- Title. Author. Summary
end eS ~ ~ eet S Se * Ca eS By ROD CARR Chuck Black’s Newport 12-meter displaying a beautiful set and trim for beating to weather. @ These words are being written just as 1978 waltzed in the door. It is traditional for such events to trigger a schmaltzy look back, a news reporter report to the nation, and finally asomewhat rosy and optimis- tic look into the future. Traditional though it seems, it might not be a waste of these pages, nor our time, to do just that. SCHMALTZY LOOK BACK R/C model yachting came into existence in early 1970, with the banding together of 9 fellows who agreed to contribute their efforts toward the betterment of sailing small boats for fun. The writer packs AMYA No. 2 on his membership card, so | was there from the start. In the ensuing 8 years, | have watched the sport grow to its present size. | suppose have watched with some envy and some sadness as more and more folks joined, raced, and melted away, never to have spoken or written to me while engrossed in the sport. In the early days, with 200 members, AMYA wasa really chummy place. You could get off a plane in just about any town, pick up a Way too much twist in these EC/12’s sails. More tension on both sheets, as well as main vang, required. 40 phone and be sure of a free dinner, a lot of talk about sailing, and a warm feeling in your gizzard when you said good night. A lot of that old nucleus is still around .. . the greater portion still pulling an unfair share _ of the load as AMYA Directors, Class Secretaries, or Club Newsletter Editors. A case in point is Dick Hein, AMYA president. Unless I’ve blown it, Dick has served AMYA continuously in some major capacity since 1970, when he was annointed as one of the “Chosen 9”. He definitely holds the record!!! The early days were certainly ones of ferment. There were some knotty issues to solve. Should skippers be allowed to walk along the bank with their boats, or should they be confined to a compound like so many antenna-toting cattle? How close should our 50/800 rules be to the requirements of the IMYRU International M Class? Isa hull a boat? Do little squares in a hull automatically preclude registration problems? Many are still debated … like “When is a one-design not a onedesign?” “Where do | register an Endicott Racer?” (If you know what that is, you have been in this game as long as the author!) Does all this nostalgia tell us that the good old days are gone? | think not. We are still addressing the same MODEL BUILDER basic set of problems faced by the founding fathers. How do we get and keep skippers so that the maximum enjoyment can be extracted from the sport? Such a question needs to be interpreted by eachand every fellow in the hobby. Just what is meant by enjoyment? Is it building? Is it designing? Is it racing? There could be as many answers as there are skippers. REPORT TO THE NATION Where are we today? Well, from the statistics that are leaked by the AMYA Secretary, AMYA has stabi- lized at about 1500 to 1700 skippers each year. The following year, only about 2/3 of those renew their membership. If we assumed that the renewal was a random process, then the next time, only 2/3 of the 2/3 That famous profile… not his… the hull!! Dave Forsman photo. remaining would have renewed; 4/9 of the originals are left inthe 3rd ear. Since that 2/3 figure has been ind of stable over the life of the AMYA, and we are now in our 8th year, a quick calculation shows that approximately 5.5% of the original 1970 membership might still be associated with the organization. 0.055 x 165 = 9 folks!!!!! | swear | didn’t know that when | wrote the preceding paragraphs. I’m sure the mathematicians among you candoa little detailed work on that. As of the 1977 Annual Meeting, the AMYA Secretary reported the following: Total Membership: 1355. ‘Total Boats Registered: 2005. The class sizes were as follows: 50 A800 waexet IO AY. H, PaNiars St 828 36/6004ii <> OREO Seek 307 E@HI2 ae) 5s. 2 ee eee 229 S7BO© Deas 2 Hast er. SSS 197 SOLINGZO Dis Sst 2S ees: 86 STAR-45 Sian the SEte g? eis NA tes SO Ree. A ete OBEN 33a ee , weee ‘1O=Vatehie eee eee ea: 73 69 63 62 MagnumiODvis. 974.262.4838. 26 AaC lass eae Ed Michell and 9/10 inch = 1 foot Intrepid model. Lots of room for a genoa jib winch. Dave Forsman photo. ee 33 JeG@lass Se 4)te cea iho . ae 26 Equally interesting, was the discovery that out of 1355 members, only 334, or 25%, took time to vote in the annual balloting for officers. (Don’t complain! AMA seldom gets over 10% voting response national- ly. wen) Take a look at the boats you have stabled in your shop and compare them with the population statistics given above. Have you done anything at all to help your class grow?? The major difference between those of us who are sailing types, and both the hydroplane and aircraft boys, seems to be in the longevity of our vehicles. In the past 8 years, I’ve only heard of one sailing model irretrievably sunk … that was a scale of EMMA BERRY, at that. Since sailboats last so long, there is MARCH/APRIL 1978 Forever Orange, a 10-rater of English design, built by John Krick, of Glenolden, Pa. not the market for replacements like our louder and more daredevil counterparts. The result is a similarly roalaced: size of supply for hulls, fittings, and so on. Having kitted -winc ae full EC/12 kits, and now being in the sailmaking end of it, | can speak with authority on the small size of the market that is realistically available. A potential manufacturer is going to need a Digger audience for his wares than is offered by the sailboat market. We can only thank the likes of Vortex, Crump, Dumas and the rest, for providing our needs for the past seasons. The 1978 Preliminary Regatta Schedule seems a good indication of the continuing activity in sailing Continued on page 99 41 i competition. A total of 53 events The one sure dar, sponsored by 49 AMYA Sanctioned Clubs. With earlier deadlines for this schedule than in previous years, I’m sure that the final version will be almost double the length of the preliminary. Also, one must going to be in the informationpassing arena. Right now you are reading the only monthly coverage schedules for its own members. As an example, our local Club, the’ Potomac R/C Sailing Association, is holding a one-day match racing event for EC/12’s, as well as the Eastern Divisional for that class. Not on the schedule, are 14 other events for the 12-meter fleet and the 50/800 fleet that make up this club’s membership, plus an “open” fleet of still undefined extent. Other nearby clubs have a similar commitment relative to their local schedules. Looks like we might have 300 to 500 days of actual organized sailing (occurring in duplicity on the weekends, of course!!!). ROSY LOOK INTO THE FUTURE | guess part of the reason that | put the time into TRACER was to really try to make a measurement of the A-Class within AMYA. | had to go to Australia for a designer who was willing to contribute to the sport. (Let me doff my sou’wester to Adri- this column. Both Jay Selby, of RCS, Based on the past year in business and in competition, | see a definite slowing in the annual growth rate. This is, in a large part, due to the retirement of a number of key individuals who are just plain tired hits the water, the lack of information about it, the lack of a lines drawing or of agood estimate of her comparative strengths on the water …all these contribute to the continued second class status we will enjoy in formula class racing against an international challenge. Good design work for the formula classes is going through a period of extremes now. Since we do not have the hull lines available to us, thereis no way for ay of us to go out and purposely build something that is a cross between a BINGO anda WIND Il, or amating of aWARRIOR Il and a BOOMERANG. The closest we have ever come was Chip Bullen’s LIBERTY 76. Chip said he took features from all the boats he came across. What he did was really blend his feelings about a series of boats. Without the guidance of the workers before him, there is just no way that Chip or anybody else is going to of scoring and judging hale others are sailing. In my opinion, 1978 is going to ie the year of “FISH OR CUT BAIT.” Each club is going to have to meet head-on the problems of declining memberships, or formula class evolutions, of members who won’t carry their share of the administrative and logistic load, and so on. | have experimented this past season with a “GUEST REGATTA DIRECTOR” program. Details have been discussed in a previous col- umn, but in short, the idea was to receive second-place cumulative points in exchange for a day of running a local regatta. The idea being to encourage skippers to put their transmitters down for one session and get experience in the administrative end of racing. Out of a 16-boat fleet and a 7-regatta season, | got three takers. Two didn’t need the score boost … Bob and Chris Harris, who finished 1st and 3rd in fleet; and a third … Art Walters, who gained significantly to wind up 4th in Fleet, in a combination of improved sailing and his day in the barrel as Guest RD. Those in the fleet who had the most to gain showed absolutely no interest, apparently preferring to take home a 12th Place ribbon rather than admit, once and for all, that they fea need to study the rules a bit, as well 1978. or of R/C yachting activity in the entire USA. | must doff my weatherbeaten an Brewer!!) hat to MODEL BUILDER’S fearless | predict that if a formula class editor, who took a chance on us way challenge is sailed, the American’s back in the early 70’s, long before will have their heads handed to AMYA had gotten past a mimeothem. | can’t diminish the accomgraphed newsletter (no offense, plishment of the present holder of Rich!). If you thumb through the the Mini-America’s Cup. But it was other mags on the stand, you’ll find at his urging that our Club is spona powerboat column in every one of soring the Potomac Match Cup. them!!! They are looking for a Harris will tell you with no hesitating sailing contributor, but that’s been going on for a good long time. Can that the next time the Mini-Ameriyou spell your own name? Got any ca’s Cup is on the block, it will be opinions you’d like to see spread won in 4races to 3. But he won’t tell from coast-to-coast (and overseas. wen)?? Are you finally ashamed Remember to mail your 1978, enough of taking, taking, taking $5.00 dues to AMYA Secretary, Bob from the hobby and never giving Crysler, 2709 S. Federal Highway, . anything in return?? Well hear this Delray, Florida 33444. … now is your chance. I’ll field questions for a stamped, self-addressed envelope. And I’ll Another problem we have got to out-and-out beg for your input to cure is that of converting every new design into a fiberglass mold beand |, are tired of whistling in the cause some turkey thinks he is going dark… Rod Carr, 7608 Gresham St., to get rich. It just doesn’t happen. Springfield, Virginia 22151. ® And each time a new fiberglass hull remember that not on the schedule is a real raft of sailing … the local series and events that each club Fleet Captain will do. It’s his gamein place that we: are going to make or breae our hobby is have already been put on the calen- as figure out just what a heat list is all about. | don’t know what this year’s = ‘Realistic vie sailboats be able to Rot on an evolutionary family of hulls. Forest Godby’s work. on the WIND 50/800’s and 10-Raters is as close as we have gotten to that. Our Canadian friends have done quite the same, with the notable exception of the symmetrical 50/800 which was Biblishied in “that Eng- — lish magazine’ a few months ago. The list is long, from CHINOOKS to SAMARALI’s, that sail the waters, but whose lineage is misty, and whose parentage is quite in doubt. We make model sailboat kits for radio control, also spars, hardware, sails, winches. Mail order only. Write for free illustrated price list or send $2.00 for complete information package. Vortex Model Engineering Department MB 210 East Ortega Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101
