Our final contributor to this series of lockdown projects and activities is from new member Del Ripley.
As one of the newest members I only got to sale at the pool twice before the lockdowns started.

Birkenhead Radio Sailing & Power Club
Our final contributor to this series of lockdown projects and activities is from new member Del Ripley.
As one of the newest members I only got to sale at the pool twice before the lockdowns started.
This weeks contributor is our Commodore John Brierley. He has been doing a little boat maintenance and ensuring that all of the screw eyes on his DF65 are sealed to stop any chance of water ingress. Although not super critical to have a dry boat at BRSPC, it is always important when sailing on salt or brackish water, so well worthwhile doing. John used West Epoxy and hence the use of masking around the recesses, but superglue in the hole and then replace the screw eye should be fine. Here are the boats before applying the epoxy (that silver hull looks new!)
Here are the boats post application and tidied up.
Have you been taking the opportunity to do some boat maintenance whilst we have been in lockdown? One area that may be suffering now are the electrical connections with corrosion setting in if there was any moisture hanging around in the hull. Other things that you could check out are bearings that might need lubricating and sheets becoming frayed. Be sure that you are ready to go when we can start sailing again.
It is also worth looking over the top tips of both a general nature and specifically for the IOM, on the BG Sails & Design website here.
I’m running low on projects to tell members about now and so if you have been working on something that you think may be of interest to other members, please send the information to the webmaster (see Contacts page) or reply to my original email request at the end of January.
Mike de St Paer has been busy finishing the renovation of an 1890’s (ish) 20 rater. According to VMYG, this class pre-dated the 10 tonner Class, replicas of which are still made by Grove Pond Yachts
Before completing this renovation, the boat was sailed at the informal VMYG day organised by Club Captain Andrew Peter and Mike was pleased to see that she didn’t sink. Even though there aren’t many original boats from this era still surviving, it’s good to know that model yacht racing goes back this far. Mike provided the following additional information:
Next up in this series of lockdown projects is Brad who has been undertaking some serious work on his foiling moth for the forthcoming season. Brad takes up the story…
I am doing a full modification on my foiling Moth. The boat has been flipped upside down with the old deck removed and a new moulded hull shape added underneath designed by myself. New wings coming from James Edwards at Robot Yachts. A hopeful launch in April at the Grafham Water open. Plenty of fun giving further life to a 10+ year old design and staying busy in lockdown after hours.
Here is the boat with Brad sailing at the 2020 UK Moth Nationals held at Weymouth in September.
Here it is with the deck cut off (and sat under the boat)
Modelling the new hull shape
In construction
Further Lockdown projects to follow in a while.
After posing the question “What have you been up to in Lockdown” to club members, this is the first post in a series which will be shared over the next few weeks.
First to respond was Graham Reeves who has been really busy over the past 11 months.
First Up is a 1937 A Class originating from the Windermere Model Yacht Club, with a Before and After picture and in internal view of the planking with daylight showing! This boat was modified from the design called Thisbee. Published in the Marine Models Magazine in April 1933, the designer is believed to be H B Tucker who was not only a notable designer but also the magazines editor. She was modified by increasing the beam to give a displacement of 58 lbs against the design displacement of 50.5 lbs. Builder is yet unknown. She was never registered with the MYA but the Windermere club had its own method of numbering the boats for racing. Numbered from 1 to 15 of which this one called Scafell was allocated No 4.
Second Boat is an A Class from the 1950’s, supplied by Andrew Peter and originally from Gosport – still yet to be finished, but here are the before and after photo’s. She was originally called JoJo, then re-named as Lywood. Built by Pete West of the Gosport Club, she was designed by J. Alexander of Preston. The name of the design is as yet unknown. Registered number was K638 one later than Dick Priests “A” called Yeoman which was K637 . Dick went on to win the Nationals with Yeoman.
Finally, he has worked with someone to develop vane gear suitable for 3D printing based upon his design from 12 years ago.
In addition, Graham tells me he has also restored a 1948 “10 Rater”, which he can tells us about if anyone is interested. let me know via the contacts pages if you would like this to be covered as well.
The next instalment of this series will be published in a few days time so that you have something else to look forward to. Don’t forget to subscribe (if you haven’t already done so) using the Mailchimp sign-up boxes on the RHS of the web page so that you don’t miss out!
This year sees the introduction of a new set of Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) which cover the years 2021-24. Although there aren’t any significant changes, International Umpire Greg Eaton (GBR) has produced a short Powerpoint Presentation guide to the key changes affecting Radio Sailors, which (thanks to the GBR IOM class) is available here. This includes a link to the Racing Rules Guidance from the RYA which includes full information on the changes on pages 16-24. I have posted an independent link to this here.
You can download a set of the new rules from the World Sailing website along with any changes made, although the RYA have a convenient page with links to download this and other documents associated with the rules here.
If you prefer a printed copy, then a full set of the Rules is available from the RYA in a convenient A6 format and printed on Waterproof paper for £10.99. A link to the page of this and all RYA books on Racing is available here. Of course there are always other books on the rules, including:
These books have diagrams to help explain many of the rules, unlike the RYA version which is simply the World Sailing text and RYA “Prescriptions”. Both books are available from online book store’s if you are interested. Something to read whilst in lockdown?