Model Boats: Volume 47, Number 547 – September 1996

ViODE wK7s TOP SELLE (); : i Metre Evropeans BUILDING NEWS REVIEWS REPORTS ine boats at Fleetwood AAMT CHALLENGER Gradvuees BIS Wy gouizulos in Control Gnoosing an electric moor speed controlier SEE AUND ~sURMEe 7 01 I) 053 PT ae eons ChB RANGER & BITHELL fter the Second World War, international model yacht racing was resumed, following a period of no YACHTING Bill, 60 years earlier, pushing off Yankee II a Fleetwood. racing which extended from 1939 to 1948. Up to this time, USA had never won the Yachting Monthly Cup, which was essentially the World Championships of the model yachting sport. In those days, there was but one World Championships, which was always held following the British Empire A-Class Championships in England, and there did not exist the many different worlds competitions that presently take place for all the various classes. Mr. H.B. Tucker of the British journal “Marine Models” was even invited to write an article in the American press, in the early 30’s, explaining why the Americans had not yet won. Some would point to the fact that Americans favoured skiff sailing, whereby sailors had to be good rowers, since they followed their yachts on open water, whereas the Brits favoured almost exclusively the pond sailing. In the latter case, a skipper would set up the rig at pondside, and then he or his mate would meet the yacht at her landfall. In England, it was almost a tradition that a town had to have its pond; indeed, even my sister-in-law’s family had built a pond at Bournville! However, as will be made clear, there existed amongst the Americans some Below: Gloriously pret A-Class yachts at the 1935 British Empire Championships at Fleetwood. Photo: Bot Edge. extremely gifted pond sailors. In some articles, John Black, who had represented USA on several occasions, was described as the Sir Thomas Lipton of the model yachting world, in that he failed to win the Cup, time after time. According to a later article in Marine Models of 1937, this point was echoed: “a well-known model yachtsman has said that this Cup has caused as much grief to America as the America’s Cup has to England”. The point being made here is that it was a period 1923-1948 when America would dearly have loved to win; it was by far the biggest challenge in model yachting. A win for Bill Bithell and Fred Pigeon in 1948 on British waters would be momentous indeed. This is just what happened. Championships origin The origin of the championships goes back to 1921. In that year, W.J. Daniels of England put out a challenge “to any model yachtsman in the United States to meet him in a series of races”. In 1922, a series of races were held off the coast of USA, with the challenger Endeavour of Daniels being beaten by Polka Dot of Ernie Bull, The racing was in skiffs, whereby the sailors “chased their yachts and trimmed them on the water, as stated earlier. Daniels was inexperienced, and lost at least one race through not allowing for the tide, as his yacht sailed off into the distance having passed the wrong side of a buoy! 1923-1929 The return match of 1923, which was raced for the Yachting Monthly Cup in AClass yachts of around 80ins in length, took place in England. This was the start of the international races which have continued to this day, reaching a peak of 56 A-Class yachts competing in 1975! From 1923-1926 the British, in particular one Mr. Bill Daniels, were unbeatable 16 Olympic demonstrat: at Hamburg, August 1936. Ranger III built by Bill Bithell to precisely the the first time, a new country at the front. Sam Berge of Norway entered the races, using a new “vane steering gear” to keep the yacht at a preset angle to the wind, and he won the Championships. The vane gear, with which Herreshoff had experimented decades earlier, was thus used for the first time in a same design as the World champion of 1948. Photo: Dr. Harri Kytomaa. major regatta, and its success led to gradual adoption, until it was almost universally used after the War. Selftacking vanes were later to be used, with ever more complexity, until the 1970’s. This international regatta of 1935 also saw Bill Bithell 1936 Bill Bithell went on to take the National ‘ A-Class championships again in 1936 at Detroit, with Blue Chip, and so to earn for him a second challenge for the YM Cup in England. Although the challenger fleet was typically less than a dozen, it comprised some of the country’s best sailors such as John Black, Archie Arroll, Steinbrecker, and Charley Farley. On the other hand, the British Empire championships, which would choose the yacht to race the foreign entrants, was typically chosen from around 30 boats. A view of Fleetwood in 1935, giving a flavour of the atmosphere of the regattas, is seen in photo 3, showing some of the large fleet of yachts on the grass, resting between their match-racing, or what were known as “boards”. One should note that yachts of that era were typically planked, and gloriously pretty, with cotton sails, a far cry from modern yachts. Often the top competitors wore sailors’ or captains’ caps, and “whites”: the kind of smart clothes worn by 30’s tennis or cricket players, a far cry from modem dress. 1936 was a big year. Germany was busy putting on a world show with the Olympics, and model yachting was to be an Olympic Demonstration sport, based at Hamburg in August. Bill was selected to skipper, with John Black as mate, in both the Olympics and in the YM Cup, and he was selected to mate for Black at the Olympic Marblehead competition. Despite bursts of speed in Hamburg, Bithell finished Bill Bithell at Storrow’s Lagoon, Boston, 1996. Photo: Wayne George. third, behind two British yachts, including the British Colonel Holden, . although Black won the Marblehead event with Bithell as mate. We can see the competitors lined up with their yachts on a pontoon, in photo 4. Bill Bithell is the tall chap in the hat. Bithell recounts this adventure in Germany, stating with a smile that the trip was “all on Adolf’. They were invited to watch the Star yachts (of the large variety) compete for medals at the Kiel Olympics, and to partake of tea with Oberstlieutenant Kewisch and the Duke and Duchess von Holstein at Kaiserliche Yacht Club. Heady days! against all-comers when sailing on their ponds. However, and this would come as a surprise to those in America who had moaned about inexperience in pond sailing, the British received rude awakenings in 1927 and 1928, when John Black and Jo Weaver (respectively) came over from the States. Both of these matches were extremely close, with the British squeaking ahead by a scant one and two points respectively. As reported in The Model Yacht of 1928 (a magazine that lasted for but one year in USA), it came down to the last few yards of the very last race to decide the winner; “only a miracle could save Britain from defeat” was written. The miracle came in the form of two wind shifts, or “headers”, that luffed the American yacht, and the English yacht Little Nell crossed tue line six inches ahead of Patsy. At that time, it was reported to be the most “spectacular finish to an international race that has ever been seen”. [he Brits had woken up to the danger of defeat, which was hitherto deemed unthinkable. Vane arrives from Norway Between 1929 and 1934, Daniels steered four further yachts to victory in the international races, but 1935 was to see, for MODEL BOATS SEPTEMBER 96 competing, for the first time, with Yankee Jr. A digression Let us digress for a moment. In photo 1, actually taken in August 1995 at Storrow’s Lagoon in Boston, the site-of many early American championships, we can see the same Bill Bithell casting off his mahogany planked A-Class yacht Ranger III, completed over the winter of 1994-5, at the age of “eighty something”. He is watched by several other vintage yacht sailors (or one should say “sailors of vintage yachts”) of the US Vintage Model Yacht Group, affiliated with the AMYA. We shall later realise the significance of this particularly beautiful, and recently constructed, yacht, but for now we can note the similarity of Bill’s stance at the pondside in 1995 with the style he had 60 years earlier in 1935 (photo 2), as a young, indeed “pukkah”, Bill, pushing off his Yankee II, at Fleetwood! It was reported in Marine Models: “Yankee II is a pretty yacht, but appears too lean forward, and was unbalanced”. Bithell finished fifth behind Norway, Britain, France and Germany, but he had begun his quest to bring the Cup to America. The YM Cup races were held at Gosport, and the handsome Blue Chip was described as having “tremendous speed through the water, particularly in light airs”. She sailed superbly for two days, just behind the leader Lady Nell of the British Empire, but did not fare well on the final day to finish fourth behind Britain, Norway (Berge again), and France. Nevertheless, Blue Chip was incredibly fast off the wind, winning the Wing-and-Wing Cup for the fastest run down the lake. One should not forget that spinnakers were used in those days, and there was great skill in trimming the yachts for downwind sailing. At the closing ceremony, the Lord Mayor of Gosport stated that where the Geneva peace talks had failed to bring about security and peace in Europe, the sports of the Olympiad, and the model yachting of course, would bring nations together. There was talk of model yachting entering as a full sport in the Olympics for 1940, but little did they know then that the Second War was to put a halt to all these activities. In fact, Bithell was not to return to England until after the War. 1937 In 1937, he was informed by MYRRA (Model Yacht Racing Association of America) that the same American could not compete in a YM Cup three times in a row, for essentially arbitrary reasons. He had a particularly fast boat at this time, namely Redskin which had trounced the other 18 competitors at the Eastern Division Elimination races, all of whom read as a 17 “Who’s Who” of American model yachting at the time. A plan to go anyway, Sonja Kytooaga Spotless and with Bill Mansfield as the ostensible skipper, was foiled by the Port standsdagartgd beautifully varnished 4 Ranger being Washington Finals. They lasted for 15 exhausting days in ultra-light weather, and never finished > Lagoo Pa SOSTON. before the last ship, which would have Photo: Dr. Harri got them to England in time for the Cup, : ‘Rytomaa. had set sail into the Atlantic. The 1937 World championship was won, for the second time, by Sam Berge of Norway, just pipping the British boat, who herself had beaten 28 other yachts to qualify. 1938 In 1938, MYRRA decided not to send anyone across to England. Again, Bithell had won the National Championships. The YM Cup in 1938, saw the British Seri of Ron Jurd win. The English Alexander family from Lancashire (with whom I had tea in the Summer of 1995), won the YM Cup very easily with Heather Glen in 1939 in a fleet of six nations. They had been “knocking at the door” for the Cup for many years. This family had made class racing yachts and toy yachts of exceedingly top quality and beauty, which are now perhaps the most sought after vintage yachts in England, almost to rival Bill Bithell’s yachts in their beauty. 1939 Travelling to regattas in those days was done by car. A journey across country was highly exhausting, as it entailed driving those old heavy cars across the continent and back. Bill Bithell did this in a 4-door 1936 Ford in 1939, with the A-Class Venture strapped to the roof, to defend the National Championships he won in 1938. He and the accomplished designer Harry Richardson, on their way from Boston to Berkeley, stopped by the house of C.O. Brook, one of the top officials in MYRRA. According to Brook, “somewhere between Canada and Detroit, while attempting to pass a hay truck (at high speed I’ll bet) they left the road, turned over and demolished the car without damaging the boat (except spars). This left Richardson with a broken wrist, two stitches in his scalp, and eight in his ear, and they still continued on to the races, after a week of delay waiting for repairs.” In fact, the delay prevented Bithell from taking advantage of the vane gears which were being installed on competitors’ yachts that had arrived early. Eight of the ten yachts had vanes, and proved too much of an advantage, leaving Bithell only fourth. “I would have cleaned up had I had one of the vanes”, he said, and from that point on almost no-one continued to use the Braine gears, introduced in 1904, to steer their yachts. At the end of the Regatta-edition of Marine Models for September 1939, there is a single paragraph which states in a most poignant manner: “For reasons that do not need any explanation, we have decided to suspend publication after this issue”. The journal itself was never to return in its original form, although international racing was to resume in 1948, a year which had great significance to Boston and to United States sailing. Post War In 1947, Bill Bithell built a yacht, commissioned for major races by Fred Pigeon, to the design of Alberg. In Bill’s own words: “It was out of balance….I told Pigeon it was a dud. He was P.O. and next week he had Alberg at the pond. He agreed and said he would correct the design.” The new 84in design became the classic yacht Ranger. Bithell and Pigeon set forth on the Cunard liner Mauretania across the Atlantic MODEL BOATS SEPTEMBER 96 to challenge the British. The result is history. They convincingly won the international All Nations Cup, in superb form. For obscure reasons, this Cup had been substituted for this one year in place of the YM Cup. In photo 5, we see the gleaming-varnished Ranger being measured up before the races, and may be compared with the recently completed Ranger III in photo 6. It is clear that the large crowds (as existed in those days at such events) | Ranger at Gosport : charging downwind to j the first victory for the ! Americans, after 25 ‘i years of trying. Photo: Bill Bithell. oe – cheered long and hard when Ranger won the race against Denmark that clinched the title. One of Ranger’s fastest points of sailing was on the runs, and she is seen flying downwind with spinnaker in photo 7, in Storrow’s Lagoon, Boston. When they sailed a final race against Belgium, Ranger won from behind in the final few yards, and “the crowd went ‘haywire’ “. It is really best for us to read the words actually written in Model Yachting of October 1949 by Fred Pigeon himself, to share some of the atmosphere of the last race that finally gave USA the Cup, as follows: Model Yachting magazine’ report “Now came the most important – the most crucial race of the day. We asked ourselves, “Will the Ranger continue her previous wonderful performances?” “Denmark was to windward but windward or leaward the Ranger seemed to sense her responsibility. When we came ashore 200 feet from the starting line we had worked into the windward position. Denmark decided to use the guy. Bill had slipped our guy at the start as the wind was up and down the pool and a fine breeze blowing. The Ranger sailed straight down the pool. When she came over to me I tacked her and she was away. The run down was another beautiful sight with the spinnacker bellowing out as she crossed the line, not only the winner of the particular race but the winner of the All Nations Cup. We received a big and sincere ovation as all the spectators extended their congratulations to Bill and me. Our next and last opponent was Belgium. Although we had won the cup we were obliged to sail this race. Belgium had the windward position but this did not “Winners for Yachting Monthly Cup Races from 1923 to 1948. L RACES FOR THE “4” CLASS—INTERNATIONA MONTHLY CUP YACHTING Tue First Cur Club Skipper eeman & Staines J. Scott-Fr Winner Year Lake 1903 Gosport Invader Daniels J. Scott-Freeman & Daniels J. Scott-Freeman & 1924 Gosport Crusader 1925 Gosport Crusader Daniels Tue Seconp Our Year Lake 1926 Gosport 1927 Gosport 1928 Gosport 1929 Gosport 1930 Gosport 1931 Gosport 1932 Gosport Skipper Capt. F. W. Lazell ae oe & ; A, Jones Harvey & Daniels Rudd & Daniels Willey A, Jones Winner Defiance Gertrude Little Nell Albion Albion Hermione Flame ur Dennistoun & oe Daniels is Flectwood Glengarry 1934 Fleetwood Glengarry cane Fleetwood Prince Charming IT S. Berge Staines Staines Runnerponmak Denmark U.S.A. Club Forest Gate Gosport Gosport Serpentine Y.M, 6-m.O.A. Y.M. 6-m.0.A. Gosport _ Runner-up U.S.A, U.S.A, U.S.A, U.S.A. U.S.A i S.A. Norway U.S.A Britain Great Bedford edfor Bedford U.S.A. SAL . Norway Gosport A, Jones Great Britain Norway 1937 Fleetwood Charming S. Berge ; Sweden Gosport Jurd R. 1938 Gosportod Seri Norway od Fleetwo er Alexand Glen J, 1939 Fleetwo Heather either of these 1947 Fleetwood No race was held for the Yachting Monthiy Cup in Nel 1936 Gosport Lady Prince years, 1948 Gosport AU Nations’ Race, for a cup, to be won outright, presented by 1948 Gosport Special ‘Mr. Harry Brickwood of Gosport. Ranger F. L. Pigeon & W. G. Bithell U.S.A. Denmark BOSTON HERALD, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, GOY. BRADFORD SIGNS book of congratulations to be pre sented Fred L. Pigeon, right, of East Boston on being firs! American to win International championship of All Nations Model Yacht Races in England with his Ranger. At left i: William O. Bithell of East Boston, who built yacht. » Above: W. G. “Bill” very happy pair of Bithell wins the World Model Yachtsmen, for we had achieved what many from the U.S.A. had attempted over a long period of years. People gathered around the Ranger expressing their admiration, taking Championships (with owner Fred Pigeon) and shakes the hand of the Mayor of Gosport. Photo: Bill Bithell. Ranger III speeds to windward in Storrow’s Lagoon, Boston. The M.LT. Boathouse and pictures and the Charles River can measurements of be seen in the background, along with buildings of the University. Photo: Wayne George. Top middle: Governor Bradford congratulates > Fred Pigeon, a champion yachtsman trom the 1930’s and 1940’s, on the yacht Ranger winning the World Championships in 1948 in England. The skipper of Ranger for Fred Pigeon was Bill Bithell. Top far right: Ranger thunders downwind, watched by a huge crown onshore. Bithell’s yachts were blessed with tremendous downwind speed. os =. ae Tt. * worry the Ranger. She was soon out in front and our score was increased by 3 points. The run home was the most spectacular race I have ever witnessed. Belgium worked out into a lead of 100 feet and kept that lead halfway down the pool. Then Ranger seemed to realize her position and started after her opponent, gaining slowly. Ten feet from the finish line she overlapped the Belgium boat and then Ranger took a leap forward as if a supernatural hand gave her a tremendous pull and she came across the line a winner by inches. The crowd went “haywire.” It will be a long time, if ever, before such a finish will be seen again. “All the officials in their congratulatory remarks stated they had never before seen such a performance at any model yacht race. “At this point, I wish to pay sincere tribute to Bill Bithell for his expert handling of Ranger and for his many thoughtful courtesies in my behalf throughout the races. We were indeed a MODEL BOATS SEPTEMBER 96 her and wishing us all kinds of success in the future. The Mayor of Gosport presented the cup surrounded by the flags of the nations represented.” Bill Bithell and Fred Pigeon received much fanfare after the win. At Fleetwood, he can be seen, in photo 9, shaking the hands of the Lord Mayor of that town! Back in America, he was to meet, with Pigeon, the Governor Bradford at an official ceremony. We depart from Fleetwood with one last look at Ranger, as she speeds off the wind in photo 11 in a famous published 1948 picture. She is reflected in photo 12 by her new sister of 1995, who is charging along on the wind. In 1949, Bill Bithell and Ains Ballantyne clinched the Yachting Monthly Cup at Fleetwood, England. The cup was raced for in USA subsequently, and then returned to England, where it is still raced for each Summer by about 20 A-Class yachts, which are vane-steered. However, when Bill Bithell won the cup in 1948 and 1949, it closed out a chapter in international model yachting. Today Bill himself had been racing since 1932, and had attended MIT. As a talented engineer, he remains acutely aware of the design, construction and importantly, the “balance” of a yacht, which seemed more essential in the old days, when one could not simply override an off-balance yacht with RC rudder action. Bill Bithell has « made many yachts, and sold sails and fittings of the very best quality for decades. He remains a disarmingly humble, humorous, yet exceedingly accomplished man, and is, above all, one very nice person. He was the one who skippered the first American yacht ever to beat the British for the World championship after a struggle of 25 years. As for the original Ranger, she is sadly neglected, as are many class racing yachts, in the back of a museum stockroom. In conclusion, and to bring us up to the present, Bill Bithell has built a Ranger III, over the last winter 1994-5. The building of this yacht has been patiently awaited by a great many people, not the least by certain members of the US Vintage Model Yacht Group, affiliated with AMYA. The result is beyond our expectations as a work of art. The combination of African mahogany, with the cotton sails, and chrome fittings, all built in the manner which Bill Bithell has used for decades, and at the same time conforming painstakingly with the A-Class rule, is truly exquisite. This kind of beauty, in both model and full-size yachts, is a thing of the past. About the author Charley Williamson is one of the two historians for the U.S. Vintage Model Yacht Group, as well as being a member of the British VMYG. The U.S. VMYG is now affiliated with A.M.Y.A. (American Model Yachting Association) with a slate of “officers”, namely: John Snow (President); Ben Martin; Wayne George; Earl Boeberf (other historian). Charley Williamson is a Professor at Cornell University, Upson Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, U.S.A., and is presently on sabbatical at Ecole Polytechnique, (LADHYX, 91128 Palaiseau, France). (Tel in France: 1 69 33 36 75). 19 roe eo A couple of race reports and some YACHTING class rule news are joined by some ‘hobby-horse’ comment this month – by MIKE KEMP re oe YACHTS small RADIO At the R36r Nationals. The starboard end was obviously the place to be in this heat, leading to a close start with Peter (48) and Fred Catt (50) smack on the button. Photo: Gordon ne event somewhat over-shadowed by all the One Metre activity around the end of May was the 1996 National Championship for this slightly smaller class which keeps clinging on to existence, popularity and even devotion among some of its devotees. Once again the event was scheduled at the home waters of the Market Bosworth club, deep in the heart of the Midlands and close to one of the big names from the days of the English Civil War Bosworth field. As in 1995 there was a small but select entry who gathered on Saturday 11th May to start a thirty race battle for the championship. I was unable to get there this year so I am relying once again on a report from ‘someone who knows’; who better than the Race Officer, Gordon Sears, to provide liao 1703 | | sae | 1731 FEIT 31 9 wet Sears. $03) 156; * re Se ee ay a 92 om =”, | beet the basis of this report. Last year’s championship winning yacht, Taxachun, was back again but this year it was in the hands of Peter Stollery who has had so much success in this class before. The skipper’s briefing was called at 10.15am where everyone was informed by the Race Officer that all thirteen skippers would be sailing as one fleet all weekend. This was made possible by the host club providing observers and line judges to help with the smooth running of the championship: over to The final heat at the R36r’s, in almost flat calm conditions. Photc Gordon Sears. Gondon. “The course had been set for a Northeasterly breeze, yes breeze, which came as a bit of a disappointment after all the wind that had been around during the days leading up to the event which had everyone hoping to be blessed with a good blow all weekend, this was not to be. The breeze ran left to right and almost parallel with the bank making the beat easy to see. The first race of the day set off and within minutes boat 48, Peter Stollery, was in the lead. He said he had not sailed it for four years but it certainly did not show: race one to Peter. Bob Iles (1803) and wife Margaret (1703 both sailing swing rig boats at Market Bosworth. Photo: Gordon Sears. MODEL BOATS SEPTEMBEF 20 has neither won it before nor won any other National Championship. As usual the event was run in a relaxed manner with only one incident requiring the intervention of the Race Officer, that was for redress, and left plenty of time for racing – just what everyone had come along for. As for the future of the R36R class I would like to think that it has reached it’s nadir and will continue as a recognised class with the hope for a resurgence in the future when people look round for an alternative The stalwarts at the R36r. Left to right, Fred Catt, Gordon Sears (OOD), Peter Stollery, Vernon Appleton, Chris Harris, Roy Burgess, Bob Mes, Margaret Iles, Mac Colyer, Simon Pope, Mike Rollason, Richard Aucott. Photo: Gordon Sears. to the One Metre. These little boats have a lot going for them: firstly they are a lot of fun to sail; secondly very cheap to run; and finally there must be lots of second hand boats not being used that you could purchase very cheaply. With their long competitive life, easy to understand class rules they make a good investment. With that thought I hope to meet some of you at next years nationals.” Thank you Gordon for that report; = Because of the variability in wind direction the course was reset for race two, this was to happen several times during the next fourteen races. By having all boats on in one first race, Peter got to the water first but too consecutively and then take a short break to bring the score sheet up to date, change batteries, rigs, and take on refreshments as totally dominant day’s performance. fleet we were able to race three heats well as socialise. Fred Catt had brought along a new boat, the design of which appeared to be based on the Metrick Magick, obviously shorter with less freeboard and maybea little wider to fit the R36R class rule, similar to the Chris Dicks’ Realistic from several years ago. As late to make up many places. I don’t know if it was the challenge of giving the fleet such a big start or the McDonald’s breakfast that got him going on to what was to become a The breeze backed a bit more, so the course was altered to provide a beat followed by a reach, a rounding to starboard and another beat; reminiscent of a Fleetwood zigzag course. A variation of this course with the start line being adjusted to suit current wind was what allowed the completion of another sixteen races before the 4.00pm deadline, even though at times the breeze this was its first competitive outing it was was dying causing some of the races to up and had yet to show it’s full potential. The limit towards the end of the competition. With the scores counted and discards taking Fred some time to get the correct set- other boats were mostly Taxachuns or derivatives, Oliver Lee Prontos or even a Tony Abel Cygnet? The long competitive life of these little boats is amazing. stretch out to almost the dreaded 30 minute made the winner emerged with a total of 3.4 points; Peter Stollery had indeed domitrated his return to the R36R class. In second place Top Ten in the R36r Nationals Place Skipper 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th Peter Stollery Chris Harris Bob Iles Richard Aucott Roy Burgess Mike Rollason 8th Vernon Appleton 7th 9th 10th Simon Pope Fred Catt Bob Taylor By Saturday night with ten race wins from fourteen starts it looked very much like the Yard of Ale Trophy was heading back to Guildford. Sunday dawned bright and dry with a nice second suit breeze, not for long, just before the 9.30 briefing I was struggling to set a good course. Very early in the morning some fishermen had decided that one of the banks we normally have access to was being used for a fishing contest. This left us with the wind on our backs because the breeze had now backed to west-north-west. No matter how hard you try you cannot have the beat towards where the skippers are sailing from. One option is to angle the course as steeply as you dare with the windward mark nearest the bank with a lot of port bias on the start line. This is what was settled for the first set of races. The briefing explained the course to the skippers and the first race got underway: but without either Chris Harris or Peter Stollery. They turned up halfway through the MODEL BOATS SEPTEMBER 96 Total Score Club Guildford 3.4 Pembrokeshire 89 Bournville 86.2 Woodspring 98.8 Two Islands Market Bosworth 229.7 237 Woodspring Market Bosworth Market Bosworth Chelmsford it would be nice to think that I, and others, will be able to take you up on that wish to see you at the next R36R Nationals. I do have a 36R but it needs quite a lot of work to get it to a stage where I could feel able to have a bash. Northern District One Metre Ranking Race On a bright and sunny morning in June some twenty five skippers met at the side of the Cleveland Club’s lake for a rehearsal of the forthcoming MYA One Metre National Championship. Well: not really, just the Northern District One Metre Ranking Race. Ian Hall was getting his hand, and eye, back in to be ready for the Nationals; on the sort of form he showed during this ranking event we are all in for three hectic and busy days at the end of August. The wind was almost helpful to Ian allowing him to set a long course from the left hand end of this elongated pear shaped lake. Unfortunately the airflow was a little less than would have been ideal and fluctuated too much, leaving some yachts stranded in dead areas from time to time while others nearby had ample to provide their desired propulsion. With plenty of water space available and the start line at the widest end of the lake Ian decided to take what many would see as the ‘easy’ way out and put the whole entry on the water as one big fleet. There were those who considered that this 132 138.7 158.7 165.1 was not the best approach to racing, preferring to be split into two EORS heats of around fourteen or fifteen yachts each. While this would undoubtedly have made behaviour Top Ten in the Northern District One Metre Ranking Club Doncaster Place lst Skipper Paul Jones 4th Graham Bantock Chelmsford 2nd 3rd oth 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Mark Dennis Martin Roberts Chelmsford Birkenhead Design Red Wine Single Malt Widget Jazz Red Wine Red Wine Designer G Bantock G Bantock C Dicks G Bantock G Bantock G Bantock Chelmsford | Chelmsford Mike Bosworth Metrick MagickC Dicks Gordon Sears G Bantock Red Wine Rupert Jefferies Chelmsford Phil Playle Keith Skipper Tony Edwards Alisdair Law Leicestershire Kato Buchaness was Chris Harris with 86.7 and in third place was last year’s runner-up, Bob Iles, with 89 points. Mike Rollason put in a notable performance with a borrowed boat to take the novice trophy, a beautiful wooden bowl donated by the Nat-West Bank and awarded each year to the highest placed skipper who Single Malt A. Edwards G Bantock Total Score 18.7 24.8 30.4 38 47.7 69 69.7 72.4 77 86 on the start line a little easier to handle it would certainly have curtailed the time on the water for most of the fleet and would surely have prevented us from completing sufficient races to qualify for the two discards which made some scores much more palatable. As it was we all had some good 21 By five o’clock the scores had been fed into the PC carefully hidden away in the club house complex and a result announced to show that the distant travellers had almost completely overwhelmed the ‘locals’: as far as the top ten were concerned anyway. All of the Chelmsford club contingent finished in the top ten which didn’t leave much room fo: Paul Jones’ aptly named Grey Lable came out on top at the Northern District One Metre Ranking Race at Cleveland. anyone else. Northern District members held on to first and third positions while Alisdair Law from the Buchaness club in Scotland took tenth. Midland district members, who also had quite a trip to the ‘North-East’, took seventh and ninth places. What I found particularly revealing from the results is that there were many, as so often, who welcomed the opportunity to hav a second discard score. Among the top ten there are only two skippers to whom it reall made any difference: Rupert J efferies threw away a massive forty six points to leap over Tony Edwards who could only find thirty tw to throw away. Lower down the order there were a few differences made but not as mal as one might think given that almost everyone looks forward to that tenth race coming up so they can throw another one away. Allin all this was a welcome reminder of the Cleveland site for those of us who have not been up that way for a while. The car park has been resurfaced, the shrubbery h growna little but the lake remains a good size and aligns well with the prevailing win although I suspect when it varies the Race Officer has to use a fair degree of ingenuit Derek Priestly brought his re-styled Parasite 2 named Para along to Cleveland. Seems to go better than the original – looks better too! to get a good course. Let’s hope there are | more mini-whirlwinds in store for the Nationals in August. League With the passing of the district sailing championships both the individual and clu league championships are undergoing son changes. We have a new skipper sitting on top of individual league while there are some ott new names appearing in the top ten and e more new names ‘knocking on the door’. Since the last review neither Peter Stoller long races which, despite being populated by skippers with a wide variety of experience and ‘form’, had some very close finishes and with fewer ‘time-outs’ followed by ‘place-onthe-water’ scores than might have been expected under the conditions. The pace of the racing and of the meeting overall was such that I was unable to get any pictures of the racing; after all my main aim was to try and haul myself back up the rankings a bit and to try and get my new boat into a competitive form against some of the best around. Ian gave us about five minutes between each race and every three or four would expand that to about ten minutes during which one could pack in a more complete drink and/or refresh the suncream to protect against the day-long continual attention from the ultra-violet. When the forty minute lunch break arrived many took a rather more leisurely break while others made a dash to the local pub., only to return to find the yachts being called back on the water for an afternoon of sailing which left most of us shattered when the time came to wrap up at around 4.30pm. The eleven races saw the wins being spread between no fewer than seven different skippers although the overall winner, Paul Jones from Doncaster, bagged three of them. Second placed skipper Mark Dennis had a couple accompanied by four second places and two good, solid, tenth places which gave him a heavy discard score. Newly crowned European Champion, Martin Roberts was not quite on the same form as Top Ten Radio Clubs Club 1st Woodspring 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th Bournville Guildford Birkenhead Market Bosworth Fleetwood Leicestershire Falmouth 2nd 10th Chelmsford651.3 Hamble Score 942.8 599.3 587.6 582.9 448.9 431.6 399.6 301 294.7 Top Ten Radio Individuals 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Skipper Paul Tickner Chris Harris Keith Skipper Martin Roberts Paul Jones Gordon Maguire Peter Stollery Gordon Sears David Taylor Anthony Corbett Score 208.4 169.7 164.9 162 153.2 1512 149.7 134.3 117.1 116 he had been at Fleetwood a couple of weeks earlier but put in a consistent enough performance to hold third place and even managed to get his only win of the day in the last race. Fleetwood club mates Adam Kissick and Derek Priestley also managed a win each but these became lost in a mess of much higher scores to end up in eleventh and twelfth places respectively. nor Gordon Maguire have increased their league scores and have both been overtal by a group of skippers who were previous below them. The highest climber within t top ten is Chris Harris who has jumped fr sixth to second overall; while Keith Skipp has leaped back into the top ten and strai into third place to leave Martin Roberts a the only skipper who has retained his position, fourth, since last time. Tommy ! goes out while David Taylor just comes i number nine and Anthony Corbett is in danger of slipping out. The individual lea is definitely getting quite interesting and more National and District Championshi come the issue is not settled yet by a lon way. The Club Championship is starting to shape with a determined effort being pu by that past multiple winner Woodspring This is the club that used to claim that tl weren’t really interested in the league results, they just wanted to get as many their members out sailing as many class they could. They are doing it again and ; now nearly a hundred points clear of the club, Chelmsford, who are also climbing strongly. The early leaders, Hamble, are the verge of dropping out of the top ten there are others coming up strongly bel them. Falmouth, from the far south-wes themselves in danger of joining Hamble the ‘lower ranks’ once again as their on: impressive score becomes not-so-impre Studying the statistics for race result: comparing them with past years it certz seems that the Marblehead has lost out terms of being the number one racing} to the One Metre. In fact it almost seen have dropped to a similar level of follov MODEL BOATS SEPTEMB! 22 support; I am sorryif I sound definitely ‘anti’ this proposal and therefore offend any of you out there who support it. You may be surprised to hear that I actually support part of the argument for the new rule: I put myself in the camp of not being willing to commit a large part of my disposable income on the latest technology – if I can be competitive in some other way. I also fully realise that those who earn their living from supplying us have to do so at a ‘commercial rate’ and their prices must reflect this. As in most similar circumstances ‘what you get largely reflects what you pay’. If you are prepared to put in the effort it is perfectly possible to achieve the top with ‘traditional’ materials put together with skill and craftsmanship. If you want to get involved in this debate and/or have a copy of the new proposal get in touch with Alan Youd, ‘Silverstone’, Stoneygate Lane, Ribchester, Preston, PR3 A vision of things to come? 1. The proposed Level 2 Marblehead could mean this is what we will be seeing around the clubs: this is progress? 3YN. Six Metre news Members of the 6 metre Owner’s Association have probably been feeling a bit left out in my columns during this year. As I have featured a bit in the growth of the class and in the propagation of the match racing circuit during previous years this may seem a little surprising. The main reason is that I have just not had the opportunity to get my six out and go racing this year, and with a few notable exceptions I have decided not to report on events that I have been unable to report from first hand. However there is that yacht that many were predicting would die, the Ten Rater. The latter class is certainly drawing some entries in to the league meetings that are being organised, although support is not even across the . districts. European One Metre follow-up Not much more to say on this excellent event but including this heading might persuade our editor to let me include some more of the photographs I gathered at Fleetwood. The Club Marblehead? We’ve heard of something like this before; this time it has come from somewhere within the MYA Northern District via their Secretary, Alan Youd. It seems that the thought that throwing money at this class is the only way to compete at the top level still prevails. It follows, using the same hypothesis, that anyone willing and able to chuck the required amount of currency in the right direction can hold sway at ‘ordinary club level’. There are certainly many about that have that persuasion: I am not one and have said so in these pages before now. A proposal was recently put to the MYA council that a new set of rules should be accepted for a ‘2nd class Marblehead’. These rules will undoubtedly need considerable tidying up before that could be put into practice but basically seek to outlaw all that is seen as ‘expensive’ and ‘high-tech’ in an attempt, one assumes, to reassure all those who hanker for the days when the Marblehéad class was dominated by SeaHorses and Trappers. I’m afraid I’ve got news for all newcomers to the sport that think they can successfully set the clock back and even up the competition among Marbleheads in the same way that banning ‘high-tech’ from the One Metre appears to have done. I, and no doubt some of those supporting these proposals, got into this sport during those days and went through the anguish of seeing others come along with their latest ‘goodies’ and thrash us. Those very same skippers will carry on doing the same thing, thrashing us, irrespective of what they are sailing. MODEL BOATS SEPTEMBER 96 The only thing that a ‘second class’ Marblehead will produce will be second class racing because those who have had a go with the ‘first class’ will find it less than satisfying and will probably migrate back to the ‘real thing’. Those who start with the ‘second class’ and get good at it will probably get the urge to go along to an open meeting one day, get a view of the ‘real thing’ and rapidly realise that is what they wanted all along. The class will then be left with a nucleus of skippers quietly carrying on their own thing with nowhere else to go outside the confines of their own club. The MYA can ill-afford this sort of fragmentation in the run up to the turn of the century when we are pledged to achieve a significant increase in membership. Unfortunately the beginner who is likely to be enticed by this proposal has not had the experience of seeing that a good skipper can achieve respectable results with a relatively low-tech. yacht. All they see is the local ‘hotshot’ dominating racing with his carbon, swing rigged, whizzy slim thing. Yet the district from which the proposal has emerged contains two of the key skippers that spring to my mind when I pen these words. One, Squire Kay, carried on being a competitive force with his range of glass fibre, conventionally rigged, Marbleheads right into the ‘Kevlar and carbon age’. The other, Barry Jackson, surprised everyone with an entry at a Radio Marblehead National Championshipa little while ago with the very same Sea Horse that he used to have success with many years before. That yacht was all glass and conventionally rigged with his unfashionably heavyweight Dacron cloth sails yet he achieved a place that meant I took his photo collecting one of the top prizes in the midst of some of the ‘high-tech’ yachts that are still on the circuit. The unfortunate thing about this new proposal is that it deliberately outlaws all those ‘used’ high tech yachts that prove a bargain when the hot shots have decided to spend their money on the latest design. These yachts have many hours of racing left in them and can cost no more than a new yacht built to any new rule will. Proliferation is not the way to go in our sport while we are trying to build up the news that I can now make public, although all members of the Association should be aware of it even before I write it. The re-write of the Six Metre Rule has finally passed the hurdle of being ratified by the MYA Council and will come into force on September 1st 1996. The new rule will be distributed Free Of Charge to known manufacturers, sail makers, official measurers and officers of the Association. It will also be available Free Of Charge to members of the Association on request to the Secretary/Treasurer either to be included in the AGM voting pack to be distributed at about the time this hits the newstands or on receipt of a large self addressed envelope. Presumably it will also be available to nonmembers of the Association on receipt of a similar large envelope and a small fee; join as an associate member and you might get it thrown in with your joining pack?! Look out for six metre news in the next issue, just writing about them gives me the urge to get it out and go sailing!!! A vision of things to come? 2. Instead of downgrading a current development class, wouldn’t it be a better idea to work with a new ‘controlled’ class. Both the 2 Metre (pictured) and the 1.5 metre are currently under development. 23 MODEL YACHTING The skippers were confined to a raised gantry which became the control area for the event. It was carefully thought out and…. Far left: I feel a caption competition coming on! The only slip-up Martin Roberts made during the week lead to the first of two baths. GB kindly offered his services and gave Martin a nice shine with his shammy! Below: being positioned some 6.0m gave good views down onto the boats at the start. y the time you read this, I am sure most readers will know that after six days of demanding racing, Martin Roberts became the first winner of the European title for this class. To say that this was a popular result would be something of an understatement. Although anyone achieving this feat would have demanded a lot of respect, Martin managed to do it by an uncompromising display of boat speed, tactical skill and sportsmanship. Historically Martin has sailed well but often fallen at the last hurdle because of gear failure. This time it all came together and I am certain that all the competitors were genuinely pleased by the final result. With Chris Dicks second, Peter Stollery, third and Graham Bantock fourth, the event.was basically dominated by UK skippers. Although I don’t want this article to become a race report, it should be mentioned that Guillermo Fernandez from Spain finished in 5th position, Remi Bres in 9th and Laurent Chapelot in 10th. Other than Miguel Gordoa from Spain in 15th and David Taylor who finished 20th with a Canadian registered boat, these were the only visitors be a very demanding event. then it has an annoying habit of coming from Above left: The first Fleetwood as a club is one of the oldest in the country and benefits from a purposemade lake ideally suited to the vane steered yachts raced around the country in the 1930’s. The lake runs basically West/East in line with the prevailing winds. The venue is the Southern side, where the buildings cause day’s seeding races were famed for it’s strong wind races and the to make the top 20 of the 60 boat entry. Mike Kemp has already reported confused wave pattern that can build up over something about the racing itself, so I will try to avoid any repetition, however I thought it might be interesting to try and give the reader a more behind the scenes look at the Readers may well remember the ‘94 One Metre Nationals that were held in exactly these conditions over three days. boats and the organisation of what proved to MODEL BOATS SEPTEMBER 96 the lake when the wind blows along it. The problem for the Fleetwood lake is that if the wind doesn’t blow along it’s length, turbulence and cast wind shadows. When this happened, the problems were compounded by the control gantry making it virtually impossible for the race officer to lay a course with a true beat, either at the start or in the course. I don’t believe that this problem had a detrimental effect on the competitor’s enjoyment of the event or on the final results, however it meant that basically on alternate days we had processional races sailing around M-shaped courses, punctuated by the not held on the most ideal of courses. In this start yacht 95, approached the inner distance mark on starboard then flicked onto port, laying the first mark without difficulty and going onto to win the heat. conventional triangle and sausage course Sif evolution of the systems in use today, one Whilst skippers did there best to avoid needs to remember the problems that thes systems have had to address. collisions, imagine trying to sort out this Looking back lot looking into the sun at several hundred Historically, frequency allocations used | be a controlling factor in the number of metres distance. Is 21 tacking onto starboard, or taking avoiding yachts that could participate in any one individual race. This meant that a large en! would have to be divided into heats and to this, a system of seeding the entrants into those heats, in addition to moving betweer the heats, had to be developed. Although \ now have far more frequencies available, i still difficult to replicate a full-sized yacht race with one start for a large fleet, as we : have the problem of actually seeing a boat amongst so many other competitors. This means that the principle of sailing in heats has be maintained, however in the U.K we have the benefit of sailing to the Equal Opportunity Racing System (E.O.R.S) whi seeks to replicate a full-sized yacht race by introducing promotion upwards through t action to miss 171 on port who is making a major alteration of course? And what is going to happen as 90 starts tacking to avoid 4 coming in on starboard? Would these situations been avoided if skippers had been walking the bank? heats during a race. R.Y.R.S.; E.0.R.S. and redress The Radio Yacht Racing System ‘95 noy used at MYRD events is different in that it hangs on to the idea of promotions after rather than during a race. This puts a very Best graphics went to Sabastian Pradalier sailing a Quattro… different complexion on the racing, as a demotion means that for example, in an event such as the Euro’s, going down to E heat results in one’s minimum score for tl next race being 16, whereas in E.O.R.S yo could go on to win a race even if you were demoted to D from the previous race. Far right: …and Jozo Jakelic sailing a boat named “The Bitch”. This fundamental difference has ramifications for all the rest of the system Obviously they don’t rules but the most important one, at least suffer political my view, is the implications for redress. N readers and skippers will probably have correctness in Croatia right now! Above: The new Tonic design powering to windward in No.3 rig and… when the wind was along the lake. Wind strengths varied considerably but we basically used every rig during the duration of the event, which must have tested the allround abilities of both boat and skipper. Whilst this background may well repeat other reports, it is worth bearing in mind as oe The race committee, as is usual at most important regattas, had reserved the right to check measure the boats and a few of us took advantage of the tank and weighing facilities to make sure the yachts complied being measured during the event The Organisation between this and an MYA event appears to Fleetwood, being a large and established a pointed out. it was the conditions experienced at Fleetwood in ‘94, combined with the development of the thin RM designs, that have had significant influence on the development of One Metre hulls prior to this event. More on this later. 38 club with lots of regatta experience is well able to manage this type of event in a friendly and efficient manner. Registration consisted of presenting one’s certificate, having the hull and fins stamped (to prevent a skipper changing them, without consent) and some check measuring. This included a cursory examination of the rigs, striking a reasonable balance between rule enforcement and courtesy, an approach which continued throughout the competition. As one would expect, most breaches were minor and were rectified after the infringement was quietly with the rule. I am unaware of any boats Actually this was the first International model yacht regatta that your scribe has attended and, apart from the fact that the racing lasts six days, the main difference be the racing system. To understand the heard all sorts of arguments about claims redress but with a background in full-size yachting, I have a very simple view on th: matter. The provision for redress is there for a number of very good reasons. Ignoring tl safety aspects, it means that if a yacht’s position in a race is materially prejudiced another who has infringed a rule, the rac committee can take account of the facts 4 compensate that competitor, either for th race or series. A fundamental considerati in awarding redress is that no other competitors (that have complied with the rules etc., etc.,) should be prejudiced by such compensation. This is dealt with reasonably well in E.O.RS as it clearly states that whilst a competitor cannot be awarded a position may receive points equal to a better race position and of course, despite possible demotion, can always work his way back through the heats in the next race. With R.Y.R.S, redress is awarded as an actual 1 position, meaning that if you finish a hea last, having been involved in some incide an award of redress may mean that anotl MODEL BOATS SEPTEMBE! Far left: a view of the bow clearly showing the very narrow forward sections with the flare at deck level. 4 aw Ame. A. et The Babygo sailed by Remi Bres. Whilst the hull has very narrow transverse sections, it doesn’t seem to have as much rocker… …as the Crossbow for example. Again one can make out the slight flare at the deck level. See text for thoughts on these points. skipper (that has complied with the rules) is demoted instead. I am strongly of the view that this directly conflicts with the fundamental principle of redress and should be enough of a reason for the R.Y.R.S to be scrapped. So why hasn’t it? Well the problem with E.O.R.S is that racing can grind to a halt whilst protest hearings are held. If a protest affects a promoted yacht, then the subsequent heat will be delayed and one also has to remember that all disqualified yachts go to the bottom heat, which can delay racing as well. With R.Y.R.S, as promotions and relegations take place in the subsequent race, it is possible to hear protests whilst racing continues. As relegations only move down one heat, whether disqualified or not, there is actually some considerable time before a heat is actually delayed. I think that this is a reasonable argument. All racing systems have to be a compromise. My “but” is that the R.Y.R.S is a an unsatisfactory compromise in that apart from the issue of redress, it places too much emphasis on avoiding relegation and even makes it pay to protest one’s close The Quattro looks to be a development of Metrick Magick with a cylindrical deck section forward. This particular boat competitors out of contention. I would not suggest that this is a common practice but (No113) was fitted out very well but is being there is a lot to be gained by match racing someone into an incident which might referred to the sin bin for a ruling on it’s deck eventually lead to relegation. Sittings. The solution? I’m not sure I have one but it did occur to me that if one adopted the principles of E.O.R.S but only moved disqualified skippers down one heat, then this would solve the problem of recommencing the lower heats. (This basically replicates R.Y.R.S and therefore the impact can be no different). I don’t see a solution to the affect on promotions, however this might be a cross worth bearing when balanced by the benefits. It might even reduce the claims for redress of which there were about 30 (50% of the whole) during this event. Viewpoint Another difference (and something I found quite difficult to adjust to, so bear this in mind when reading my comments) was the restricted control position on the gantry alongside the lake. Whilst this raised dais gave a wonderful view looking down onto the lake and the yachts below, it meant that the starting line (and probably the finish as well) had to be located in an adjacent position. Not MODEL BOATS SEPTEMBER 96 a problem on such a long lake as with the wind in the right direction the R.O can set long beats from the start and to the finish. However, as I’ve already said, the wind doesn’t always come from the right direction and I still wonder if better starts could have been set on the “iffy” days, without the marks some distance away from the control position, there were far too many pile-ups for this arrangement to be accepted without question. As one would expect, when the course was good, the incidents decreased, however when the windward mark was placed almost as far away from the gantry as one scaffold. could go and was combined with the mark The other problem was one of sight. Fleetwood is quite long lake and One Metres quite small boats. With windward and leeward being in the wind-shadow of one of the hotels, it was a recipe for disaster. I took the time to walk up to both windward and leeward marks 39 Don’t ask me how I of incidents, protests, etc.,) and whatever the effect, it was the same for everyone. I still can’t help wondering if it was worth the expense? Anyway, as I am going to avoid the debate about the need for an International Jury, that about sums up what both organisers and competitors face in terms of administration. I missed this yacht’s transom. The one exception in design terms was this Spanish hull which was wide, had an enormous had a chat with John Cleve, acting regatta secretary for the event who told me his strawpoll said that basically everyone was happy transom, timber fins and a ballast that just with the racing system and the gantry. As I told him, he must have spoken to all the people I missed but whatever one’s view, it is the same for everybody and in this case, the looked plain ugly. She got christened “the frigate” and whilst it’s not a great shot…. best sailor did win. The Boats With several of the countries not taking up their allocated entry for the event, it was perhaps not surprising to find that the U.K had a total of 23 entries. Most of the designs will be of common knowledge and will be … look at how she tips (No.00) when heeling. The wide transom obviously floats and presses the bow down, which may explain the forward sections were raised so abruptly. At least one can afford this type of experiment an be od AB — 1m a model yacht: : = | a, One of the Croatian designs. Narrow, almost circular transverse sections (possibly a v-shape at the water-line forward)…. Sketch 1. “. CG – Centre of gravity. O – Cente of rotation. CB – Centre of immersed volume. HAVATSK. . LEXTROPRIy REDS BR ie MOSM Oe eA 8 orn CB – Centre of bouyancy W – Action of Weight. B – Action of bouyancy Sketch 2. CG – Centre of gravity. O – Cente of rotation. 7 — Fin sccnis.to.bedlongeway back bit the ree ballast is hung fox axdeoftiee cen t¥e: # ull ! a and was surprised by what I saw. Apart from blatant infringements that went unseen from the gantry, there were also incidents called that actually didn’t take place. One often saw skippers trying to avoid each other by sailing well clear but there was little that could be 1 done when a yacht in a clear lead became W ‘ 40 of , sk tials becalmed and pounced upon by the rest of the fleet coming into the mark on various flukes of wind. I accept that this often happens in model yacht racing but I believe it would have been better if in these conditions, the skippers had been allowed to walk the bank. The justification for the gantry is that it keeps skippers and observers together (in the event picked up and referred to by way of photographs. Newcomer was the Alex Austin designed “Tonic” which was sailed by three skippers including Peter Stollery who finished third. Notable own-design was Tony Edwards’ Kato which, apart from being beautifully built, seemed very much on the pace. The French entered a team of 12 skippers, the majority of whom were sailing either the Babygo (a down-sizing of the Paul Lucas designed RM Margo) or Quattro attributed to Chris Dicks and Laurent Chapelot. This appeared to be a modified version of the Metrick Magick and to be frank, seems to be MODEL BOATS SEPTEMBER 96 in both the Marblehead and One Metre classes. The trend was started (and I base these comments on my personal experie nce within the UK; I believe that design s from outside the UK may have had an influence in development prior to the ‘92 RM World’s ) by the development of the now dominant RM Road Edge and Paradox designs. In talking about these designs, I may have referre d to the hull’s stability, particularly “form stability” and it is in this context one needs to look at the evolution of recent Metre designs. Firstly I make no claims to being an expert in this field. My views are based on a little experience, many conversations and quite a lot of reading on the subject (the latter having put me to sleep on more occasi ons than I care to mention). I hope that I do not write as much rubbish as I hear and trust that what follows is taken as purely an The deck arrangement seemeda little complicated with a deck stepped mast (note that the rig is well back along it’s track. Made me wonder if the fin is simply in the wrong position? Gear failure and a number of incidents was the main reason for this skipper’s poor result but one had to give the whole team credit for their enthusiasm an innovative ideas. overview of what is a very complic ated subject. What the reader firstly needs to be aware of is that simply having a narrow beam hull will not produce a quick boat. The continual reference to narrow beams is in itself misleading and is something that I should be the first to apologise for. Yacht design is a The “Boats to be Proud of prize should have gone to either… process which involves numero us compromises to get the best out of a hull that is floating in one fluid medium, driven by some cloth supported in another. The advantage of model racing yachts is that designers do not have to give any consideration to a crew, equipm ent or stores, so the volume within the hull only has to contain a comparatively small amount of equipment. Having reached the stage where this equipment warrants little conside ration in the shape of the hull, the yacht has to designed within the rules for that class. To help with understanding the current clutch of designs, I think it might be useful to explain how the sections of a hull affect stability. To give some.understanding of what this is and in attempt to explain why the trend to narrow beams is interesting, let’s consider a yacht hull in it’s simplest form, a hollow cylinde r floating on water, Stability We know from basic physics that this cylinder (or any other shape) must displac e a volume of water whose weight is equal to the weight of the cylinder itself. Our cylinde r has two axes of stability; one along it’s length (longitudinal) and one across it’s width (transverse). The same rules or concept s apply but in considering hull shapes it is common to look at the transverse section or beam as this has more influence on the stability of a design. If you’re interest ed of these Portugese entries (sorry I forgot to get details of the designs) which were beautifully built and fitted out. The main difference between them seemed to be the aft sections. in having a look at the subject in more detail, there are many well known books availabl e but I would suggest that the reader considers “The Design of Sailing Yachts” by Pierre Gutelle. This is a tome that, whilst contain ing a lot of the more complicated theory, isn’t (to be frank) dreadfully boring! Back to the consideration of our empty bottle or cylinder which we find floats with part of it’s body submerged (let’s assume it the only one that has anything like the pace of Chris’ original. Spain provided six entries which included one design that I’m afraid your scribe will have to own up to rudely nick-naming “the frigate.” Peter Stollery can take responsibility for describing it’s keel as a club hammer. Several ofthe Spanis h were sailing a design called the Pattarra by Xabier Gordoa which seemed to go quite well. Their top skipper sailed a Red Wine. Germany fielded five entries which includ ed several hulls from the Tinto mould, a Stella anda Jazz. Portugal and Croatia each entered four skippers and some of the interes ting boats will again be covered in the photo montage. One of the two Irish entries was sailing a doesn’t leak shall we?!) The cylinder is in Crossbow and the Single entries from Holland and Malta were both sailing derivatives of the Metrick Magick. David Taylor from Canada was sailing his Dann-3 with a new keel sporting a sexy delta-f orm ballast. Well that’s a lot of names, but what does it mean? Perhaps this is time to touch upon elements of the design article that I have been promising to write for what seems like a life-time. Elements of design I suspect that most readers will be aware of the fact that fashion in model yacht design has lead to the development of narrow hulls equilibrium of which there are three types; stable, unstable and neutral, Where equilibrium is stable, any disturbance produces a force which will return the object to it’s original position or state. In unstabl e equilibrium, the object remains in it’s position until displaced. In neutral equilibrium, the object will remain where it is left. When our cylinder is spun, we find no significant resistance and it will stop pretty well much where it is left. Our cylinde r is an example of neutral equilibrium as the CG and remains on, the longitudianl axis. Looked at in section (Sketch 1) O is the is centre of rotation for the cylinde r and this happens to coincide with the CG, the centre of gravity. CB is the centre of immers ed MODEL BOATS SEPTEMBER 96 41 Far right: The flare in the hull of this Quattro design can be clearly Below: ….. as can the affect that on it’s sister ship’s bow wave as 113 powers along on a reach. Sketch 3. CB – Centre of immersed volume CG – Centre of gravity F alters due to it’s shape when a forcealone In this example, our box has stability that cy bouyan of centre the is it Here floats. it the position in which shifts. because although the CoG has not moved, the CB has moved to the side to which pressure was applied, forming a righting couple of B x y. In this case it is simply the section of the hull that is responsible for the righting k moment. Of course these very basic rules only look at the sections when our models are at rest but hopefully they help explain something about transverse stability. Now whilst we look at, measure and build hulls in a static configuration (.e., upright on a horizontal plane), yachts rarely move in this way. Unlike our cylinder, yacht hulls do not have these consistent transverse sections and designers therefore have to consider the immersed volume of the hull as it heels. My research lead me to conclude that this is why yachts have overhangs, which become immersed as the hull heels, however consultation with Graham Bantock suggests that the reason for yachts with overhangs is that they are unmeasured in depth along both axis. Although the Babygo design was quite We’re only looking at the section but by photogenic somehow it’s comparing SK2a with SK2b, we will see that when the bottle is performance didn’t seem to match up to expectations. Note how the bow seems to be turned, the CG swings around O and to one side of the centre of immersed volume (CB) which does not move. The pressed down and generating a steep wave. righting couple so formed (W x y) returns the bottle to it’s original position. So far so good; but note now that the shape of our cylinder has played no part in the process. The stability in our hull is due only to the weight (or ballast) added within it. Now let’s look at the floating box, sketch 3. Again volume (or buoyancy) and we can see the upward force of buoyancy is equal to and opposite the downward force of gravity. In Sketch 2 we add some fixed weight, or ballast, to our cylinder and find that it sinks deeper into the water, giving a new water-line 42 viewed in section the centre of gravity is above the geometric centre of the immersed volume as shown in the left hand sketch. Now if we apply a downward force to one side, the box will rotate but unlike the cylinder, it will immediately return to the original position once the pressure is removed. This is addition to water-line length, or in certain cases, required by the rules. These considerations affect the performance of a design in numerous ways. A short waterline (when upright) combined with round sections may give the boat a good light airs performance and make it easy to tack. A long water-line length will produce a faster hull speed (speed is a function of length, ignoring planing conditions) but may make the hull slow to tack. This means that when looking at a hull, we should not only look at what happens below the water-line, but also above it, particularly the freeboard. Deeper and deeper fins Regular readers may recall my previous article featuring an interview with Graham Bantock. Our discussions about the Marblehead class concluded that the next leap in that class’ development would come about through the use of stronger composite construction. It was the commercial availability of strong carbon fibres that facilitated the development of deeper and thinner fins and encouraged the evolution of the thinner hull form. Without wishing to repeat all of that article, the fins developed at that time went deeper, allowing the ballast weight to be reduced for the same righting moment and the sections made thinner (without impairing their stiffness) so as to give less or equivalent drag to shallow fins. This meant a reduction in the total weight of the boat, which (now think about our sketches and the affect of adding, or taking away ballast from the cylinders) in turn meant that the volume of the hull could be reduced. The result of these changes is that MODEL BOATS SEPTEMBER 96 parasitic drags such as form drag and skin friction are also reduced (the area in contact with the water reduces) in a faster boat. This is still scratching the surface of the problem because if it was that simple, all boats within a class would be the same shape ….. and we know they aren’t ….. but we have seen basic similarities in design trends such as narrow beams …… which is close to where I started. Fins and ballast Whereas in the RM class a narrower hull can be made faster by using a deeper, narrower and thinner fin by incrreasing (or retaining) stability while maintaining (or decreasing) resistance, the same avenue is not open to One Metre development because the boats already operate at maximum draft. Hence stability cannot be maintained when the hull is made narrower. Although I’m not sure it was really understood at the time, the development of fins such as the those of the Paradox and Road Edge, also allowed big gains in righting moment because the fins themselves were lighter, allowing the weight to be concentrated in the ballast. The fins also contributed less drag than the earlier timber profiles, so the newer boats were probably quicker to accelerate and easier to drive in lighter winds. Increases in stability from the developed some interesting One couldn’t really boats. have a report on this Flares to prevent or delay nose-diving are evident on a number of designs, although event without at least one picture of the winning yacht; Martin the large distortions such as the ones on the Metrick Magick, Quattro and John Gibson’s Excel+ seem to have been diluted on other designs such as the Widget, Parasite and Crossbow (here they are Robert’s Widget No.22. With “The Sin Bin” moved up virtually to deck level and don’t seem to be as wide) and now the Tonic. The Red Wine design, it’s Single Malt and Tinto derivatives were present in some numbers and don’t have the flare. I’ve got quite mixed views (Below Left) Remi Bres’ on these features now. Having a lot of photographs which boat was incredibly simple in that it had wooden seem to suggest that designs boom, shroud lengths like the Roar Edge do actually plane downwind on the wave adjusted by string, and piece of wire for a kicker, generated by this type of The leech… Th peeae =| ree © Hii hei seeeeee & areas ee fin meant that there was less justification for any form stability but as the One Metre has a minimum weight limit, I’m not sure why the original designs weren’t thin anyway (the new hulls have to support exactly the same weight as the old ones). Having considered the fin, the next important rule is the weight. With a minimum all up weight of 4kg, all One metres basically are designed with similar displacement characteristics, however unlike the RM class, the rule requires that the hull depth shall not exceed 60mm at it’s lowest point. Consider our sketches; given a fixed length of say 1.0M, to achieve a displaced volume equivalent to 4kg mass, our cylinder will have a given diameter, whilst our box could have various permutations of width or depth. In fact for a One Metre, we don’t have to put the whole boat in the water to achieve this displacement, so the designers distribute the volume over the length in a number of sections. This means that instead of having say a tube of consistent section from bow to stern, we develop hull shapes in an attempt» to produce the best performance. Whilst UK designs currently perform well across a wide range of conditions and venues, it is possible for a designer to develop a design with a performance envelope suited to known conditions prevailing at a certain venue, or even for a specific event. Rockers et al So although we refer to narrow beam designs, there are other factors that we should look at. Apart from the transverse sections which are likely to be of circular, V or U section (and I suppose a combination of all three) we should also take a look at the longitudinal profile and the curve which is often referred to as the rocker. Think about our cylinder again. We know that the (Above) …adjusted by a combination of backstay tension anda line pulling down on the leech (much in the same way as an RM swing rig) but …. are two lines for adjusting the foot of the sail permitted in the rule? sections are going to alter but it is also interesting (well for some of us anyway), to try and envisage how the buoyancy is distributed over the length of the hull, as this will affect it’s longitudinal stability. I hope that this all makes some sense and will help give a different perspective on the pictures of some of the boats seen at this latest major regatta. If I haven’t said it before, other than one notable exception, the hull forms at the Europeans tended towards narrow beam. Other than the Tonic and the Kato, there weren’t a lot of new designs, although the Babygo hadn’t been seen in this country before and the Croatians seemed to have More seriously, an interpretation on the compliance of the gantry arrangements on two of the Quattro’s eA DiUO: MODEL BOATS SEPTEMBER 96 43 Apart from flares, certain designs also featured cylindrical deck or …where the kicking strap and boom are raised bow sections that went way separate from the rig and permanenily mounted on the hull, has been referred to the IYRU. The French seem to spend far more time beyond the reverse sheer of the Red Wine design. The fact that the Babygo was one of this type is no surprise as it is an evolution of the Margo and reminiscent of the multi- hull form, however the French Quattro took it to an extreme, making their own presumably to ensure the bow lifted as soon as possible after a nose-dive and the Parasite now has quite a lot fittings than other sailors. of bow rocker. This debate can be resolved by the designers, but I did take the time to watch a lot of the designs sailing and came to a number of (I’m afraid subjective) conclusions. banks. 1M yachts are very small in comparison to these waves and wide beam boats (with lot’s of form stability) with full Usections such as the Bubbles variants (which always perform well in flat water) sit more on than in the water. This may mean that they are affected to a greater extent by waves than a thin hull (with more volume distributed along it’s length) as the equilibrium of the forces generated by the yacht sailing upwind are unbalanced by the wave action, causing loss of speed and increasing leeway. The advantage for the wide hull should be downwind; where it should be more stable and possibly plane quicker, however the wide beam seems to mean that when the yacht nose-dives, it’s bow is held under for longer by the sheer weight of the water. The narrow beam 7 ‘The aided boats featured a compression strut fitted horizontally at deck level to | boats with fine entries (thin bow sections) don’t seem to have this problem, possibly because the deck is significantly narrower and simply “holds” less water. I wasn’t convinced that the curved decks recovered any Hopefully you will just be able to make out the swivel at the head of the jib forestay. Again clarification is sort as quicker than a narrow flat one but they didn’t appear to have any drawbacks either. The thing that surprised me was that the Babygo didn’t prove to be to whether is a permitted fitting under “the 1M rule. extremely quick. Again I watched the boat quite carefully and concluded that whilst it would probably have been very competitive in flat water, it didn’t like waves, especially off-wind. If you refer to the photographs of the boat, you will see that the hull has cylindrical. Above the water-line it seems to have virtually flat sides. What seemed to happen downwind in waves was that the stern would often be lifted and the bow, with ae) and a raked one appeared on the No.1 rig of Mark Dick’s boat little reserve buoyancy, tended to bury. Whilst it’s narrow sections might not create a lot of resistance, the boat seemed to pitch and such a motion can again unbalance the during the event. equilibrium of the forces driving a yacht. Upwind I think the design suffered a similar tendency. Since then I have learnt that Remi tanktested the design and found it to have higher drag than other One Metres at all speeds up to 3 knots (high speed reaching and running speeds). Having seen the boat, I find that quite surprising, but given the number of factors that contribute to drag, it’s just as difficult to come to a conclusion based on this fact as it is with my rather subjective observations. My own conclusion? Well for all round performance I suspect that the better hull shapes tend toward maximum rocker with narrow ends. The Red hull/deck shape, then surely Fleetwood with Conclusion deflection when the yacht is pressed upwind. formations, even in quite strong winds. Venues like Fleetwood are exposed and often give consistently strong wind conditions, generating a wave build up that becomes very confused by waves bouncing from the it’s strong winds would be the place where this feature would prove an advantage. However, I can’t say that I noticed boats without the flare diving before designs with it and have wondered for some time whether the flare might actually cause drag and wave 44 Generally we sail model yachts on sheltered lakes without significant wave Wine transom with it’s chine is flat for downwind stability but is raised above the water in static trim. Other designs like Magick, Crossbow and now Tonic, look similar but don’t have the chine, therefore tend to be circular, a little less stable but have perhaps a fairer line. I would certainly keep the deck as narrow as possible forward MODEL BOATS SEPTEMBER 96 A sexy delta-shaped and encapsulated ballast appeared on the end of David Taylor’s Dann-3 fin but didn’t seem to enhance it’s performance. The idea is to get and keep the ballast weight as low as possible in an attempt to increase the righting moment. The penalty is increased drag with because of the ballast’s larger surface area. The writer’s own boat now uses a simple bridle pulling back on the mast to control the section. See text under the Not So Bad for details. Far left: GB’s No.1 rig sported a ball-raced mast crane that allowed the head of the sail to rotate freely… …@s well as a bearing on the tack and luff downhaul (it’s mounted on a tube that can be pulled down) that achieves the same thing at the foot. ….. bit of string, it was probably okay. Whilst fittings and deck layouts obviously cause debate and interest, the One Metre class remains pretty straight forward but with skippers still yearning to do simple things in a difficult (or sophisticated?) way. It was worth having a look at Remi Bres’ The jib had one as well but none at the head as GB said that this would not be a permitted fitting. boat to see just how simple a “competitive” One Metre can be but as Martin demonstrated this time, it is boat preparation and practice that make the biggest contributions to success at these events like this. Off to Sunnier Climes It is not my intention to start writing solely about One Metres but to round off this article, I thought it is worth mentioning a number of events that might be of interest. Firstly the Malta Model Boating Association are planning to organise an open event in Malta on the 13th – 15th December this year. Given that travel is fairly inexpensive at this time of year, it might be worth considering a visit (especially as they intend to use EORS!) provided the transverse sections above the water-line widen to give reserve buoyancy forward. This solution may have a similar affect in performance terms to a very narrow section with the flare at deck edge. And for the best way to avoid losing control downwind? Ignore the hull shape, concentrate on technique (there is one!) and don’t use the rudder too much! The Sin Bin No event would be complete without a little controversy (it used to start at breakfast in our hotel and last all day) and I have included a number of photographs of fittings that are currently being considered by the IYRU MYRD technical committee. boom. I’m not sure about the latter as, at least on Graham’s boat, I could see the deck tie chord turning as the jib eased but I’m convinced that the bearings on the main will have a great advantage in very light winds. And yes the top bearing could fall foul of the rule requiring the mast to be of constant external section if it wasn’t for the fact that the measurement band overlaps the underside of the bearing and very top of the mast section. Graham and I had a little discussion about my piece of string to control mast bend. Is this a strut or not? But we came to the conclusion that given that the action is the Not so bad Graham Bantock and Keith Skipper’s boats featured some interesting gadgets on their MODEL BOATS No.1 rigs. The photographs show the bearings mounted at the tack and head of the mainsail, together with the bearing on the jib same as a strut and that only a madmen (my interpretation) would argue for enforcing a conventional strut rather than a bowsie and a More information from MMBA secretary Anthony Debono on telephone/facsimile +00356 330455 or write to “Summerwind”, Graig Street, Taxbiex, Malta. The next big IYRU event will be the One Metre World Championship in New Zealand from Tuesday 11th February to Sunday 16th February 1997. The event will be held in Wellington and will be hosted by the Wellington Radio Yacht Club at Seaview Marina, Lower Hutt. Entry fee is NZ$300 (or about £150) and potential competitors have been asked to register their interest by writing to The Convenor, Wellington RYC, PO Box 6157, Wellington, New Zealand. Alternatively, fax details of name, club, postal address, telephone and fax number to +64 4 472 7771 and they will respond with hotel details and information updates. I hate to say it but February is not that far away and skippers are already lining up to qualify for the UK team (but I suspect that given the costs involved, if you want to go there will be little to stop you.) Anyway have a merry Christmas! SEPTEMBER 96 45