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TOP SELLER Dean’s Marine’s electric powered ‘steam’ BUILDING NEWS launch HELEN | REVIEWS REPORTS ® At the MPBA SCALE NATS ® DIY Servo Positioner Pian feature CARYON CRUISING! for a Thames Cabin cruiser Ve 7 hf dj Li Je Mamoli’ English Brigantine ial US ~~ Se AL t aa << raat iF aes i ~YACHTS RADIO YACHTING Some sadness and a look forward to the new season - by MIKE KEMP The 1996 Mermaid Trophy. Mark Dennis (19) takes advantage of clear air to get away on port after the start of Race 3. Photo: Roger Stollery. e longer you stay in any environment 4 the more used to it you become. When part of that comfortable surrounding is taken away you notice it even more. Sad news Obituary - Vic Cooney In October Model Yachtsmen everywhere then repeating this in the following year. The years he was the proud owner of yachts Guildford Club will be donating a Veteran’s from some of the model yachting world’s master builders including Walter Jones and trophy in his memory to be run at the Mermaid. He will be greatly missed not only by Woodley and Guildford but by many Model Yachtsmen all over the Country. Roger Stollery Obituary - David Trippe were saddened to lose a friend and one of the sport’s most enthusiastic supporters. Vic had Late November, just after the AGM, brought another sad loss to the Model suffered from cancer over the summer and autumn months. Yachting world. David Trippe was one of the Vic took up model yachting in the 1970's after encouragement from his wife Elaine and immediately became good at it. The discipline of his years in the RAF allowed him to be particularly good at the use of the rules when he was sailing and his generous nature prompted him to offer his skills for the organisation of every level of event from club race to world championship. He was very keen on match racing and donated the Courage Lock Trophy to the Guildford Club for this purpose. He was often offering his services as Race Officer, always running that event in its early years, as well as numerous district and National Championships. In 1986 he volunteered as a permanent observer to the World RM Championships.This was a very brave thing to do as there was approximately one protest model yachting world’s gentlemen and sailed at one time or another in most of the classes. While always sailing in a non- confrontational manner he was no pushover and recently concluded a successful 1996 season by winning the South-west District One Metre championship after a series of events throughout the year. David started his working life with an engineering apprenticeship at Rolls Royce John Gale with designs coming from John Lewis among others. One of the most famous now resides in the Child-Beale museum and was one of the six metres that led, and was indirectly responsible for, the resurgence of interest in the class. It was, like all David’s yachts that I have tried, incredibly well behaved and deceptively quick, that beautiful Flair is sorely missed on the circuit. Latterly he was a member of the Cotswold and Woodspring clubs and had spent some time in the development of the America’s Cup class yachts with John Lewis, Bill Green and the others. He and I shared an interest in photography and while mine leads me to the pictures you sometimes see here, David’s was indulged by his collection of and became involved with the Machine Tool business which gave him the magnificent Leica equipment. He was always willing to help those who asked him and will be sadly missed by all opportunity to get some beautifully who knew him. produced fittings made for his yachts. In addition his connections with the sales side of the business provided him with the need Correction/omission to travel the country and hence meet up with a variety of people, many of whom were connected with Model Yachting. The December issue contained a report on the 6 Metre Freesailing Nationals in which I tried to explain how such These meetings provided the sport with some of its more notable happenings like competition is organised, unfortunately the translation process from my PC to the editor and on to the page forgot to interpret the the provision of some remarkable formula whereby how many heats and races circumstances”. WhenI first started racing radio Marbleheads at Willow Park, Vic was my especially wound carbon tapered masts. He was also the motivation behind the publication of that instant collector's item, the book of John Lewis plans. David always mentor from whom I learned some of the important things about tactics and was had something red on his yachts, everything from a red boot-top line to the always following his yellow trapper Lulu whole hull: indeed my own six metre ‘Red Dwarf’ was originally moulded in its colour for David who barely started construction before I acquired it from him. Through the are necessary is calculated. As it is the same as that for Radio Match Racing it might be worth trying again. So here goes. The formula which decrees how many actual matches there are in each regatta goes something like this: if N is the number of entries then the number of matches will be (N x (N - 1))/2. Thus for an event with twelve entries there will be a total of sixty six individual matches. in each of the 225 heats sailed! The Guildford Model Yacht Newsletter recalls that “Vic did a fantastic job in the most difficult across the finishing line. Vic’s best result was winning the very first Veteran’s National Championship in 1993 by over 20 points and MODEL BOATS VOL. 47 - No. 553 47 This shot of an off-wind leg shows how undecided the fleet were on which rig to use in the variable winds. Tall, medium; swing, or conventional. Photo: Roger Stollery. Where to go in the New Year The thought crossed my mind that many of my readers have yet to really see what an organised yacht race regatta looks like; and, if you have never experienced the thing at first hand, you won’t know what you are missing. While I know there are some that will be saying “you don’t want to know’; going away to race adds much more to the enjoyment of sailing your model yacht. The other point about this is that while MYA members will have, or shortly be getting, a year book with all the events in they are, toa large extent, ‘converted’ and should not really need me to persuade them to go racing. Although some of the turn-outs over the past two years make me think that is not really true! As well as a good supply of wind there was sun to provide a colourful backdrop to Guildford’s home lake. Photo: Roger Stollery. The new league, well everybody is at it aren’t they? Actually the vane league does have something of a new look to it for 1997 to try and encourage those that still support this very valuable part of model yachting in the UK. In order to entice a few more out to chase up and down the sides of some of the best hard edged bits of water in the country the events counting towards the league are to be selected by getting each of the five principal Vane Racing clubs to nominate six events on each of their calendars, including any National and District races, to count towards the league series. This should provide about thirty races and at the same time put the emphasis back on club racing and reduce the predominance of the M and A Nationals, which have been very close to being overwhelmingly decisive in the championship of late. Meanwhile the radio league goes from strength to strength, in excitement and weeks leading to the end of the season, same time to race their yachts which all conform to the same set of rules and carry the same set of international registration letters! Perhaps I’m biased but I would think that there is a fair chance that we will see the Championship back in the UK afterwards. May will see a lot of Marblehead activity as every point counts no matter who claims it: both the MYA and European Championships and you don’t get league points by sitting at take place at either end of the month. 1997 sees the UK event moved to ensure that there are sufficient knowledgeable bodies available to run the event: originally, they would not have returned from the Europeans at Krk in Croatia. That’s the official line, although I suspect there are those who will say it is so that the ‘hot-shots’ are not prevented from entering this prestigious and important event ‘ranking wise’. I know there are a lot who hope that this will not become a habit but I understand that the Croatian regatta has been timed to fit in with a big interest if not in numbers. The 1996 season ended with the closest finish between two clubs ever, just a fraction over one point separated second and third places while the winning club had escaped with a lead of 333 points. As those clubs came to realise in the home! I look forward to another titanic struggle through this season. 1997 highlights Yes I know it’s odd but I thought I would have a go at crystal ball gazing in this issue and try to predict what events are going to be newsworthy during the coming year. Maybea little tongue in cheek but, who knows? In August the public get to see a great spectacle of sailing in the park at Kensington when Roger Stollery masterminds the MYA One Metre National Championships on the Round Pond. The new champion escapes being thrown in as the result is not worked out until we are all back at the clubhouse and everyone is too knackered to go back to the pond for a ceremonial dunking. In February the new World Champion is crowned in New Zealand and, all being well, I shall be able to bring a first hand report even if | do escape the ceremonial dunking only reserved for the winner. I’m not really keen on getting chucked in so that is why I have never won such a prestigious event - that’s my excuse anyway! I suspect that the British team will acquit themselves fairly well, after all they count among their number the reigning World, European, and British champions even if the last two are the same person! Actually I have heard that it is not a Team: more a group of like minded individuals who happen to hold similar passports issued in the same country, belong to clubs affiliated to the same National Authority and sharing a common language and interest. They just happen to be gathering in the same part of the world at the 48 boat event and could not be moved, even to accommodate the MYA and its potential set of champions. In August the A fleet will descend on Fleetwood for their summer spectacular of vane and radio sailing this year. If the trend of the last few years continues we shall see even more of the largest regularly sailed model yachts chasing around the world famous lake on Fleetwood’s seafront. Also, according to myth there will be increased business in the local hostelries and purveyors of non-English food! Unfortunately the vane steered version of the longest regularly sailed model yachts, the 10 Rater, has finally fallen below the minimum necessary to preserve its status to qualify for a National Championship so there will be no official national gathering for that bit of the class in 1997. 1997 will see us sailing to a new set of rules which, if tradition is maintained, will take effect on the 1st April: some would say a very apt date! Without having studied a full set I don’t want to leap into describing what changes will affect us: keep a look out, I will do so as soon as possible. Race reports - the Mermaid Unfortunately I was not able to get to the Mermaid again last year to report on what has become the traditional ‘end of season bash’ for the southern Marblehead fraternity. Instead I am relying on a report from probably the best person to watch the happenings, Roger Stollery who conducted the event as race officer. Over to Roger: Once again this proved to be a very good event and was, from the Race Officer’s viewpoint, a record. I cannot remember ever having completed a Mermaid where each skipper sailed at least 12 races: an impossibility without sportsmanship on the water. This was evident in abundance as over 2000 boat/buoy roundings were carried out with marks to starboard and there were very few outstanding incidents. This reinforces the view that large heat sizes are not necessarily the factor that creates incidents on the water. The racing was good too with thirty three entries from eleven clubs, and all but a few of the country’s top skippers made the racing very close and superb spectator sport. The strong Southwest winds made the beats ° interesting with big shifts offering a challenge to the most observant of skippers. Searching for the gusts off wind seemed to pay and the huge acceleration possible by getting this right was a pleasure to watch. A good demonstration of this was Paul Midgely’s effort in race 8. Paul has built up a competitive Marblehead from a £30 GRP hull to an interesting narrow design by Solent member and ace dinghy builder Bob Hoare. With foils and rig parts from Paul Tickner, he survived the carnage and chaos that surrounded him when the wind increased a bit and finished a creditable third in the B heat and qualified to sail in A for the first time. This is a really good effort in this company for a relative newcomer to radio racing. He finished 14th in that race and beat past Radio 36R national champion and race . winner here, Anthony Corbett, past RM ranking list leader Mark Dennis, world A MODEL BOATS VOL. 47 - No. 553 Warming up for a couple several of the one and a half circuits of the lake races the fleet was all gathered together of years hard labour: at the windward and/or the leeward marks, with only the odd straggler having broken launching their ‘Choppa’s away at the front or been left behind. Maguire (204) is off I have no idea who ‘won’ the day, in fact that didn’t seem to matter: from memory Chris Harris, Peter Stollery, Martin Roberts, Dave Mann, Gordon Sears, Yours Truly and the ‘Duck Pond Champion’ Rob Vice all took one or other of the top three places in all the up Gosport’s lake. Gordon around the world on a Whitbread 60 and Peter Stollery (205) is off to complete his training as an architect: we wish them races while the ‘locals’ were not that far well. Photo: Roger Stollery. behind in all cases, in fact Peter Moore was always ‘in there’ somewhere making much use of his local knowledge to pick his way around the holes of confused wind that are usual for this lake. Peter Salt, who was also sailing, acted as ‘Race Officer’ and was ably assisted by Lisa McKerchar, who wasn’t sailing, and who pushed the button on the class champion Mike Harris and Happi Furst, who the previous weekend at a German No one skipper dominated the event with seven skippers winning races. Peter Stollery very flash Karaoke Starting machine then rushed down the lake (!?) to gather in the finishing positions. Ranking event had beaten past World and European Champion Janusz Walicki into 4th place. So cheap Marbleheads can be won four, Martin Roberts three, Chris Dicks competitive! The Southwest wind allowed C rigs to be the right choice initially with the lightening Winning radio sailing events is as much breeze bringing A rigs into play during the afternoon. For most of the day there was a mixture of swing and rigging-less conventional rigs competing but there were only three wins by the conventional power. Jones’s second place made the scores very although it is doubtful whether we will meet the same sort of conditions in the waters of Wellington. If we do, we should be that better close and took him into second place overall prepared to meet the almost inevitable in front of the 1996 European One Metre frustration and intense concentration The off wind advantage of the swing rig seemed to be at its best at the end of the reaching leg and sometimes on what could be a run from the wing mark to the leeward mark. A good example of this was in race 6 when two; while Paul Jones, Paul Tickner, Anthony Corbett and John Cleave won one each. about consistency as brilliance and whilst Peter Stollery did just enough to win, Paul Champion Martin Roberts. required to come out the other side. Mid- The high standard of design and construction in carbon fibre in this class was demonstrated at this event with high January will see another opportunity for the performance making for very close racing. wend their way some 11600 miles as the crow flies (some crow!) to Wellington for the ‘Worlds’. is little to choose between the home made or professionally built boats and plenty of ingenuity on display at very low cost. some way in front and on this gusty leg his Thank you Roger for your report, it sounds as if the Mermaid was successful again. start and carried it out perfectly, much to the relief of this observer whose ‘Oar’ was the target for those other boats on starboard. Gordon Maguire ‘eyes-up’ his left me with vivid memories of quickly coming to the conclusion that staying out of ‘Choppa’ while trouble was a far more effective way of being successful than ‘getting involved’. Perhaps I shall be able to make it again next time. Peter Stollery dips Somewhere in Birmingham don't come much his in the water at Gosport. They smaller than this - I couldn’t think of any other way of heading a meeting of ‘like minded people’ who gathered in that great midlands city over the model yachts, that is! Photo: Roger Stollery. weekend of 7th and 8th December. Bringing along their One Metre yachts they spent the C rig at about 16 mph. The best recovery of Saturday afternoon in the cold and almost the day was in race 6 by Peter Stollery who windless surroundings of Witton Lakes until was over the line at the start, returned and the light failed whereupon they retired to a was 4th at the windward mark on a leg of local centre for itinerant model yachters. On Sunday morning they gathered along with a possibly bemused collection of Bournville club members around that famous land The most damage was done in race 8: on model yachting. Mermaid was one of the first I attended and day in race 5 and demonstrated that the wind does not have to be light for the brilliance of this skipper to shine. It was at the top end of only about 50 metres and in a heat of 18 One of the more obscure sides to When I first started at this game the John Cleave achieved the longest lead of the boats. similar circumstances shortly before they conventional and swing rigs show that there with David Coode and with Peter Fothergill much a case of ‘swings and roundabouts’ evident in that and other heats. The best start of the day was by Henry Farley who in race 3 opted for a port tack ‘like minded individuals’ to gather again in The narrow hull, deep keel, rigging-less Martin Crysell rounded the wing mark level swing rigged Roar Edge stayed seaworthy and drew well away from the two conventionally rigged Paradoxes. Peter did pass Martin and the beat so there was very This was an ideal get-together for half of the ‘like minded individuals’ who will be carrying the MYA flag in New Zealand the leg from the wing mark a strong gust locked duck pond to partake of some pretty broke Paul Tickner’s B rig mast at deck level while Mike Harris and Martin Crysell got tangled up and ended up downwind in the trees. At the other end of the water John Buttigieg got an enormous lift when competitive light airs, sailing until about 2:00pm. I was fortunate enough to join this session and found a one fleet competition that would not have disgraced itself as part of any National, Ranking or league competition. In approaching the windward mark on starboard, could not bear away, and ploughed through innocent port tackers rounding the mark. Top five at the Mermaid There was keen competition amongst the veterans sailing. Eight over 60’s were competing for a prize given in memory of Vic Place Skipper Club Design Designer Total Score 1st Peter Stollery Guildford Roar Edge R Stollery 20.7 2nd Paul Jones Doncaster Paradox G Bantock 26.8 3rd Martin Roberts Birkenhead Paradox G Bantock 38 Ath Chris Dicks Clapham Blade C Dicks 46.4 Sth Keith Skipper Chelmsford Paradox G Bantock 51.8 Cooney who died of cancer a couple of weeks earlier. Happi Furst, encouraged by his success in Germany, made some of the best A heat starts but could not keep it up to the finish. He finished with just a point behind Henry Farley with 152 points. However it was Dennis Moss who finished in the top 10 on 5 occasions and become the top ‘vet’ with 122 points. The Ted Geary best improver’s trophy went to Keith Skipper and the last prize was awarded to John Buttigieg. MODEL BOATS VOL. 47 - No. 553 The first winner of the Vic Cooney Veteran’s- Prize was Dennis Moss of Guildford. 49 A Sunday morning ‘sail about’ which ended up Newbridge, Midlothian EH28 8PD International Secretary: Mark Dennis, 8A Thorn Grove, Bishops Stortford, Herts being as competitive as any ‘organised competition’. Bournville CM23 5LD Publicity Secretary: George Carpenter, 8 played host to part of the UK contingent heading off to foreign parts. Here Gordon Sears (47) leads a tightly bunched fleet around the windward mark. i996 MYA AGM The representation at the 1996 MYA AGM made up in quality in only a small way what it lacked in quantity. With only a very small number of clubs represented it is doubtful whether it could reasonably be said to be a true reflection of what the majority of the members of the MYA felt or thought. However the business was conducted in a reasonably orderly manner and there was some lively and interesting discussion on a number of topics which are of interest to most. Probably one of the most interesting is a move by Council to introduce an individual membership card scheme which, while being needed as part of a shake up of the insurance scheme, will make claiming league points a little more controlled (see League Postscript). Another benefit will be the opportunity, should it be necessary, to mail direct to particular individuals and groups around the (AL) and yours truly (07). The ‘Harrismobile’ (96), unfortunately, will not be joining us down under. little passion was aroused by the Treasurer's report which included a statement of the current financial position of the Association. There are some, obviously more used to the presentations of such things in ‘business’, who were suggesting that a more detailed presentation should be made to include things like the current state of MYA ‘stock’ and other things not detailed in an effort, no doubt, to make the whole thing simple to understand by the majority. While the AGM is not really the place to decide on the format of such future presentation Council will be having a look at it in the coming meetings, no doubt. Another topic which raised the wellington boot days. The meeting sort of ‘self closed’ at just after 4.00 pm when many realised that they would be in danger of missing train connections if they did not precipitate the winding up of proceedings by putting on their coats and walking out! The discussion in progress was becoming increasingly passionate and polarised as a paper on a proposal to ban spinnakers from the Radio 10 Rater rule was brought to the meeting’s attention. Graham Bantock with his RYDISAF hat on seemed to be generally in support of the move to close this loophole while Roger Stollery seemed to be equally implied criticism. The one that got the meeting ‘going’ was the debate over the way were really on the table for debate and in which the organisers of the 1996 One Metre National Championship had stuck fairly firmly to the published closing date. The meeting went round the complete circle from support for their action to a suggestion that a ‘secondary’ closing date should be published for such prestigious meetings. On the past where similarly contentious issues decision. Items like the use of ‘old fishing rods’ for 36 inch Restricted yacht spars were a similar catalyst for noisy debate: but in those days the Annual General Meetings saw many more clubs coming to the meeting and many more delegates taking part in what were much more social gatherings. be presented from both points of view but I have a feeling that no matter how strong an argument is presented from the ‘places on the water’ brigade a big DNF score is what the way it visited numerous anecdotes about the ‘days gone by’ when all events had Perhaps it has been the move to put the discussion in the ‘hands’ of sub-committees that has killed the AGM. I know it is the way significant closing dates so that schedules could be worked out and score cards created that things should be done - but it’s a lot less fun! we will end up with. Perhaps it will have to be the price we are required to pay to rid all seems so easy to bring the closing of entries ever closer to the start of the first ourselves of the iniquitous system where heat. From experience I can say that, at a coming last in the A heat effectively scores more heavily than coming first in the B heat although it is quite obvious that it should be push, it would be possible to leave the closing to a point only a few minutes from the other way around. It is a pity that I doubt like that! Overall the meeting seemed to come to the conclusion that entrants all have a responsibility to notify their entry for an event in good time and usually before the published closing date. If they fail to do so they should not expect, as a right, to be granted etc. In these days of EORS and computers it the briefing - but I would not want to do it entry. As a result of retirements, nominations and voting at the AGM we have some new MYA officials to take note of. They are briefly as follows: Technical Secretary: Robert Brown, 26 East Croft, Ratho, 50 wet and someone should get him some wellies! This was in the pre-metallic pink ‘loophole’ available for someone who might try - in the future - to exploit it. It took me back to some of the AGMsI have been to in UK - pre-EORS - and are still enshrined in Roberts (22), Rob Vice A committed to the support of leaving the the IYRS system officially sanctioned by the RYD of the ISAF for International events. There are quite strong arguments which can leads out Martin limited to three in number to give a total entry of only fifty yachts! Racing Secretary’s report. Having been circulated with the final papers for the meeting there had been an opportunity for some clubs to respond to items that they felt fleet racing regulations that were used in the will be in New Zealand: sizes which, in the draft available, are being There was quite a long discussion about the question of an International EORS (will it be IEORS or EORSI!?) and what the meeting first yacht crosses. This is actually the same as we were used to sailing under the earlier Gordon Sears (47) discussion took place over heat numbers and temperature of the meeting slightly was the finish line within a set time from when the The next time you see International EORS in New Zealand - with or without a DNF score! Some secondary organisation. felt about on the water ‘time out’. The proposal is to incorporate a Did Not Finish score for all those who don’t make it to the four of these yachts they we shall have a chance to try the Yarrowside, Little Chalfont, Amersham, Bucks HP7 9QL One Metre Registrar: Jim Vice, 14 Greycot Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 1TA Marblehead Registrar: Phil Playle, 114 Hookfield, Harlow, Essex CM18 6QL. In addition the meeting unanimously approved the ‘promotion’ of John Cleave to the position of a Vice President of the MYA. This was partially in recognition of the enormous amount of work that John has done in the past as International Secretary, and ‘Mr Fix-It’ for overseas bound groups of ‘like minded individuals’. John has been involved in the sport for a very long time and I was reminded of that recently during some research I was doing in back copies of Model Boats when I saw some pictures of John adjusting his latest Radio Marblehead. The caption mentioned that he was rather Council will be thinking more about this in the meetings in the New Year - watch this space. 1996 League - Postscript The 1996 MYA Radio league ended with a remarkable public admission from the Chelmsford club during the presentation session at the AGM. The published results showed that they finished the season a mere 1.1 points clear of the Bournville Club after an amazing end of season push by the Midlands club to try and ensure they climbed back into third place. During the early part of the season the Chelmsford club had been credited with a score by one of the organising clubs for someone who was not really a Chelmsford member. Because, in the past, there has been no sure-fire way of checking which club a skipper is ‘sailing for’ the return from organising clubs has been taken at face value. On occasions this has resulted in a few discrepancies but rarely has it made sucha radical difference to the overall result. Thus although the ‘official’ records will show that Chelmsford were second in 1996 the position actually was taken by Bournville - well done to both clubs for their efforts and honesty. MODEL BOATS VOL. 47 - No. 553
