RobVice_GBR41

Ahh well that would be fun too. I’m focusing on Dad’s boats for now, but yes I have several ‘parked projects’ in my loft too.. Let me know if you fancy taking her on Brad !

Ahh you’re the logical Grinch Mr G ! The aim is to get all of Dad’s loft boats sailing, not to win anything.. He’s also got a couple of wooden ones from the drawing board of Mr Dicks and they’ll be looked at soon too.. Might even get to “Nuki” or the “Cracker” at some point too !

RoRo. You got it buddy ! I borrowed Dad’s boat and placed 10th. The winches were slow, carbon fins were wobbly, keel bulbs were chubby, rigs were high and hulls were wide back then !

I last raced her in ‘94 at St Cyr worlds so it’s about time she hit the water again. A bit of a dust off, a Whirlwind service and a fresh servo and she’ll be good for a club race or two ! Anyone want to guess the design with this photo?

CJ and I have sent in entry forms. Chris H also going and has found Airbnb.

Found this plan on the Guildford site for the Bug3 footy with details of the power arm https://guildfordmyc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/BUG3_Construction_Notes.pdf It’s used on the Bottle boat too (different gauge of wire though) so that might be worth searching for..

I used this cassette for years when I was footy-ing. The curve itself isn’t mega critical (I have bent the wire around my knee in the past!) but the small wire ring with the sheet attached needs to move up and down the curve easily so a constant bend is essential otherwise it ‘sticks’ at a position which is bound to be wrong! I also trialed making the curve from softer wire so the biggest rigs eased out when it flexed in gusts to avoid over straining the smaller (lighter) servos. I can send photos when I’m next up in the garage..

Be careful of just throwing any old sail areas onto a swing rig (especially a Stollery swing rig) as their balance is critical. I’d be very conscious of the designers sail plan. Speaking as someone who has spent years getting this wrong before finally getting it nearly right.

Keeping my 👀 on this post…

I’ll be at Guildford on Saturday and Datchet on Sunday if you fancy a day out !?!

I’m sure that Roger Stollery (Up designer) would be very keen to assist you with any details you may desire. Im a fellow Up owner and I’d be happy to give my opinion.. Please feel free to send me a DM. Rob

Well done Uncle D for rousing up a great entry. Looking forward to it.

Alas I’m not going to be there this year, but will be watching from afar so please do keep posting videos/photos /scoresheets.

My take on a spare winch is that if the cost of entry+travel+hotel+disappointment is greater than the cost of a spare winch then go with the spare in the tool box. But it’s not the first spare I’d buy because rather like Graham, I have an unused spare (with extra long leads fitted) to suit my and my son’s Marbleheads that has been in the boat box for years (let’s hope that’s not put a curse on it!). I’d pack a spare Transmitter (already paired with a replacement rx) first as it can be dropped, dripped on, rained on or dunked in, and IMHO is the most vulnerable item.. the RX are pretty resilient these days as our boats are drier than ever before. A good quality spare Servo is the next item I’d go for, the clue for me is when they stop centering 100% accurately and there should be less than 1degree of rudder wobble (or less!) when the servo is powered on. Check every part of the linkage for any slack, if none present then the servo gears might be worn. Have any spare winch setup with the right number of turns, practice replacing them in lake side conditions as they can be tricky to fit but with prepared bits of string/wire pokers, it should be do-able within 20mins (1 heat) so should ruin your day..

Sunday saw a record entry for a Marblehead race at Three Rivers RYC when 18 boats turned up on Sunday. Congratulations to Darin on winning the day from Tony Gurrier in second. It’s great to see new faces engaging with the class and shows the excitement is building for the World Championship in April. Thank you to Three Rivers club for successfully hosting their largest entry of these great yachts and managing the two heat event that ensured enough space around the course and good racing. Did you miss this one? Why not join us at Lincoln for the ranking weekend March 25-26.

I’ve got an Airbnb place booked between the lake and the old town, about 500m from the CVC yacht club. Im very likely to be driving down on the 22nd arriving on the 23rd with CJ in the car with me. if anyone is aiming to fly and would like me to take rigs/ boat then let me know as I’ll probably have space for 1 more boat (not person!)

Posted my intent. Anyone decided to drive and willing to carry boats/rigs?? If I decide to drive I’ll advise here and could take other’s boats..

I’m somewhat torn on this one, as a skipper who has enjoyed a drive over to some enc events and had a great time eating French cheese, drinking Italian wine and racing against good friends. I cherish the idea of doing so again. However, for me, the draw to any event is not the cheese or the wine, or even the wind or the boats, but the friends. This is also why I get excited about any upcoming event, so the comments about increasing the entry are key to me. I wonder just how many would stay for the extra day, and potentially leaving just those folks who are striving to win the ENC. Personally, I could be swayed to race another day and all the associated costs and hassle of do so, if most folks were also racing on day 3. But if most were non-committal then I suspect I’d also not join on day3 as this series isn’t on my ‘campaign list’ for 2023. My fear would be that our friends from the continent would come and race for 2 good days then be left playing with a somewhat depleted entry for day 3.. So in answer to the questions: “Yes” of course like everyone so far has already said, we welcome all skippers from any flag to join our Nationals and they have added to the UK National event in past years. To question 2, a “hesitant yes depending on the majority of the fleet”. But my preference is to adopt enc in spirit not just deed as I believe it is worthy of the effort. I know our calendar is crowded but I’d rather have a dedicated British event in a location most suited for European travel (be that by plane or ferry) and make it meet all of the best qualities of these enc events with a focus on food, friends and fun times and some racing added in for good measure. Some will recall that I discussed this challenge a couple of times during my tenure as class captain, but couldn’t get it off the ground for various reasons. So I stay true to that spirit, if were going to do it, let’s do it to the best of our ability and make it an event not to be missed.. PS eating French cheese and sipping Italian wine, racing Marbleheads in St Moritz are some of my favourite pastimes !

Hi Richard, Whilst not a rig guru, my guess is that most (not all!) swing rigs sit on a heavily bent mast and getting a pocket cut to suit that bend would be rather time consuming. Also if you wished to de-power the rig by bending it some more via the back stay then it might simply bend within the pocket and not actually de-power the rig.. most pocket luff mains I see are shroudless conventional rigs, not swing rigs. The expection for bent mast swing rigs are the stollery type and they do utilise pocket luff mains for the lower rigs where the extra weight of the cloth is not a ‘penalty’. Good to chat, hope this helps..