Windling World: December 2003

Winkling q ” DECEMBER 2003 A sharp looking Sharpie – Skipjacks Doing it in Queensland – A bit of the old Witchcraft – The Alexander yacht story – Curlew goes home Forgetable voyages The route by sea to Cleverness is often through Confusion Canal, where one must hug the craggy, far from precisely defined coast of Gobbledegook leading to the Sea of Exasperation, and for some, eventual voyage abandonment at the depressing port of Surrender. | speak in nautical language of the super-clever to the point of being smart-assed, new computer soft- ware, which if my early experiences with this issue are anything to go by, almost drove me onto the rocks. Then there was the internet, and “worm! and other virus hazards (still with us) and new computer faults. Anyway, life goes on – it was never meant to be easy, was it ? Barry Gibson, my Victorian friend in Australia, who is a “Keeper of the spirit of windling’ there, “czeched!’ out on the internet and told me about a Czech website which has a few nice looking yachts. Take a deep breath and go to www.sssbrno.cz/monako/homepage. htm.cz Once there click on Lode, then Planky 1 and Planky 2. Try it, you might be lucky, and still be sane afterwards |! As for me, I’m afraid | don’t know my ~“MecTo! from my “Wnop’, and as for my AxTepwTar ? | just keep biting my tongue ! There are two other great new boats in this issue, Kingfisher by UK’s Keith Hummerstone, the other a magnificent schooner from my old friend, Roy Lake who lives just a hundred metres or so up the road from your Editor. Roy is of his efforts are stunning to say the very least. The photograph below should be titled “Hold your course ! I’ll pass between you!” (which is what the imaginary helmswoman on big John Stubbs’ lovely looking new boat Jaunty could well be yelling out to the ducks ahead. See story on Jaunty on PA. a meticulous and very gifted Auckland modelmaker, and as usual the result on a pondy-like*sea’ (Markus Darcycus) As they always say when giving television on promos and ra- dio….and there’s more’. Within you’ll also find news of new mod- els in Queensland, Australia, in the United Kingdom, a bit of “Witchcraft! and… Oh, what the hell, turn the pages and hopefully enjoy. My aforeAusmentioned tralian friend, Barry Gibson, has completed a Model Victor MINI Products BLACKHAWK_. NZ 32, as New Zealand’s America’s Cup boat seen at right. It is only 25″ long and has a moulded Hi-Impact — hull. He says that it sails better than he had really ex- to manufacture and market inexpensive little sailboat models to young and old alike. Today over 35,000 Tippecanoe models have eventuated. | am_ looking forward to telling you the story in the April O4 issue. Over in Paris, France, New Zealander lan Scott took this photograph beside a lake, of model yachts for hourly hire by anyone wanting to have a sail. Non RC but good fun pected. (Looks good too !) In 1983, Will Lesh, the man in the photograph at the top of the following column, along with Cynthia his wife, founded a company _ _ Front Cover _ Kingfisher Photo by Jacques Vapillon _ Back Cover ‘HEADLAND AHEAD !’ Photo by Will Lesh – and at quite moderate cost I’m reliably informed. Mark Steele Publisher/Editor Borrowing facts from an article years back by yacht designer Train who created the Commodore 40 seen here modelled by Auckland = Ancient Mariner John Stubbs, Train described his own design as a ‘sharpie twice removed’. David B At the hands of Ralph Middleton Munroe, the New Haven sharpie went through a metamorphosis that culminated in his Presto design in 1885, to satisfy his own need for a shoalwater vessel capable of seaworthiness in open waters. Train further refined Munroe’s design in his Commodore 40, making it a_ trifle deeper-bodied, and both heavier and beamier at the sheer, resulting in a_ stiffer and generally more weatherly boat. This brings us to the one metre in length RC sailing model (Jaunty) built by John Stubbs. Having seen the beautiful boats that both Malcolm Wilkinson and Alex Bartlett had made using the plank on frame method, John wanted to try and emulate those with the design of the sharpie, and the Commodore 40 design found in a book appealed to him. The timber used for planking both hull and deck, was kauri but he considered his choice of plywood for the frames somewhat of a mistake take, as it is not good for fixing to. All of the trim is in teak, and the difference is quite good when varnished. Mast and spars were also made out of kauri, A lot of pleasure came from the Owner/builder and boat (above) process along with a modicum of pain when things went wrong. The process is slow, and John says that he is impulsive and likes to finish things as soon as possible, but admits that it was good for the character, and he will certainly build again in that manner because of the rewards. The whole boat fits into the car fully rigged which John considers a big plus – all that is needed at the lake is to attach the keel and sail. Length overall is 125Omm, beam is 310mm, bowsprit length 255mm, the main mast is 935mm, the mizzen Main mast 670mm. .168sqm, Sail Mizzen areas are .O78sqm and Jib .125sqm. John has two keels, a heavy weather one at 5.5lbs, the other at 3lbs for lighter conditions. The model looks superb both on its stand and on the water, and in a nice steady breeze, Jaunty lives up to her name and is indeed ‘sprightly’. The WITCHCRAFT was a Marblehead design popular about fifty years ago (I am told !). Today, in New Zealand’s South Island city of Christchurch, a formation of a *Royal’ Society of owners has oc- a few mates, simply chose to go to the ROYAL Hotel in the port of Lyttleton to hold an inaugural meeting of the “Royal Witchcraft Society’. cured. only two rules, one that there would be no rules, the second that the RWS would have one Commodore a different one each month that is ! To be a ‘Royal’ Society of course, one must get Royal consent, but to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the design, Euan Sarginson of the Christchurch Model Yacht Club, and They decided that there would be At that meeting, rumour has it that at least one witches hat was seen and one unconfirmed report stated that at least four members left the Royal Hotel that evening carrying RC broomsticks ! Witcheraft – Vintage Marblehead. And then came their first regatta at which the ‘Witches Britches Trophy’ and “The Wonderful Winged Warrior’s Wand! (which was won by default, when the first boat over the line was disqualified for having sails that were too colourful) were raced for. It was all non-serious but highly enjoyable fun, and a spinnaker run even brought out rubbish bags on several of the yachts. One skipper (it has been said !) even asked “Is it an upwind run 2”. All considered, the RWS (see the appropriate _ letR.W.S. terhead crest !) is a great example of not taking things too seriously, but still achieving the main objectives of preserving With the advent of radio control, and design-specific hulls, the Witchcraft boats disappeared into garages , lofts and lockers to remain there gathering dust and cobwebs for many years. Those with deep pockets however, discovered that the old Witchcrafts could be converted to RC, and when a mould for building new hulls surfaced, this led to the formation in Christchurch of the Royal Witchcraft Society .. pn | am told, on a fair few measures of * bull! ! Royal Witefieraft Society a vintage boat and having fun at the same time. A Priest into Witchcraft ?. In 1954, an English Model Yacht architect, Mr B.H Priest launched a then radical Marblehead called WITCHCRAFT …a vane-steered boat that proceeded to blow away the opposition, particularly at the windy Fleetwood lake. in UK. The design was widely published and it did not take long to be adopted worldwide. In New Zealand, the boat was responsible for a surge in the popularity of model yacht racing. Two brothers, Lewis and Matthew seen windling John Collins of Bristol, UK’s Friendship sloop-styled Y2K hulled boat “Two Brothers’ on the Woodspring Model Sailing Club’s water. Richard Mayes and Ron Fox are buddies who often sail together in Queensland, Australia, (a place referred to as being “downunder’. You know the old joke that if you dug deep, enough in your garden, you would eventually come up in Australia ! Richard, seen with his new gaff cutter, the Allora G in the top photograph, has often appeared in WW, and met Ron (seen at right with his impressive model of the four-masted Lawhill) when the former moved to the Maroochydore area of sunny Queensland. Ron was born in Australia and started model boating in the 1950’s when he was eight and he learned to sail a Balmain Bug. He made a few balsa attempts at boat-building before moving to Fleetwood member in the UK where as a member of the model club there, he sailed Classic A Class yachts before moving back to Syndey, later relocating in Queensland. gaffs of Tasmanian oak. He is cur While in Sydney he was one of the founding members of the Sydney Model Yacht Club, and in Queensland he founded the group that The photograph (below) shows the Allora G in front of Mary Helen, both awaiting the breeze. Photo (below that one) shows the 4-masted Lawhill of Ron Fox really enjoying a good blow. now sails at Forest Glen (April O3 WW issue). rently completing a two-masted schooner, Blue Peter using the same hull His model of the Lawhill (built at Dundee in 1892 and sailed as a trader to India until 1919) Ron hastens to add, is not built to scale. It was built as a working model on a glass hull produced in Australia, and the square sails were omitted and replaced with extra staysails in the interest of better performance. The length of the model is 4’9″ including bowsprit. An avid windler, Ron has also built a one metre plus bowsprit in length gaff cutter, Mary Helen. Richard’s new gaff ketch (shown below) is modelled on the lines of the well known gaff ketch Thendara, that boat built in 1937. The hull is of fibreglass and the model’s deck is planked on the curve in limewood 4X2 mm, the cabin and _ hatches made of mahogany, the booms and Both Richard and Ron enjoy the relaxation and laid-back pleasures of both windling and friendship. Here’s to both ! (Ed). you IsGeorgia South Jand, whereupon Curlew’s sailing days quietened somewhat. Not to suggest that they abandoned the South Georgia Island’s loss is Falmouth, UK’s gain in that Curlew, the most famous and celebrated Falmouth Quay punt ever of 1898 vintage, is boat there, for whenever time per- now back in Britain and is at the mitted they would sail her in those National Maritime Museum in Cornwall. South Atlantic waters. After gifting her to the museum in Falmouth, their early intention was to sail her back, but it was eventu- Havin heard of the NMMC on the BBC, Tim and Pauline Carr (Curators of the South Georgia Museum) who were spending less and less time cruising their beloved Curlew, and worried about any deterioration that might result from the inhospitable Antarctic climate, offered the boat to the new museum in Cornwall who gratefully accepted. ally cided deto her ship the back eight thousand miles aboard the James Clark Ross, a British Antarctic ves- The Carr’s had bought Curlew in a virtually derelict state in Malta in 1967, and having brought her back to her former glory, and travelling thousands of miles aboard her, during which time they had participated sel. She is seen being loaded (above). The Carr’s meanwhile remain as Cu- rators at the South Georgia Museum where they plan to stay for the next in so many regattas in various coun- tries, they eventually sailed her to three years. 10 The National Maritime Museum Cornwall has added Curlew to its collection of 140 small craft spanning a period of 150 years that includes racing dinghies, working boats, fishing vessels, punts, rafts and record breakers, as well as artifacts of the nautical kind and sailor- made models. Bottle boats have been sailed in the UK and | once tried without success, to borrow photos and get details from a Mr Stollery, however, he who waits is often eventually awarded. The likeable and easygoing Ron Rule of Auckland, New Zealand (see last issue) came up with Schwepperwhatsit, an RC near Photo by Bob Berry It has space for lectures, galleries for displays by well-known marine artists, inter-active displays of boats, Photo by Bob Berry A library with over 6,000 books, magazines and journals and a buoyed course in an indoor pool where one can race RC model footy-sized bottle boat which was great fun. That’s what winGat hve frig agiel about…lightening up and having a laugh, not taking life too seriously. yachts forms part of the museum. By the time you read this, it is more than likely Curlew will be on display. i spuds 2′) | understand that it is a conversion from static to sailing and it looks good. One seen in Auckland sails quite well too. Unable to Abel. No Abe! awards this year, and that’s definite, but who – knows, they could be back next year. Very much (stylewise) like an America’s Cup boat, are the A Class Pas- “If you feel strongly about helping the Publisher to keep WW going as long as he can, how about doing the magazine a favour when loaning out copies to friends, by sug- sive and Optimum boats designed by and available gesting that they take out a subscription themselves? ” (Reader Harold ‘Flip Flop’ from John Taylor in Argyll Doozenberg). (Good thought – Ed) & Below is Le Chat Noire, a nice scratch-built ketch to his own design by Bute, Scotland, which | hope to tell you more about in a future issue. South Mol- The Passive with a hull length of 85″ ton UK, on is certainly a ‘biggie! in any man’s a Bob Underwood hull. a Tony Easton language ! An Optimum and builder above. On Cape Horn, Bernard Moitessier of “Were itnot for stress in his book, The Long Way wrote: “A great cape, for us, can’t be expressed in longitude and_ latitude (a windling friend of mine said recently) I’d have no energy alone. A great cape has a soul, with very soft, very violent shadows and colours. A soul as smooth as a child’s, as hard as a criminal’s. And that is why whatsoever !” One yachtsman while anchored at the ~yache cloob’ there, described Montivideo harbour as we go !’. Where are the Potatoes ? a “hot, sticky, smelly, At right is a Billing Belgian Potato boat, this one built by Colin Munday in the UK. (A spud boat and no fly-buzzing cesspool. Guess he didn’t cats fancy itmuch, 12 {fof ¥. Many of us interested in model yachts today, may possibly never have heard (Above left, two of the Alexander sons with the yacht Lady Evelyn, above right the 6m Alexander yacht Glenesk with trophies won. of John Alexander and his family of sons and daughters who moved down Championship took place. to the South of England from Scotland around the mid-1920’s. They were fuelled by an idea that as a family they should go into business. Yacht Race An Alexander boat was not a toy, rather an expensive model six feet in length, made in the same manner as Before the war, racing model yachts a fullsized racing yacht. So it was that John in the company of his was an extremely popular pastime, not so much for children but for grown men, Model older sons who had been brought up so Alexander decided that the to be as skilled as their father with both wood and metal, began a model yacht production business which would become Internationally famous. family would build and sell model racing yachts. Having done some homework (today they call it market research) he selected Preston as a base, because it was conveniently located near to Fleetwood, where the World (Continued on page 14) 13 produced a line of considerably smaller racing yachts, each one hand-built and selling for about three pounds. The Alexanders raced their own boats too, and at Fleetwood, one of their yachts Heather A native of Dunoon, Alexander had come to Britain to build flying boats. In Scotland he had been associated with such, and had also been Foreman of the Clyde yard that had built Sir Thomas Lipton’s first Shamrock. Glen (bélow) set the speed record of two minutes, two second for the The ambitious model yacht family business was set up in the lengthy attic of a rambling old house John bought on Victoria Parade. 810 foot long pond. There were ten in the “family Alexander’, and those taking part in the venture were sons Alan (who was the youngest Eric, William, Ernest and the eldest son James. Both William and James had other jobs but were expected (and willingly agreed) to help in the evenings in the fashioning of model yachts. Mary, a daughter, along with Alan’s wife, Barbara, looked after the sailmaking side of the business, turning out from special cloth, four suits of sails for each racing yacht built, — mainsail, jib and spinnaker. Mary is seen at right one of boats. with the In 1950 the family celebrated 25 years of operation when one of their yachts finished second in the British Model Yacht Racing regatta held that year at Gosport. That year, at 74, John retired from the business, and he and his wife lived on the bottom floor. He was always available however, and keen to watch his sons and the ladies carrying on the family business in the attic, reached by a flight of long stairs. He died in 1955. Not everyone of course could afford the beautiful, sleek A Class boats that they produced and sold for one hundred pounds, so the family also 14 At the end of the war model yacht racing tailed off in popularity, and it was quite a few years before the same level of interest returned in Britain. Inevitably the Alexander model yacht business folded. Above is the hull of another of the Alexander designed and built yachts, this one White Heather, which along with the model shown at the bottom of the previous column is owned by Charley Williamson in New York. Today, Alexander boats are pretty scarce and indeed would fetch high prices on the market. Father and two sons boatbuilding For awhile the sons continued making yachts for friends, and for a few special customers. They mainly worked on them during weekends and in the evenings, James doing so until the 1970’s. Below, one of the smaller Alexander boats. Editor’s note. Much of this information must be directly credited to Elizabeth Basquill, a grandchild of John and Harriet Alexander, and to a lesser extent to a George Eglin who wrote an article in the Lancashire Evening Post in 1950. My friend and WW reader, Charley Williamson, a Professor at Cornell University and himself an owner of several Alexander yachts, has made possible the use of these photos, Charley got to know Ernest Alexander (who died in Preston earlier this year) quite well. Without these folks help, it would have been impossible to present this 15 story on quite a remark- able family of yacht builders. model inset photo at left of the model on the water, taken on a bad day weatherwise. I’d hoped for a better one. The model was shown in the last issue of WW, and the idea to build came to Keith when he saw a photo of the boat, phoned Yachting World and was put onto Merv who is This article is primarily about North London’s Keith Hummerstone’s RC sailing model of Kingfisher, Ellen MacArthur’s UK designed, New Zealand built yacht which she sailed to an incredible second place in Owen Clarke who sent him drawings to enable him to start construc- tion. Deciphering the frame drawings was not easy, but Keith got into it, cut the frames leaving a piece on top to fit to the building board, then fitted the keel, planked the hull with thin strips and it was under way. the gruelling 2000/2001 Vendee Globe ocean race. She finished just 25 hours after the winner. The top photograph shows topside detail of Keith’s model, 16 Dagger boxes were fitted, and the swivel for the swing keel using one bit of tube within the other, and fitting the rudders and laying the deck followed. For the cabin he made a former and put in a plastic 2 litre bottle, and using a heat gun, shrunk it over the former on which he had already marked out the windows and solar panels. The mast boom and not licensed for commercial usage, all copyright held by Owen Clarke Design Group. When he first started to sail the model, Keith had a lot of trouble learning how to control the boat, and he disconnected the swing keel and dagger boards, sailing the boat without those at first, then connecting them back as he mastered the skills needed. The model sails very close to the wind and is remarkably swift and capable of outpacing a Marblehead, and downwind the bow comes up and the model surts, which he has been told, is what the real Kingfisher was designed to do. spreaders he made from wood, the sails from kite material. The 1/20 scale model is 914mm long, 252mm beam. Keith is building a_ bigger model of Kingfisher. Plans are available from Owen Clarke, P.O.Box 2w6 Dartmouth TQ6 OYG UK. You get 8 sheets, a deck-plan model platform, model profile, model sections, a sailplan and a picture, and the “plan’ is (Ellen MacArthur’s book “Taking on the World’ , published by Penguin | recently read and thoroughly enjoyed. | may do a re- view in a future issue – Ed) FJ The editor looks at a new four master That Roy Lake of Auckland (above) is a highly skilled and versatile modelmaker, those who have seen his work will A agree is unquestionable, reall and this latest creation of his, the four-masted schooner Pride of Monterey is a marvelous example by which to appraise Roy’s skills. come a long way in terms of development in a short space of time, this 2.3 metre long schooner model, the hull bread Built specially for the fine working Monterey Park Model- and butter built fore and aft out of world Museum on the outskirts of cedar, is absolutely captivating. this city, a visitor attraction that has 18 The model is made from 20mm_ pine and 7mm plywood, with decks and cabins from 1.5mm ply and veneers of various timbers. The dinghies were carved from. solid New Zealand kauri and ribs timber, seats then added, and the crew, six in all were made, their bodies, legs and arms out of balsa, heads from pine dowelling, then painted with flat enamel. Roy’s wooden figures are always beautifully done, | can testify to that as | have two boats in my collection with crew members handmade by him. There is radio control on all sails except the jibs and two recessed rud. ders, one fore, the other aft are used to control the model. Pride of Monterey is as you will observe from the photos, a gaff-rigged topsail schooner. (continued overleaf) 19 (Continued from page 19) Getting back to the rudders, these are recessed into a channel in the bottom of the hull for extremely shallow water, when the water level drops in the pool in the low-rainfall Summer months. The sails are of lightweight Japara cotton and have been glued, not stitched, masts are of South Island beech, the spars made of kauri. A Mabuchi 540 motor geared down 6 to 1 is installed, powered by a 6 volt, Zamp rechargeable bat- tery. When the sail arm comes in, it touches a switch which then starts the motor. Visitors to the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii will see the full- rigged square rigger, Falls of Clyde, which was built in Port Glasgow and launched in 1878. Now fully restored as a static museum, she was the first of nine vessels for the Falls Line, and from her launch to 1899, the schooner travelled the world carrying a variety of general and bulk cargo. In her chequered life, she was converted to a sailing oil tanker around 1907 when owned by the Associ- ated Oil Company. In 1922 she was sold into private hands and could well have ended up as a log breakwater at Vancouver, as the hull had been constructed of riveted wrought iron. The enthusiasm of the people of HaBack in Monterey port Accessability to all gear in the hull has been made easy through every lift-off hatch. A weighted (5 to 6 Kg) drop-in keel through the cargo hatch gives adequate ballast. If in Auckland, get out to Monterey Park’s Modelworld and see it. ‘Those who have been to and listened to the water, wi sound of different wave streaming by, the crisse cockpit, and the fiessh of nearby (David Hays in his an waii, and a Captain Klebingat (who had once been a second mate on the ship) resulted in money being raised by public subscription, and once FC was in Hawaii, under the ownership of the 1968 founded Bernice P Bishop Museum a major tion took place. restora- / ~ d been on watch at night , . the following descriptions by w wave, the hissh of the water arting out from alongside the My old man of the sea) BUCK McCLELLAN According to US Maritime historian Howard Chapelle, the Skipjack came into fashion on the Chesapeake Bay around 1883, and was a development of the “North River Sloop! from the Hudson River ing forces was the late James Leroy ‘‘Pepper’ — Langley (below left) who built the first model Lady Katie on a roughly one inch equals one foot scale,Today it is a in New York State. popular They were V bottom with leg of mutton jib and mainsail sloops, and Chapelle considers the first Skipjack built was Eva which was constructed from scrap lumber left over from building the schooner Cambridge, Maryland on Rover in In Solomons, Maryland, a group of model yachtsmen got together in 1980 to develop an RC model — which would preserve the maritime his- tory of the Chitsapeake. They chose the Skipjack because of its historical significance, and probably because it was easy to build. One of the driv- class in Maryland, — where Neil and Sandy Barnes boats are seen at left. Over fifty of these boats have been built and are actively sailed and raced by three model boat clubs in the State. The Skipjack 48″ models are 48″ on deck with a beam of 15″, and a draft of 7″, and their mainsails 1240 have a square’ inch measurement. At Bristol, UK’s Woodspring Model Sail- ing Gilig. bY, Mayhew’s ES Mike Waverley Models Y2K fibreglass hull was adopted as the club boat. All boats in the fleet shown above, use the same hull but are different in many ways. These hulls have given many old and new members a great deal of fun. Reader Andrew Charters of South Carolina, USA (see WW/April O3) built and sails the circa 1905 fishing schooner Flizabeth Sillsbee, the real boat designed by W Starling Burgess. He designed her as an auxiliary, but she was handicapped by the drag of her prop. Andrew’s impressive 6′ long model is seen below. A NOTE FROM YOUR EDITOR: As you already know, I encourage subscribers and others to send me their stories to Windling. The more the merrier. But, when sending me photos by email for inclusion in Windling please forward them peg, Greyscale format, resolution 150ppi, no more than 20 x 15cm in size This makes re ing, handling and format- ting so much easier, I’m still a learner, as you already know! 22 For Mr Vittoria whose charter yachts get bigger and bigger, comes Mirabella V, at 247′ in length with Bead on the a 48.5 foot beam, and a mast height of 290′. To be launched in the not Wrireless Sad news to start with, the sudden passing of Rolf Faste of San Francisco whose article Remembering free sailing appeared in the August issue. We were in touch over the years and he was featured in WW a few years back. His collection of historic pond yachts is possibly the largest anywhere. He was only sixty. In Auckland, another model builder/ sailor and WW reader, Rex Cotterell passed away in late October. When he became ill, he very gener- ously donated Modelworld, seum. He is days with his of the all his fine models to Monterey Park Museen above in better 1/9th scale RC model New Zealand schooner R Thomson, which was tea Tucker tured on the cover of WW’s Dec 1966 issue. We miss his company. too distant future and designed by Ron Holland, this revolutionary composite superyacht with a mainsail of 16, 76O square feet, is for the luxury corporate and private charter market. It will be something to see ! Death of friends, and I’m starting to get all ‘bluesey’. Time for a bit of humour. A mate of mine says that in the 60’s people took acid to make the world weird, and now that the world is weird, people take Prozac to make it normal ! In Marine Modelling International, I’ve read of Robbe’s 1:20 scale schooner kit Valdivia seen below. It builds to a model 1580 mm’s in length with a 300mm beam. Nice looker, | think many will agree. If you like hot coffee, just yell out ! lf you yelled non-stop tor eight years, seven months and six days, you could produce enough sound energy heat one cup of coffee ! 23 { hor, 3 “SGhMiireeea nbaas Yachts of graceful and free-flowing lines… At left is Dick Hein with his Santa Barbara Class one-design, below is Dunham Reilly with his boat Silver Lady. Bottom, a fleet of the boats. These fractionally-rigged sloops on almost six foot long hulls are a popular one-design class registered with the American Model Yachting Association. Their following sees them raced in Las Vegas, Buffalo, Chicago, Omaha and Calgary among many other areas in addition obviously to several places in California. They are also sailed in Honolulu and have a following in Ontario, Canada. Impressive because of their size and clean, flowing lines they are a popular choice. These photos are by David Those readers on the interGoebel who is the Webmaster for the net, a visit and browse of the AMYA site is time well AMYA. spent. | think so anyway (Ed) 24 John (above left) with Pilot Cutter The sky was heavy and the ground wet from rain that had already fallen on the morning of Sunday 18th May, John Butterwith’s birthday, a day of celebration with sailing mates. The wind was blowing a hoolie also – and the forecast said it was to be sunny and warm ! stage during day’s sailing. the Fortunately, further rain failed to mate. rialise and sailing friends came all the way Woodspring, Looe and from Plymouth with intent to make it a memorable birthday, A lot of sailing took place, there was a gazebo set up and a bar opened, and a birthday cake ap- So what ! These guys from the Appledore Model Yacht and Boat Club in South West England near the Bristol channel don’t give in that easily, and John’s “Birthday Bash’ was go ing to take place come hell or high water ! A few travelling sailors from outside the region failed to turn up, but others did, though not all were able to sail due to the fresh South Westerly wind, indeed, John’s own peared as If by magic, Lots of lovely yachts as can be seen (and a few of the other kind) and all in alla good day. pilot cutter was blown flat at one 25 uses Windling World also has many readers in over ten countries who It is indeed a funny old world on this planet we share, your editor thinks so anyway, but through the pastime of model yachting we enjoy wherever we are, the tiny yachts have brought don’t even – sail but yachts, model are sufficiently interested in the concept of building and or sailing that… “one day when they have time’ they will. The magazine has several doctors who have many of us together in a way that I never perceived when | started this magazine culbectibed for years, a dental sur- with an issue dated July 1995. geon, a professional modelmaker, three journalists, an actor and a man | like to think (judging from your many letters, and from the news of your enjoyment of no pressure relaxing sailing) that model yachting has become an accepted artform in its own right, one in which we followers have shed any previous inhibitive attitudes we may have held, and now ~come out’ and enjoy the fun of windling and the friendship of others brought together by this interest of the cloth, Peter Spencer seen above, a gifted ship modeller and a very dear friend. Since its inception, WW has been instrumental in bringing many readers together, making us aware of others with similiar interests, and whereas its future can never be taken for granted, with continued interest and the support of readers, it is now set to head into its ninth year. It needs more subscribing readers, that has to be emphasised, for it accepts no advertising, subscriptions being the only form of revenue, the Post Office being its largest user of funds. Thanks to all of you and here’s to friends of model shared. No longer is it considered weird or strange that full-grown men go out to the local lake or pond to “mess about! with model sailing boats, and | know that there are many wives and windlers’ womenfolk who are most supportive, some even openly expressing interest in what we do on that “special’ day of each week. yachting ! Happy Christmas and good sailing. (Editor) 26 Is the ~Downupsy’ …a breakthrough ? =” Ed and the good lady had this old dining table they had not yet sold, so I’ve seen this in Bob Hicks quite OK, let’s look towards the horizon, (it is usually brighter there) and to the April issue in which there’s a story about a really lovely schooner kit available of the small inshore, late 1880’s fishing schooner, Mary | Ward (shown excep- ti OPnnaue magazine ‘Messing in about Boats. a What neat craft, | reckon…for recovering model yachts ! (“Let’s be serious” – Ed). | bove). south. Day. Never take life Anyway, this business of computer- growing am seeryus ! | thought windling was a seeryusly full-of-fun, relaxing… umm – oh yes… ‘artform ‘. Th tona Model Yacht Club in the US a have of destroying “worms! rampant every- fleet WW and many other small homeproduced publications like WW, Come to think of it, the advice of where is very worrying, and Ed says “has severe ramifications ! (First it is worms now rams 2). Ed says that could face appearance delays, even closure if attacked and software was destroyed. (Yup, that is seryus !) them. the locals (for those visiting the is land of Sint Marten in the Dutch Caribbean) is simply to,,, ai aica, aa ‘laay on de beach an a laaf an smile plenty’ WW’s computer Lite is indeed a beach | wants to know the dosage Mel Mr Gates ? 27 New Zealand’s non-profit ‘model yachting for fun, relaxation and friendship’ thrice yearly magazine