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The latest on the sailing scene from our Model Yacht Association Correspondent qn is talk of a one-design class for internati onal R/C racing, and by and large this seems an excellent idea, though not without its snags. Over the last fifty years numerou s attempts have been made by MYA members to introduc e a racing class where everyone is sailing a virtually identical model, but none has ever come to anything. With the growing number of radio skippers who are interested in racing rather than building, and the enormous success of one-design classes in full-size — now likely to spread to ocean racers — the time seems ripe to take a serious look at the possibilities, and this the IMYRU is doing. The only country sailing one-design classes is the USA, where the AMYA recognises as a class any type of boat of which at least 20 are registered. Although this has meant recogniti on of about a dozen classes, only two or three have reached significa nt numbers and it would seem that in most cases a particular design may enjoy a relatively local popularity but is not necessari ly taken up as a competition class nationwide. And why not — there are many examples of particular designs which find favour for local sailing in, for example, Britain; the difference is that usually these designs fit into one or other of the national/international classes, though they may never sail on any but their local waters. lt might be felt that as the USA has some experien ce of onedesign racing, this could form a base on which to build. There are complications, however, much as they would be welcome, the AMYA is not affiliated internationally, and the MYRAA (whichis the US affiliated association) tends to stay with the existing international classes. It must also be said that none of the existing onedesigns is considered by other countries to be a suitable choice for a world class. The biggest difficulty with a one-design is that for consistency there should be only one source of hulls, and the hulls should beso produced (g.r.p. is the obvious choice, though vac-formi ng might be possible) as to be incapable of distortion, which suggests an approved deck moulding exactly fitting the hull. Agreeing on a manufacturer willing to undertake the work (and willing to despatch hulls overseas singly or in batches) may well leave other manufacturers feeling that they have been overlook ed, a nettle that must be grasped in the interests of Promotin g a true one-design class. More latitude is possible with sails and fittings, for which a number of makers could be authorised. There would be opportunities for manufacturers to produce items specifical ly for the yachts, carrying official approval, and there would be no reason why complete kits, incorporating the authorised hull, could not be marketed by more than one firm. If the class took on, there would inevitably be copies made of the authorised hull, even if only by a club member for club use. Perhaps an insignia or even a hull number could be moulded into, say, the transom, so that only authorised hulls could be registered. In any event, boats would have to be measured fora certificate, and it has been suggested that this could be done with a mid-section template applied from deck-edge to fin bottom, checking shape and draught quite simply, and weighing the boat in sailing condi- tion. Sails should be measured and stamped. Checks during important races would thus be simple to make. There remains the other thorny problem —how is the yacht to be chosen? The best idea so far is to runa design competiti on, giving 182 basic parameters, and for the three top boats (judged by experts from several countries) to be built and sailed together over a period, to establish the best. Allowing six months for design and judging and six months for building and sailing means that the winning boat could be decided by, and possibly even demonstrated at, the World RM and R1OR Champio nships in Canada in July 1980. This would mean that if, hopefully , the next IMYRU world event was to be held in 1982, the class could be included. Basic parameters (used in the now accepted interpretation) would have to be decided by practising experts, but it could start the ball rolling if a few ideas were tossed in. Portability is impor- tant, so size and weight must be consider ed. The boat should be modern, reasonably fast and stable, and untroubled by radio weight. It might be an idea to specify 2.2Ib (1 kg.) internal weight to cover radio or radio plus ballast, the intention being to allow for variation in radio weight (and complexi ty) without materially affecting lead weight; the 6m class requires 2lb ‘crew weight’ so there is a precedent. R/C Racing Roy Steven’s remarks on R/C sailing rules in the last issue have brought some comments from Ted Gearey, the recently retired MYA R/C Secretary, which can be quoted verbatim: ‘lam sorry to read that the Woodspring Club had such a miserable season and am surprised that they did not avail themselves of the opportunity of submitting observations and comments to the MYA Rules Sub-Committee as requested. My observations are made neither as a member of the late Rules Sub-Com mittee nor as a purist but as a R/C yachtsman of nearly 20 years standing. All Rules are arrived at by a process of gradual evolution whereby a start is made with some basic rules which, due to circumstances arising and incidents occu rring which are not found to be covered by these and hence give rise to heated arguments and loud protestations, are eventually added to, amended and modified. These amendments and additions probably occur annually until such time as most, if not all, likely incidents are covered by one rule or another. The pioneers of R/C yachting in this country in the late 1950’s and early 60’s were the Internat ional Radio Control Model Society and, on its dissolution, the London RCMS (now unfortunately in prolonged hibernation), and when they decided that rules would be necessary for the new sport realised that there was another organisation in this country which had already gone through the birth pangs and growing pains of evolving rules for yacht racing, namely the Royal Yachting Associat ion. In their wisdom they decided that the RYA rules, with certain modifications, could be readily adapted for model yacht racing. This they did, two of the prime movers being Gordon Carrington- Wood and Roy Skeates. Roy incidentally was also a member of the recent rules Sub-Committee. These rules were printed for their members and were eventually adopted by the MYA when that body recognised R/C yachting and ‘A’ boats became ‘Q’ boats. The rules adopted by the MYA at the last AGM differ only very slightly from the original rules of the LRCMS. In my opinion, although | have a certain sympathy for Roy Stevens’ plea for simplification, starting from new basic rules would put the clock back 20 or 30 years and | would hate to see our sport subjected to the inevitable evolutionary process of amendments, modifications Model Boats and additions to such rules over many years to come. With regard to skippers being unable to distinguish between port and starboard or between windward and leeward | venture to suggest that such skippers would be incapable of comprehending even the simplest of rules.” With regard to the last sentence, it has been pointed out by others that the rules are virtually identical to those of the RYA, and thousands of dinghy sailors etc, have managed to acquire a work- ing knowledge of them, so they cannot be quite so formidable. On a slightly different but not unrelated subject, many readers will have heard that video (television) equipment has been tried at some regattas in the south, and will be interested in the findings of Tim Fuller, who has kindly provided the gear. Using Tim’s equipment, it is possible to make an immediate replay of the race which has just finished, showing accurately just what happened, and this League Championships The final results of the 1978 Vane and R/C League Championship 2 3 4 Fleetwood Bournville Entries 68 50 28 Races 17 15 11 Points 1092 734 673 5 Guildford Birkenhead 24 13 8 Danson 8 21 449 10 432 25 16 13 8 7 Gosport 8 Cleethorpes Clapham 10 11 12 Newcastle MYSA Birmingham 13 Norwich 14 Hove and Brighton 15 Dovercourt 16 Southgate V7 London 18 1 20 21 22 Welwyn Basildon Wicksteed Nottingham Southampton 23 Eastbourne 24 25 North Liverpool South London 31 24 16 21 4 8 7 6 469 430 309 294 264 222 208 15 3 13 207 9 201 9 6 147 13 6 10 4 186 136 12 3 4 6 4 5 3 1 2 2 5 106 83 76 74 66 3 4 1 23 2 1 4 1 Radio Control Sailing League Position Club Entries 4 Basildon 89 Races Points 2 Ashton 66 V7 882 13 928 3 Leicester 4 84 Leeds and Bradford 23 5 14 Danson Poole Cleveland 676 67 15 24 633 6 31 472 12 Clapham New Forest 403 30 46 10 10 19 25 391 372 Z 4 295 229 33 10 6 7 8 9 10 11 | Fleetwood Decoy 1 Bolton 13 Tameside 14 33 Birmingham 12 15 16 Woodley Birkenhead 17 Woodspring 18 Guildford a9 20 21 Bournville Cleethorpes Minehead 63 27 24 Swansea 24 Lincoin 15 24 Broads 11 at Cheltenham 29 Andover 30 S.E. Essex 32 Hereford 31 33 33 33 33 Fairford Medway Marine Southgate South London Three Rivers March 1979 200 10 9 5 13 229 224 9 10 5 3 699 14 4 Killingworth Gosport Nottingham 16 15 22 23. 27 to sail, and another official to be found for a race! Less serious, or no fewer than five occasions skippers walked unwittingly in fron of the camera at the exact moment of a rule infringement. Raising the camera would avoid this, but bring its own problems, anc replays would be more difficult to show. Replays were on a portable 12in black and white TV, whict sometimes gave rise to problems of identification; there is also the distortion of distance and foreshortening which comes from any use of a telephoto lens. The only answer to this is £20,000 worth o sophisticated colour gear! Advantages of an instant replay are obvious — whether a yach was on starboard tack, whether a jib was full and drawing anc spot a marginal touch on another yacht or a buoy ata : 6 a interpretation of an incident. In four meetings, several snags have shown up. An experiencec camera operator is required full-time, as recording needs to bi done properly and continually or not at all. Another skipper unable similar situations can be accurately pinpointed. It is not so easy tc were: Vane League Position Club 1 Leeds & Bradford has demonstrated the fallibility of people’s memories; on severa occasions it was clear that all three judges had been wrong in thei 191 188 185 52 5 3 39 32 3 25 2 ] 1 2 24 19 1 1 15 2 10 4 3 2 2 11 3 7 3 2 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 : 1 1 1 actual positions and simple rule interpretations were accepted Though not the complete answer, the video machine proved very helpful and definitely resolved many protests, so that it is worthwhile if a club is prepared to put up with the additional trouble and, of course, the cost. Many thanks to Tim for his observations. Briefly At Poole AGM, Colin Sayer retired from the positions of Secretary and Treasurer, which he has held for some years. In appreciation of his efforts, he was appointed a life member of the club. The new man is R. L. Hanner, 11 Cox Close, Moordown, Bournemouth, Dorset. Also elected a life member at the meeting was Frank Walker, in recognition of his many years of unstinting service to the club and in tribute to his election as an MYA Vice President. * Last call is made if you wish to enter the RM or R10R International Open Regatta (MYA/Naviga) at Fleetwood, July 22-27. Entry forms must be returned to John Cleave, 3 Laverton Mews, London SW5, by March 1st. Entries accepted will be advised by April 1st. Sailing to MYA 1978 rules, including 1979 amendments, radio licences and rating certificates must be produced, entry fee £5 (to be called in later). All 27 mhz competitors must have six frequencies of which three must be splits, all on UHF must have two frequencies. Accommodation enquiries can be sent to the Regatta Chairman and O.0.D., Derek Priestley, 100 Hatfield Avenue, Fleetwood, Lancs. We hear, incidentally, that Derek will very shortly be tacking up the aisle, and would like to offer him congratulations and good wishes from all model yachtsmen. 1979 Regattas A full list of Open events will appear as soon as the information is available, but early Northern District races you may care to note are: March 4 11 18 15 25 15 14 14 11 7 3 2 1 1 1 ? distance, anc the most useful time proved to be during starts, when multiple bumps can confuse the issue. A replay could show exactly wha’ happened and cut out most disputes, as skippers could see thei April 1 Daykin Cup (2-boat teams) Approved Electronics Cup M RM Lever and Mayoral Cups 10r Fleetwood Tameside Festival Cup RM Tameside RC versus Vane M/RM Gordon Smith Trophy M Car and Caravan Renovators Trophy RM Clapham Cup Newcastle Ashton Fleetwood N. Liverpool Leeds and Bradford M Leeds and Bradford Junior Race (District) RM Birkenhead 8 Mayoral Cup A Fleetwood Capt. Cook Shield RM Cleveland 13 Alpha Cup RM Birkenhead 14-16 National Championship M Leeds and Bradford 22 Fred Parks Cup RM Cleethorpes Parks Cup A Birkenhead Model Maker Trophy M Birkenhead Windsor Cup R10R Fleetwood 29 183
