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= © zat ss s H.M.S. Fale Radio speed model e Frigate Championship report 20p rs $1 HOBBY MAGAZINE Ue 1974 BRITISH OPEN AND INTERNATIONAL ‘A’ CLASS CHAMPIONSHIPS Gosport, Aug. 4-11 ANYONE who felt sorry for ‘A’ class skippers during what was the wettest August week for three or four years need not have worried — apart from _a damp start, there was only one sharp shower the following Saturday, the rest of the week being mostly sunny with occasional patchy cloud and a good sailing breeze almost the whole of the time. This year 34 yachts came to the line (from memory, the second highest number at Gosport) with two Dutch, one Belgian, one German, and one Scottish boat, the others being well scattered over 11 English clubs. The winds started off light and variable, very light on the Monday morning, but increasing till by Thursday many skippers were in second suit. For most of the time the wind was south-westerly, apart from one day of south easterly, both good directions at this lake, but swinging a lot of the time so that skippers had to watch their trims: at times the lake could be fetched in one leg but in the stronger winds some boats needed as many as seven tacks. Direct score comparison up until Thursday’s figures is difficult, since up till then divisional sailing with two 8-boat and two 9-boat divisions meant that some boats had sailed different numbers of heats and there were of course byes when 8 boats met 9. However, there is no doubt that despite the chances of sailing in different winds, divisions are popular in allowing crews half-days off, a desirable arrangement when so many wives and families accompany skippers. As an aside, some of the Continental yachtsmen are always amazed at and possibly slightly envious of the involvement of families in this country. The lightish winds at the beginning of the racing were very much to the liking of inland entrants, who provided many of the early leaders, notably the Bournville yachts Kami Sami, Spartacus and Spinaway, though as might be expected, Revolution was with them and soon ahead, only Kami Sami managing a continual challenge. As the wind strengthened, Top, the board that clinched it. A now-bearded Chris Dicks and mate Brien Jones about to collect Revolution. Coinci- dentally in the picture, Chris’ wife, Rose, and father, Bill. Centre, place Kami Sami heads out while third boat, Longshot, decides to parallel the bank for a while. Bottom, fourth wes The Streak (near boat) here sailing Kubernetes. 418 Longshot recovered from an indifferent start and rapidly worked through; another contender was the new The Streak, which did consistently well sailed by the Colsell/Shepherd combination but had one bad day when half the crew was unavoidably absent and, as it happened, three or four of the top boats had to be sailed. All the fleet came together on the Thursday in a stiff south-westerly which had many of the boats planing on the run and a number of the skippers changing sails as the wind strength fluctuated between what they felt was just over or just under their top suit limit. There was some exhilarating sailing and some tense duels, since although hopes of catching the two top boats were slim, any boat starting the day with over 70 was in contention for the next four or five places. An additional heat was sailed between two of the divisions to bring all boats to 30 heats, leaving an easy three to complete the race on Friday. OCTOBER 1974 Come in, number 28! Frank Jennings, 0O.0.D., and starter Charles Prazier got fed up with tangled boats, so borrowed a rowing boat to separate them. Once again sun and a good S.W. breeze greeted the boats on Friday, though a slight shift in direction created a curl which made starting the run out from the clubhouse end tricky and produced an enormous number of resails as boats collided a few yards out. Yachts carrying spinnakers have the habit of locking together and circling right in the path of the next pair, and the O.O.D. and the starter eventually borrowed a rowing boat from the adjacent pool to separate one particularly obstinate foul-up, a move that was copied by some skippers on later occasions. A small adjustment to the starting buoys reduced the in the most unlikely eventuality of those two dropping all remaining points. Kami Sami had closed to within one point of Revolution, and there was still a chance of considerable reshuffling behind them, so sailing was still as keen as ever and positions could and did change in the last heat. Revolution started the very last board of the race needing the three points to win, so the result was not certain until the very end of what had proved a most satisfying race. Chris Dicks and his mate handled the winner impeccably — there were skippers who longed to see just one faulty trim — but some took comfort from the evidence that the boat is not invulnerable, especially in lighter winds, since the score this year was about 79 per cent of the possible against 99 per cent last year. Another Revolution in the race was Big Brother, a very new boat which Garry Danks had insufficient time to get the hang of. Revolution is a 48 lb. boat on a measured 57 in. w.l., of Chris’ design. Harold Dovey and his son Martin must be congratulated on their splendid handling of Kami Sami, a one-off 641b. John Lewis design that they sailed into 18th place last year. An excellent start in winds that suited them (30 pts. on the first day) undoubtedly gave them confidence and put them in a winning frame of mind. Longshot, second last year, recovered from a shaky start and Dave Latham, mated by the owner, Jim Major, found the groove once the wind freshened. This was Fred Shepherd’s first ‘A’ design, a 54- pounder on 57in., and Fred showed it was no flash in the pan with the fourth-placed boat, The Streak, slightly lighter on the same w.l. and a smootherlooking boat of which we expect to hear much more. The fifth, Spinaway, was sailed by Bill Sykes, on his own for the first time and ably mated by daughter Gillian. 61 1b. on 58 in., designed by Joe Meir, the boat has always been high in the results, sailed by Mike Harris, and Bill did well in his first championship as skipper. Sixth was a popular placing for Hans Hoogewerffe with Yellow Boomerang (34th last year) a Levison Jill type of 631b. which was the highest placed foreign entry. Hans paid tribute to Derek Priestley, who mated for him. In seventh place was Roger Stollery with his wellknown 361b. Clockwork Orange, with mate Alex Austin. Other Oranges came 12th and 14th. A sailoff was required for 8th between Spartacus and the highest local boat, Silhouette, won by Dennis Lippett with the former, a 67 lb. 58 in. Joe Meir design, from Roy Gardner’s Lewis-designed 68 1b. 59 in. boat. it will be apparent from these figures that the heavier boats did well, five of the top nine being over 60 1b. and two between 50 and 60. In fact, over half the fleet were in the 60 1b. bracket, but it seems that newer boats are leading a trend towards less displacement as skippers realise that nowadays a boat can be entirely competitive with a displacement penalty. Two or three are even discussing boats of 30 1b. or less, with a short static waterline but long sailing length, exploiting the hole in the current rule which apparently permits hollow buttock lines just above the l.w.l. There were three noticeably new designs sailing. The Streak has already been mentioned; the second was Hughie Shield’s 37 lb. Norlander, which is an attractive development from his earlier Glen Livii and looks at first glance like a conventional A scaled down; he came 15th against 34th (of 56) last year. The other was Howard obviously influenced by not too successful. It has, and Howard proposes to before going back to the Dodd’s Icarus, which was Revolution and which was however, proved instructive conduct a few exp2riments drawing board for Mark 2. Not really a vintage year design-wise, then, but we should be seeing a lot of new boats next year. Sailing was keen but of a good standard, few skippers breaking rules except by accident and only two or three protests being made, mostly straightforward to resolve. The spirit of those sailing was good and grumbles were few, which was perhaps just as well, for we have never seen a race so poorly supported by volunteers for officers. Frank Jennings, 0.0.D., with Norman Hatfield as assistant, carried the entire race with the assistance of three local club members who acted as starters and scorers (thanks, Charles, Bill and Tom). Occasionally exvert spectators or non-sailing skippers*were persuaded to take umpires’ flags for an hour or so, but for much of the time the O.0.D. had to cover the whole of one bank and his assistant the other, as well as running the race, marshalling, and all other duties, including the evening chore of checking scores, etc. They well deserved the thanks accorded to them for a well-run race, but no one will blame them if they insist on more help before either will commit himself to future races. Fortunately the Regatta Committee had made a good job of the groundwork — few people seem to realise how much is involved beforehand and in the background — which enabled everything to run Competitors (and families) particularly smoothly. appreciated the arrangements made with the local Conservative Club and R.A.F. Club where, by courtesy of the members, people could congregate in the evenings; quite a few got in some practice at (please turn to page 438) 419 mies. a me ee em ee problem, and sailing speeded up. With 15 points to sail for, only Longshot and The Streak could catch the two leaders, and only then Saal ae ee 1974 BRITISH MARBLEHEAD CHAMPIONSHIPS August Bank Holiday at Birkenhead Reported by Joyce Roberts. HE 1974 Marblehead Championships were held at Birkenhead from 24th-26th August. Racing commenced at 10.30 and the O.0.D., Ken Jones, announced that he hoped to sail a complete tournament, finishing about 4 p.m. on Monday. There were 32 boats entered and all were present at the start. Hopes were high for a repetition of the conditions two years previously; the weather forecast was optimistic, gale-force winds, but on Saturday morning the wind was over the houses — visitors to Birkenhead will know what that means — and was anything but gale force. In fact strength and direction varied throughout the day, and frequently heats that started out as beats ended up as runs before half the fleet had started off. This did not mean that there were violent wind-shifts, but just gentle shifts over the houses. Many skippers found that their boats did not want to go up the lake, preferring a circuit of the lake at certain points. There were not many skippers that were not puzzled by this occurrence. Even Birkenhead skippers used to the oddities of the wind coming through the gaps in the houses had never had to contend with a complete day’s racing as bad as this one was. A boat doing a circle or two did not necessarily lose the points, his opponent quite often landed in a dead area, and a moving boat stood more chance of finishing first than a motionless boat! One combination of skipper/boat that seemed to have no difficulty in the odd conditions was Roger Stollery with Bloodaxe. He only lost 3 to Carioca in heat 9, and 2 to Kazak in heat 11. Observant people may have noticed that Roger spent a lot of time near the flag pole, looking up towards Bidston Observatory, where he had noticed a wind indicator. How many local members had ever noticed this? Anyway, skill and luck combined gave Bloodaxe a score of 50/55. Pterodactyl, Chris Dicks, had 42/55, only losing a beat to Scapa, but also losing 5 ‘runs’; Mariaty 41, losing 4 beats and 1 run. Major B had 37, and Condor and Scapa 35. Racing commenced on Sunday at 9 a.m. The O.O.D. announced that he wanted to complete about 13 heats, and the weather forecast was, once again, very hopeful — strong winds in coastal areas. However, at first, the wind was similar to Saturday, possibly varying in strength and direction even more. These conditions lasted until heat 14, when the wind fell away to nothing, then suddenly gusted during heat 15. Some skippers changed down at the far end of the lake, but others risked running with tall suits on. Major B completed a spectacular run, the boat surging through the water, never altering course, and with spray shooting out on either side. His opponent was left half-way up the lake. Nearly everyone changed down into a working rig, but by then the wind had dropped again and heat 16 was sailed in small rigs, but with very little wind. By the time the tall suits were put up again the wind had risen. Heats 19 and 20 were sailed with hardly any wind at all, and a sudden downpour at the end. A five-minute break was taken at the far end of the lake while the wind had a rest, heat 21 was completed and the wind retired for the day. At 6.30 the 0.0.D. had to call it a day and hope for better things on Monday. An added frustration to the day’s sailing had been a report by Fleetwood visitors on the 3rd suit blow that they had left behind them, a beat and a run as well. Surely an exaggeration! _ Top, Bloodaxe sailing Rex. Note mast far aft, rolled jib, and low foot of spinnaker. Second, Mariaty v. Sky Diver, the latter an example of performance inhibited by over- stiffness, but with a mod or two, very promising. Third, Pterodacty! moving away quicker than Cachucha and, bottom, Orinochio, from Fleetwood, one of the newer boats, Far boat looks like Exocet, up from Ryde. 424 OCTOBER Fortunes had changed during the day’s racing, top boat was now Mariaty, sailed by David Latham, with 84/105, only dropping 7 during the day, three of these to fellow clubmate and similar boat, Derek Priestley and Orinochio. Bloodaxe, 81, was 2nd with Prerodactyl. Roger did not have such a good day as on Saturday, the luck did not run with him all the time, losing three to Pterodacty! after leading for most of the lake, then losing what wind there was. He also lost five to Mariaty, three to Varoomshka, three to Jester and three to Pot Black. Chris only lost one 3 during the day, but a number of twos. Condor was 4th with 72, Sky Diver and M-4-Sis next with 68. Second highest scorer of the day was the very fast Varoomshka, sailed by Tony Gill. The boat seemed to find the conditions suited her more than on Saturday, when Tony only got 14 points. Even though there had been very little wind during the last few boards, it had straightened up, and spinnakers could be displayed after many heats without them. There were a number of resails outstanding after Sunday, so these were to be taken at 8.30 a.m. the next morning. Unfortunately there was even less wind at 8 a.m. than the previous evening so, although a few keen people practised, including Roger Stollery and David Latham, most competitors sat around and hoped for better things. The weather forecast of freshening winds couldn’t be wrong, again, surely! Soon after 9 o’clock there was some movement on the water, so the O.0.D. gathered everyone together and said that he would sail for as long as possible, announcing at dinner time when he would finish the race. He asked competitors to help by being as quick as possible, so that there was no delay between pairs on the water. The outstanding resails would be taken later if necessary. According to the first puffs of wind the scoring was two out, three back, but most competitors were beating for two and running for three. This meant that Mariaty lost three on a run to Kazak, Condor lost three to ‘the Committee’ sailing Zippy (this meant that both fathers had lost three points to the Zippy partnership). By heat 24 there was quite a fair breeze, and racing continued at quite a fast pace. With a short lunch hour it was de- cided by the O.O.D. to finish the race, and with the wind holding it would probably be round about 4 p.m. There was a temporary strengthening of the wind with a rain shower during the afternoon which had some boats changing sails, but the wind dropped slightly again. In this period Prterodactyl was beaten by Loopy, from Birkenhead, both ways. By the end of heat 31 the winner emerged as Bloodaxe, 126 points, with Mariaty second, 120. A number of resails had to be taken, there was another heavy blow with a rain storm, then the wind started to fade away gradually. Prerodactyl finished third with 115, M-4-Sis fourth 107, Condor fifth 105, and Miss Conduct sixth 99. Quite a number of resails had to be taken to complete the prize winners. Roger Stollery sailed his new design Bloodaxe in a variety of winds, only very strong ones were missing. In these circumstances a skipper needed to know his boat, know how it would sail under different wind speeds and directions, know what trims to put on to make the boat get to the other end of the lake without too many re-trims on the bank. Although Bloodaxe was a fairly new boat Roger had spent many hours at Gosport getting to know his boat, and it obviously paid off, as his performance shows. Many of the top skippers had easy-to-alter lines on the sails, jib and main being connected. This made it easier to re-trim on the bank, and this meant a lot of time saved. 1974 David Latham sailed Mariaty very well and at one stage it looked as if he might be the winner, but he did not have such a good final day. And once again Chris Dicks, sailing Prerodactyl, was in the top three. Although Chris only lost four beats, he lost 14 runs, Roger lost seven beats and four runs, and David six beats and eight runs. These figures, however, are a bit confusing as at some stages beats and runs were con- fusing terms. The officer of the Day thanked all competitors for making it possible to finish the race in good time on Monday afternoon. He also thanked Birkenhead Club members, including power boat members, for their hard work during the week, dredging the lake and completely ridding it of all traces of weed, which only a week ago seemed to be in danger of taking over the lake. Ken Jones also thanked all the officials who helped over the weekend. The Birkenhead Club may not have performed so well in the sailing, but they certainly provided a very good number of officials, and most club members who were not sailing did some job at the lakeside. Howard Dodd had once again helped to make very clear racing schedules, and a master schedule was displayed in the clubhouse for anyone to look at. The O.O.D. is to be congratulated on organising such a good team, and running such a good race. Finally, the ladies in the canteen. They did their usual magnificent job; they never closed down during the days’ racing, presumably they went home to bed, but they were always there first thing in the morning. So the 1974 Championships are over. No doubt next year there will be quite a number of Bloodaxes, but no doubt also the winner of the 1975 Championship will be a skipper who really knows his boat, and knows how to get the best out of it in all conditions. Psn. No. Name 1977 Bloodaxe | 2012 Mariaty 2 3 4 1775 Pterodactyl 79 M-4-Sis Skipper R. Stollery D. Latham Club Guildford Fleetwood Designer 126 Stollery Shepherd 120 W. Jones Birkenhead Jones/ C. Dicks Clapham 5 1886 Condor K. Armour Leeds & 6 7 KS72 Miss Conduct 1962 Major B J. Mathieson Scotland A. Austin Guildford 1822 Varoomshka T. Gill 8 9 10 2019 Sky Diver 1893 Scapa Bradford M. Harris P. Maskell 22 1797 1714 1405 2016 2008 1842 2009 1935 1905 1970 1951 1991 Cachucha Jester Carioca Orinochio Didgeridoo Kazak Pot Black Red One Exocet Loopy Zippy Pepper Pot K. Roberts G. Webb J. Sixsmith D. Priestley A. Geeson |. Taylor R. Spencer P. Roberts J. Buttigieg F. Batty M. Roberts C. Holden 24 25 26 27. 28 29 1910 1892 1794 +1959 1814 2007 Top Cat Zita Bilbo Baggins Boris The Bold Tara Rex B. Tibbet F. Jones H. Briggs M. Godfrey M. Ongers K. Howatson a 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 30 31 32 1821 Bernice 1916 Lady Luck Dicks Stollery Butler Shepherd Guildford Gill Bradford Birkenhead Birmingham Birkenhead Fleetwood Bournville Southgate Birkenhead Birkenhead Ryde Birkenhead Birkenhead Wickstead Fleetwood N. Liverpool Cleethorpes Guildford Bournville N. Liverpool C. Williams Harwich 115 107 Shepherd 105 Bournville Leeds & 2011 Australopithecus M. Peppiat Clapham 2006 Jinjilla Dicks Norsworthy Dicks Witty Adams Shepherd Sinar Shepherd Adams Adams Lewis Roberts Dicks Witty Draper Briggs Shepherd Shepherd Dicks Stollery Gilmour J. Gilmour Clapham Cleethorpes Stollery R. Noble 99 96 95 94 93 92R 9IR 84R 8IR 79 73 7\ 70 68 67R 67 66 66R 63 6IR 57R 50 48 46 43 39R 38 HENLEY 1975 Of interest to modellers is the news that the organisers of the Henley Royal Regatta will next year be staging a major boat show, the Henley Boat Festival, which will occupy nearly a mile of the river and some 75 acres of waterside ground. A lot of big names are involved and there will be a lot of activities, from orchestral concerts on a floating platform — shades of the Marx Brothers at the Circus! — to demonstrations of boat-building. The show will run from May 8 to Spring Bank Holiday Monday, May 26, and it is anticipated that it will include a static exhibition of models and probably demonstrations or actual competitions for R/C yachts and multi-racers, plus crowd-pleasing novelty models. Organisation of model events is in the very early stages of planning, and model clubs and associations will be relied on heavily. This is a magnificent opportunity to publicise modelling to the general public as well as to some very well-placed individuals, with all the possible benefits of freer use of water, etc., that a good image could further. When plans are eventually announced, we hope that a good response will be forthcoming. 1975 could be the year that model boating finally shatters the ‘toys for boys’ idea! 425 WTI NL eeeee MODEL BOATS The International Model Yacht Racing Union Annual General Meeting Gosport, August 6 DURING the A Class Championships at Gosport the customary meeting of the International Model Yacht Racing Union took place; Model Boats was officially invited and asked to report, in the interests of better international communication. Delegates from Belgium, England, Germany, Holland, and Scotland were present, and had the pleasure of meeting for the first time Dennis Eason from Canada, who is R/C Secretary for countries outside Europe. Proxy votes were held for other countries, notably France, Norway and Denmark, while others had submitted postal votes on items on the agenda. The formalities — previous minutes, etc. — were followed by officers’ reports, notable points being the world-wide activity in the M class and the considerable activity and correspondence in radio sailing in all parts. It was felt that election of officers should be deferred till after consideration of the proposed new Constitution, with the exception of a President, required to conduct the meeting. Fritz Jacobsen (Germany) was re-elected unanimously. Acceptance of the draft Constitution, previously circulated, was proposed and agreed, subject to amendments. Among other factors (fuller details in a later issue) this gives countries a number of votes according to the number of registered yachts, with an upper limit so that no one country can outvote all the others. England thus has the largest vote, ending the unsatisfactory situation where a country with several hundred active yachts had only equal say with a country having only two or three not very active registered boats. The Constitution comes into effect on Ist January 1975. Several amendments proposed postally and circulated beforehand were very fully discussed, but only one (from M.Y.R.A.A.) was adopted; there were valid and cogent reasons for not adopting the others, each of which was voted upon after a fair airing. A proposal to call a separate, special meeting for election of officers was considered, but it was felt that the Union could not function if officers were not elected at its A.G.M., and the proposal was heavily defeated on a vote. Officers were then elected as follows: Sec./Treas. K. E. Roberts, member responsible for Rating Rules R. Stollery, Racing Rules R. Gardner, R/C Europe N. D. Hatfield, R/C Rest of World D. Eason and P.R.O, K. Jones. A proposal that subscriptions should be £5 per country per year, plus Ip per registered yacht of International classes, was carried with only one vote against, yachts on register on January Ist to count and subs. to be paid by March 1Sth. Denmark then proposed and Belgium seconded a proposal for adoption of the modified A Class rules evolved by the I.M.Y.R.U. working party. The M.Y.A. representative then stated that he was instructed to inform the meeting that if the I.M.Y.R.U. proposals were passed the M.Y.A. could not recognise I.M.Y.R.U. rules for any A Class meeting held 430 in England under the auspices of the M.Y.A. This statement naturally caused some discussion; it means simply that a majority of M.Y.A. members, as shown at the A.G.M., do not wish to see the A Class rule altered in the ways proposed and will continue to sail under the existing rule. Since there are more M.Y.A. registered A boats than the total of all other countries and virtually all A internationals take place in England, adoption of the alterations by other countries will have little effect on English racing, and foreign boats will rate under the M.Y.A. rule. English boats wishing to compete in other countries will have to be re-measured for an I.M.Y.R.U. certificate. Some foreign boats sailing in England could meet boats which would not rate internationally under the proposed new rules, but they would have to accept that. As_ with most items on the agenda, delegates already had instructions on how to vote, and this indication of the strength of English feeling could not therefore be expected to sway the voting at this stage. Germany, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Nor- way, Scotland, U.S.A., and Australia voted for the new rules, England against, and other countries abstained. Voting was still on the one country, one vote basis; the picture would be rather different under the new system, so perhaps we may see a proposal to reverse this decision next year. Next came the World Championships at Fleetwood in 1975; dates were settled (see elsewhere) and a discussion ensued on financing. Ultimately it was decided that the entry fee would be £3 (about $7.50 US) per boat for either class. sterling The international R/C race at Gosport was then discussed; this will now be for one week and include RIOR and RM yachts. Dates, etc., are given on page 413. A new trophy for vane Ms, the World Cup, is arranged to be sailed for bi-annually, alternat‘ng between the Pacific Zone and European Zone. In 1975 the host country will be New Zealand (where the cup originates) and a likely venue for 1977 will be Hamburg. Under ‘Any Other Business’ Mr. Bill Long of the Gosport club was appointed a Vice President of the Union in recognition of his services to model yachting, Argentina was affiliated to the Union, and a ban on an individual Continental yachtsman from I.M.Y.R.U. events was lifted. Mr. R. Stollery resigned from the position of member for Rating Rules in view of the subsequent adoption of rules with which he could not agree, It was agreed that Mr. Howard Dodd should be approached to fill this vacancy, which he consented to do. * ¥* * In covering the decisions taken we have of necessity left out the extent and range of discussion which preceded each vote, but a lot of ground was covered and most aspects of model yachting placed under scrutiny. We think that those who submitted postal proposals or amendments would have been comple- tely satisfied with the attention given to the points they raised, and a number of initiatives were put in train that will, it is hoped, bring about closer cooperation between all those who sail for pleasure. The new Constitution seems a very workable and democratic framework on which to build; the M.Y.A. attitude to the A rules means that this thorny problem cannot yet be considered as settled, but its practical effect will not be deleterious to the sort of racing skippers have always enjoyed. OCTOBER 1974 Southern District A Boat Championships run by Guildford at Hove on 30th June, 1974 A small, but talented entry of 11 visited Hove for the first time since this race was run here in 1962. Unfortunately its central location in the district only raised last year’s entry by one with no one from Eastbourne and only three altogether from the two ‘A’ boat clubs, Gosport and Y.M.6. The race started in 5-10 m.p.h. easterly winds giving a tack and tack beat out from the clubhouse. Halfway through the wind died and then came in from the northwest 0-10 m.p.h., giving one long leg through sometimes and at other times a from last year with both rig and trim modifications, was also going well in practice and it could have been a race between these three. Some races were memorable: The Streak sailed right away from Clockwork Orange to windward: Val Knapp’s Anita beat Ricochet both ways, exposing the light boat’s Achilles heel by sailing into a decelerating wind situation. Clive put The Streak off into Ricochet and spoiled a very even race. Alex Austin did something special to beat Roger Cole to windward with a couple of fine guys. Val Knapp won his renal EF just beating The Streak to windward in 3-5 m.p.h. The racing was very even, as the results show, but even in practice one boat looked as if it would do well. Ricochet was the name of the boat, a ‘Clockwork Orange Peel’ (with a flat deck) entered by Johnnie Hyde and superbly sailed by Chris Dicks. A lot of attention was focussed on The Streak (don’t look now Ethel!), Clive Colsell’s new boat designed by Fred Shepherd, who was also there at the helm. This is the only new design so far this year to take note of modern developments. It is a lot different from Fred’s Longshot that did so well last year, with much sweeter lines below water, a bulb keel and bustle (of course), and a long, low overhang aft. It has both displacement and quarter beam length penalties with 53 lb. on a 57 in. LWL and carries just over 1,200 sq. in. of sail. There was no doubt that this was the fastest boat to windward in winds over 5 m.p.h.: once Clive gets the hang of it and sorts the gear out it will perform better than the results of this race indicate. Roger Cole’s Morgan Le Fay, improved While there was no doubt that Chris was the winner several resails were necessary to settle 2nd, 3rd and 4th places. Val as all his to gain 2nd place with Alex 3rd and Clive/Fred guy or two. winds. th. SOUTHERN DISTRICT A BOAT CHAMPIONSHIPS Skipper Boat Score Position J. Hyde Ricochet 42 1 V. Knapp A. Austin C. Colsell R. Fogarty R. Cole P. Shaw E. Carter C. Jackson A. Larraman C. Clarke the he 1974 7 8 = = 9 9 11 formance was coming 2nd to M-4-Sis at the 1970 M Nats. at Fleetwood. There can have been very few major events in the past ten years where ‘R. Stollery’ has not appeared in the top half-dozen places; he has enormous drive and enthusiasm and has a reputation as one of the fairest competitors sailing. On the design side, he is undoubtedly an innovator and a major influence on model yacht develop- ment. Roger caught his interest in boat design from his father, who was always playing with wings, kite rigs, venetian blind rigs, etc., for full-size boats. In the early °60s all Hove Ms seemed to be Plover or Elusive designs, so initially there was Littlejohn influence; Priest’s article ‘Fleetwood 1961 in Retrospect’ made an impression, and the work of some full-size designers has influenced him. A typical Roger remark is that Ray Blick showed him how good boats should be built and Fred Shepherd showed him how they should be sailed! His basic sailing technique is modelled round that of Derek Reed and Chris Dicks, plus the experience of his first ever week’s sailing at Fleetwood. He used to be keen on tennis, football, fives, and-running, and clubs include Guildford, Hove & Brighton, and Waldringfield Sailing Club. Currently his time goes on Bloodaxe and on running Guildford M.Y.C., of which he is secretary; he is also M.Y.A. Publicity Secretary. wing masts. Won 1971 M Nats with Hector and 1972 international regatta at Hamburg with Clockwork Orange, won 5 6 comments. birthday. Interests have centred on sailing and design since the year dot; he has always been keen on making things in wood and, when younger, Meccano. His modelling started at about 8 years old, with a boat for the bath, and he started model vacht racing in 1960. His first major success was the M Championship in 1964 with Brandysnap; bulb keels suddenly looked promising! Won the 10R Championship in 1966 with Warlord, incorporating his first experiments with just 3 4 28 26 25 23 11 11 4 ROGER STOLLERY is an Pacific, various schools, and the Redgrave Theatre, Farnham. His attractive wife Susan is no stranger to sailing, and he has a son shortly coming up to a first has 2 Two more modelling personalities. Remember that the Editor reserves the right to (and does!) add buildings completed include the University of South Despite these wins, Emperor Invicta Feather 37 35 33 Introducing .. . architect, trained at Newcastle University, and although still in his 20s, and Anita Clockwork Orange The Streak Zerlina Morgan Le Fay Harpoon Geronimo M Nats. considers his with best Bloodaxe. personal per- JOHN STIDWILL is one of our best-known and most successful multi-racers despite not having become a modeller till 1964 and being perhaps a little older than most of the competitors in this fast-moving side of model power boating. John is, in fact, just into his fifties, with a family consisting of wife Joan and two daughters around the 20 age group. He spent the war as a radar engineer and has TV TV He and was a keen motor rally enthusiast until he felt it had become too expensive; he changed to model cars and won the first world championship drag race (cv 1968). His first boat was a Cachalot and before long his name began to feature at the upper end of results in multi-races. Major successes include a silver in F.S.R. 15 at the 1971 Naviga Championships, British Champion in 34 and 64 c.c. in 1972, gold medals in the 1973 World Championship 34 and 64+ c.c., and winner in 34 c.c. at the recent 1974 World Champs. Clubs, Mortlake M.P.B.C. and Kingston M.C. John is always seeking a challenge and is tempted to see what he could do with R/C aircraft, or possiblv R/C yachts. Or should he keep going for the 1975 Naviga meeting in England? Trouble is, he says, he’s getting older and the vast amount of work needed is beginning to been in retail radio and since; now has his own business in Teddington. used to play water polo tell. He would like to get into retailing or the manu facture/design side of modelling, and is actually in the nrocess of setting up a company to market various ‘goodies’ which he has developed or helped to introduce. 4 7
