famous sea front lake, hosts the first European Championship for the One Metre class during the period from 25th May to 1st June. Past experience of Fleetwood European championships suggests that there may well be a strong out-ofarea the New Zealander Leon Talaic. entry to make it almost a world event: whatever, you can be sure it will be a world class feast of sailing. Fleetwood will also be a good place to.be at the beginning of May when the MYA Nationals RADUNO URIENISTI . yacht a potential Renaissance beater. As the Bantock design still seems to hold the 6 metre world’s imagination as the ‘dream’ boat I suppose it has also to be the main target of any new development. Has Nigel found that magic answer to the 6 metre conundrum – the yacht that really does go faster than all the others in the class? Only time will tell but, from the photos of the prototype, he has certainly produced a good looking yacht – irrespective of its performance. At around £250 for a moulded carbon cloth/epoxy hull, fin and rudder set it’s pretty good value too! Multi-hulls 1996 looks like being quite an interesting year for the multi-hull sailors. With their own trans-national rule slowly taking shape – it would be wrong to call it international for now as the IYRU have some sort of copyright on that description of anything to do with sailing they are getting to a stage where different country groups can get together easily. That is one of the major features planned for the coming months. In July a small meeting is being scheduled for Weymouth where some of the larger and, so far, less popular Two Metre craft are likely to come together from France and this country in addition to the more numerous Mini 40 class. The Two Metre, its Marblehead rule thoughts: this isan early Marblehead, Italian as well. It would probably need a ‘greatgrandfather’ clause. of the year and accompanied by punch and pies (non-alcoholic and minced respectively), has been postponed to the first Sunday in February 1996. Everything being conducive to me being able to have a go I shall report on this event, now changed to a One Metre class, in a later issue. Instead of sailing, this time of the year many of us turn to building. Indeed some will, by now, be surveying their brand new acquisitions from opposite sides of the country yet with something in common. From the South West and from the oven, if not the kitchen, of David Taylor will have emerged the first of the moulded Dann 3 One Metres from the drawing board of Nigel Gilson. Baked epoxy/glass hulls with moulded-in fin boxes, radio trays and mast mounting together with matching epoxy/carbon fins and rudders can be expected to feature well in the coming competitive season. From the East, moulded by the designer comes Nigel’s Dann 6 design. Having used his Adrian Brewer Force 6 derivative as a test bed, the feared balsa and glass ‘yellow-peril’ which temporarily went out of Nigel’s hands and then found its way back, he has produced a new hull which has changed ends and other modifications. Nigel confidently predicts all of these will make the 46 name comes from the fact that basically it has to fall vertically through a square of that dimension, is more popular in France than over here so the event is likely to be a bit one sided. Weymouth is the home of a much larger, and world renowned, festival of speed sailing so it is a fitting place for these giants of the model yachting world to come together. This two day multi-hull meeting will form part the Weymouth Marine Modelling Festival which proved to be very popular in 1995. Imagine two ‘Bentley’ 10 raters tied together side by side, separated by two beams of a similar length and carrying a sail area similar to that carried on some 6 metre or even A class yachts but with no ballast! Controlling one of those must be a pretty exciting, even frightening, experience. The British Model Multi-hull Association has got itself organised in both management and register terms, has an excellent newsletter and communication system, and seems poised to take advantage of the growing interest in these comparatively eccentric wind powered craft. Experimenters are welcome, indeed the class rules seem to be formulated to almost encourage the exploration of slightly off-beat sailing developments. Watch out for more news from this quarter. Contact the Association via the Secretary, James Ellison, at Pyramid House, 1 Jubilee Road, Pensilva, Liskeard, Cornwall, PL14 5QL. What’s happening where 1996 sees the, by now usual, closely packed MYA calendar published. I know that many for freesailing Marbleheads will be held from 4th to 6th May. If you have ever wondered just what freesailing is all about go and spend the ‘May-day’ bank holiday on the sunny Fylde coast. Indeed, if you are already on the periphery of model yachting and really want to find out what happens at a freesailing meeting give Fleetwood secretary Peter Whiteside a call on 01253-778219 and ask if there is anyone who wants a mate for this or other vane events there. The more potential non-sailing ‘mates’ there are, the more likely there are to be skippers who could drag out their yacht and have a go at proving those doubters wrong. You know, those who say “vane is dead”. If you took a fancy to one of those cute little 36 inch restricted yachts that appeared in past pages of this magazine then the Market Bosworth club’s water is the place to be for the weekend of 11th/12th May for the National Championship. A week later the One Metre class will be the focus of attention in most of the MYA districts when the District Championships will be decided. In Scotland, Peterhead will see activities start on Saturday 18th while further south it will be Sunday 19th when the Platt Fields club will host the Northern event at their water in South East Manchester. Bournville Lane in Birmingham will be the gathering place for Midland District skippers while those in the South West will congregate at the Sedgemoor club’s lake for the Wessex Trophy. That lovely park on the seafront at Eastbourne will be the target of the Metropolitan & Southern skippers while over on the East coast at Dovercourt Eastern District skippers will be indulging a bit of Team Racing. With only a week to go before they do battle at Fleetwood the MYA team members will be agonising over whether to risk doing damage to their yacht in these events by having a bit of last minute practice. The Radio Marblehead class will be going out for their district championships on 9th June at Gosport; Charnwood Water, Loughborough; Filby Broad; and Ashton Quays. Scotland does its Marblehead ‘thing’ a bit later in June on the 29th and 30th. The Nationals for the Radio version of this class will be at Birkenhead over the Easter weekend of April 6th – 8th so as to give way to the European event at Fleetwood. I remember such a shift some years ago and we had some bitingly cold winds – but that was further north at Fleetwood and Easter was a week earlier that year! The Radio 6 metres will be gathering in Milton Keynes over the weekend of 6th and 7th of July for the MYA Nationals: a feast of fleet racing at one of the modern homes of the class. A fortnight later they will converge on the Cotswold club for the Owner’s Association Match Racing Championship also over the two days of 20th and 21st July. August has its share of National MODEL BOATS APRIL 96 Championships with the Radio A class event on the 3rd and 4th, following immediately on the end of the Freesailing ‘A week’: that seven days of heaven – or is it hell – of fun and frivolity that everybody tells me is the way to enjoy vane sailing. Most of the stories I have heard of past ‘A’ weeks would probably have our editor fetching out his ‘censor’s’ pen should I try to repeat them here – you will just have to go along and experience them for yourself! Gosport is the venue this year. In the middle of the month on the 17th and 18th the veterans take their Radio Marblehedds to Chelmsford to fight out their own National Championship: don’t think that the racing is any the less competitive although the shape of the lake will ensure that they don’t have too much rushing back and forward on the bank to do. At the bank holiday end of the month we all go to Cleveland to the One Metre Nationals over the three days 24th, 25th and 26th: should be lovely weather up there at that time of the year. Just hope there are no mini-whirlwinds about; unless they are winches, of course. The competitions go on into September with the Scottish Radio 6 metre District Championship on the 1st and the MYA 6 metre Nationals on that lovely piece of water at Witton lakes in Birmingham on the 21st and 22nd and the Radio version Midland District championship at Bournville a week later. The MYA Nationals continue into October with a weekend of vane sailing in Birmingham starting with the 10 Raters chasing around Witton on Saturday 12th and the ‘babies’, the 36 inch Restricted yachts, at Bournville on The International Model Show For 1995/1996 the name has changed; it used to be billed as the Model Engineer Exhibition, now that is its secondary title. The venue remained the same as for the last few years, the Grand Hall and its surrounding Above: Unfortunately Gallery at Olympia became home to the 65th version of the exhibition. The period from 30th not at this year’s model December 1995 to 6th January 1996 saw hordes view the display of scale, near scale, show, but 6 Metre engineering and sci-fi models – both in and out of the competition for medals. From my biased indoors. Here Night standpoint what seemed to be missing was a forest of sails: even a merest glimpse of a competitive sail would have been welcome. It was like a desert, or maybe the middle of an ocean; beautiful models everywhere but not a show’s previous venue. Yachts have sailed Vision performed at the The tiered seating used to provide a welcome break for ‘show-tired’ feet. yacht to race. Last year I wrote about the few yachts on view, this year it was worse! Not one yacht that would be recognised at any Sunday sailing session. Even the ‘nearly there’ category saw few entries with a very neat little Dragon holding the fort amongst a flourish of Above left: Marblehead rule revision thoughts. A lot of attention is being paid to the scale sailers and barges. number, size and shape At least this year there was an MYA presence, thanks to the Chairman and Anthony Corbett there were even some yachts on view – some good ones. The exhibition was of booms, both on and — off swing rigs. I suspect this development would _ blessed with a bigger and better boating pool be considered ‘illegal’ with some reasonable, short range fans. One stalwart Elmbridge Club member and his One Metre ensured that Model Yachting in action was on view to the public during most of the Left: The sole R/C yacht sailing at the Sunday 13th. show. I remember at the MYA AGM there was an offer, nay an invitation, if not a plea, for individual clubs to take over the manning of the MYA stand for a day. Such an opportunity The final National of the year takes place at Woodspring in the South West when the Radio 10 Raters do their thing over the weekend of some yachts on the pool for a demonstration according to reports no one took up this offer; 19th and 20th October. The weekend of the 27th sees Radio 6 metres in action both in Scotland at the new club of Buidhe Island and, with round seven of the Match Race Series, at Bournville. On the same day the Midland District fans of the R36R return to Market Bosworth for the district championship. Finally, the last Radio League meeting of 1996 or is it the first of the 1997 season, the Mermaid re-surfaces at Guildford. Actually the Mermaid is not the last event in the MYA calendar for 1996; there are two other events on the same day, a R10R at Yeovil and a One Metre in Eastbourne. Following these there is a Radio Marblehead meeting at Three Rivers on the 10th and three more events in December the last of which is the Oliver Lee on the 29th December: I wonder what the weather will be like then? Many of these events listed above are targets for reports throughout the year, first hand where ever possible. MODEL BOATS APRIL 96 International Model Show: a One Metre built to the Excel 2 would have carried with it the chance to put design by John Gibson. This was sailed what a waste! The day I visited there were a couple of familiar faces ‘doing their bit’ on the stand with what looked like a steady, but never ending. stream of interested parties visiting the stand: and that was at a quiet time in the show’s life cycle. The aeronautical bunch had tied up with the BBC to carry a sweet little live television outside broadcast camera around the show on an airship. The camera and battery pack would have fitted reasonably on a 6 metre for some interesting angles on the pond especially if we could have got a pair going in a match race. Perhaps next year! The London International Boat Show Feeling as ifI was suffering withdrawal symptoms froma distinct lack of sail I left the Model Show and headed for the exhibition dedicated to the sort of craft you can sit on. At least they are designed and built that way! It is avery convenient fact for us ‘out of towners’ that there are usually one or two days each year when the two shows overlap. If you time your visit correctly you can ‘do’ the Model Show in the morning and early afternoon and tube it down to Earls Court just in time for the switch over to reduced entry rate at four o’clock. Then there is a bewildering array of gleaming wood and moulded plastic to marvel at. frequently throughout the show by John Walter of the Elmbridge Club. Tucked away in a corner of the inevitable ‘harbour’ lake that is a traditional feature of the Earls Court boat shows was the ‘have a go’ Radio Yachting session of which we have recently heard next to nothing. Why is it that people sailing radio controlled yachts so frequently seem to almost deliberately not tell anyone about it? Two years ago the organisers of this little publicity spinner did invite teams of skippers to come and take part in a form of knock out competition: they even managed to get the governing body of that branch of the sport – you know, the MYA- involved. 47 Above: A visitor to the Model Yachting Association’s stand studies Chris Dicks’ Metrick Magick One Metre Championship winning yacht. Above right: OK! So it’s not exactly a model yacht – but it was closer than most at the International Model Show. The 1:16 scale model of an airborne lifeboat with its satls rigged was on the stand with a collection from the Imperial War Museum. Right: Yes, I know this is not a yacht either though it’s a similar shape to some of the ballast. This electric powered airship was carrying a working televison camera around, or over, the show, courtesy of the BBC, so a yacht could do something similar. Afterwards there seemed to be some disappointment and disapproval when clubs with a strong radio racing interest took a stranglehold on the competition. Since then we have heard nothing – presumably they got the ‘hump’ and decided to deliberately exclude those who know what it is all about. Do they realise that had it not been for this magazine and for a small photo piece from the same source in one of the ‘full-sized’ magazines they would have had exactly zero column inches of ‘free’ publicity for the show, the model, and the supplier of the models. Perhaps business is so good in the Model Trade that they can afford to give up on the exposure! Whatever the reason, when I looked over the balcony at Earls Court and spotted the bobbing of the familiar sized sails they were not accompanied by the crowds hanging in awe, or anticipation, over the barriers. This was definitely the case whenI first saw this feature at the show: indeed then I had to elbow my way through to get the pictures. Enough of this negative stuff: elsewhere in the show I spotted several bits of interest to sailors of our size (boats that is). On one of the smaller stands in the gallery was a range of intriguing waterproof covers for small cameras, mobile phones, and even more mundane things like documents. The demonstrations included a pretty expensive Olympus compact camera floating in a tank of water with its cover arranged so that you could almost certainly take a decent picture without breaking the waterproof seal. For about fourteen pounds that seemsa pretty reasonable buy: they don’t seem to list anything suitable for a radio control transmitter however. Aquaman cases are available in the UK, contact them on 0171-7386801. Part of the gallery was absolutely jammed with retailer stands where bargain ‘nautical’ clothing can be acquired – too late for 1996 but remember it for next year! If you search hard enough one or two of these stands carry those small, hard to get, stainless steel fastenings that can be of use on our sized yachts. I know you can always order these things by post, but who remembers where from? I even managed to win a match race at the boat show! On the massive BT stand was a variety of Personal Computer based products including working video conferencing equipment, race scoring software and a clever little game where you can match race the computer. I just had to have a go. After losing dismally on my first try while I got to grips with the somewhat peculiar steering system in which the hand shaped mouse pointer had to be ‘wiped’ over the steering wheel I had another go. There was no pre-start manoeuvring to worry about it was just ‘click; and you’re off’ with the computer choosing who is going from where on the line. I was lucky to get a starboard tack start from the starboard side of the line 48 while the program had chosen to go off on port from the port side – foolish program! I held on and eventually it chose to duck my stern, as expected I tacked to cover and off we went in a tacking duel up the beat. I managed to stretch out a lead and by the time L arrived at the port rounding windward mark [had time to try and make a better job of it than during my first ‘race’. I did, but left a bit of a gap which the computer tried to dive in. I determined to try and maintain control by on the 12th November 1995 – well into the new League season. It was won by home skipper Gerry Weston-White with his Kevlar Orca 1 ahead of Peter Wiles with his ‘Sweet’. Another ‘Sweet’ was in third in the hands of wondered whether the program could cope with a luff: I am not sure how it responded, remainder of the fleet was made up of a mixture of the old and new, Highlanders, Sweets and Orcas. By the way, Bert Whiting becomes the first skipper to get double points for his first appearance in the League for at least twelve months: keep it up Bert! sailing my opponent off to the right hand side of the course. About half way down the leg I indeed if it responded. The yachts came together and a message window appeared in the middle of the screen announcing that my yacht had been severely damaged in the collision and I would have to retire: however the ‘committee’ had decided that my opponent was at fault. In my book that rates as a win but the chap supervising the playing of these games was not so sure so my name didn’t get entered on his little list to qualify for one of the prizes. tl If you beat the machine the biggest time margin in any day would take away one of the games, worth about £50. The biggest margin of the show would take away one of the PCs as well. If you want the game and have a suitable PC, one of the current crop of ‘multimedia’ machines is necessary, it is likely to pop up in the specialist games outlets and probably in the more advanced of the chandlers around. The League – believe it or not! Might as well start as we mean to carry on, though there is not really too much to report as the only event in the 1996 season to have happened so far is the Metropolitan & Southern Radio A class District Martin Raishbrook from Gosport; in fourth place was another Swanley skipper, Mike Topp, with an undisclosed design dating from 1931 and built in a Bread and Butter style of construction. I find that nice to hear, because there is more evidence that class rules like the International A and the 6 metre produce long lived and competitive designs. The Top five in the 1996 Radio League Top Ten Radio Clubs Club ist 2nd 3rd ith 5th Swanley Poole Gosport Staffs & Cheshire MYSA Score 83.4 16.4 14.8 6.6 1.6 Top Ten Radio Individuals Skipper Score Bert Whiting Gerry Weston-White Peter Wiles Martin Raishbrook Mike Topp Championship which was sailed at Swanley MODEL BOATS APRIL 96
