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MODE wKi’7s TOP SELLER AVY 7 AAS a5 “3 Ministeam a new ‘basic’ class for steam enthusiasts = REPORTS K4 Bluebird Fast electric or static – and different! JINN i. =. thickness. This bumper may be made of unvarnished/unpainted cork or “rubber”. Just two radio channels are allowed for control. 2. Appendages. These are the fin and rudder only. The construction is free. The thickness of the fin must be greater than 5/16in just below the hull and not less than 3/16in just above the lead. The total length of the fin and lead must not exceed 19ins (measured from the bottom of the hull to the bottom of the lead). 3. The Rigs. The mast and booms may be made only of wood or metal Carbon is banned. They must be round. The booms must be not more than 1/2in in diameter whilst the masts must not be larger than 3/4in in diameter. Only three rigs are permitted and must be of a conventional Bermudan type. Swing rigs are banned. No carbon is allowed above the deck with the exception of the battens, see below. Kicking straps must only work Sheet1 Ria A ESka 14 72.25 RiaB 58.5 14 60.25 d 0.75 0.75 0.75 e f 2 2.5 2 2.5 2 2.5 h j 1 15 k | m 52 49.5 el 0.75 15 44.5 41.5 RES 0.5 15 31.5 28 1.25 2 b | C2 9g n 2 15 | | | RigC 39.25 14 41.25 2 2 8s 12.5; a v6 in tension i.e. compression struts are banned. Drawings and measurements of the three standard rigs are given below. The measurements given will be Maximum, sails of smaller dimensions may be used instead. N.B. the luff curve on the main must be a continuous curve. All other edges are st straight. The sail maker is required to put a mark on the straight main luff to indicate where the maximum luff curve is situated. Battens may be used (which may be made of carbon), three x Page 1 and aft cargo holds. In all this I hope to include R/C equipment, a cycle battery, and I think a Decaperm motor, (I had considered live steam), but decided electric more appropriate for a project of such complexity. The propshaft and 3in bronze prop are in place, and next step should be glassing the hull, but I need to work out a plating technique as part of this step. Ideas would be greatly appreciated, as would perhaps more information on Tramp Steamers including interior appearances. Carl W. Jacobsen Solvang California The “Club Marblehead” or “Formula 2 Marblehead” Dear Sir, It seems clear that the current International.Class Marblehead is in dire trouble in this country due to the lack of people participating in the various scheduled races, e.g. 24 in the National Championships and 14 in the Race of Champions in1996. Unless something is done the class will disappear from the actively raced scene. Certainly, many Clubs do not race them any more since the home made yacht is no longer competitive with the Hi-tech yachts now being raced by the top 24 in the country. Many Clubs do not have water sufficiently deep to take the unrestricted draft of the current class. MODEL BOATS AUGUST 96 Only Ashton Quays, Doncaster and Fleetwood in the Northern District can sail these without any fear of grounding. The 1 metre has been successful with three rigs and fairly cheap hulls and perhaps this is the way to go for the Marblehead. Hence the intention of the MII class Marblehead is to encourage the construction of home built or cheap hulls excluding the use of Hi-tech materials such as carbon and Kevlar. Likewise by restricting the rigs to three, with similar restrictions as for the 1 Metre, seems the way to go. The type of fin needs some restriction in draft as well as thickness – the thinner the fin the more cost. Finally the total weight needs restricting to avoid lightweight hulls taking over this proposed class. Development may continue in the rigs, sails, hulls and the foils as now but within the new parameters. Rules for a suggested Club Marblehead yacht These rules are not intended to replace the current M class rules. They are intended to give the normal Club yachter a chance to race his M. 1. The Hull. This can only be made of wood, glass fibre (using epoxy or polyester resin) paint and/or varnish. It must be a mono hull whose overall length must be not more than 50.75ins but not less than 50.0ins and incorporate a bumper of at least 1/2in for the main, two for the jib up to 4ins long. Measurement ‘n’ is the minimum distance from the top of the main sail to the attachment point of the jib stay to the mast. The same material is to be used throughout a suit. Extra panels are not allowed. 4. The class insignia will be MII or IIM so that they may be placed back to back in the top panel of the mainsail. Sail numbers will be of two digits only and must be placed on both sides of the jib and main, starboard side being the higher. Size of numbers to be at least 3ins high with the width to a reasonably corresponding size. Spacing between opposite sides of the sails is left to the skipper/builder/sailmaker! Leave sufficient space in front of the number to add a T in front if there are clashes. Place the numbers on the main in the third panel from the bottom- on the jib in the bottom panel. (N.B. four panels for the main, three for the jib). Yacht numbers are available from the registrar, personal numbers are not allowed. 5. Total weight, including radio, to be at least 12Ibs with rig A. The ballast lead is not to weigh more than two thirds of the total weight. N.B. Any person who attempts to sail a yacht which is intended to breach these simple rules will be banned from taking part in the class. Any Club measurer should be capable of measuring any yacht in this class. A. Youd ‘Silverstone’ Stoneygate Lane Ribchester Preston PR3 3YN Dimarcha Dear Sir, I am contemplating building a model of Vosper’s motor yacht Dimarcha built in the early 60’s for Commander Peter du Cane as a test vessel. I have an original copy of the December 1965 issue of Model Boats, along with the free plan, in which the yacht was featured. If any readers have information, articles and in particular detail photographs of the yacht, I would be most grateful. Any items forwarded would of course be returned. S Beardsmore 7 Quarry Lane Red Lake Telford Shropshire TF1 4EE Los Angeles submarine Dear Sir, I can find no plans listed for a Los Angeles class SSN 688 submarine, built in 1976, or SSN 709 Alias Hyman G Rickover. If anyone can assist I would be most obliged. James Selfridge 29 Hughenden Gardens Northolt Middlesex UB5 6LB Trawlers pics and car power Dear Sir, I am an avid reader of MB and was wondering if readers can help me. I am at present trying to build a wooden steam drifter loosely based on Model Maker plans No. PB22, however I wish to complete it as a WWII type auxiliary minesweeper. The problem is that information on this type of boat out here is scant to say the least, and although I have many pictures of steam drifters as they were originally, I have only two rather indistinct photos of them in their wartime role, as well as a book called ‘Trawlers go to war’, alas no pictures! Perhaps some readers may have served on these boats and may know first hand how they were fitted out, or someone might have a photograph. Any help would be appreciated and any costs incurred. Any reader building one of these boats might find the following of interets. I experimented with various motors and quite by chance found that a heater/blower motor from a Honda Civic driven via belt drive on a 1:1 ratio, produces scale speed and heaps of torque, as well as being very quiet. I am using the correct scale three-bladed propeller. Iam sure this set up would work on any large 46in plus displacement hull. Martin Whitehead 18 Bahama Avenue Alstonville NSW 2477 Australia Is there a niche in the market? Dear Sir, For sometime nowI have had a Stuart Turner Triple and a D10 steam engine, and I would like to make a model to take such steam plants, however there does not seem to be anything on the kit market to accommodate this sort of scale, i.e., 1/2in to the foot. I am aware of Fleetscale’s SS Moygannon whichI will be checking out, however I feel there is room for more. IfI can make a suggestion, for instance a Chimeara Pilot Cutter at lin to 1 ft would give good access, and when 30ft out on the lake would look very realistic – or how about a Danny Boy at 1/2in to 1ft? Very nice one small the first mark in the top right hand corner and out to a relatively close wing mark, also at the RADIO YACHTING YACHTS Right: The Midland District One Metre Championship saw number two suit winds at Bournville – which meant we all used number one suit as in Serious and fun regattas this time from MIKE KEMP. The One Metre District Championships – and Fleetwood hosts the first European One Metre Championships – and of course there’s Primrose Valley OS ES ae a, There were several new boats in attendance for this event and quite a bit of ‘midnight-oil’ had been burned in the Harris household to get two of them on the water. Both Chris and father Mike were sporting new ‘Tonic’ designs from Alex Austin with the intention of taking them to the forthcoming Europeans the following weekend. That the yachts were effective there can be no doubt as Chris swept to a runaway victory in this event, ending the day with a total of 1.7 points after one discard. Mike brought the other one into ninth place with forty one point seven, probably suffering the effects of staying up ‘half the night to get them finished and ready to race. Vic Bellerson campaign his new boat ‘Kato’ to his own design. This deceptively simple looking craft with no apparent extremes in its design finished the day in seventh and will also go on to do battle at Fleetwood in a week’s time. I, too, raised a few eyebrows with my new boat to Nigel Gilson’s ‘Dann-3’ design but in the same colours as my old ‘Gopher Gold’ and managed to squeeze it home in third place on it to chalk up one of his last day successes in a good number three suit wind. Championships May 19th was the appointed day for the MYA Districts to conduct their District question, indeed most skippers at the Midland event would probably have been using the number two rig were the event to have taken place anywhere but Bournville. As it was the wind started from the North-eastern corner of the lake where it was suitably shielded and shredded by the trees lining the clubhouse side so that the only viable choice of sail was events last year, restructured their confined to later in the day. One Metre District Championships for the One Metre class. Two of the districts had, following some discussion and suggestions about a new format for these championships into a series of events – shown in the calendar as ‘district ranking events’. Thus, the only one day district events took place in the Scottish, North, Midlands, and Metropolitan and Southern sections; in fact the Scottish district event was billed as a two day event so it would have started on the Saturday 18th. At the time of writing the Scottish results had not been published but I have the others and went along to have a go in the Midlands event so that gets the bulk of the text. It would appear that most of the country had a fair degree of wind during the Sunday in 44 race achievement. wooden boat of a couple of seasons to One Metre – a Nigel Gilson Dann-3. Here Brian Holme was using and facilities. which – considering we sailed the equivalent of a full triangle and sausage utilising the full diagonal length of the lake – was a pretty fair Europeans, and brought it and its new sails launching of my new Bridlington MBS’s purpose built lake provided more wind Consequently we were restricted to seven races for the day, giving twenty one heats, home in fourth place. Tony Edwards from Leicestershire club had forsaken his old Below: Primrose Valley saw completion and Scarborough Mere but although fortunately they were easily viewed from the edge where we were allowed to walk. had fitted a new ‘engine’ to his pale green ‘Crossbow’, again in readiness for the this ‘B’ heat start. Above right: Not as scenic a backdrop as at narrow end of the lake. As it was there were some pretty hectic times at these marks the tall, number one suit. Occasionally a gust got through and overpowered the yachts although these examples were few and Bill Green, our Race Officer for the day, was faced with a thirty five boat entry which under some circumstances could have resulted in a two heat EORS sequence. Unfortunately two things conspired to thwart this possibility, frequencies proved to be the main hurdle as a surprisingly large proportion of the entry was using 27 MHz and required a certain amount of juggling between heats even when there were three of them. With the wind conditions as they were a nineteen boat heat would probably have been a bit of a squeeze as everyone swept in, normally on starboard, to its first outing in my hands – see the Primrose Valley report. Another of these slightly unusual designs appeared in the hands of my Two Islands club colleague, Fred Catt. Unfortunately Fred had a few too many downs during his up and down day of tiggering between heats and finished the day helping to support the whole fleet, from close to the bottom! But this was not before he had demonstrated that his yacht, too, has a fair turn of speed at times; but you must get used to pointing it in the right direction Fred! The meeting was mercifully free from really time-consuming protests and flowed quite nicely although Lisa McKerchar, who was running a totally manual scoring system, was given one or two headaches by skippers who failed to keep their eye on the combined frequency and heat control board. However it was those skippers who normally lost out when they failed to start in a heat they should have been in. As mentioned in previous issues there were one or two instances of rule infringements being ignored or conveniently ‘forgotten about’ on the basis of “if an observer MODEL BOATS AUGUST 96 The prototype 2 Metre yacht sets off on its maiden voyage with its builder, Bill Sykes, at the controls and a large interested audience. + The rule has a sensible limit on the draft. didn’t call it – it didn’t happen”. Such obvious disregard for the rules by which we all agree to sail is a shame and tends to spoil the enjoyment for those who see, and hear, it happen but cannot ‘do’ anything about it. lam sure we all find ourselves involved in incidents at one time or another, sometimes when we feel that we were not: we have to be able to trust that the ‘other’ skipper making a call is doing so because of an incident – not because of an attempt to unfairly disadvantage someone who is ahead. The Bournville lake is known for some fairly strange wind patterns and shadows. As the day progressed and the wind slowly rotated more to the East and strengthened it became increasingly difficult to work out which were the windward and off-wind legs. Midland District One Metres – Top Ten Place Skipper Chris Harris 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th GordonSears Mike Kemp Vic Bellerson Peter Moore Mike Weeks Tony Edwards Dave Mann Mike Harris Mike Plowman Club Bournville Market Bosworth Two Islands drawn to a halt and the ‘committee’ went into session in the measuring room while the rest of us packed away our yachts just before the rains that had been threatening all day finally came. The clubhouse was packed with expectant skippers chatting about the usual topics, and tonics, including the current football performances until Bill and Lisa emerged with a result. Results were woods’ served to provide all sorts of off-beat approaches to the marks; particularly what was nominally the leeward mark. Despite all of this there were many close finishes and a number of frustrating ones where leading yachts suddenly found themselves temporarily slowed within a few boat lengths of the line while following yachts maintained their speed and swept through to a better position. When four o’clock loomed racing was MODEL BOATS AUGUST 96 big heat all day. Met. & Southern District One announced in top-down order for a change, Bill said this was because the top three were Metres assembled prizes (of varying alcoholic content) and he wanted to make sure they the Met. & Southern District event at to be given the chance to pick two each of the had something worth picking! It turned out that the new boats had gone pretty well ‘straight out of the box’ with all of those mentioned getting into the top ten. Score Designer Total 1.7 Design AAustin Metrick Magick C Dicks 2613 NGilson Dann-3 M Dicks 29.7 Crossbow AAustin 32 Tonic Bournville Bubbles Bournville Leicestershire Leicestershire Market Bosworth Bubbles Tonic Bournville Bubbles Bournville The eddies and ‘twirls’ set up by the trees and bushes, and even the back-wind effect of ‘the a duet from Doncaster and Squire Kay sailing his new design ‘Kingfisher’ – there was one of these in the Midland District event also. I have no more information than this although from the size of the fleet and the number of races packed in I suspect that they ‘played’ in one Again only fourteen skippers turned out for Eastbourne where, according to reports, it was blowing hard enough to keep them in number three suits all day. Anthony Corbett came out on top of this group with Chris Dicks in second place, no doubt ‘limbering up’ for his bid for the European title at Fleetwood. A Austin AAustin AAustin = 37.7 41.7 moderate breeze on calm water – the next day would change all that! Just after an ‘A’ heat start, Chris Dicks (33) is well placed to tack off onto port into an unassailable lead: which he did! Design (?????) Designer Club Place Skipper G Bantock d Single Malt 1st Anthony Corbett Guildfor Clapham Metrick Magick C Dicks 2nd Chris Dicks Peter Popham 3rd A Austin Clapham Tonic 4th Rob Vice A Austin 5th Peter Stollery Guildford Tonic Primrose Valley 1996 51 ae Fleetwood! The wind conditions on Thursday often meant sailing in a Met. & Southern District One Metres – Top Five G Bantock 34.7 A Edwards 35.7 Stomp Kato Above top: The One Metre Europeans. Flat The first full week of May is the time when Metres Northern District OneDistrict, the modellers of varying persuasions gather on the North Yorkshire coast at Primrose Valley for the Modeller’s Holiday Week. Sponsored In contrast to the Midland by our publishers in association with Haven North only succeeded in attracting fourteen the event normally sees a pretty skippers to the event hosted by the Platt Fields | Holidaysbunch of people turn up for a chance club. Martin Roberts came out on top ahead of regular Northern District One Metres – Top Five Place 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Skipper Martin Roberts Paul Jones John Bush Squire Kay Tommy Mills Club Birkenhead Doncaster Doncaster Ashton Quays Fleetwood Design Widget Red Wine Metrick Magick Kingfisher Red Wine Designer C Dicks G Bantock C Dicks S Kay G Bantock 45 for the day bringing the latest version of Roy’s ‘Lynx’ One Metre to have a ‘thrash’ on the Thursday of the One jake. One of our number, Tom Akenclose, was also sailing one of Roy’s latest boats the 3 Metre Europeans was the last time they used their number one rigs. plank plywood hull ‘Splinter’. Derived from the ‘Lynx’ it is of very simple construction and, Here Peter Stollery leads the ‘A’ heat away once the wind picks up, a competitive boat. Like many such simplified shapes it seems to lose out in the very light conditions to the rather more rounded shapes achievable by moulding. I had a chance to sail both in the from a typical start. brisk winds of Tuesday and managed to fight my way through to the front of the fleet from a delayed start with both the chined and rounded shapes. Above: The ‘A’ heat do their thing on Fleetwood’s scaffold. See if you can guess who is where by looking at their eyes (no prizes!) Above right: Portuguese entry in the Europeans had a team offour: here Francisco Cunha awaits the next heat with his yacht Ubaidozo VI (13). to indulge themselves in an extended bit of activity in their chosen aspect. As the years go by some new faces appear and, unfortunately, some fail to appear. So it was with the One Metre fleet this year; we were short of two or three of our regular and valued competitors but two or three new faces took their place. The One Metre fleet, or to be more precise the One Metre and Radio 36 inch Restricted fleet, have been going off-site for several years now to free up some of the limited sailing time available on the Primrose Valley site itself and to make use of a larger and generally more suitable piece of water. Since we started this practice we have been able to make use of an arrangement with the Scarborough Model Boat Club to use ‘their’ bit of the picturesque Scarborough Mere. Last year the local club folded and we were still able to get in on the tail end of their occupancy of the Mere although completely devoid of any on-site facilities. This year we took up an offer that had been made in previous years to try out the man made, purpose built, model boating lake operated at Carnaby by the Bridlington Model Boat Society. This 100 yard by 80 yard rectangular lake is approximately 1 metre deep and is usually frequented by multi-racers, hydroplanes and scale boats. In the interests of all three disciplines the society have planted wind-breaking trees all around the lake but, much to their dismay and our immediate pleasure, they have not yet grown to a height where they significantly impede the air flow across the flat moorland in the surrounding countryside. The nearby industrial units also are not close enough to make a significant softening effect on the wind as it approaches the water. The club currently boasts some eighty to ninety members and has a portable, though difficult to move, clubhouse complete with kitchen, lounge area, toilets and closely overlooking car park. All of this made it a relatively civilised venue compared to the admittedly more scenic surroundings of the Mere. Three days of racing were planned, to take place on the Bank Holiday Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. The first day gave us all a chance to sort out where the wind comes from on this new lake with me trying to sort out a ‘best course’ to lay without moving the multicourse marks too much, the big ones had some pretty hefty weights on the bottom. It also gave us chance to sort out some of the rigging and tuning of some of our newer associates. We managed to pack in fourteen races during the first of three intentionally low pressure days where although we endeavour to keep things moving along time is taken out to fix problems should they be preventing someone getting on the water when the start is called. The familiar faces of Jake Kelso from Newcastle and Peter Holmes from Southampton were in front at close of play on Monday with Brentwood member Ian Damant not too far adrift in third place. Tuesday dawned with the promise of rain, but it didn’t materialise although the wind had increased just a bit to make sailing in the usual number one suit just a little more tricky. Before starting sailing on Tuesday we all gathered in the clubhouse to draw for the Teams of Three. Following a competitor led suggestion from the 1995 event we seeded the fleet and drew one part of each team from the top third of the competing fleet, one from the middle third and one from the bottom third. This was in an attempt, successfully, to prevent the random selection of an all-conquering team of ‘experts’ as happened in the previous year. How successful could not have been predicted this early in the proceedings. Another fifteen races were rattled off during Tuesday although one of our number missed out on a chance to sail and I missed out on seeing how my new boat, which I had finished the night before, would sail because I had forgotten to put the sails in the car as I left the holiday village. By the end of the day Peter Holmes had overtaken Jake to climb into a thirteen and a half point lead whilst Jake was managing to stay about seven points clear of Ian Damant who had opened up a twenty two point lead over David Dean. Tuesday also gave us a chance to see and board of Roy Morgan. Roy and Newcastle try the latest in the line of boats from the Model Shop man Jim Fewster had come down After racing we had a chance to examine the insides of the moulded version to reveal that it is produced using a twill weave glass cloth with a clear gel coat and resin, so would need to be painted because it is a very clear moulding – you could read this magazine through one I saw. It uses a ply deck, which is supplied pre-cut; has the mast/finbox moulded in; is supplied with a Sails etc. wooden fin and a balsa cored, ply skinned rudder. The ‘Splinter’ has a similar specification but, of course, is delivered with the ply skins pre-cut and with the mast/fin box supplied as a sub- assembly ready for fitting. The moulded versions work out at around £160 and the wooden parts around £80: obviously these prices are likely to vary according to whether you want a lead including (extra) and if and how the package is to be shipped (extra). After studying the examples Roy and J im had brought along it was time to get back to the Holiday village and spend an evening in front of some boat oriented videos. Wednesday is traditionally a rest day in the Holiday week although many of the on-site activities have been brought forward from Friday so that most of the boat prizes can be presented at the Boat Forum on Thursday evening. Thus it was Thursday morning when we all gathered again at the Bridlington Club house to resume sailing. I should have guessed what sort of a day it was going to be when | arrived because although there were a number of cars there ahead of me there were no boats rigged and everyone was sheltering in the clubhouse. Although the sun was making a brave effort to break out the wind was such that its chill factor was making the over-riding impression. Its direction gave us a terrific beat diagonally across the lake to our top right hand corner but its strength made it very difficult to row against it across the start finish line. One or two skippers tried number two rigs and then those that had them went down further. A couple of skippers only had number one suits for their one metres so kept their yachts in the car and one of these had a go with my new ‘Dann-3”; in fact by the time its rudder servo gave out Brian Holme from Kendal had sailed my new boat much more MODEL BOATS AUGUST 96 46 than I had. What I found very promising about Thursday was to prove a day of attrition with Valley Modeller’s Holiday Week we shall gather at the beginning of May in 1997 for another bash of low key, high value for money, One Metre racing. Someone even suggested of we try to get it on the calendar as some sort three day open meeting; that might boost the numbersa bit but it must not detract from the opportunity to bring newcomers to the class and sport through a rapid learning and development curve. If you happen to be in the Bridlington area for your holidays and fancy surroundings of the clubhouse to effect repairs before returning to try again as we crept towards a forty race target for the week. That special ‘holiday’ or ‘temporary’ membership priced for a week at a time. It might be just a little tricky to find the lake but they even have a permanent harbour for you to practice your the boat was that in its very first race, that morning, Brian was stooging around behindof the fleet at the start – obviously keeping out the way with a brand new boat – but once the signal went he simply sailed through the fleet to come home first. Between then and lunch time when the rudder servo succumbed to the elements (water) he had taken another win, one second place and two fourth places. yacht after yacht suffering some sort of breakage or failure: many retired to the warm we didn’t quite make that total was due entirely to a mental aberration by yours truly who noticed that my pre-printed race control I catamaran when Ante Kovacevic (30 – Croatia) and Keith Poulton (112 – Malta) had a coming together. It was not too effective. Below: Remi Bres docking manoeuvres: contact the Secretary sailed his Pasta…Ga! Ian Phillips on: 01262-675769. into ninth place, having to survive some underwater obstacles. If you want more details of those ‘Lynx’ One Primrose Valley One Metres – Top Five Design Skipper So we finished Place and got it wrong! Ragtime 1st Peter Holmes Thing on race thirty nine. g saw us 2nd Kelso The Thursday evenin ed boat 3rd __ Jake Ian Damant Magpie all gather for the combin David Dean Comick forum and prize giving. When it came to the One Metre Thursday saw an impromptu attempt to produce a One Metre making use of their facilities they have a sheets had one race number displayed twice: therefore ‘corrected’ the numbers as I wrote them on the individual race control cards, Left & below top left: civilised boating lake during the next Primrose 4th 5th G Bantock J Kelso AAble C Dicks Derek Damant Magpie A Able presentation bit I was struck by two things: firstly by how much the winner Peter Holmes had managed to pull away from the rest and secondly by how close the first two teams of three were particularly considering the total number of points of the teams. *rimrose Valley One Metre – Team of Three irst: Ian Damant/David Dean/Al Taylor 46.4 points second: Derek Damant/Stan Everett/Peter Holmes $59.6 points Assuming that agreeable arrangements can be made with the Bridlington Model Boat Society for the use of their remarkably Designer The design Babu Go by Points Paul Lucas was 25.8 51.2 60.2 79.2 129.8 which Metres or the ‘Panther’ Six Metre hullsbefore have featured here and in other places contact Roy Morgan at 21 Elgin Avenue, High Howden, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, NE28 OPH. IYRU-MYRD One Metre European Championships The first European Championship for this steadily spreading class finally got under way at one of the classic world class model yachting lakes on Sunday May 26th. Fleetwood was to be the home of fifty nine skippers representing ten countries for the next six days during which they were to be put through their paces by Race Officer Ken considered by many to be among the less attractive at the Championship. Roberts. The host country was to occupy a large number of the places, largely in an effort to ‘top up’ the field to its full strength. As has almost become traditional in such competitions the French team also had a considerable contingent containing a number of faces previously seen on these shores sporting somewhat larger yachts. Another set of familiar faces sporting smaller yachts were again representing their countries under the Above left: One of the few European Championship One Metres to use a deckstepped mast was the Croatian entry Wild Thing designed and sailed by Vjeko Orlandini. Spanish and German flags. That famous model yachting claim “it’s not normally like this” was uttered at least once during the week as the wind wound its way through the houses and hotels lining the other side of the Marine Parade. Previous visitors to this lake have occasionally experienced this 47 MODEL BOATS AUGUST 96 phenomenon which makes for some pretty awful sailing conditions; frustrating if it is light, difficult if it stronger – as it was for much of the week and accompanied by some cooling rain and drizzle. The main problem being that really no-one needed cooling. For one day the wind reversed its direction and came in off the sea wall, right into the competitors’ faces: marginally better than from the houses but nowhere near as satisfying for sailing as when it turns into its ‘prevailing’ direction of the South West and goes from left to right along the length of the lake. On Wednesday it finally settled into this direction only to revert to the South and the houses for the penultimate day. During the run down to a close the wind slowly built and brought out the lower number two rigs, although quite a number of skippers top French entry, Remi Bres, was in a bit of a limbo position twenty points behind Mark and ten points clear of Chris Harris. Friday, the final day, dawned bright and sunny but something else had arrived overnight. To those who have experienced Fleetwood before the rustling of the trees and the shaking of the tents and caravans heralded those familiar bits of branches that had been blown off and anything lying loose on the ground took off for somewhere else. The ‘Fleetwood prevailing wind’ had arrived from the South west with the sort of force that instantly brings only one thing to mind – small sails! Race Officer Ken Roberts was faced with only one real decision for Friday morning, which way to send the yachts around the ‘up top of the carbon structure was considered too seriously damaged to permit a reliable lakeside repair and Keith joined the six or seven other retirements during Friday’s more vigorous weather. By now the top part of the fleet was becoming seriously packed with the British contingent who seemed to be making a better job of surviving what were gradually becoming marginal conditions for the number three suit and getting very close to the sort we had to endure a couple of years ago at the MYA Nationals. By the end of the afternoon volunteers had been called for to ‘man the poles’ on the far side of the lake after a couple of competitors had found themselves too close to the concrete bank and unable to tack away. Spaniard Right: Ball races are popping up all over 1. A ball raced downhaul. I suppose that is its official description, is being used on some of the latest yachts. Far right: Ball races are popping up all over 2. Latest Bantock ball race jib swivel appeared on some yachts. Right: Ball races are popping up all over 3. This cunning mast head fitting (or does it count as a headboard?) is ball raced. Far right: In heavy weather conditions distances between yachts seem to shrink: here Chris Dicks (33) and Paul Jones (08) charge downwind while mark Dicks makes his way to the windward buoy. could not really decide; one thing that all agreed was that the final disappearance of the rain at about 2 o’clock was a welcome change. What would Friday bring? With just about everyone having made at least one trip to the B heat in the RYRCS system where ‘promotion’ and ‘relegation’ means points there were no single figure scores on the board going into the final day. Martin Roberts had been having a good week, maintaining his early lead all the way through although Chris Dicks slowly whittled it away to barely three points going into the last day. In third and fourth place were Peter Stollery and Graham Bantock who, being some thirty points adrift, seemed to have settled into their own private battle for ‘almost supremacy’. Behind them with a gap of almost eighty points came Guillermo Fernandez and Mark Dicks, again having their own little battle of wits. When Thursday’s proceedings closed the and down the lake’ course. He chose to produce a starboard rounding course because that gave the better of the beats diagonally along some 80% of the lake. This gave everyone the chance to sample those little waves that pile up at the leeward end of this concrete bathtub and to indulge in some exciting off-wind very broad reaching and running; with the occasional broach. The conditions proved to be just too much for some. Another of the German yachts lost his fin when it failed and made its way to the bottom. Maltese skipper Keith Poulton who had helped to created one half of the MaltoCroat catamaran on Thursday also saw his yacht turn turtle when it too lost the fin. Keith was a little more fortunate than the German skipper for after around half an hour of roaming around the lake in only his shorts brave soul – he located and retrieved the offending appendage. Unfortunately the very Guillermo Fernadez was ‘hanging on in there’ and managing to stay ahead of Mark Dicks to hold fifth spot but Remi Bres was slowly going backwards down the fleet from his overnight seventh place. Remi must have been finally demoralised, as well as demoted, when he quite clearly was not able to stay with the fleet in a race in the early afternoon. When he finally trailed in last ready to be relegated and lifted his yacht out of the water we could all see why: firmly tangled around his fin was what looked like the remnants of some fairly crude fishing tackle complete with a piece of wood some other drag inducing element. Remi’s ‘body language’ in his subsequent race made it clear that he had seriously lost heart in the proceedings. Meanwhile Paul Jones had been having a very good time close to the front of the A heat and overtook both Remi and Chris Harris: while Chris also got ahead of Remi. This was a little sad for it meant that Remi was MODEL BOATS AUGUST 96 48 Keeping a watchful eye on starters; Ken Roberts did a great job as Race Officer at short notice. Far left: Close racing at the starboard rounding windward mark. Here Martin Roberts (22) leads Graham Bantock (95) while Chris Harris (21) comes in on starboard. Martin Roberts poses with the new One Metre European Championship Trophy. Far left: Faces of a Champion. A re- discovered dedication and ‘rhythm of preparation’ kept Martin Roberts on top virtually all week. Attention to details of the yacht and launching became part of that routine. squeezed out of the major prizes leaving Guillermo as the only non-Brit. to take a major trophy. Something that no doubt will do us no good on the model yachting political front. By the end of the afternoon Martin Roberts had re-opened that gap between himself and Chris Dicks to guarantee that there would be no air of suspense surrounding the final outcome. Even before the yachts were completing race 39A the rumours were about that Martin was going in the lake shortly after he had recovered his yacht, whether he approved or not! He was joined moments later by Peter Stollery who had succeeding in holding off a determined challenge from Graham Bantock for that third place slot. Having upheld the traditions reserved for such champions everyone packed their boats away and made ready for the evening’s festivities. The Jury The International Jury included at least two of the faces seen together in France for the One Metre Worlds, but this time under the chairmanship of Mary Pera instead of Jacques Simon, were not worked particularly hard with Paul Lucas called ‘Baby Go’ which got the vote by some as ‘the ugliest One Metre’ to grace these waters. It was rumoured that some of these four skippers were not too enamoured favours in the eyes of some of the spectators talk of some of them being available for sale before the end of the event! Remi Bres was that proved a little difficult because their owners, having only just completed them prior to the regatta, wanted to hold on to them. Never the less Chris Harris came away from the prize giving dinner/dance with a pocket full of foreign money as deposits for ‘Tonic’ by its performance, indeed there was strong carrying a ‘For Sale’ sign on his rudder during the latter stages of the regatta. Something like thirteen of the assembled entry were sailing yachts of their own design, including Graham and Chris of course. One of the French designs, ‘Quattro’, struck many as being familiar; this was not surprising for it is very heavily based on the ‘Metrick Magick’ design using virtually the same underwater sections. It also has the same stern topsides shape and the flared bow; where it differs is in the foredeck treatment as it carries one of the fashionable rounded foredecks. These are undoubtedly useful on yachts that tend to bury their bows and ‘trip over’ a flat foredeck. What the design team seem not to have realised is that it is very rare that the prototype ever gets anywhere near protests staying in double figures, ending the that attitude so does not really need the changes they have made. One of the design championship. It is Shame that they were Frenchman Remi Bres. week with a grand total of sixty four reflecting the generally good natured flavour of the unable to enjoy the warmth of the Fleetwood sun during their periods of inactivity. The Boats From the design point of view there were quite a number of different designs being used with the largest single design contingent being from the Red Wine mould helping to put Graham Bantock on top of the list as the most prolific designer at this championship. There were fourteen of the entry from Graham’s drawing board compared with nine from Chris Dicks and five from Alex Austin. Four of the French skippers were using a design from MODEL BOATS AUGUST 96 team brought his boat ‘Supermario’ into tenth place overall just thirty points behind fellow There were some very pretty boats in attendance, some of which had drawn attention to themselves during the practice sessions and had drawn mental comments of ‘that one goes well’, but failed to live up to the promise during the week. Included in this group were some from Portugal which were planked in balsa and looked very attractive but spent the week lower in the fleet that their looks might have suggested. Alternatively there were some rather tatty yachts around: accepting that a yacht is going to look a little ‘used’ by the end of a gruelling week in Fleetwood some of the entry really did us no who didn’t realise that model yachting really does take place at an international level. One or two yachts made such an impression on skippers that they wanted to take one away: kits of mouldings: at least one of which will be replacing one of those ‘Baby Go’ designs which will be ‘going’! There were a number of equipment innovations on some of the yachts, both British and Continental, that got some of the tongues wagging as skippers and others wandered around studying the different implementation of a rule which basically says ‘if its not written in the rule – you can’t have it!’ Some of them will take some time to think through but I suspect that they will eventually appear, at least on a trial basis, on some of the British yachts. Of the newer designs present there was a welcome development for the North West’s own entry in the ‘ugly boat ball’: John Taylor’s ‘Parasite’ was being sailed in Mark Two form by both himself and Derek Priestley and proved that it can handle the rough stuff every bit as well as its predecessor – if not better. But it looks a whole lot prettier! There is no mould yet, both the yachts being sailed were original Parasites surgically altered but their performance may prompt moves to put it into production. The Prizegiving Ceremony was hosted by the Mayor of Wyre, Councillor Reg Allen, and included a small presentation to mark the forthcoming retirement from office of the Chairman of the YYRU-MYRD – Norman Hatfield. This was made by Chris Dicks and came as a bit of a surprise, not the least to 49 Above: The highest placed non-British skipper, Guillermo Beltri Fernandez took his Red Wine named ..Y Yo Que Se into fifth place. Above right: Jolly Jacques Simon, centre, of the IYRU, on behalf presents the newly re- dedicated One Metre European Trophy to Norman Hatfield (left) while John Cleave translates the speech almost. Chris himself! During this session we learned that Norman has been involved in the organisation of International Model Yachting for some twenty three years: he was the architect and main driving force behind the eventually successful moves to have Model yachting recognised as a branch of the International Yachting scene in its own right. I suspect he will a difficult man to replace in that role. Another of those present for whom this will be his last International meeting was someone who has become almost as familiar a part of the major Fleetwood regattas and their social activities as the Fleetwood club stalwarts. Jim Powell, the familiar Master of Ceremonies at the Marine Hall, is also shortly to retire from that position after some ten years during which he has seen almost all of the YYRU-MYRD radio yacht internationals at the club. During those years he has sometimes been the butt of some of the jokes and pranks played by the more boisterous of the participants and has ‘popped Top Ten One Metres in Europe Place Skipper Country 2nd Chris Dicks U.K. Ist 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Martin Roberts Peter Stollery Graham Bantock Guillermo Fernandez Mark Dicks Paul Jones Chris Harris Remi Bres Laurent Chapelot Design U.K. Widget U.K. U.K. Spain U.K Tonic Red Wine Red Wine Crossbow U.K. U.K. France France Metrick Magick Red Wine Tonic Baby Go Quattro up’ in countless pictures of people making speeches at the top table. Always he has appeared to put forward a brave face on the proceedings and demonstrate a good sense of humour, I have a feeling the ‘receptions’ won’t be quite the same without him. Much effort was put into the speeches of both Mike Hounsell, proposing a toast to the organisers on behalf of the competitors, and by Ken Roberts, in replying to the toast, to praise and bring to the attention of the many the activities of a few. Those few were the almost unsung heroes of the week without whom the event just would not have run. There was Stewart Bell who had dragged the observers kicking and screaming onto the scaffold to keep their eye on proceedings: there was Keith Partington who in concert with Eric Watkinson had kept the starting procedures running: there was Simon Redford, almost continually incarcerated in the end of the control portable cabin, who churned out the race by race results form his Personal computer; there were the ‘ladies’ although a couple of ‘fellas’ got involved as well, who had kept the assembled mass ‘fed and watered’ from the canteen all week: and there was Donald! Donald Snaylam 50 had leapt to fame very early in the regatta when he was out laying the marks of the course in his little outboard powered boat. While heavily laden with marks, and their weights, he had been sitting near the transom of this boat not realising that its attitude was just a little too stern down for comfort. He was heard to utter “I’m sinking” (or words to that effect) as the boat and its contents disappeared beneath the choppy waters and became the instant joke of the week! Having swamped the outboard he was reduced to rowing for most of the rest of the week while out on rescue boat duty. When the fins started to fall off on Friday it was Donald who donned the chest waders, lifejacket, and not much else to go ‘paddling’ to try and locate the lost bits: he got a very special mention on Friday night. As the presentations drew to a close, so did yet another successful Fleetwood International regatta and yet more people began to realise why this is one of the foremost model yachting venues in the world: it has everything, wind, Designer C Dicks C Dicks A Austin G Bantock G Bantock M Dicks G Bantock A Austin P Lucas Chapelot/Minaud/ Desclaux Total Score 80 93.9 65.1 183.4 243.7 247.4 251.8 285.1 321:1 351.4 Thursday 12th December at 19.00 hrs. Only a limited number of non Maltese entries can be accommodated so interested parties are recommended to contact the Secretary at Summer Wind, A. Craig Street, Ta’Xbiex, Malta. Tel. (& Fax) (00356) 330455. The entry fee for this event is £30 and competitors are promised that the event will be run using EORS The League As the district championships start to take effect in the Radio League championship there has been a shift in the emphasis and some old champions have leapt to the fore. Woodspring are back up on top followed by a club which, at one time last year, looked as if it might get into the record books as one of a very small and select band who have won both the Radio and Vane championships in the same year. It was not to be, but they might be in with a chance this year with their ever growing bunch of radio skippers prepared to go ‘out on the road’, Bournville are making their bid. In the individual championship there have been a few developments ‘at the top’. Gordon Maguire still holds the number on spot, but with a score that has not changed for over a month – no doubt reflecting his seasonal commitments to go out and get involved with big boat sailing. Below him there has been some considerable shuffling as Peter Stollery has shot to within a couple of points of Gordon joined by his club colleague Paul Tickner. Gordon Sears has seen his position enhanced considerably by his spell as Race Officer at the R36R Nationals and his runner-up spot in the Midlands One Metre champs. I foresee Gordon Maguire being overtaken by several skippers water, clubhouse, but most of all people to make the whole thing friendly and ‘tick’. Follow up There were several notices of forthcoming events being circulated during the week: one or two of them are far enough away to be worth repeating here and might be worth considering for that winter ‘get-away’ when our weather has deteriorated somewhat. Firstly, if you fancy a November trip to Gibraltar, there is The Mediterranean Cup. This is a regatta for One Metre yachts and will take place at the Queensway Quay Marina, Gibralta from Sunday 17th November to Wednesday 20th November 1996. The entry fee will be £35 and should be sent to Mr J.M Taylor, D214182X, RA’s Post Box, HMS by this time next month. Top Ten Radio Clubs Club 1st | Woodspring 2nd __ Bournville 3rd. _— Guildford Birkenhead 4th Fleetwood 5th Market Bosworth 6th Falmouth 7th Hamble 8th Chelmsford 9th 10th Doncaster Rooke, BFPO 52, Tel. (350) 50541. place in one of two venues, depending upon weather conditions, either St Julians or 8th Marsamxetto harbour. Briefing will take place in the Cavalieri Hotel Conference room on 712.5 546.3 524.1 484.6 418.1 411 301 294.7 294.6 254.6 Top Ten Radio Individuals 1st 2nd__— The second is a little farther away and a bit later. It is the Open National Championship for the One Metre class in Malta to be held on the 13th to the 15th December 1996. This will take Score Skipper Gordon Maguire Peter Stollery Score 151.2 149.7 Anthony Corbett 116 3rd ~—_‘ Paul Tickner Martin Roberts 4th 5th — Gordon Sears Chris Harris 6th Paul Jones 7th 9th 10th Tommy Mills Richard Aucott 144.9 141.5 134.3 133.7 129.2 112.7 109.5
