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Most of Vic Smeed's yacht design sail very well. I started with my Dad back in about 1973, sailing a Starlet fitted with a Macgregor single channel set up. I still have it , along with one of Vic's Panache yachts and two Harem hulls undergoing a bit of TLC . Stored away in the garage is a set of fibre glass mouldings for a Star C, the boat he designed as the basis of a new sailing class. Remember, when he proposed it there was very little around except the huge A boats and the radios we have today were still a dream away. He designed it on behalf of Model Boats mag who commissioned 50 sets of mouldings from a company to get the class started and the fittings doyens of the day, Roberts and Jones both had fitting sets available. I had one back in the 70's and it sailed beautifully on an early Horizon 2 channel propo unit. Sadly, the class did not take off. The current mouldings pitched up on Ebay a while ago

As the seller of this boat, I must take exception to this post. I bought this boat from a well known builder who had sailed it with no problems. I have sailed it at club level and had absolutely no problems with water ingress. The buyer came and looked at the boat and was happy. If had wanted to see it sailing, that could easily have been arranged. On collection, it was placed in the boot of a car barely big enough to contain it, with the lead and keel left on. The buyer then informed me that he was due to take it on the next day back to Scarborough in a much smaller car still. I don't believe that travelling in this manner did the boat any favours. Mark contacted to me for advise and like the above posts I suggested using either Captain Tolley's or thinned resin swilled around the hull to seal any crack. I do not know if he has actually tried any of the suggestions. As to John Taylor's unpleasant remark above " They may compromise if shown the errors of there ways?" The boat was sold in good faith and fully sailable condition . In fact the day before collection, I had assembled it to check it over and as I was not happy with the winch, replaced it with a brand new unit Hardly the actions of someone trying to shift a "lemon". Perhaps instead of buying my Lintel, Mark should have spent 3 times as much and bought the one currently advertised in the For Sale ads.

Hi Guys, I am new here, so please excuse me if this is not in the right part of the forum. My Dad and I were founder members of the Basildon & District Model Yacht Club, in the early 70s. Dad went on to become a successful Marblehead skipper, and I believe he became National Champion at least once. I thought I had already posted here a year or more ago, when I found an old yacht in my parents loft, which I had built (with a lot of help from my Dad) as a young teenager (52 years ago), but as I can find no mention of my (imagined?) post here, that was possibly another forum. The 36R model is from a Vic Smeed design called the Gosling. It was of very light construction, and when it was complete, the structure was so airtight, the deck could be seen bulging if the boat was left in sun. I decided that was probably not good for its longevity and elected to drill a 1/16" diameter breather hole through the deck a few inches aft of the mast. After a few sessions sailing it, I decided girls were quite good fun, and it stayed in the loft until I had to deal with my parents estate. Despite the huge swings in humidity and temperature in the roof space of their semi-detached chalet, the model survived its time in storage totally unscathed. I like to think that was helped by giving it a vent. Anyhow, when we get time, my wife (whom I discovered a couple of years after building the Gosling) and I go to Maldon boating lake and sail the model. It fits in the car fully rigged. Please feel free to add your photos and stories below (or tell me where to repost this).

Cheers, have tried contacting with no luck as yet!

After an 8 month hiatus where I was banned from my workshop in order to prepare for a possible house move, (which has now been abandoned), I have started work again on my modified Petrel 6M. The next question for the 6M experts out there is what incidence should I aim for on the ballast weight and what on the ballast do I take as a horizontal reference axis? Its a Sails etc wide delta planform unit and looks about right just resting on its lower surface. However it need quite a bit of smoothing and finishing yet.

It does have nice lines Jef. I suppose the best wind for the Dovercourt pond is somewhere between south and south west (our prevailing wind direction ) for end to end sailing. The top pond of these is the yachting pond, the other has pedalos on it these days, used to be rowing boats. Parking can be right beside the pond - if there's space. Public loos a short walk up Lower Marine Parade, cafes up there too. Take walking boots or something - there's a lot of swan poop around the pond.

Lovely curves Jim - sorry, Tony! You always have had a sunny disposition. Maybe I should take a trip to 'your' lake Tony. Is there a wind direction that it doesn't work well in, for freesailing?

Very nice Jef. Here's a yacht my dad made, probably in the early 60's. I can remember us taking it down to the yacht pond at Dovercourt in the mid to late 60's. The reason I think it was built in the early 60's is that it's named after me, my pet name was 'Jim' - no one calls me Jim any more. A girl friend did a double take when my mother called me Jim and I responded. Sunny Jim was my baby name, I had a sunny disposition then, the Force breakfast cereal character was Sunny Jim, I can remember that being a breakfast favourite at times. Dimensions are: 36" LOA (ex. bow sprit), 7" beam, 8" deck to bottom of keel. Looking a bit sorry for itself, hasn't sailed since late 60's or early 70's.

I have a 36 and A class for sale.

For sale here is a Vintage 10 Rater, sails and handles beautifully, the hull is thought to be a Nylet Scimitar design though there is no measurement certificate for the boat. The boat is ready to sail and recently had her rig redone, with a rudder servo and sail winch installed. It is currently at the London Model Yacht Club, unfortunately I am selling it because of the purchase of another boat. I am asking £350, open to offers, please message me on 07983829536 if you have any questions. Best regards, Nicholas

sail measurement. - most sails requiring measurement are International Classes. - most are made by reputable sailmakers who are in effect one man bands hand making sails to order. However competent this is not infallible and mistakes can be made. Hence the need for a second pair of eyes - the official measurer. For replacement sails (i.e. ones where the boat has already passed fundamental measurement and there is an existing valid certificate). It is quite legal and possible for a sailmaker to have an arrangement with a local official measurer ( with no conflict of interest) to, for an appropriate fee, come and measure and check agreement with existing certificate and sign off sails, before dispatch to customer. This could solve a lot of the problems. However for Fundamental Measurement. (First time new boat) this does not work as for many classes (i.e 10R & A) the dimensions of the sails are dependant on many factors relating to the hull and rig design and construction and can even vary between boats of the same design if fitted with different weight fittings and accessories. The whole package needs checking by an official measurer at this fundamental stage. In relation to measurer qualifications. MYA Classes now have online courses available for "Class" measurers. Although it is usually advisable to have someone new who has passed the on line course to carry out their first measurement with an experienced qualified measurer to ensure they have the practical skills covered as well. However before you can become a 'class' measurer you need a sail measurer qualification and the only one available at present is the RYA one. Here we have 'catch 22'. Yes in principal the MYA can run a sailmaker "radio sailing only" course. However the syllabus needs to be 'approved' by the RYA and they can only approve a course if it meets World Sailings requirements. This can happen but not overnight. It has lots of hurdles to jump over all of which also take time and individuals with the time to chase its progress. I am sure it will happen but not this year...

I had in mind a sheet of Mylar or similar dimensionally stable base with lines on as a go-no go guage. From what you say this seems feasible. Spot checks would be relatively simple with such a device would they not?

Not quite the same thing................ but, back in the late 1970's we hels a 24hour radiosailing event using radio Marbleheads. The event was organised be the Ashton Park MYC Manchester. It was an endurance event (rather like WLYC event for dinghys) and you had to complete as many laps of the cource as possible in 24 hours. 1 boat with up to 3 sailors was the team. The event was wone by the local club members 2 Barry's Jackson & Axon. It was held at a rether inclement time of the year....early November. We had Fog, Rain, Sleet, BUT very little wind!! In later years, we held the event at Fleetwood over the longest day weekend ...........much better. Perhaps we should revive the event??

Hi I have been thinking of joining the sport for a few years having sailed an old Ikon about 18 years ago for a short time. I soon realised that obtaining a a high end IOM is impossible which out a very long wait. I’m sure this puts many people off. I know the performance is down to the skipper but even Lewis Hamilton could drive a Fiat 500 as fast as I could a Ferrari. Surely if there is a demand the licences builders could produce more. In the mean time after a visit to the very Friendly LRSC I now have a DF95 and 65 with my first race this weekend if I can get the super glue off my fingers

Attached is some footage from my early experiments with this technology. Just to be clear this is a recording of real-time video being transmitted from the boat to a screen on my transmitter i.e. I am (at least partially) sailing the boat by looking at the screen. It's still early days bit a few things are obvious: Good points: Makes rounding marks much easier Viewing the tell-tales is valuable You can see what you are doing in a crowd of boats Bad Points: Camera field of view is limited so you need to switch between looking at the boat and the screen e.g. you can't see sideways to judge the starting line or see boats behind you. The technology obviously comes from the current popularity of drones & drone racing and hence the cost is very reasonable. The set-up I'm using costs less than an RMG, I did wonder about 3D glasses but ruled it out (for the moment at least) because of a) the FOV problem and b) I don't want to look like a geek. Yes I know this is illegal for racing (at the moment!) but I believe we need to examine this technology to see what benefits it could bring to our sport. If it could be used to attract more people (maybe even younger people) into the sport then we would be foolish to ignore it. P.S. If you record the footage it would make interesting viewing at a protest meeting!

Amazing… and the first view of a future. we ought to get Mr G Lineker and other pundits, to have their views about this, after all they have said about the 4th football referee. Could be useful for coaching beginners… also for some great video clips to attract new people to our sport. Disregard nothing at this stage, is my view.