Category: news

Lockdown Projects & Activities #5

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.

I had at that time a Dragon 95 and a old Joysway pirate’s yacht in black.
At Christmas I was pleased to receive a Dragon 65 ready for when we can once again sail at the club pool.  My time has been spent fitting the Dragon yacht’s out in new green trim that I will be able to see with my poor eyesight.  The Dragon 65 and Joysway pirate’s have both been fitted with House Martin Sails.  Over Christmas break, I also had one very expensive sail on the lower basin below the Ellesmere Port Boat Museum.  I had only been sailing a short while, when my very expensive mobile phone fell out my pocket into 20 feet of murky water!
I look forward to visiting the pool when safe, but for now I send my best wishes to all members.
We look forward to seeing Del on a Wednesday to race with his DF65.
The club awaits further advice from the MYA about re-starting sailing, although hopefully this will be on or shortly after the end of March, depending on how cases fall and what Tier levels are applied when the Government move to the second phase of Step 1, when outdoor sports are allowed.
In the meantime, if anyone has any additional projects they would like to share with the membership, please send me (Peter Baldwin) further details.

Lockdown Projects & Activities #4

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.

Lockdown Projects & Activities #3

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:

The hull, which is the only part I got, is made from a single block of wood – possibly some kind of cedar – but quite lightweight.
The rig, sails and fittings were long gone and the deck was sadly too damaged to recover. The hull had longitudinal cracks, probably from being stored under something heavy but, as it was recovered from a small IOW boatyard, who knows.
All if these boat types, including the later 10 tonners, were notorious for sailing on their beam ends. This also applied to the full size yachts on which they were modelled.
I’ve compromised by building in a casing so that she can be sailed with a fin keel but still look correct for display.  Ballast has been adjusted to maintain the displacement and trim fore and aft.
This also makes it much easier to transport and handle. I don’t think the VMYG hierarchy approve, but the mod is easily reversible and enables the boat to sail well.
Mike is also happy to answer any queries on the boat.

Lockdown Projects & Activities #2

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.

Lockdown Projects & Activities #1

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!

New RRS and changes affecting Radio Sailing

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:

  • The Rules in Practice 2021-2024: The Guide to the Rules of Sailing Around the Race Course by Bryan Willis
  • Elvstrøm Explains the Racing Rules: 2021-2024 Rules (with model boats)

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?