david milner-lees

Dear Erick Thank for your questions, I have been sailing since 1958 sailing mainly dinghys and multi hull, I moved to Spain when I retired and continued sailing full size boats. In my retirement I started a local sailing association now one hundred strong and then moved on to R.C. Sailing about eight years ago, I formed two R.C clubs and then along with a friend a third club dedicated to IOMs. We have been going three years now and have fourteen boats and sail on the Mar Menor which is an inland sea in Murcia. We are now the official IOM club for the region. I have five boats two IOMs, one EC12, one Vela one metre and one M class. I built my first IOM from scratch which is an old Skiff design not sure of the model, I found a local boat builder ( full size boats) who had an old mould. A good boat, very good to wind but slow down wind due to being over weight, being the first R.C boat I had ever built I went for strength. I have also built or rebuilt a number of boats for members who do not have the facilities to do so. I now sail a Pornie 2. In my time running R.C. Clubs here in Spain I have been very aware of how difficult it is to recruit new members and how difficult it can be trying to persuade people to pay large sums of money for boats when starting for the first time. The club as been down the route of second-hand boats but frankly I am not a great believer in this as the answer. One effect has been me repairing or rebuilding boats for members, always willing to help but it is not sustainable and members get fed up with constant maintenance. It is my belief that it is possible to produce the best one design boat which would be an asset to the IOM association for about £700 to £800 ,well built and the top of its game and a real help in recruiting members for the IOM association. I have enclosed photos of my first endeavour which has a belt drive, this boat has been raced for about six years and the belt drive has been very reliable. If you should wish to e-mail me please do, sorry if no photos, but if not I could e-mail, not to good at this still learning. davidlees968@gmail.com A development class should be able to develop in more than one direction. [/img]

Thank you Erick, Yes I will but have a few problems needing my attention, David

You say why compromise the prestige? Just the very opposite, I feel the IOM could offer more and stem some of the lost members. people are buying one designs off the shelf so there is a market why not offer the very best one design, Which the IOM Association could do with all its experience. Also if it ever wanted to go Olympic and it could, ( i know it as been tried before) but do not stop at the first try, it would have to have a One Design class. Is that a compromise?

International One Metre To be a one design or to be a restricted class, or could we be both? We probably all know the strengths and weakness of a restricted class, it promotes the ethos of the fastest boat wins (not always true, you do need to be a good sailor as well) but it does also have a costs disadvantage and cost is important. This letter is intended as a tool to prompt discussion with the hope that many good ideas could see the light of day. Modern competitive sailing began back in the days of the first Americas cup when boats were built to individual design and money was no problem. The first cup was awarded by the Royal Yacht Squadron Cowes in 1851 leading to the first challenge in 1870. Now the Americas cup is quite different, with costs under control, regular events and a level playing field. The answer was to move to a one design class which is the way the rest of the world has already gone. So why not consider an I.O.M. one design as a feeder class for the currant I.O.Ms. I can already hear the die hards calling heretic, and we ran the last non believer out of town. I can also hear some saying, don't fix what is not broken, and I agree! I wish to make it quite clear that I believe the I.O.M class is a great institution and the success of the class is very evident in the number of enthusiasts world wide. The association has a long and valuable history which could give a great boost to a new one design class. We can always improve, for example many clubs experience a lack of new members wanting to take up the sport, in part due to high costs, also members leaving due to dexterity difficulties in later life both these issues need addressing. Starting a new class from scratch is a big job and takes many years to come to fruition. So why not just pick one of the existing I.O.M,s and use it as the basis to produce a new one design class. Tackling issues such as cost, ease of use and having licensed builders supplying completed boats already measured. Making it easier for new members to get started, easier for clubs to start a new class and with a boat that could be legal in both camps with just a couple of extra rigs. It should be also possible to run open events for both classes at the same venue. Some starter ideas of mine to get the ball rolling :- Target price 700 to 800 US Dollars on the water. This should be possible as it would allow builders to mass produce hulls in larger numbers as no obsolescence. A minimum weight increase to allow a stronger hulls to be built. So less need for repairs, I am not saying by how much, I leave that to those more qualified than me. A one rig design, using the I.O.M. B rig only. A and C rigs could be added by owners as and when they wanted to try their luck in the main stream. A fully water tight hull and water tight central compartment for all electrics. with accessibility through a water tight lid. This would just need a change of the deck layout to take a separate compartment. and a small screw cover for batteries. The ability to fit and remove all electrics with ease. With out needing 20/20 vision and no problem. with shaky hands Water proof servos as part of the class rules (where and when available) and a move to water resistant receivers as well. Some dialogue with manufacturers would be necessary and I do understand that manufactures are only interested in numbers, but we are a large group but need to get bigger. To ditch the continuous drum line system, favouring a continuous belt and toothed pulley. This eliminates lines breaking or damage when a sheet snags, the belt just simply jumps a tooth and is easy to re a just. Thank you for reading my letter and hope you could post my comments on your Facebook etc and I look forward to some feed back.. David Lees Spain

International One Metre To be a one design or to be a restricted class, or could we be both? We probably all know the strengths and weakness of a restricted class, it promotes the ethos of the fastest boat wins (not always true, you do need to be a good sailor as well) but it does also have a costs disadvantage and cost is important. This letter is intended as a tool to prompt discussion with the hope that many good ideas could see the light of day. Modern competitive sailing began back in the days of the first Americas cup when boats were built to individual design and money was no problem. The first cup was awarded by the Royal Yacht Squadron Cowes in 1851 leading to the first challenge in 1870. Now the Americas cup is quite different, with costs under control, regular events and a level playing field. The answer was to move to a one design class which is the way the rest of the world has already gone. So why not consider an I.O.M. one design as a feeder class for the currant I.O.Ms. I can already hear the die hards calling heretic, and we ran the last non believer out of town. I can also hear some saying, don't fix what is not broken, and I agree! I wish to make it quite clear that I believe the I.O.M class is a great institution and the success of the class is very evident in the number of enthusiasts world wide. The association has a long and valuable history which could give a great boost to a new one design class. We can always improve, for example many clubs experience a lack of new members wanting to take up the sport, in part due to high costs, also members leaving due to dexterity difficulties in later life both these issues need addressing. Starting a new class from scratch is a big job and takes many years to come to fruition. So why not just pick one of the existing I.O.M,s and use it as the basis to produce a new one design class. Tackling issues such as cost, ease of use and having licensed builders supplying completed boats already measured. Making it easier for new members to get started, easier for clubs to start a new class and with a boat that could be legal in both camps with just a couple of extra rigs. It should be also possible to run open events for both classes at the same venue. Some starter ideas of mine to get the ball rolling :- Target price 700 to 800 US Dollars on the water. This should be possible as it would allow builders to mass produce hulls in larger numbers as no obsolescence. A minimum weight increase to allow a stronger hulls to be built. So less need for repairs, I am not saying by how much, I leave that to those more qualified than me. A one rig design, using the I.O.M. B rig only. A and C rigs could be added by owners as and when they wanted to try their luck in the main stream. A fully water tight hull and water tight central compartment for all electrics. with accessibility through a water tight lid. This would just need a change of the deck layout to take a separate compartment. and a small screw cover for batteries. The ability to fit and remove all electrics with ease. With out needing 20/20 vision and no problem. with shaky hands Water proof servos as part of the class rules (where and when available) and a move to water resistant receivers as well. Some dialogue with manufacturers would be necessary and I do understand that manufactures are only interested in numbers, but we are a large group but need to get bigger. To ditch the continuous drum line system, favouring a continuous belt and toothed pulley. This eliminates lines breaking or damage when a sheet snags, the belt just simply jumps a tooth and is easy to re a just. Thank you for reading my letter and hope you could post my comments on your Facebook etc and I look forward to some feed back.. David Lees Spain