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AN ARGUS SPECIALIST PUBLICATION FEBRUARY 1991 £1.65 Robbe’s Sea Wolf In depth! review Kiasis = VOr WS il UN ilere ter DIAGRAM 1 WINDWARD MARK > THE BANK (WHICH AT GOSPORT IS A CONCRETE WALL PROTECTED BY WOODEN RUNNING PLANKS AT WATER LEVEL- RISING ABOUT A FOOT HIGHER THAN WATER LEVEL). a / a / / / peg A / / fa of 6 4 ele / ei C / ‘ / ‘ / ey P / f / / / \ eee aa ns gt ‘ \ ¢ $ af -7 o”o) ‘ . y ¢ 4 ’ \ 7 at Z ~ 4 2 3 Ys ¢ ‘ 7 Me 2 aS se. pr Ras , 4 / ae a ~~ > > : fas? e D 3‘ sito A = “aa aos a / , / yf reached across to the wing mark, rounded that to port and reached down to the leeward mark, again we rounded that to port before starting the long beat up to windward. We have taken a long time covering this particular beat because it is on the windward beat that much of the action takes place. I think it is fair to say that Back to the race Now let’s rejoin the imaginary race we are in. We are yacht C in a small fleet of just five radio controlled yachts racing around an Olympic type of course, usually known as a triangle and sausage in this country. We are fighting our way up the second beat. That is towards the windward mark for the second FEBRUARY 1991 s 7 Controlled Sailing Yacht Rules Championships and last month’s excellent Christmas Quiz and it’s fine prizes – the winners will be announced in the next issue. 4» —“– ra time. So far we have started, beaten up the first windward beat, rounded the windward mark, enjoyed the article on the World % rg / An explanation of the Radio ere we are at the eighth article in a long series that is concentrating upon explaining the sailing rules as applicable to Radio Controlled Model Yacht Racing and in particular the application of those rules from both defensive and attacking points of view. I hope you a ¢ sh,” — by Nick Weall — Part Eight be > mS 1 A ¢ ‘ / yee / / / / 7 ate is 2 ¢ at 4 7S. \ Nee / / ie Ps Wis ee a2 ipe* 7 4 (pe ¢ / / -T ..4 ys eo” ee oe! 4 \ Pe / i 4 / yt ff ; 3.1 rere / / / WIND eusnan / / / ‘ +h / Zo H / / 4 if fd / A. 4 4″ 4 / more positions are won or lost on the windward beat than anywhere else. At the end of the last article we had bounced off the bank at Gosport tacking on to starboard with yachts D and A in front of us but to leeward. We have a slight overlap on D and feel confident that we could hold command over the pair of them right up to the windward mark. Diagram 1 should refresh your memories! Yachts X and B are some little away ahead on the same tack and also to leeward with B clear ahead and to windward of X. At present B and X do not need to be considered, but D and A most certainly do. More by luck than judgment we as yacht C have managed to get into a good position. Whilst we only just have an overlap on at present, we most certainly do hold command over yachts D and A because neither yacht is going to be able to tack to starboard as long as we can retain the relative positions of all three yachts. At present D most certainly cannot tack to starboard because she would be guilty of breaking rule 41.1 Basic Rule “A yacht that is either tacking or gybing shall keep clear of a yacht on a tack”. Likewise A cannot tack to starboard in the water of D, so both Aand D at present will have to wait until C tacks to starboard before being able to follow suite. Needless to say neither yacht D or yacht A are going to feel too happy about this situation and they will want to try to extract themselves from this predicament as soon as possible. If they could manage to get clear ahead of C and to windward they would then be able to tack to starboard to lay the approaching windward mark when it suited them rather than when it suited C. C needs to be aware of this possibility and prepared to meet any squeezing up to windward by D and A with a similar squeezing up to windward herself. In this kind of situation the winner is often going to be the boat that can point highest to wind whilst retaining reasonable boat speed. The other way of A and D pushing themselves into a clear ahead and to 37 It is very easy to write that! How easy is it in fact to calculate that you have reached the layline on either tack? Looking at boats I see sailing on the water I would say not very easy. DIAGRAM 3 “AS WE NEAR THE WINDWARD MARK, C’s ONLY OPTION IS TO HOLD COMMAND OVER D & A BY KEEPING TO WINDWARD OF THEM “THEREBY D & A CANNOT TACK TO STARBOARD UNTIL C DECIDES TO DO SO. TO LAY THE MARK.” Ail too often I see yachts tacking before they havé properly reached the layline and then / / / windward position of C is by a series of little luffs, trying to push C clear astern and at the same time gain distance to windward of C. Again C must be prepared for luffing tactics to be employed against her. The only way she has of stopping D from luffing her up, is to bear off very slightly to gain relative speed over D and to try and establish a quick mast abeam stem position at which stage she can curtail D’s luffing chances. She might then be able to retain speed to go on to do the same to A. This however is a very difficult manoeuvre and not likely to be accomplished by a novice since it requires good spatial judgment and that only comes with plenty of racing experience. However there is nothing to stop C just trundling along behind D and A but slightly to windward. As long as she can retain that windward position relative to D and A they are not going to be able to tack to starboard to lay the windward mark until C chooses to let them. In that situation the only let out for A and D will be if X and B cross their paths near to the windward mark on starboard forcing A and D to tack to starboard to give way to them. In that situation A would call for water to tack to miss an obstruction to D and D would in turn call for water to tack to give water to A who requires to tack to miss an obstruction; the obstruction being two approaching yachts on a converging starboard tack, X & B. This still might not help D and A too much because such a situation would almost certainly put A, D and C all to the starboard tack before they ~ were able to lay the windward mark. Thus all three would need to tack back to port to approach the mark again and C could easily 8 IS ON STARBOARD RBO ON THE “STARBOARD LAYLINE” Is SLIGHTLY TO WINDWARD X IS OF 8 AND CLEAR ASTERN the moment she reaches the starboard layline; that way she will not be slowed down by putting in two extra tacks, although of course she will have lost some distance to windward by ducking under D and A’s sterns. As it happens that alternative is removed from C’s consideration as A, D and C continue on port towards the starboard layline for the windward mark, they plainly see yacht B sailing up the layline on starboard. Diagram 3 sets the scene. Off the diagram but in sight of A,D and C is yacht X slightly to windward and clear astern of B also on starboard. C is four clear boat lengths away at least from the starboard layline by which time both B and X will have cleared that section of line with B at the mark.Thus as already written C’s only hope is to hold that vital command over D and A. With the short distance left to go before reaching the starboard layline in this instance it will not be a problem. So C now concentrates on making sure that she has reached the layline before tacking. DIAGRAM 4 have to pinch up to try and struggle round the mark. This is an expensive mistake firstly because other yachts that have calculated their layline tack correctly or even gone a little higher than their layline before tacking will simply sail round the pinching yacht with better speed and gain places. The other danger for the pinching yacht is that she does not pinch up quite high enough and finds herself hitting the mark or even worse laying on the mark with no way on. To lie on the mark with no way on is almost certainly going to put you firmly at the back of the fleet. We all have done it in our time and learnt the consequences. So let us try to avoid doing it in the first place. Take a look at diagram five. The diagram shows two yachts sailing close hauled at forty five degrees to the wind. Each skipper as he is sailing his yacht projects a line straight along his yacht’s transom (that’s at the stern or back of the yacht). That projected line should thus be at right angles to the course of the yacht through the water. Yacht B’s projected line is still the wrong side of the mark. Yacht A’s projected line though has just passed the mark on the side it is to be rounded (mark left to port), therefore the Skipper of A now knows that provided the wind does not shift or bend he should be able to lay the mark in one. Thus he or she smoothly tacks and proceeds with speed towards the mark. You get no prizes for seriously overlaying the mark, that is sailing well beyond the laymark before tacking, because it allows yachts behind you to come up and lay the mark correctly and gain an inside overlap over you and thus you lose yet another place! Neither do you get any prizes for tacking that little bit too soon and find you have to continually pinch up to try and lay the mark in one! If you do make the mistake of tacking that little bit too soon or the wind shifts a bit after you have tacked and you find you can no longer quite lay the mark don’t panic! Concentrate on gaining the best boat speed you can in the conditions and accelerate towards the mark or slightly to leeward of the “OVERLAPS ETC.” DIRECTION OF NEXT MARK 4 BOAT LENGTHS WIND ———— ® LEAVE MARK TO PORT! regain her position of command over D and A. Thus it would be more likely that A and D whilst on’port tack meeting X and B on starboard tack would simply duck underneath X and B’s stern. In which case they would be obliged to allow enough water for C to also duck under the sterns of X and B. Does C have any alternative plan to gain places by the time she reaches the windward mark? Not that I can think of. The only alternative plan that might be considered is that if D and A do get put about on to starboard before they can lay the windward mark by X and B, then C ought to consider ducking under the sterns of D and C and tacking to starboard 38 MODEL BOATS they somehow gain extra speed than 2. They would have to pass 2 to windward and keep clear of her. If that did happen then yacht 2 DIAGRAM 5 CACULATING THE LAYLINE PROJECT A LINE STRAIGHT ACROSS YOUR TRANSON (STERN) THIS LINE SHOULD THEN BE AT RIGHT ANGLES TO YOUR COURSE. WHEN THAT PROJECTED LINE PASSES THE*MARK ON THE SIDE TO BE PASSED YOU ARE SLIGHTLY BEYOND YOUR “LAYLINE” FOR THE MARK. would be quite entitled to luff them up as violently as she likes at any stage during the rounding of the mark until yacht 3 or 4 had called mast abeam stem. Yacht 1 at present is obliged under rule 36.; rule 42 does not come into play until yacht 1 tacks to starboard, because the rule only applies to yachts on the same tack when the yachts involved are on the beat. If yacht 1 wishes to tack to starboard and under yacht 2’s port bow, she must execute her tack so as 2 does not have to alter course to miss 1 until after 1 has completed her tack. Once 1 has completed her tack 2 must try to keep clear. If yacht 1 has completed her tack with yacht 2 clear astern or behind mast abeam stem position, then yacht 2 had better look out, because once 1 has given 2 room and opportunity to keep clear she may luff as hard as she cares. “ mark. At the last moment before hitting the mark luff up and use the momentum of the yacht to carry you round, ease the sails out just a touch at the same time. If there are yachts to windward of you and you have an overlap it is best to give them warning of your intentions so as they keep clear. What ever you do in that situation do not tack to port, or you are likely to be in big trouble! If there are no other yachts around at the time it does not matter of course, you will just lose a little time and distance over those yachts you are trying to overhaul and any yachts astern of you will come that little bit closer! The same trick of projecting the line over the transom can be used to calculate if you are being headed or lifted by the wind whilst beating up towards the windward mark. In this situation if the projected line ends up nearer towards the mark than your projected course line you are being headed! That is you are sailing further away from the mark than you would be if you tacked. If your course line projection ends up nearer to the mark than the transom line then you are being lifted. That is you are sailing more directly towards the mark than if you were on the other tack. If there is no difference between either projected lines distance from the mark then the wind is blowing in the same direction as the course layer planned. These very basic geometric tricks can gain you more places than you can imagine if you use them correctly. Do make careful note of them and go out and try them. You must get them into your head! No doubt some of my more experienced readers will be dying to point out to me that a modern Radio Marblehead points much higher to wind than forty five degrees. So it does, but we are looking at ways at this stage of helping sailed by B and X to the mark. OnceC is in the middle of their wakes he is pretty sure to be on or above the layline to the windward mark. (Provided of course that B and X got round it without pinching!) If C had seen B and X pinching up to round the mark he would be well advised to sail on a little further before . tacking to lay the mark so as he does not experience the same problem. Now we are approaching at long last another mark we have to try and remember all about overlaps and who does what at marks. The easy bit to remember perhaps about overlaps and all that is…. if you are the inside yacht at the four boat length’s magic circle all those boats on the outside of you have to give you room to round the mark. Diagram 4 helps to show what I mean. Yacht 4 is inside of yacht 3 at the four boat’s length from the mark. Even if yacht 3 now pulls ahead she must still give yacht 4 room at the mark if required. The yacht 2 is clear ahead of yachts 3 and 4. Yachts 3 and 4 cannot get an overlap on 2 now even if If yacht 1 had managed to cross yacht 2’s bow on port before tacking to starboard, and yacht 2 was unable to avoid establishing a late inside overlap, then 1 would have to give that overlap to 2 and leave room for 2 to round the mark inside 1. Yacht 2 only has to respond once 1’s tack has been completed; if she can avoid 1 by slowing down or luffing to windward she must. It is only if she is travelling at a speed greater than 1 and to leeward of 1 that she can legitimately call and gain that late inside overlap. If 1 tries to shut the door on 2, 2 should hit 1 rather than hitting the mark and should protest 1 loudly twice.Do not go the wrong side of the mark and simply protest 1, it will cost you places and the best you can expect is to get 1 disqualified. Yachts 3 and 4 must keep clear of 2 whilst 2 rounds the mark. Now let’s look at the whole situation again at the windward mark but this time leaving the mark to starboard. Believe me it is a whole different game, with much more potential for incidents to develop! Diagram 6 sets the scene. Yacht A is clear astern of B and thus enjoys no overlap as inside boat BUT….under rule 42.2(c) A yacht clear ahead that tacks to round a mark is subject to Rule 41 Changing tacks — Tacking and Gybing. That is the rub, because DIAGRAM 6 ““OVERLAPS crc.“ 4 BOAT LENGTHs ~oy—— \ \, \ LEAVE MARK \ STARBOARD! DIRECTION OF NEXT MARK! the newcomer to our marvellous sport enjoy the basics of racing and in particular to start to enjoy beating the odd boat on the water. As time passes we can refine the geometry to suit the particular yachts pointing ability. Every yacht and every Skipper will perform slightly differently and in the end the successful Skipper knows his yacht and his own capabilities well. The other obvious bit of information available to our intrepid Skipper of C in the current situation is the course that has been FEBRUARY 1991 39 A now holds command over B! B although clear ahead cannot tack to port to round the mark if by doing so she gets in the way of A. Yacht A under rule 42.2(b) A yacht clear astern shall not luff above close-hauled so as to prevent a yacht clear ahead from tacking to round a mark, has certain oblizations, but she has no need in the situation set out in Diagram 6 to luff up at all, B dare not tack until A has tacked, thus A takes the lead even though she was clear astern. The next point to consider is C’s situation, she cannot cross the bows of starboard tack B thus she has to tack to starboard; whilst tacking she comes under rule 41 – she must keep clear of B until her tack is completed. B does not even have to begin to take avoiding action until C’s tack is complete, at which stage she shall take immediate action to keep clear. the leeward mark WITHOUT AN OVERLAP established at the four boat lengths!!! Advice Spot I’d now like to reproduce a letter I have received from Roy Howe in South Africa and my reply to the same. The adviceI offer is made bearing very much in mind Roy’s statement that he races inland and enjoys mainly light winds. Dear Nick, It is with great interest that I am following your series in Model Boats every month. I must explain to you that there are no boats with Swing Rigs or Rotating masts competing in South Africa that I know of, and I feel that after seeing the results in Europe I would like to purchase a really competitive boat, be it from France, England or Germany. You can Answer to August 1990’s pictorial question. Five hulls can easily be spotted and… In the situation shown in Diagram 6, C has no choice except to tack immediately, B will have no choice except to gain an inside overlap within the four boat circle under rule 42.3. (a)ii; this is an important section of rule 42 that can be used to advantage at starboard windward mark rounding, it is more difficult to use it on port windward mark roundings because the key word in the rule clause is luffing. I reproduce the rule section which comes under 42.3 Limitations on establishing an overlap. A yacht that establishes an inside overlap from clear astern is entitled to room under rule 42.1(a) only when, at that time, the outside yacht:- (i) is able to give room, and is more than four of her overall lengths from the mark or obstruction. However when a yacht completes a tack within four of her overall lengths of a mark or obstruction, she shall give room as required by rule 42.1(a) to a yacht that, by LUFFING cannot thereafter avoid establishing a late inside overlap. Thus with a little bit of thought or perhaps an awful lot of careful thought it should be clear to one and all that different strategies and tactics need to be employed when approaching and rounding starboard windward marks. We will be covering this in more detail at intermediate and advanced levels, for now,we have covered the basics and given you food for thought. Hopefully you may now havea little bit more understanding of what goes on around the windward mark. Going back to our race for a minute for any one who hadn’t guessed we leave the race with B in first place having X hot on her heels and then C leading D and A round the windward mark and onto the running leg straight before the wind and down to the leeward mark. Next month we’ll be covering that leg and discussing more tactics for rounding leeward marks plus how to handle bargers – those naughty skippers who go charging in where angels fear to try – inside at 40 understand that I do not know the difference between a Swing Rig and a rotating mast. Your advice is sorely needed here. I would like to add that I race inland where we have mainly light winds. Looking forward to hearing from you with regard to selection of boat and rigging. etc etc. Roy also enclosed a stamped addressed envelope for my reply. I felt that the reply might be of interest to more readers so here it is. Dear Roy, Thank you for your letter of the 2nd August 1990 and please accept my apologies for the delay in starting to reply to it. | have however been away attending the 7th RM World Championships at Fleetwood where I was on the Protest Committee. As it happens it has turned out to be to your benefit since I have now seen the best yachts in the world competing and I am thus now ina better position to answer your question than before. I enclose various bits and pieces of information that may help you to make your mind up. I only saw a proper rotating mast for the first time at Fleetwood. I used to use a partially rotating mast some years ago, but Janusz Walicki has perfected a design that solves the problems I used to have. The advantage of the rotating mast is that it allows a proper airfoil section of groovy mast to swing across from left to right to allow a perfect sail shape to be maintained. The trouble with ordinary groovy mast that is just held steady in line bow to stern is that as the mainsail swings out to a running position there is distortion in the leading edge of the sail. This to my mind makes an awful shape and I have always preferred to simply use ring ties to hold the mainsail to the mast. I think you get a better shape doing that. The trouble with rotating masts is that in very light airs they may not rotate! I was so busy in the protest room at Fleetwood that I did not have the opportunity to study the yachts at Fleetwood that were using rotating masts in whisper light air conditions. I wish I had! A rotating mast is only used as far as I am aware on conventional type rigs. The reason for this is that the top bearing for the mast to rotate in is held in place by a mast crane that extends fore and aft and it in turn has a back stay and a fore stay attached. The mounting point for the jib and jib stay isa little metal gizmo that also is pivoted on the front of the rotating mast. That means there are three pivoting points for the mast. This worries me slightly as every pivot point is an area of resistance to turning. It is a system well worth looking at though, especially if you like conventional rigs. I use swing rigs for two top A rigs and for my intermediate full area swing rig. For whisper light winds I have an extremely light weight rig and flimsy sails made for me by P.J. Sails of Poole. The mast is tapered carbon fibre and can also be purchased from P.J. Sails as can the fittings. I keep the fittings to a minimum on this light weight set so as to keep the resistance to turning in a very light wind to a minimum. The major advantage of the swing rig in my humble opinion is that it gets your sails straight out and driving as you come off a close hauled course and off the wind. In contrast the conventional rig always requires that little “wiggle” of the hull to throw the jib out on the opposite side to the main to get full drive going. That little wiggle slows you down marginally and it might take a second or two longer for the conventional rig to get set. Apparently Janusz Walicki has on his conventional rig a method of moving the jib further out so as to catch the wind better by having the jib less blanketed by the main. Since you are sailing inland and say that you experience mainly light winds it is well worth you investigating the Walicki solution in depth. I suspect that it is complicated and consequently more expensive than the swing rig solution and not necessarily any better. The overall results of the Worlds would tend to suggest that you would be better off with a more simple swing rig system using either Graham Bantock as a supplier or Peter Wiles of P.J. Sails. Again when we come to the choice of a boat it is difficult to escape the conclusion that a Bantock boat is likely to be a good choice. It must be said however that the Enigma design is at its weakest in very light airs. That still does not stop me from winning races with it in those conditions nor of course does it stop Graham Bantock or a host of others. If you could get a carbon fibre Mystick from the Graham Bantock stable that would be a good hull too. It could well be worth looking very closely at Jon Elmaleh’s new design Pinter 2. That boat was exceedingly slippery in light winds. The rudder design possibly needs improving since in heavier airs it is possibly hard to control. Jon is aware of that and is no doubt working on it right now. I sailed his boat in a couple of light wind races on the Saturday after the Worlds against a World class fleet and I can assure you that I was impressed. In fact if I was only operating in light airs that would be the boat for me. I think you could wipe out all the competition standing on your head, provided you have got good tactical knowledge and an experience of sympathetic gentle light wind boat handling. Jon’s address is 61, Greenpoint Av, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11222. U.S.A. It is perhaps worth pointing out that the only Walicki rotating rig in the top ten was Janusz’s the next highest was nineteenth. Remember that was at a Championship where we had two MODEL BOATS out of six days with very light winds, two with force three or so and two days of force five to six. Jon Elmaleh had continuing radio problems which distorts his final position of seventeenth. At one stage early on he was way down in the fleets, only starting to claw his way up as the winds eased off on the third day. So in conclusion Jon Elmaleh should be your designer, you should use swing rigs for your top and intermediate rigs. You would then be well advised to go to stayless conventional and if you do make sure that you use a system that allows the forward supporting boom to be fixed to the deck or simply do away with the forward support boom and have a hook and swivel mounting from the jib boom to hook to an eye mounted on the fore deck. Carbon fibre masts are a must, preferably tapered, ring mounted mains and compression struts for kicking straps. Graham Bantock, Peter Wiles or Jon could all supply you with most of your requirements. If you do go to Jon make sure that he knows if you want a second tube for a stayless conventional rig so as he can advise you of its most suitable position. Any more questions then write again and I certainly want to hear from you next year to hear how you get on. Do remember however that you cannot simply buy speed, you have to have or develop the experience to get the best out of any boat. If you already have that then go ahead, if you don’t then remember that if you invest in a new boat as recommended it will most definitely have the potential to win; it will be up to you if it will or not be allowed to. The very best of luck. Nick Weall All correct! The time has now come to reveal the answer to the photographic question in the August issue. Every answer got it right! I thought it wasa little difficult, perhaps I was wrong, although I did get one or two people come up to me and say well the answer is obvious! Anyone can see that there are four boats there! Let me reproduce the winning letter plucked out of the air from Henry Farley: Dear Nick, The solution to your problem is absolutely obvious. The answer must be four boats. But hang on, that is so obvious that there must be a catch! Could they all be going away from the mark? Are they all goose-winged with the wind behind them? Looking a bit more carefully reveals that the view is not all that different from the other photos so they are all approaching the mark. So how many boats are there? What is that “lump” under the jib boom of the boat apparently second from the left? Must be another hull; that makes five. What about the “line” on the water beyond the right hand boat? Perhaps a wake? So let’s say there are six boats with two of them hidden by the other four. Congratulations Henry you have highlighted the thoughts that ought to be going through a Skipper’s head as he meets that situation on the water (mind you only if he has not been paying attention before getting to that situation!). Spare a thought for the two Skippers who were frantically trying to see what on earth their beloved boats were doing. Dare they turn to round the mark or not? A big hello to Sverre Dahl from Norway who got it right again together with lots of U.K Skippers. Leech and Roach In reply to R.E.Smith’s letter from FEBRUARY 1991 Woodbridge in Suffolk, many thanks for your congratulations and kind words. More thanks for your constructive questions relating to diagram eight on page 57 of the September issue. Leech and roach got me scurrying to my two volume Oxford Dictionary on historic principals! Which may not be the best place to look up these two words, but I thought their origins could be interesting. Roach is defined as: An upward curve cut in the foot of a square sail! 1794 Naut! Leech: The perpendicular or sloping side of a sail! Naut. So both words have changeda bit in their use over the centuries. Mr. Smith defines the leech as being the aftermost edge of the sail and goes on to suggest that the roach would be the amount of curve in the leech in relation to the straight line between the clew and the head. Well Mr. Smith I’d certainly agree that the roach of a sail these days is that curved section you define and I’d certainly agree that the leech is around the rear edge ofa sail. Mr. Smith goes on to point out that the topping lift and up-haul are not synonymous with terms generally used in full-sized craft. I’d have to agree, he is quite correct to tell me that the topping lift is usually attached to the main boom end and that its purpose is to take the weight of the boom when the mainsail is being raised or lowered. It continues to take the weight of the boom when the main is completed lowered and secured as well. As model yachtsman however we have the singular advantage of being able to reach the top of the mast with our hands, we do not need to support our main boom, we do need, or some of us do need to introduce tension into the mainsail luff from either the top of the mast or the bottom. Perhaps we should scrap the word topping lift and simply retain uphaul so as to avoid confusion. Lastly Mr. Smith feels that I have perhaps understated the value of the kicking strap and for that I apologise because it is one of the most valuable pieces of equipment ever invented. Just out of interest it was first developed and used on model yachts! Mr Smith goes on to write that its great value in …Hey Presto, another was beneficial for maximum drive. There is nothing worse than seeing either a model or a full sized yacht flogging along with too much twist in its sails, the kicking strap can control that. Thanks Mr. Smith for raising these points. I apologise for misleading anyone, but would lastly just point out that there are minor differences in usage of some nautical type terms in Models as opposed to full size and also from Windsurfers to full sized because access to the mast head in both situations is easily gained by hand rather than by halliards. I notice that Graham Bantock refers in an old set of tuning instructions to what I call the lifting strap for the jib as the jib leech line (correctly the topping lift), so I reckon he agrees with you Mr. Smith on that one. Lastly some Swing Rigs do without kicking straps relying on the strength of the boom to resist any attempt by the wind to distort the sail shape. Personally I do not like that system. I far prefer to use a compression strut instead that acts just like a kicking strap, being mounted above the main boom and angled up to the mast it acts in compression rather that in tension as the kicking strap does. Thanks for your letter once again Mr.Smith, anyone else who notices anything wrong please write in. Lastly a little quote from Colin Hayes who always enters the monthly quiz and has even won it once to date! ‘l particularly enjoy your questions at the end of each article, please continue with them. They make you use the little grey cells’. In my opinion, there always seems to be more than one soJution to your puzzles or maybe there is only one solution and it is my inexperience that tricks me into believing that there are more. Anyway, I really do enjoy trying to solve them. It certainly has taught me a considerable amount about the rules, racing and yacht behaviour, as I do not own a yacht at present. In fact before I started reading your articles I was totally unaware of what was involved in ‘yachting’, i.e. rules, racing etc. Now I’m hooked, so you have one convert, many thanks!’ l one springs into view, making six the correct answer. Photos: Nick Weail. full sized yachts is to prevent undue lifting of the main boom when gybing and so preventing the boom end fouling the backstay. Yes I think Mr. Smith is absolutely right I have definitely understated the use in model yachting of the kicking strap or vang. I just wrote that it was used to introduce twist into the mainsail and that is not entirely correct, especially when using swing rigs! Twist in the main can also be introduced by the tension of the backstay. Twist in the mainsail can be altered by the tension in the forestay, jib stay and mast shape. The major job for the kicking strap in my opinion is in retaining the amount of twist you have introduced by whatever means as the wind pressure on the sail fluctuates. Without a kicking strap, as the wind increased it would have the effect of introducing more twist in the mainsail than Thank you Colin. It is time to wrap this article up with this month’s little poser. Two yachts at the front of the A racing fleet are approaching the windward mark for the first time. The mark has to be left to the yacht’s starboard side. Both yachts are on starboard and will have to tack to port as they round the mark. The leeward yacht of the pair comes to the mark and tacks to port when suddenly to his horror he sees a yacht coming round the mark in the opposite direction on starboard from the other side. The other leading yacht was so used to doing proper port roundings that it forgot the direction it was meant to round this particular mark. Needless to say the two yachts collide. Who has to go away and do turns? As usual the best presented answer will earn its writer a little prize. 41
