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Best to contact Graham Bantock, he was the designer and Sailsetc likely the builder.

Anyone who may be thinking about selling their Marblehead in the near term please contact me. I am looking for this boat for a new member who is also new to Radio Sailing. I have offered to guide him through what could be an expensive Project!  BUDGET IS £1500 MAX Ideally it should be: Officially measured (or at some recent time) Modern eg last 25 years (Eg Paradox, Starkers etc) Free from damage or professionally repaired (if carbonfibre/kevlar) Longest fin and ballast if possible. Rigs: swing or conventional or a mix are fine Sails: condition can be iffy as will probably renew. Winch and servo both working 100% No Radio or boat electrics required but will take if preferred. Ideally we would want a demo sail before committing. Can travel or meet halfway. Member is in the Camberley Surrey area. Contact John Arundell Tel 0127631280 or email : arundelljohn1@gmeil.com  

I have recently acquired a Paradox Marblehead to complement my Stark. It needs a fair bit of refurbishment and some repairs however I cannot find a hull identification number on the boat. It may be it was never measured or having been repainted the original number may have been erased. Previous owner has no information to assist me. It is an early boat, build No 2. I have contact both the class registrar Roy Stevens and Brad Gibson the builder without success. The sails display No 29 and there is an international K which suggests it was competition sailed some time ago. The boat would date back to the early '90's When I removed the paint I found the name " Avantgarde II" underneath. If you recognise this boat or know of a previous owner or a registered number can you let me know please. Thanks Michael.

Can be seen on the appropriate page in the 10R section of All Radio Sailboats webpage.      

I cannot answer all of Grahams questions but I can offer some insight as an outside observer.   For a number of years elements within IRSA have been pushing both the Marbleheads and the Ten Raters to form their own International Class Associations.  My understanding there have been 2 arguments for this on the basis that any class which cannot do so does not deserve 'International' status and that IRSA should not be administering these classes just overseeing them and ensuring 'standards' are met.  There have been skipper and interested parties meetings at the last few World Championships with a view to progressing this through a volunteer/nominated working party/executive.  I was present at Garda when this was attempted but the working party formed collapsed.  A later meeting was successful.  The foundation executives initial role was to drawer up a constitution. Get the association registered as a charitable organisation and resolve its status with IRSA (now Associate members of IRSA see news item on IRSA website).  (The latter involved negotiations with regards to a startup grant. I understand based on the profits from the last few World Championships paid to IRSA.) The two Associations formed are registered in Switzerland and the detail of their constitution, initial foundation executives, and foundation member NCA's are listed on these websites at http://www.tenrater.org/ and http://www.marbleheadclass.org.  Note:(these websites have not been updated since May so do not reflect the fact that Phil Holliday resigned some time ago from his roles with IRSA, ITCA and IMCA and has had no part in the recent decisions of the remaining foundation executive.) The question  that remains to be answered is if the International Class Association is to carry out all the administration of the class in respect of Technical matters and class rules as well as finding places to hold and run continental and World Championships.  What does IRSA do for them? It controls approval of their decisions in respect of class rule changes and and in particular when and where they can hold championships 'represents' them at World Sailing and takes a large cut of the proceeds of any championship it approves. It should also be noted that the International Class Associations are, as with IRSA, not individual 'owner/certified owner' membership organisations.  The membership of these organisations is NCA's who have the votes.  In the case of the UK the NCA is the MYA.  The MYA however has for a number of years now had a similar policy as IRSA that classes should take more responsibility for their own organisation with a view to those that wish to eventually having a sufficiently robust organisation to become NCA's.  Hence the foundation COG frameworks and the progress to each class taking as much responsibility as it feels able to start this process and the MYA seeking views before responding to the latest communication from the ICA's. p.s there are now more entries for the Ten Nationals and still a week to go before entries close.