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| aaa October 1983 80p MAGAZINE onal Nat West Trophy. First ever Nati s yachts Championship for R36R clas entries four weeks Until the closing date for msfo rd Radio Yacht Chel the , event the before ants to expect entr many how idea no Club had ed their bank oach appr had club the less Neverthe Westminsnal Natio The p. orshi spons regarding possible to was it that rous gene so were ter Bank a yard of y, troph en chos the ly lete comp finance funds. able avail from box, ay displ and s ale glas to a number of Tentative approaches made ing goods with a view to suppliers of model yacht also stretching the limited budget for prizes were ly urab favo to d onde resp conceived by The race itself was originally an event for as Club t Yach l Mode ford Guild n of previous National usio novices with the excl intention was to Championship winners Theireven t which news statu onal’ ‘Nati a provide cted to enter; a attra be d woul sport the to rs come hoped that the was sort of nursery slope It Mode l Yachting Assopositive step taken by theNational Championship a te gura inau to on ciati model yachtit benef also d woul ts yach for R36R to foster clubs ing urag enco by al gener in ing t attract migh turn in This . class the for g racin feel that may who s, yacht e thes of rs owne many nt, into prese at them offer to little have clubs ing yacht l mode d nise orga h In fact the event attracted 13 entries of whic a top suit breeze for the first ever National: Above: pionship for R36R yachts at Chelmsford. Right Cham ins the workings of picture, rexpla ery. left Westm Roger Stoll local manager, inste Bank,event of R/C to National ual second the trophy.d, while who kindly put up ery, All photos: on. looks seate placer, Peter Stoll Vic Smeed. previous experience of approximately half hadAllnowere from the southern g. racin championship was not surpristhis aps perh but and half of Engl ately one, from rtun Unfo . event day ing fora oneattend without to d faile MYC es Milton Keyn was cloudless day race the of ing notice. The morn the marks were time with little wind, but by therace ers and comshifted, boats measured, p photoffic os taken, a ‘top petitors briefed and grou race nerves suit’ breeze was blowing.etitFirst ors and two of the seemed to affect some comp by penalty turns ed solv unre sts only three prote r Stollery was Pete one. race in were made ed his first win scor obviously unaffected as hechun , a variant of the with the swing-rigged Taxa in designed Aust ul essf succ previously e is a direct nam of ce choi The Xasperachun. de down’ ‘upsi style Taxi the of use result of the top. the at ow narr om, bott the at fin, i.e., wide ed nam (so r Laze d saile first rne John Osbo the in rig) ayed unst style r Laso the because of fellow club members second race and led home well sailing similarly Roth Neil and Roy Burgess horrors had been the six race By . rigged boats The array of fine awards Championships which for the R36R received a healthy number of entries. Alf Larraman and Russell spread about with Roy, the line first. Potts also getting over between each race A minimum of wasted timethe 2 min. time out wing was achieved by follothe 1 min. warning for the period immediately by most cases racing was 1. min. countdown. In wind- us and as therefore effectively upconttheinuocour se had to be speed had picked time per race back theke enlarged for race 10 to ta 5 mins. In spite of the, up to the required 10-1 was generally close length of the course racing rating first and last sometimes only 50 yards sepa By the end of the first boats at the end of a race. y had gained at leasta round of 13 races everybod ption of Harry Cutler who third place with the exce suffered radio gear retired at this stage having six firsts, a second and failure. John Osborne had eda good race was a third at this stage andit seem developing for second place between Petei about ¢ Stollery, Roy Burgess and Mike Golding dozen points behind. ng the second round the wind became pro Duri less steady making wind gressively lighter and test ward legs especially a of spotting windshifts0 meant that no leg Although the wind directionthe rigged boat the course was a true beate condiunations than inth seemed less happy in thes Then therigon Laze gustier wind of the morning. with the mas in particular always looked good sail when the boé bending off and flattening thetunat ely for John h became overpowered. Unfor in the twentieth rac was involved in an incident invo parties pri for which neither of the atiolved n was to rob hi tested. This lapse of concentr as discart of an otherwise deserved firstd place include di allowed in the regattarulecoulamennot dment). Pet qualifications (1982 reputation “smi Stollery, who had earned the up a series of go but dangerous’ chalkedn seem ed to be comple places. His concentratio ors would do w and many of his older competittly!) he does | silen to note how soon (andnging the rules. He ev penalty turns after infri wo! seemed quite happy with second place as it Model Boz Above: the winning R36R boat, Pronto, by Mike Golding. Right: the 3rd place boat was a Checkmate design, called Lazer, and skippered by John Osborne. departure from the usual procedure. Bottom placer, Harry Cutler, received a voucher from Radio Active, the local model shop, who also donated packs of 5 min. epoxy for each of the 1244 masks the buoy. closely followed by 1247, Pronto the winner, and 1248, Taxachun, the second place boat at the first R36R Championships. other entrants. If you have an R36R and were not at the event you probably missed a lot of fun — why notjoinin at the Guildford next year? Graham Bantock, ooD ea % kk Scale Regatta — Bexley — June 18 Bexley and District MPBC held their first scale regatta at the new venue. (The SE London Aquatic Centre) on Saturday June 18 in conjunction with the ‘Greenwich Festival.’ This centre has been developed from the old Royal dockyard at Woolwich The centre has all the facilities including a licensed bar, good spectator points, anda view out over the river and the new flood barrier allow him to sail in 1984 when Guildford MYC are hosts. Local knowledge helped Mike Golding score only 10%, points from his last eight races putting him in the top slot with the prototype Pronto. Again everybody got at least a third place in this part of the schedule. With protest meetings and score checking complete the OOD thanked Alex Austin, Andrew Schumann and members, of Chelmsford Radio Yacht Club for their considerable help and asked Mr. Youngs, Manager of the Chelmsford High Street Branch of National Westminster Bank to formally present the Nat West Trophy to the Model Yachting Association. Norman Hatfield accepted the trophy on our behalf and Mr. Youngs presented the prizes. Robert Smith and Nylet vouchers went to Mike and Peter respectively (father said he needed some decent sails) and John will be able to build an even faster Check- mate donated by E. L. Jones. Roy Burgess won a Nylet voucher and Peter Clark, who had been struggling all day with a boat whose owner shall remain nameless, received a complete 7axachun kit donated by Guildford MYC, Bob Underwood and a local sailmaker GMYC had requested that the kit should go to someone who would benefit most rather than to one of the top placed skippers, a pleasant and trim Craft were judged on their appearance on the water, marks awarded for scale speed and steering. Competitors could score further marks if they completed the steering course without any touches or deviations. As there were only a few entries everyone was able to have tworuns, the second being in the reverse direction round the course The results after two runs were as follows Ist J. Stocking 2nd D. Morley 3rd E. OOD: Graham Bantock Pos. 4 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Skipper M. Golding P. Stollery J. Osborne R. Burgess R. Pease A. Larraman N. Curtis R. Potts N. G P. H. Rothwell Lambert Clark Cutler B Somerville Keynes October 1983 Club Chelmsford Guildford Boat Pronto Taxachun Woodspring — Lazer Chip Woodspring Aria Guildford Scorpio Clapham Esq Woodley Danson Mighty Woodspring Woodbridge Danson Guildford ET Cantata Rag Doll Trila Milton Sparrow Orville Design Pronto Taxachun Checkmate Taxachun Aria Batman Square One Realistic Checkmate Playaway Shy Tot ? Failed to arrive 8 races 16 races Discards 10 34%, 24 10 36\4 215 oY, 22%; 37 31% 41 32% 46 » 46 50 70 33 64%, 72 73 72 6 18 18 18 13 92%, 100 102 142 18 18 18 18 85%, 18 Total 24%, 26), 27 46%, . 54 55 59 Drifter type Fishing Boat Dalton Best Junior PT Boat G Atlee P. Atlee Nat West Trophy: R36R National Championship July 3 1983, Chelmsford Radio Yacht Club Results Motor Yacht /nga Krabben Kutter x Oa oo The Blackheath Phenomenon Every year they come, from far and near, medellers of prototype ships who have created works of art which are the pride of the modelling world, whose skilled artistry and presentation is so much admired whether in operation or at exhibitions This year the Paddle Steamer Society’s London 67% branch devoted the rally to the Society’s Paddler, Fa%, 82 84 124 celebrate the steamer’s emergence as a potential PS Kingswear Castle entitled ‘Salute to KC’ to operational ship after years of toil, sweat and heartache. Participants certainly gave KC full support and there were some fine performances on the lake, which were a joy to see. John Millar, whose stalwart efforts on the 525 Start of a board at the Scottish Marblehead Vane Championships: see report below. Photo: A. C. Mackenzie. The Association were once more indebted tot Vincent Markham for his excellen Commodoreship. The day was nicely concluded with the opening of a bottle of bubbly in the clubhouse after the presentation of the trophies. A. C. Mackenzie, PRO, Scottish Model Yacht Association. * * * MPBA R/C Speed Finals June 19 In these difficult times it ‘s good to see a few Society’s stall was Paddle Steamer Preservation for the Society and admirable, for he works hard | can remember, was has done so for as long as iting three new rewarded with the task of recru s of interest to members as well as selling item a model of KC to visitors. John had expected and he was not to represent the ship, at the rallyfrom Ilford, brought be disappointed. Mr. Cookl, which was as near along an excellent mode d achieve. He had to perfect in detail as one coul did to valve trouble. She the curtail operation owing wate ct look magnificent on theyear. r as we all expe real ship will do next the unexpected Another pleasant surprise.was the rley We all thought she appearance of PS Wavehern s, but there ship had left us for nort lakeclime as though she had was sailing across the Actually, was another never left the Thames!rley built byit Mr. of very fine model of Wave Club, MaidstonJ.e,May Kent. the Cygnets Model Boatand other modellers, who We are indebted to him away as Bristol, Southhad travelled from as farBarnet, Tunbridge Wells ampton, Portsmouth, r to give us such a wonderand St. Albans in orde ful show. During the afternoon | presented each modeller ’ famous sailing with a gift print of Dennyh Bros. hed nearby in bert is whic Sark, clipper, Cutty ciation for appre of n toke small a just Greenwich, gave the view ted eleva Aside rally. supporting the pier, for a at ion etit comp ng fishi a of impression side by sets d rolle -cont radio of score a there were rods. ng fishi to ar simil g bein ls aeria side, their the in red stee be to ls mode le enab These sets y tivel effec most red direction requi be made about HM Finally mention must by Mr. Parsons of the built ful, Force Paddle Tug many facets of had It Club ls Mode Portsmouth it a lifelike gave h whic ship nal the origi appearance. A. Rickner * * * ciation — Scottish Model Yacht Asso — Marblehead Vane Championship Saturday, June 11 interest it was decided In order to promote local the sailing water of the on t even e abov to hold the t Club. The pond Yach l Mode ey Paisl reconstituted setting lying ctive attra very a in is located ng Gleniffer Braes and between the gently rolliThe one disadvantage to Club. Golf Barshaw Park s, which are of the bank the is pond this sailing on it very difficult to ng maki type, rete sloping conc t as there |s only yach gn desi bulb and fin retrim a and south bank. h nort the on jetty one concrete the day with the d ende yacht one least Indeed at tant necessity cons the to due loose ing bulb hang e and a slide back into for a retrim on the slop ng said this it must bet water for a relaunch. Havi provide an excellen stated that this pond olwill t championship due venue for a radio contrentayach with to its very high perc ge of sailing days favourable winds. 2.00pm in brilliant sun- Sailing commenced at and a strong southshine with clear blue skies across westerly wind blowing off the Braes and conditions with very the valley to provide ideal wate r as any obstruclittle wind variation on the back from the pondwell tions, i.e., trees etc. are ally square it was side. As the pond is basicfrom the north east decided to set the course bank perm anent jetty. corner to the south centrtoaluse a trestle table in the This involved the need ern corn er as a launching water at the north east g . With the wind bein stage, of which more anonward was very close all so steady, beating to wind slipping across the afternoon with the yachts lly inches between water with, at times, literaresails. them; there were very few gs were rather On the run, however, thin Club showing condifferent with the Greenock extremely fine siderable advantage dueedtoontheir one particular run spinnaker settings. Inde travelling at such a were Hugh Shiels and yacht onto wooden jetty it rate that as he leapt ver, the with true elegance, collapsed. Hugh, howe as the to the maintained his balancey caughtjettyhissank rging bottom and beautifull however, wheninsu asked to yacht. He drew the line,it of our photographer . Of do a repeat for the benef the beautifully planked particular interest. was art the design of which ish yacht of Robert Wishnded land sixern whic based on a double-e shipShet appearance. The new gives her a real Viking Chris Mackenzie and Shiels’ design owned nbywas showing its paces, sailed by Robert Brow nd time on the water for this being only the seco doing a canny piece of this yacht. Ron Leckie was y restored yacht built by sailing with a beautifullYoun ew Fraser is the late John Wishart.d for gtheAndr skill which he also to be commende ion. ///us showed in sailing his fibreglass t were The first six places at the end of the even as follows: Pos. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th Entrant H. Shiels R. Leckie A. Fraser R. Brown R. Wishart J. Anderson : Yacht Bumblee Phazer Tartan Special The Spruce Goose Bylgja landa Club Greenock Inverleith, Edinburgh Greenock Inverleith, Edinburgh Leith and District Leith and District the now minor enthusiasts keeping alive one ofyears ago it was events in the Regatta List. Ten titio to gain the premier event with fierce compe classnes. The a place at the Finals in all the rewards came to the diehards. bly the Sunday in Manchester was proba water almost, hottest day so far this year with the ed well with but not quite, perfect. The event start d’s 3.5cc the first boat on the water, Geoff Hewar of 18.35 sec. gaining anew British Naviga recorad recor d in this Two years have gone by without 22.37 secs., class. Alan Sidebottom followed times during although he had recorded faster practice. used to be a popular class, 5cc, only pro- What ; beautifully turned duced one boat from the southHunt, and timed at out as ever, raced by Robin 21.22 secs. to We knew that the two fastest 15s were due , but the result compete, so we expected a battle competitions but was unforeseen. Anewcomer toHumbe , whoa not to boating, Terry Ness from betterrside than comseems to like designing boats er Frank Gill of peting, beat last year’s winnEngla nd’s fastes’ Manchester, into first place. to be conten Naviga speed-man lan Folkson had Britis FIV1! with third, having put up a newern elimih nator s record of 14.5 secs. at the south wa! Sue Horden, managing only 21.34 secs. outgunned. nded b The final class was 35cc petrol, conte Midlands — Arthur Shaw and Roy Horden of the 20.77 secs. t Arthur winning, as usual, with Roy’s 25.55 secs. Having had a lovely day’s friendly boating wea had n stayed chatting because, guess what? We of us ha trophies! This was a shame. The15restwinn er ar been there before but the F1V- 4 newcom: fastest-time-of-the-day man was and it would have been nice if he could have take home a well deserved trophy. s to the Manchester club for the us Many thank , to Alé of their excellent speed venue Dybi Sidebottom for organising it andngtoitFrank for us all for giving up his time and runni and to the MPBA for forgetting us! Results F1V 3.5 Pos. ist Competitor G. Heward Area Midlands Secs. 18.35 new 2nd A. Sidebottom North 22.37 R. Hunt South 24.22 T. Ness F. Gill |. Folkson S. Horden North North South Midland 16.80 ftd 16.91 17.43 21.34 A. Shaw R. Horden Midlands Midlands 20.77 25.55 FIV 5 1st F1V 15 ist 2nd 3rd 4th Petrol 1st 2nd record Geoff Hewi Midland A Model Bc Mike Kemp reports on the Mickey Finn Championships and invites your thoughts towards generating more support for this one design class The Champion: big Barry Jackson cruises just behind the start line whilst someone else goes over and will have to return. N Sunday June 19 eleven skippers were wondering this; not that they allowed it to spoil their day’s sailing. In fact it probably made it all the more enjoyable because they were able to sail, barring failures, in all 13 of the races The weather at the Bournville lake was wonderful, quite a contrast from last year’s running of the Mickey Finn National Championships. Once again racing was dominated by the reigning champion, Barry Jackson: although he did not have it all his own way, he only won eight out of the 13 races Although the entry was roughly the sameas for the 1982 event the skippers were different In this year’s racing there were no less than five skippers who were, in previous years, mainly to be found sailing 575 yachts. Once again the racing was quite close, just the sort of thing one might expect from a one design class. The wind was a little kinder than last year being in the opposite direction and less gusty, although one or two skippers still found the odd difficulty in handling the running leg of the course Unfortunately the move to bring the event forward, clear of the main holiday season, brought us into the ‘weed’ time of the year. Despite some very considerable deweeding carried out by the Bournville club members prior to the start and the roping off of the two ends of the lake there was still the occasional collection of weed by a boat. This was most frustrating to the skipper involved as his/her boat would suddenly stop and, despite the fresh wind, would then become very sluggish indeed. No-one was exempt, analysis of the results shows that virtually every skipper has at least one result that was completely out of character with the rest of his/her performances: 528 Results Place/Name 1 B. Jackson 2M. Kemp 3B. Allcock 4D. Nixon 5 C. Brereton 6 W. Thomas 7D. Knowles 8S. Allcock 9K. Shaw 10 S. Nixon 11 G. Hull Number K3 K104 K371 K771 K98 K619 K34 K217 K26 K33 K179 Score 28% 47 58 635 65 65%, 95 02 104 107 143 due almost entirely to the collection of an offend ing lump of the clinging green stuff. As with other Mickey Finn races there were a large number of individual single race duels fought during the day with a number of very close finishes. In race twelve the fourth and fifth place skippers, both Barrys (Allock and Jackson — there’s a 575 combination to be reckoned with — current that and MF champs respectively) were so close in the finishing judge was having such difficultythe separating them that they agreed to share points. In race nine, championship -runner-up Mike Kemp came very close to scoring his only race win of the day but blew it when tacking his way to the line and allowed Dennis Nixon to score one of his two first places. Consistency was to give Mike his overall second place whilst all the others were fighting up and down the lists: no fewer than four people shared the first place spots in the races Officer of the Day Jack Lee was unable togetto the meeting so it was agreed at the skippers’ briefing that the job would be shared by the participants and that, being an honest lot, every one would be left to sort out their own mis- demeanours. This worked reasonably well though racing got under way at a fairly slow pace However, responsibility was soon to be thrust upon one man when his wife wentto help him get his boat out of the water; and helped pull the mast, complete with deck bearing, out of the hull So, from race five onwards, we had Graham Hull all the way from South Wales as OOD; racing then proceeded at a much brisker pace as Graham took a firm control of proceedings. His wife did stirling service as finish line judge, perhaps she felt a little guilty (only joking —M.K.) The only other retirements due to equipment! failure were Association Secretary Ken Shaw after race nine and 575’er Sheila Allcock afte! race eleven. The other lady in the competitior was young Sarah, Dennis Nixon’s daughter, whc is often seen in the Midland District RM meeting: acting as finishing recorder. Sarah had the delight of beating the great B.J. in race twelve despite being bedevilled with sheeting problem: on her borrowed boat throughout the day: wel done Sarah! Sheila Allcock is frequently see! beating husband Barry with the 575 yacht but di: not seem to be consistently able todo so with th: Mickey Finn despite starting out with a fourt! place in race one. Likea number of others, Sheil seemed to have difficulty with the starts and in one design class where all the boats are fair! evenly matched that is one part that just hastok done properly. Barry Jackson’s eighth place ar Mike Kemp’‘s ninth place were both due to beir caught for a 720° penalty following é infringement before the start. The course, hov Modei Boa ever, was just long enough for minor start mistakes, like being over the line on the signal or having to reround the start mark, tobe made up by use of sailing skills Lunch was taken at about one o’clock after which the Mickey Finn Association AGM took place during which nothing outstanding or controversial was discussed. The two main items of interest were membership the ever numbers present and the one of rather low more current one of who is going to produce the Mickey Finn in the future, and will the design change significantly. The meeting was told that a new manufacturer was on the brink of making an The boats that eventually finished 1st, Mickey Finn in foreground, and 2nd, Funky Mice. announcement and that, if anything, the quality of construction and detail superior to the original. design would be However the meeting urged the Executive Committee to try and ensure that no major design changes took place that would alter the boat’s characteristics, however weird they sometimes appear to be. We were assured that the potential manufacturer, Calder Craft, would be producing a better quality mould- ing than that found on many of the later hulls and that it was possible that minor constructional changes would be made in rekitting the model. All of these points remain to be confirmed. The other matter of low membership and low competitive some sailing length resolution. numbers with little in was discussed at the way of real It certainly does seem to be one of these ‘chicken and egg’ situations where there are few organised races because no-one expects to have any entries; but people won’t get into the racing mood with the boats if there are no competitions to go to. There can be no doubt that the Mickey Finn is a handy little craft to take sailing; after the 575, which can be carried in most Cars ready to sail, it is possibly the easiest Reigning Champion Barry Jackson explains ‘How it works’ to two young spectators. All photos Mike Kemp. competition craft to carry and rig. It is capable of sailing with the larger yachts without too much of a disadvantage, especially in the lighter airs. However there was little chance to show the light wind performance of these craft to their real advantage even during the afternoon when once or twice someone briefly turned off the Racing continued ‘fan.’ until about four o’clock and thirteen races had been completed. There was a little discussion about how many ‘discards’ there should be but that soon stopped when the acting OOD stamped his authority on the meeting and that, as the matter had not been decreed announced or decided during the skippers’ briefing, there would be NO discards — all scores announcing would count; including his own row of ten ‘12’s. After a little while the scores were suitably Barry A. was left wondering what things need sticking. Mike’s wife was heard telling Sheila totalled, then checked by at least two competitors. The sailors were rounded up into the Bournville clubhouse and the presentations made: it was rumoured to be a fix, as Ken Shaw had made a point of asking Barry Jackson’s wife to choose the prizes: a large towel was obviously needed in the Jackson household! Second place man was given the choice of the two remaining prizes, a ‘cool’ bag or a ‘hot’ glue gun; Mike chose the bag that he already had a glue gun, so how handy these guns are for sticking these little things ‘about the house.’ By this time the Bournville lake had filled up with a wide variety of scale and power boats so there was little else for the Mickey Finners to do but to pack up and bid their goodbyes for another year. Perhaps we shall all get together before the next National Championships? Author’s comment Although| have tried to write the race report in an anonymous style| feel that | would like to move to a more personal comment and suggestion style, to float some ideas that might be worth consideration to help our cause. As | said previously, the Mickey Finn is a very easy boat to transport; so easy in fact that last year | took mine on holiday with me so that while the kids were playing on the sand at the sea-side| could launch mine off the beach and sit inthe sun sailing around off the shore. Great fun. just especially when having to contend with powerful currents as the tide ebbed and flowed, that really does present a challenge to tack against the wind and the tide together. | was then able to visit a couple of nearby clubs’ waters and sail with them in amongst the Marbleheads, and with a reasonable amount of success. So, if you want a boat to take on holiday, take a Mickey Finn: it even looks like a sailboard as you carry it to the beach! Another thought is that with the attempted resurgence of the R36R yacht, is it not time that this class was looked at to see if there are any changes thatcould be made to make it the popular sized boat that it should be? There is no doubt that October 1983 a clever modeller, using the latest modelling technology materials, can produce a very com- petitive 36R yacht. However there are a lot of people about who would like to have a try but just do not want, or are unable because of space, to attempt a Marbiehead; nor are they able to tackle the very latest space age materials and techniques. Perhaps the Americans, for once, have the answer with their 36/600 class which with a certain amount of modification could allow most ment were suitably arranged, perhaps based on fore and aft triangles instead of actual sail area, most if hot all of the current 36R craft could carry on sailing with the same sails This arrangement could also allow the experimenter to try some ideas like fitting a Genoa; this in turn might lead to some quite realistic looking prototypes whilst keeping the craft to a size and weight that could be managed by practically everybody At the moment these luxuries are reserved for those of the current 36R yachts and the Mickey Finn to be grouped with a new breed of yacht that might be simpler for the beginner to build and sail. It would, of course, eventually go the way of the Marblehead and become subject to intense development using the latest materials and in like who Can manage the much larger 10R and Aclass boats; nobody can claim that these are easily manner one would ultimately have to pay the little bit earth to compete with the ‘top men.’ {Is that so managed models. At the risk of starting one of those long running battles of words that seem to take place when someone suggests something that might be a revolutionary; or might change how things have been ‘always done, might | suggest bad?— There are still many Marbleheaded sailors who out at the next MYA AGM. compete quite successfully with relatively low cost craft: the same would undoubtedly be true of the 36/??? class, except that there would be less Perhaps our illustrious editor might be persuaded to allow the arguments to be debated in public through the medium of the letters column. material so the manufacturing cost for the individual would be less. If the sail area measure- Good sailing to you all no matter what. that the debate begin so that it could be thrashed Mike Kemp 529 From the start… 88 ac Bill Thomas reveals all concerning Duplex 575 yacht tuning This article came about after meeting the Editor at Windermere Steam Boat Museum and his seeing my kicking strap/ gooseneck on my Duplex 575 yacht. I was asked to write and draw an item on this, but after a closer scrutiny by the Ed, and revealing a few more ideas, the following resulted. pad is cemented to the cabin top near the This made me watch, something that made mast foot, a piece of ‘|/;,in. id brass tube with sense. a standard spade soldered on, a /,,in. brass split pin soldered to bottom of aerial, and ‘79 worked and | was the proud owner of what some Call a toy yacht; how wrong they are. The trimming and sailing, thinking of new ideas to improve sails, weights, ease of adjustments, etc., etc. is far more exacting than anything !’ve done before. Luckily | had Mike Kemp’s article, Vode/ Boats Dec. 1979. This gave me the basis of what! have now. | used many of his ideas and altered them to suit my way of working. Being a scale person my 575 had to look a little like a real yacht, wood planked decks and cockpit, companion ways, hatches, vents and punt etc. The first job after the usual hull and radio assembly was the radio switch. Most skippers ‘Sellotape’ or ‘Bluetack’ theirs to keep out the water. So a nice little punt hollowed out and fitted over a coaming does the same job and looks more realistic, see figure 1. too full and | but other than that it was hopeless. So to see figure 2. figure 4. It might look complicated but it’s adjustable sail winch arm is not not really. You can purchase all the materials at most model shops and if you the sheets or using a solder the tubes square it works very free. The two eyes are PTFE The dimensions in the drawing could be covered and are both the same measure- altered to suit your mast and sails, and | when and caught the bug there and then. always the drawing board and the result is as in setting up different servo. So the usual hints just before Christmas was can now unplug the aerial when de-rigging, really necessary, but saves a lot of time AY back in 1979 | had tried outa 575 leach the pad drilled through to suit tube. You The Bill Thomas’ 575 still maintains way in almost calm conditions. My couldn’t adjust it, it’s all right in light winds ment from the servo centre to allow the used 9BA bolts because | had them in stock. sails to come out equal distance, see figure 8BA would do but are a bit hefty; 10BA could be used. 3. | also use PTFE tube under the cabin to lead the sail sheets from the cross member The first regatta with the new kicking to each sail. strap in use was MAP’’s leisure week at Having rigged the yacht | set off to the nearest regatta thinking | had a good looking fast 575. How wrong can you be! After day’s racing Mike Kemp slapped a hefty the first couple of regattas OK, then my first included. We had to work and sail hard National at Woburn. The yacht looked all through the week to overcome the handi- Primrose Valley, Filey, where after the first handicap on all the top skippers, right but sailing was a different thing. | IN CY realised there was a lot to learn by watching the good skippers, and listening, not that some give a lot away. So to get up among the top it was a matter of watching, listening, tuning, sailing and calling it a “stupid Harvey lump of plastic’ and a certain Middleton a few rude words me V- notch MAST SECTIONS Rout out Cyanoacrylate aerial in place 30Amp fuse wire eye because he started it all in the first place. After struggling over the past three years | was somewhere among the top few but just lacked the edge. There was obviously something wrong, was it me orthe set up of the yacht. Most probably me. Anyway on Aerial Stop groove one of my watchings and seeing nothing short of top and bottom my wife made one of those comments that Fittings now and again they say and don’t really ee \— Mast AERIAL ae FULL SIZE Solder know what they mean. This was — “All the 575s that win have sails that look right.”’ Fig. 1 RADIO SWITCH AND PUNT V/16″split pin What to do with the aerial was the next problem. Real yachts don’t have a great length of wire wrapped around the aft stay Tube to suit Cabin or shrouds, so the obvious was up the mast. It’s an easy job, score the mast twice ina ‘V’ shape and rout out with a hacksaw blade, or if you have one of those small electric drills with routers, use that. Set the aerial in flush and super-glue, watch your fingers | was stuck for nearly ten minutes! A small 538 = —-—Hollow out punt — to suit coaming Fasten punt with shirring eos a Coaming round switch elastic- just lift punt to switch on or off cement to cabin top Fig. 2 To receiver Model Boats Below Mabe: Sec ee cap. | reckon without the kicking strap | wouldn’t have got in the first six, but ie aijusteble tack ae thing else to adjust now; so on the day it’s lleidciee and sheeting managed third. Don’t forget there is some- weights, sails, kicking strap, etc., according to the wind or lack of it and still hoping you can catch the top skippers.My one aim with the 575s is to beat Messrs Kemp and Allcock, but | think that would spoil it for me as | would have nothing left to improve on Fig. 4 2 . cementec Fig. 3 on @ Material APPROX . HALF SIZE 1/8″x3/8″ KICKING STRAP / GOOSENECK FULL SIZE To sui? —<+ + : ‘ Sail eye Clear hole to suit bolt head sie Bora 1/8"x9/32"square ‘ale tube (i.d.) ae — 9 B.A, RH bolt Ss TOP VIEW. ae 15Amp fuse wire See 10 B.A. bolt for sail eye , \ elver or sotoee “5 : () i! All tubes soldered | 5/64" i.d. tube 9 B.A, bolt ae ee ene er et kh All material .025"brass sheet ts 3/32"i.d. tube to allow free play ; ‘ Adjustment nuts 9B.A. C/sk bolt — | . = | NOTE: bolt sizes and material can be altered — END VIEW oT > ¥Sold\ 5 nat t geri ie yh Wires thes 10 beng ve … Above: close up of the mast and boom modifications. Right: the ‘Being nearly there’ part of our title refers to Bill’s yacht just pipped by that of Mike Kemp’s at this year’s Duplex Nationals. This article has only covered a few of the hundreds of hours ‘tweaking.’ But | think it’s the best thing ever. Because at the end of the day you know first or last it’s your judgement that counts and yours alone. | sign off a converted scale person and hope to see you all at the 575 regattas, and perhaps this article will introduce a few new members to the 575 club. I’ll still be watching and being nearly there. October 1983 plastic However, these technicalities are only to show that there are other influences in hull design, which is why some rating rules appear to be quite complex. There are many who would say that such rules produce much better boats than the apparently simple length-and-sail-area types, but one of the snags in model yachting is that complex rules can demand complex measuring equipment in order to check that a yacht complies. How for example, do you accurately measure a waterline? In model clubs, the boat is put afloat in a tank and verticals slid along to touch each end. From these verticals horizontal knife edges exactly flush with the water surface are moved forward to touch the hull and the distance from vertical to knife-edge gives the overhang at each end. Subtract the overhangs from the overall length and you Vic Smeed’s |” IS A FACT of hydrodynamics that, all other things being equal, the longer the waterline of a displacement hull the faster it will go on the same power, or if preferred, the less power it needs to achieve a given speed. Although this seems an acceptable idea with man-powered craft — why else would racing (rowing) skiffs be so long and thin? — the notion is harder to swallow with engine-powered boats or with sail propulsion. There is obviously a limit, since a certain minimum strength is needed and the longer you go the heavier the hull must become to maintain strength. This in turn means more water displaced and, perhaps more importantly, more wetted area. If we use (even misuse!) a term like skin friction, it becomes clear that 10sq. ft. of surface in contact with the water will have more resistance to motion (i.e. more drag) than, say, 7sq. ft. At some point the increase of drag will cancel out the increase in efficiency of a longer hull. Drag is also influenced by the actual displacement and its disposition. Again, if the weight (displacement) of a boat is spread over a long hull with small change of section, it is easy to see that water disturbance (resistance to motion, i.e. drag) will be less than the same weight built into a short hull with large changes of section. Try rowing a single-sculls compared with a 10ft. dinghy of similar all-on weight — the difference is remarkable. With a yacht it is not, however, entirely a case of forward motion being considered. Resistance to heeling increases with beam and if draught is restricted, as it is in many classes, beam is essential to allow the In Part Five Vic Smeed discusses physical relationships and classes have the waterline. It has to be accurate — lin. difference in a waterline can mean ‘quarter-beam’ measurement of a hull or to set limits on the girth at the waterline ends. The former is the distance between two 25sq. in. or so difference in permitted sail area. This perhaps illustrates why for many spots on the hull surface one quarter of the years the apparently simpler overall length and sail area rules increased in popularity. maximum beam out from the centre line and, usually, one tenth of the maximum beam above the load waterline. Sounds confusing? Try the sketch, from which it Measuring the overall length was con- sidered to be quite simple, and a nominal sail area based on simple triangles, with restrictions on critical dimensions outside the basic triangle, would, it was thought, provide an easily measured yacht and an easily interpreted rule. Of course, if only |.o.a. (length overall) was to be measured, that length would be taken as the waterline once the importance of sailing length will be seen that the further the spots are apart, the more the hull sailing length will increase as it heels. Girth measurements usually compare the difference between the skin girth, measured on the hull surface, and the chain girth, which is the shortest distance between the measurement points, usually the gunwale and the hull bottom centre line omitting fin, etc. Control of the difference between the two at the waterline ends influences the shapes of the ends of the hull, which is another way of influencing became more widely appreciated, resulting in plumb-ended boats (rising vertically from the water) at each end. They didn’t look like the popular concept of a yacht, but gradually they became accepted as the gain in sailing length on heeling. norm. vessel to carry enough sail to drive it at an acceptable speed. This is the first of many compromises needing to be made by a yacht designer, and it is how he handles the compromises which will determine whether the result is successful or not. Thus it will be seen that there are two major factors contributing to the speed of a yacht, its sailing length and the amount of b— 1/4 — sail it can carry. If itis desired to race yachts \ Quarter beam line mysterious element about yachts that makes seeing who can _ go _ fastest size yachts, one with twice the sail area of the other, will not provide much of a race, and the same applies, though less 3 = — and it is undeniable that there is some irresistible — it is plain that some common balance must be introduced covering, primarily, these two factors. Two similar “4 -—— 14 oa a. \ ena Lat | obviously, to yachts of considerably different lengths, even though their sail areas are similar. It is possible to design a yacht to a given waterline length which will markedly increase that length on heeling. This is perhapsa sligntly subtle area of design, and to circumvent it rule-makers adopt subtle measures. Two such are to restrict the 540 Model Boats The best known example of this type of rule is, of course, the Marblehead is actually free of any restriction, and that is beam. Waterline and quarter beam lengths, freeboard draught and displace- or its 50/600 class, where the basic criteria were established as a length of 50in. anda sail area of 800saq. in. At the time of formulation, designs would have a Lwl. of perhaps 43in., with a 5in. overhang forward and 2in. aft; it was possible to com- ment all have to fit within laid-down criteria, exceeding which (or falling short of in some cases) involve penalties in the form of loss of sail area. It is, however, not essential for an owner to understand every nuance in the rule. He can build, or have bine competitive performance with reasongrace of shape. However, slowly able built, waterline lengths crept upward until the measured 50in. hull had a 50in. waterline. Then a boat to and a design sails and have made/adjusted it as required to make the rating, then race it — the rule-scanners realised that the sensible plus of minus in. building tolerance often very successfully — without really knowing too much about the mathematics meant that 50¥,in. was allowable, and a look showed that the ‘,in. of the rule. allowance for a bow bumper could be incorporated into the hull length, so that 50%in. was permissible. So now it became a national class, the 6 metre, the rule for which seems extremely complex at first harder matter of how do you measure overall length, because a slight change in angle of the tape could make a thousandth of an inch or so difference — enough to make a hull legal or otherwise. Absurd? Well, you It is even truer of the remaining inter- sight. It is based more closely on the full- size 6m rule, with girth taxes and the like, though since as a model class it has fallen Chain girth are not reflected in the model rule. A revision has now been made to incorporate wouldn’t be the only one to think so. There is now pressure, incidentally, for this American-originated English-adopted such to be_ alterations and to simplify some aspects where feasible, and this revision is currently going through the official pro- class, conceived and always run in Imperial measurements, into the doldrums over the last 30 years, there have been full-size changes which Skin girth internationally cesses acceptable only if in metric. required to obtain approval. Besides the Marblehead, the |.0.a.-only It restriction applies to the French-originated international is perhaps significant that in vane 10/40 (one metre long, 40dm? sail) and the American 36/600 (36in. long, 600sq. in. sail area). It is part of the British 36in. racing, the most competitive classes, the M and 10R, have suffered a sharp decline in support for major races, including national championships. On the other hand, support overall depth to Yin. and 11in.; you could the Restricted rule, which also limits beam and build one 11in. beam and Qin. overall depth, but it is not advised! In an endeavour to simplify measurement, the rulemakers decreed that the hull should fit into a box of inside dimensions 36 x 9 x 11 in. The hull could be tilted (and that caused controversy in its day!) and certain items could be removed in order to achieve a fit; basically these were intended to be normal deck fittings and the rudder. This rule is currently being reviewed, mainly in order to tie down more precisely what may be removed. There are no restrictions on sail area, and in the past this has created some models horrendously difficult to sail, with 1,000sq. in. or more of sail on a three-foot hull. On average, 5-600 sq. in. will produce a relatively easy to sail yacht with reasonable performance. So far it has not been suggested that it be known in future as the 91.4cm Restricted class . . Of the other major classes, the 10-rater has the easiest rule to understand. The ‘rating’ is a figure which must not be exceeded by the resolving of a formula, viz.: in this case SA x WL+ 7500 = 10 where SA is sail area in square inches and WL is load waterline in inches. Clearly it relates the two basic factors in such a way that an increase in one causes a decrease in the other, easily seen if the formula is rewritten SA x WL= 75000. There area few prohibitions and the sail area includes the October 1983 mast profile area, but it is a very free rule in most respects. It originated around 1878 and was always one of the most popular classes. However, it was tinkered with about 15 years or so ago — basically the constant, which was 6000, was upped to 7500 to give more sail and/or a longer boat — since when it has declined steadily. The change made for a faster and more exciting performance — too fast and too exciting for most middle-aged or older skippers who have always provided the solid core of sailing enthusiasts. It is quite possibly true to say that radio has saved the class, and it is second in international model popularity, as the R1OR, to the RM class. The biggest class of yacht, the A, employs a rating formula based on the full-sized 6m but with differences deliberately intro- duced which had the result, as time has shown, of producing a virtually fool-proof rule allowing wide scope to designers but maintaining a remarkably equal standard of performance over its whole range. Its main problem is its sheer size; althought the one area which has shown a degree of vulnerability in the last ten years, the acceptance of a sail area penalty for being below the minimum allowable displacement, has resulted in averaged displacement falling to around 40lb. A six or seven foot boat of this weight, with an eight foot mast, is still quite a proposition to handle and transport. Only one main aspect of an A(or RA) boat for the A is holding up remarkably well, and 36R is positively amazing in the strength of its come-back over the last five six years. The 6m, too, is regaining or support. Trends in radio are less marked, but it seems that the leaders, the RM and R10R, are not attracting quite so many entries asa year or races, two while ago, the except in the very top RA continues to make modest progress and, of course, this year we saw the first-ever R36R official race, the first, it is hoped, of many. Turning from internationally and nation- ally recognised class models, there seems be an upsurge in non-class activity. Some observers believe that the little 575 to yacht has passed its peak, with evidence of swing to larger models of 30-36 in. length. Apart from its availability as a a complete kit, the 575 has scored by being small enough to avoid the necessity of a sail winch, but as winches have become smaller and, in some cases, cheaper, this advantage is diminishing. With so much interest in scale modelling in other spheres, it should be no surprise to find a growing interest in scale-type sailing models, despite the natural problems which scaling brings, which are peculiar to sail power. Although this isa subject which has been covered over the last two or three years, it crops up consistently in correspon- dence, so perhaps on a future occasion some further comment, and possibly an example, may be included. 541 (mostly European imports), so category (a), total boats, must be considerable. We know total number of affiliated clubs, membership, and registered boats, but it would be difficult to establish how many club members regularly race (other than in club jollies), though not so hard LOGBOOK Model Yachting Association News TRANGE THINGS are happening in the world of vane racing — 22 entries in the 36R Nationals and 40 in the A class, but only 20 in Marblehead and a mere seven in the 10-rater. There were six teams (12 boats) in the A team. In radio the RM attracted 49 entries but the R10R only 14; the first-ever R36R drew 13 entries and the RA is yet to come. Interestingly, the widest selections of new designs appear in the 36R and Aclasses; most of the vane Ms and 10rs are fairly elderly and although there was quite an assortment of designs in the RM, most were familiar. Given fixed criteria, g.r.p. and the intense competition in RM it is inevitable that innovations in design are less likely and, indeed, the trend has been for top boats to look more and more like each other. The A and 36Rrules, both 50or so years old, still allow more room for experiment. They are vastly dif- ferent rules, with only one thing in common — both have restricted draught, so sail-carrying power cannot be easily increased by sticking the ballast a few inches lower. Is this what makes them more interesting? In vane sailing, one does not need particular athletic prowess to sail 36 or A boats, though in planing conditions a fit mate helps! However, planing conditions for these boats arrive rather higher up the Beaufort scale than is the case with Ms and 10rs. In late years, the last two classes have tended to attract the highly competitive skipper, as opposed to the one who enjoys racing but doesn’t think it’s the end of the world if he drops a few points. Many competitive yachtsmen have moved over to radio and have found it difficult to maintain a high standard in both aspects of racing. This may possibly account for the fall in entries in M and 10r. The strong entries in RM entries may therefore be due to this swing of model yachtsmen to whom racing is the primary attraction, plus of course the number of dinghy sailors whose interest is racing rather than building and who gravitates to the RM class because (a) it is the most popular, so there are more available races, and(b) it is the nearest thing to one-design dinghy racing, in which their experience is likely to have been gained. It would be interesting to be able to study accurate statistics on full-size yachting as to (a) the number of sailing boats in total, (b) the number of yacht club members who own boats, and (c) the number of yacht club boat owners who actively participate in regular racing. Such statistics are unlikely to exist, at least accurately, and if inaccurate they could be coloured, but our own (generous) guess would be (c) 15-20 percent of (b), and (b) at most 5 per cent of (a). Even so, this means quite a few thousand in category (c). What would be even more interesting would be to establish a similar statistical break-down of model yachts. Sales of model yacht plans in, say the last ten years run into five figures, very many of which are 36R and M designs. Corroboration of avery high number is suggested by the number of suits of sails provided by Nylet, Bantock and other commercial suppliers, as well as the parcels of timber for A, 10r and Ms sent out by Punctilio. Then there are the non-class kits — even if the several thousand 575 owners are ignored there must be quite a few hundred larger models 542 (given time and all results lists) to add up how many enter in national and district events. Our guess is that the proportions would be very much the same as those suggested for full-size yachting. The difference is, of course, that our numbers are very much fewer throughout. Model Yachting Association — Nationals Results 36R Phantom Rasberry Blower The Cat in the Hat Ursus Horribilis The Spider Toccata Shy Tot 88 86 68 60 59 59 M Stollery-Axle Creed-O/D Stollery Bloodaxe Bantock-Heartbeat Shepherd-Reflection Sykes-Sula 114 14:2 98 94 94 93 M. Roberts, Birkenhead C. Somers, Bournville K. Roberts, Birkenhead K. Butler, Bournville P. J. Somers, Bournville A. Austin, Guildford 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 5. 1. A. Austin 3. M. Roberts 4. G. Bantock 4. D. Latham 6. H. Dovey 2. W. H. Jones M. J. Harris M. Dovey M. Roberts J. Wheildon N. Fish 1. 3. 4. 5. 6. 75 Tip? 61 61 61 48 Pimpernel Mr. Rusty Boost Thin Thing Monsoon Triplane 10-rater 2. A. Austin A Team Rd.1 Rd.2 Total Team 73 53), 54), 126% 49), 109 43), 961, 41 36 28 43), 77 K1119 Sundance K1075 Venceremos 2. Birkenhead K1131 Quick M. Harris K. Butler K. Roberts 38 19 29 3. Bournville V. Bellerson 26. F. percival B. Barber 30 35 34), 251 24 23 31% 24, 23 C. Hartland R. Williams P. Lock 18 11 22″ 18 17 21 1. Bournville A K1132 K1130 K1065 M. Roberts Step Orion Red Pepper K1157 Miwvi Ballerina Executioner Frustration K996 6. Birmingham A K1156 Sand Piper Mal de Mer K983 R10R 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. J. Cleave T. Owens C. Dicks S. Kay T. Saltonstall 53 71% 36%, 48), 51%, 61% B. Jackson B. Ladkin D. Nixon C. Colsell 1. T. Klem 23 59%, 30%, C. Dicks RM 18 119% 65 24%, 1. R. Smith 3. 4. 5. 6. 19 D. Knowles 5. Birmingham B K950 28 H. Dovey 4. Leeds and Bradford K1088 41 24.25 34.75 37.25 40.75 41.5 43.75 Suzy Q O/D Netsuki Flo Deception TC4 Spirit Ashanti Japanese Trapper Deception Sea Horse Norsk Modellseil- forening New Forest Danson Clapham Ashton Cleveland Model Boats
