Windling World: August 2004

A Pamir pe by Andreas of Germany — page 9 Matakana ¥ in England ¥ — page 5 — page 19 You may have gathered from the April issue, that whereas *windling’ is actual sailing, what we sail does go through a building process, and in this issue | have again featured a constructor — of With a soft tinkle and obviously a wee blow ! | have been ringing bells and blowing the odd whistle about the Smeed Starlets for many years, all the while sailing and enjoying my gaff-rigged Bells and Whistles (above) still a lovely, and predictable boat to sail. In this issue, thanks to my friend John Butterwith we look at a Harwich Bawley he has built, and thanks to Denis and Marion Johnson we look at their real Bawley, Doris. Twain’s warning ! Be careful about seeing Jean Preckel’s —models (at left and ; on pages 7 to 8) The world is indeed full of talented, interesting and friendly people. Windling World has certainly given me the opportunity to meet and to make contact with many of them. When you and | were young Maggie – from a lovely ballad with lyrics by George W Johnson, music by | Butterfield. A particular all time of a misprint. (Mark Twain) favourite — of mine, it is ap- Reader, Terry Doble of Picton, On- enough reading health books – you may die fine display models, and a lady to boot ! | think you will enjoy propriate tario, Canada _ has furnished details of the Mini 12. boats, and their sailing of them at Quinte Model Yacht Club in Canada. “eg =| That is Jerry’s Mini 12 der sail at left. un- Getting older ! Our deafness we endure, to our dentures we’re resigned, bi-focals we can manage but God, how we miss our mind ! to in- troduce Richard Gross of New Zealand’s new schooner of the same Shown name. within on page 5 the model is an absolute stunner, but hey, you gents and ladies, form your own opinion. Looking for Alexander. In January | went on a bit of a hunt, looking not for the lraqui despot (he had already been found) but with a tipster, look- rapher, | ing for an Alexander hull said to be club in Auckland. There were several old hulls discovered in a Western suburb. Alas, no Alexander was among them – it had done a runner. prison should a breach of copyright result ! Dogs. The Durgan Old Gaffers Soci- ety is a group of sailing enthusiasts who support the sailing and racing of traditional gaff-rigged working boats in the Helford River in England. They call themselves the hope that you fellas will together to bail me out of Then there is Hugh Hallston’s lovely cutter Katrina (on page 25) and Aucklander Tom Simpson’s brigantine, Jojo (shown below). DOGS, their email was or still is which stresses humour I’d say. | can’t help thinking that our Auckland Starlet style of un-serious racing has some similiarity. Read about ‘the Dogs’ within on page 19. The A’s of our yesterdays. That the A Class yachts of the late forties to early fifties period were good looking boats is unques- tionable, but whether the A Class boats of today are “ungainly’ and ; ~ 3 “somewhat ugly’ by comparison, (the opinion of a UK reader who sent the photograph) is a ‘river’ that | choose not to go down. Seen above and taken at Fleetwood by Guy Blogg it is of a boat called Sharma under sail. It was taken 55 years ago and | am taking the chance and reproducing it, and since | can’t find the photog- Andreas Gondesen is one of the top ship modellers in Europe, and in this issue | present Part 1 of two features, this one on his incredible RC model of the Pamir. Short and Sweet. Just so you know, the WW rationale for material mix has always been, to have many short length stories rather than fewer stories of ‘greater length. This ensures that there is always something for all readers (now in eleven countries). | hope that you all find something of interest within. Mark Steele Publisher/Editor She might make a fine RC model, this replica of an original Sandbagger sloop built, owned and by sailed Scar- Lee brough of Harwichport, MA in the United States. Wooden hulled, _ gaffrigged and 36′ in length with a 9’2″ beam, she is sailed reasonably regularly on Pleasant Bay on Cape Cod, a_ protected body of water. The boat sails well with 3 people, but Lee says they have had 9 aboard in good *where she went like a bat’. weather A retired builder, Lee Scarbrough is the US Trustee for Atlantic Challenge, and is also President of Atlantic Challenge International. Visit their website for details: www.atlanticchallenge.org The Atlantic Challenge is a contest of seamanship held every two years in a different host country. Its aim is to encourage in a friendly atmosphere, those traditional maritime skills which are fast disappearing, and to foster friendship and harmony between people of all ages of different nations and cultures. OC the Covers Front: Hugh Hallston of South Carolina, U.S.A with Katrina. Back: ‘The Great Model Yacht Ocean Race’ Illustration for Windling World by Derek Cookson issue releases readers, details and photos of a rather stunning RC model by Richard Gross, one of the Ancient Mari- ner windlers of Auckland. Richard and his wife have a beach house up north of Auckland, where the sailing around the Hauraki Gulf is wonderful. There he noticed a certain yacht with clean lines and a very “different! look about her. She was MAGGIE OF WHITFORD, a New Zealand built scow-like, Chesapeake Bay gaff schooner, and she became the boat of which he would construct a new model. With side plans of the fullsize 80! long boat, and some approximate measurements but no frame shapes after using a computer design boat pa c Koaseue downloaded the off free internet, this provided then him with the in hull panels flat format. He then had to enlarge the plan up to his required size, stitch the panels together using copper wire ties, then glue them with resin on the inside, removing the ties just before the (Continued overleaf) (Continued from page 5) glue set totally. Fitting gunwales and deck beams followed, after which the deck was marked with planking and placed, remembering to allow for all the working parts (drum servo, steering servo, pulleys, receiver, battery) before gluing it down. Photo at right shows Richard in the building process, photo below shows the real boat and object of inspiration. The sails are made of polycotton, and are on longer masts for better ‘light weather’ performance. Richard felt that it was easier to cut down the rig and sails, make new ones. s \ 5 than to have to \ The winch, servo and rudder servos are below the deckhouse floor, and are accessible by lifting the whole floor and table out to expose the workings. As the windows of the deckhouse are clear, the inside is made as close to the fullsize boat as possible, even down to a chart of the Kawau Bay area, hand drawn on the chart table ! co g § o % ied = 1S) Bo 5 — = e S 3 1S) Py, a, Since October last year, we have exchanged a bit of correspondence, and a friend of hers, Mike has provided the quality greyscale scans seen here of a few models of Jean’s that | selected. Below, 52″ Pungy schooner Lady Maryland Seen above model, Jean working on = began a making model boats in 1983 while living on the Eastern Shore of Virgina, U.S.A despite her college degrees having been in music and_ horticulture, which finally gave way to her great passion for boats and making models of them. That passion began at an early age, when her family acquired a sailboat. (Continued overleaf) Jean’s custom scale model boats are built from scratch, not from kits, and starting with the line drawings and pictures of a boat, and using construction methods similiar to those used in building fullsize boats, she constructs a model that has been scaled exactly to the required size. She has built models ranging in size from six inches up length, and with a interest apparent in decor, her work has to eight feet in worldwide models for attracted a following because of its qual- ity. Building mainly in Above 26″ Herreshoff Nettle bass- wood or white cedar for hulls, mahogany, teak, fir and various other woods for trim and spars, she builds models of all types boats, traditional, modern, sail and few photos shown indication of her subjects, and she lonial schooners, of power. The here give an versatility in has built cosloops, log canoes crabbing skiffs, ketches and racing yachts, and also restores pond yachts for people. Above, 47″ Pilot Schooner Virginia At right, model detail Jean finds that building model boats allows her to live a self-employed lifestyle that she enjoys, and her ship and boat models can be found in yacht clubs, visitor centres and museums ina great 50″ Chesapeake Bay Sloop many parts of the United States and Canada. 1 “35s. PALS! == es From Andreas Gondesen of the Republic of Germany… Andreas Gondesen of Germany is one of the top boat modellers in the world, along with others like Wim Moonen of the Netherlands, lan Hunt of Sydney, Australia, Mal Wilkinson of Auckland, New Zealand and Andrew Charters of South Carolina to name just five that | am aware of. Andreas lives in a small village in the north of town in known as Germany Ausacker- westerholz which close to the city is of Flensburg at the Danish border. 42 years old he has been a modelmaker for more years and than 25 specialises in sailing ships. His RC sailing model of the Pamir has been (Continued overleaf) rigged models he has made and sails. His work is so good and so worthy of sharing, that Wéindling World will carry another feature in the December issue showing two or three of his other models. Andreas writes: “To build a model square rigger that works well is one thing, to sail them radio controlled on the water only driven by the wind is much more difficult. It took me more than 10 years to solve all the problems and learn to sail a model square rigger properly. | only use a motor on a model when there was one on the original (fullsize) ship. Models can be sailed without them.” Andreas’s model is built at a scale of 1:75, and the model shows her as she was in 1957 when she capsized The RC functions are rudder, fore- mast yard braces, main and mizzen braces and spanker boom pulling over the jibs. A motor is used. The length of the model is 1.52m, the beam 19cms. The total weight of the model is 15 kg, and the ballast keel which has a length of 25 cms underneath the hull weighs 6 kgs which is 40% of the total weight of the model. Morope – The model Ropery where left and right handed ropes can be provided in different sizes is a ser- vice Andreas (seen with the model above) offers, and his website online is worth visiting. ip eee widely praised in European areas, as indeed are several other square and sank in the Atlantic. It is able to be sailed using RC in winds up to force 4 or 11 to 17 mph. ‘: (Continued from page 9) Ss The opening photograph, the smaller one (above) is of the Harwich Bawley Doris LO 284 sailing on the river Medway in the UK, the photograph taken by Ray Rush in 1985. She was built on spec by Cann of Harwich in 1909 and successfully fished and raced for many years. One of the largest Bawley’s at 40! in length and 14′ wide, she has been restored, most of the work done by present owner Denis Johnson, and her restoration programme is almost complete. The beautiful RC model of the smaller Harwich Bawley Pamela, the larger of the photos, is not of any particular boat says John Butterwith of Devon who has kept me upto-date with the model’s building progress for several months by email. He has named her after his wife, which is always a good thing to do, and saves a lot of explanations when you are taking any “her’ for a sail ! (That is just the editor’s humour running away with him !). The hull to deck lever on John’s model is a GRP moulding by Tony Williams of London, the remainder (Continued overleaf) (Continued from page 11) scratchbuilt from drawings in the “Chatham Directory of Inshore Craft’. A small motor has been fitted (as was the case with the later Bawleys) and the deck, set on a camber is made from pitch pine taken from the deck of a 6O year old trawler, the mast, gaff boom and bowsprit also of pitch pine. The rudder is a solid peice of English oak with a removable tiller, the floor is from oak planking, the fish well panels made out of English elm. He has made the bulwarks from beech, with oak stanchions. The for’d accommodation has been panelled in mahogany. An external lead keel is fitted, with internal shot in the sharp ends. lohn made the deadeyes from hickory, and the blocks from oak with brass sheaves. All the rigging works to dismantle for transportation, and the sails were made by Ray Davis of Bristol from Egyptian cotton. How well the model sails is plainly evident from the photos. Hull length 820mm, beam 320mm, mast- head above deck tiea fc Pls 118Omm, total ballast ha approx 12 Ibs. Reader Terry Doble writes on… The Mini 12 is a 45″ long full keel sloop designed by Frank Scott in Ontario, Canada, for 2 channel radio control that is becoming very popular in North America. Scott has sold 72 boats in Canada, another 34 in the US, the vast majority as hand laid up fibreglass hulls for completion by the owners. He did sell finished boats for a while, but this became too time consuming as the demand for bare hulls increased. The early hulls were sold to a model yacht group in Ottawa, Canada’s capital. Most freshwater sailing sites have become infested with weeds that make it difficult to sail even shallow draft boats like the one metre Solings, but the Mini 12’s long, sloping keel and tucked-in rudder make it hard for weeds to find something to latch onto. The Mini 12 sail rig is identical to the Soling, so that sails and parts are easy to obtain or make. By comparison, the EC12 though having a similiar hull design, is heavier and more cumbersome to cart around, the Mini 12’s minimum weight being 16 Ibs. There are growing fleets now in Montreal, and in Belleville at (our) Bay of Quinte Model Yacht Club. The hull also appeals to the nonracing fraternity (Continued overleaf) (continued from page 13) who have used it for schooners and ketches which are popular with Canadian non competitive windlers. Remember Schuco, the marque that produced wonder toy products when many of us were growing up ? Look out in the December issue for The Lilliput Motor Company, bewho lieved y { | y in Schuco and Offer now among other thimgs, some eye- catching and quite wonderful sailing models jas fl built mainly in Europe. One of the Kitchenor skippers and his Mini 12 boat | have also been lucky, thanks to Andreas Gondesen (see page 9) not only to present a few more of his fine sailing models, but | think you’ll | believe that the Mini 12 makes an excellent entry level boat for those wanting to get into radio control the find December sailing. An in-expensive 2 channel issue cover radio transmitter, and a 6 volt servo features an absolute gem of a photograph taken — by for the receiver and servos will get you sailing pretty quickly. There is also a dedicated Mini 12 website at with links to other sites including the Quinte Model Yacht Club. Hans Staal, another ship modelling maestro. My luck is so bad if | bought a cemetry, people would stop dying. Ed Furgol 14 Country,New Zealand; place, same time, and for the photographer Quarry Lake, Pupuke, Auckland, sailing waters of the North Shore Radio Yacht Squadron, photograph to be at the right place, at the right time to capture the sought-after image. taken by WW’s editor about sixteen years ago.. It was a fleet sail-past of one metres, as a finale to a Fiji Visitors Bureau sponsored regatta. Luck played a big part, for as everyone knows it’s not easy to get twenty-one RC model yachts on the same tack at the Add to the difficulties there is the human element..you know, “Gotta get my boat up in front, so I’ll tack to gather speed, take a chance, maybe bugger up the photo, but this is a race, right 2″ Luck was indeed on side ! (Editor) 15 ,“2>s. my Z/[:i\ SS Boats shown in Windling World are mostly but not always the boats of subscribers, and whether they have been built by or are owned by regu- | read somewhere, that the fullsize boat Maggie’s (page 5) scrapbook contains the following “recipe for a boat! which concludes with: 50 lar readers has nothing to do with their inclusion. | am only answering a question put to me a few months back.. gallons of beer, 1 pint of blood, 60 gallons of sweat, 1 bucket of tears, advice of experts, help of friends A really well put together publication for all those “hooked on gaffers’ is Gaffers Log, the journal of the Old Gaffers Asso- and the love of a good woman. Mix slowly for 18,000 hours ! And talking about “a good woman’, this thought arresting figurehead photographed by reader Ken Impey ciation. |t is put out by present edi- tor, Phil Slade of Somerset, UK. vi Website is: www.oldgaffersassociation.org Screwturners & Scoundrels Ltd. Typical of insurance companies, in one year (according to Denis Johnson) the premium in order to insure the old Bawley, Doris has risen 400% from three hundred and thirty-eight pounds to twelve hundred pounds ! Such beautiful lines. The Newport 12 in Cornwall somewhere, does not mean that one should go to such extremes ! Meter one . (also design referred to as the West Coast 12 meter) is a An elderly lady my wife used to take for drives, used to refer lovely boat. Class tary, to petrol as “BENZINE’. Go back ages and The British Imperial Oil Co (NZ) Ltd marketed the stuff as just that. looking The = SecreFrank Pastrana is seen with his in California. 72” long, it is modelled after a full size 12 meter. 16 Tom Simpson writes For 20 years | have been sailing a boat of mine called Bess, a fibreglass hulled model of a 24 foot quarter ton IOR class yacht that could handle any strength of wind with pride. | wanted the challenge of building and sailing a squarerigged model and decided to build a brigantine. | chose to save time and use the same mould | had used for Bess but to modify it to suit the new boat. Laying up a hull in fibreglass the stern was cut out and a new stern made 100mm longer out of polyurethane foam, and a clipper bow added the same way. The new hull came out just over a metre long on the deck, 1.3 metres from the stern to the end of the bowsprit, the 310mm beam aond Top, the two boats and left , Jojo under sail 280mm draught same as Bess but remain- spread over two masts ing with a 86Omm height off the deck. So far so good and a fairly straight forward model build. the same. The was rig de- signed to have a total working sail area the (Continued overleaf) (continued from page 17) Now | had to figure out how to rig the yards, move them from tack to tack. They measured 510mm, 410mm and 310mm in length and it required about 360mm of movement to get them around when tacking. Firstly | locked the three yards together by soldering a 3mm brass tube vertically between them, so that if | sheeted in the main yard all the others would move with it. Because of the tube joining the yards, | had to attach the inner forestay to the mast below the main yard which prevented me from setting the lower course, so this sail is just bent in for appearance only. The boat has been built to a scale of The standard movement in a servo is 60 degrees and my yards required 130 degrees of movement so | came to the conclusion after much thought that this would require a half an inch to the foot which would make it a 76′ trading vessel of the type used in the early part of the last century. winch. Those available were too big and too strong for the job, so | took the small servo which comes with an RC set, pulled it to bits and converted it into a winch with two and three quarter revs of rotation. This provided the amount of sheeting required. All the other sails were controlled by a large servo with 120 degrees of movement, and a double sail arm of 120mm each side of Under full sail the model will stand up to 10 to 15 knot breezes with just a nice angle of heel, so | am quite pleased with the final result. She goes well to windward with the squares set, and points very high when they are removed. It was a great challenge, and one that | think was well worth the effort. centre. 18 When the DOGS go sailing… Neil Wilson’s 100 year old Thistle, centre of trio Durgan is a wee hamlet upriver from the coast, Southwest of Falmouth on the northern side of the Halford River in Cornwall, England. The Durgan Old Gaffers Society is a group of boating enthusiasts, mainly from the areas around, who support the sailing and racing of traditional gaff-rigged working boats of that river. Hence they are known as the DOGS. Your editor, like many around the world, particularly the British, likes to preserve items of old, and many believe that if we don’t, all will be one day forgotten, and we will live on an absolutely totally fibreglass and plastic planet. DOGS ailing is quite different to most racing, and the working boats vary in size and speed, even shape, their only common feature being the traditional gaff rig. Racing each Wednesday evening in the Summer is loose and highly un-conventional and too much organisation is looked down upon. A complex carefully designed form of handicapping applies, which gives all crews the opportunity to do well, but doing well too often is also frowned upon ! (Continued overleaf) 19 is a year each held Also DOGATHON, the event a combination of sailing, swimming, rowing, running and cycling. (Hang on now ! Which one could | manage ? Is there a ten yard walk, perhaps ? Ed) All owners are aware that boats will be raced, but nobody knows which boats will turn up. Some of the members boat’s are sleek and swift, others are not so sleek and are rather slow. Of course, the racing while it lasts is taken with some degree of seriousness, but post-race analysis often | am indebted to the Durgan Old Gaffers Society for permission to use website data for this story, and to Neil Wilson, owner of the old gaffer, Thistle for allowing me to use the photograph seen on the previous page. For those lasts even longer than the racing, taking place at hastily arranged “watering holes’ in close proximity to the river. Once every year they race from online, the DOGS website is well worth visiting and is as follows: Durgan to Porthallow in order to co- incide with an anarchic beach party there, which is considered an absolutely perfect venue for an extended discussion (over drinks, no doubt !) Then with the racing long forgotten there is coffee. As it is said, DOGS Hands up those who have ever is not just about racing’. When the English Summer season ends, the gaffers are usually laid up at the top of various muddy creeks, and it is then that all attention is placed upon the annual DOGS DIN- NER, where as the website says, ‘Invitations are restricted to those who have either sailed with or slept with a DOG !’ That event is usually a booze-up, with food and_ massive refresh- ment as well as coach transport provided. On that evening, prizes for the racing are handed out and slurpy, sometimes slurred speeches are made before a band plays out the evening. 20 Editorial address: 42 Trinidad Rd, — Forrest Hill, Auckland, NEW ZEALAND | Phone/Fax 64 09 410 4402 This Fife design yacht Antinea (below) is sailed in France by builder Jean Claude Chazarain, seen and reported on by Bernard Giller in Marine Modelling International. Etoile d’Arvor (above) built by M Galtier is a replica of a large tuna fishing boat, the model also reported on by Bernard Giller for MMI, Charlotte, the schooner at right, was built by Ken Impey of Falmouth in Cornwall Dave Moore Auckland _ From Barry Gibson in Victoria, Australia comes these photographs of Alan Murchison’s 3 master I/eola (right and below) belting past the cameraman at a fair old clip. this of sails Townson ‘Electron’ Swamp Duck IT (below). SEND. A PHOTO OF YOUR BOAT GUYS ! Yankee III is a 36″ model based on a design by John Black called Yankee Jnr, which in turn was based on the famous J Class yacht Yankee. The model is the subject of a book being written by Earl Boebert, editor of The Model Yacht, newsletter of the US Vintage Model Yacht Group. The objective of the book, which fi \\\ \\ \\| | | | | i / | | I \ q Earl kept the basic dimensions of : Black’s Yankee Jnr but it did not \ look enough like a real J for his a ~\