Derek Priestley

Hi Colin, Yes back in the 1970's we had various Team racing events then in the Marblehead class but due to the disparity of the boats it wasn't a great success. We have done it for fun at our Barbeque evenings at big events using Lasers which at least are all the same.!

TIME TO REVIVE THE CHAMPION’S CUP? Back in the 1970’s David Hollom, donated the “Champions Cup” for competition amongst the class Champions in Radio sailing. . Invitations were initially extended to all National & District Champions and later when the Ranking lists were introduced ther were used to select the invitees. The event held over 2 days with day 1, 2 boat Match racing, and day 2 fleet racing and the scores combined to find the winner. Initially the Marblehead was used successfully for many years, and later the event was sailed in the IOM class. Interest from sailors fell away, and the event has not been held for several years. Readers of the Yachts & Yachting website will have seen the report of the recently held Endeavour Trophy, (Champion of Champions) in the Dinghy world. This annual invitation only event was held as usual at the Burnham on Crouch YC and for the first time for several years, all boats were supplied and were all the same Melges 15 Dinghys. None of the Champion entrants had the chance to sail the boats before the Friday of the event. It occurred to me that we in the radio sailing world could attempt to revive our “Champions Cup” by adapting a similar approach using one of our “out of the box” classes, Laser, DF95 or the new up coming IOM “Mint” from Joysway. So is now the time to bring this once very popular event back?

JT, Well done finally getting it on the water!! Best of luck from all at Fleetwood!!

And my Grandson, George!! I foolishly gave Shaun's away to a "Keen Kid" 20 yrs ago and it's never been seen since!!! Derek

It was great to return to Greenock MYC after about 30 years, since my last visit. John Taylor and his American wife Sarah, came home from Florida for a family visit and planned it to coincide with the Scottish DF65 Championship weekend. john's sister Helen was also visiting. It was a pleasure to head north on the M6 and not have to battle with the queues at M62 & M56 junctions, then Stoke, Stafford, Walsall, and of course the M42 which always seems to be a constant circular traffic jam!! JT still has his apartment over looking the Clyde at Greenock kindly offered to host Maureen & I for the weekend, and we were made most welcome. The 5 of us enjoyed the hospitality of the "James Watt" local Wetherspoons on the Friday night, where we ate & drank and learned about the town from the photographs displayed within. John & I went off to the sailing on Sat morning to find a very blustery SW wind, which was A+ A or B rig strength depending which part of the lake you were in when the gusts blew through, or didn't!! Stepping inside the clubhouse, I saw several faces I recognised Gordon Rae, Gordon Allinson, Richard Rowan, Robert Rooney, and of course Hughie Shields whom I first met in 1963 at the Fleetwood Vane A Championship! Greenock MYC has had an influx of new members from the nearby Royal Gurrock Yacht Club who, having no sailing in the winter months, all initially bought DF65's and several have now moved on to IOM's. 16 boats took part including 6 visitors. 3 from Fleetwood JT, Paul Middleton and I and 3 from Belfast loch. Richard Rowan the RO for the weekend, set a testing course for our small boats, with 2 long WW/LW laps and a reach to finish. Most sailors opted for A+ rigs despite the strong gusts as the lulls were windless! JT stamped his authority on the race from the beginning winning the first 2 races, he was enjoying the "free air conditioning" after the stifling heat of Florida. He continued to dominate the event for the rest of the day and came out on top after 16 races were completed. At lunch time the club fed us with a hot plate of Scotch meat pie (very peppery) mash, beans & gravy with tea or coffee and biscuits to follow, provided by a lovely lady Mary who looks after the clubs scale boat section. Very welcome & all included in the £10 entry fee. For Sat night Simon Thompson the race organiser had booked a table at a local "hungry horse" pub where several of us gathered. I went chatting to the Irish sailors & discovered that one of them a friend of Peter Baldwin, is an International Race Officer. Better be on my best behaviour tomorrow! Sunday dawned and a flat calm at 9.00 am for the second event which was a separate open DF65 race, with a few less competitors. By the start time of 10am there was a ripple on the water but it was constantly changing direction. However, Richard set a 2 lap WW/LW course and racing started. The race team pushed us hard and by lunch we had completed 10 races. Lunch on Sunday was a choice of 2 soups, assorted sandwiches, cakes and tea or coffee, again included in the £10 race fee. At lunch Richard suggested that after we reached 16 races we could stop for the day before the forecast rain arrived. The Irish lads and I agreed, they could get an earlier ferry and we could be home earlier, so we completed the last 6 races by 2.15 and on our way home by 3pm. Many thanks to Greenock MYC Derek & Maureen Priestley.

Chalk & Cheese!

It will be lovely to see you Nigel and Henning of course, and anyone else who would like to join us. We plan to ask the GBR RA fleet owners, who don't intend to race, to make boats available for charter to try to persuade as many as possible to take part. Looking forward to welcoming as many as possible. Derek

Team GBR for Worlds at Datchet. The games we play! With the last ranking races of 2025 coming up at Woodspring, I was thinking back to an evening in the pub at the 1st ranking last March at Scarbados, when several of us enterred into a game of "guess the top 8 on the ranking list after Woodspring" instigated by Graham Elliott. We were all given envelopes, asked to place a £5 note in together with a list of who we thought the top 8 would be. Graham then collected the envelopes and would reveal all after Woodspring the winner will be "in the money"!! With the benefit of the current ranking list it may be easier to predict the top 8 Who do you think it will be?

Graham, I'll be at Weecher racing tomorrow. If you bring the boat I'll give you all the help I can. Mast heights were pretty standard Rig A mainsail luff 80" Jib hoist 68" Rig B main72" Rig C main 65" Hope I can help See you tomorrow Derek

Fleetwood MYC are planning an A class EXTRAVAGANZA!! next July/August, when we're hosting both the Freesailing A Championship followed by the Radio A class Championship all together over a 9 day period. The Free sailing Championship (Vane A Week) starts with practice day on sat 25th and racing starts proper on Sunday 26th until Friday 31st finishing mid afternoon after which the lake is free for practise for the Radio A Class. Wed 29th July is a stand alone event for the Yachting Monthly Cup knock out regatta. The Championship for the Radio A Class commences at 10am on Sat 1st August and ends at around 3/4pm on Sunday 2nd. We would like to invite A class sailors from the U.K. and abroad to attend this event but if you're not able to PLEASE make your boat available for charter so that some one else can enjoy the experience. Please tell your fellow A class sailors, and friends about this!! Many thanks Derek Priestley

I had a Ravenna with a PJ winch in it, which worked very well

Builders sheet lead folded flat.

Could it be a VENOM? An Australian design from 2005 ish?

Entry is OPEN & I'm in!!

Advanced Warning!! SAVE THE DATE 17th August IOM Northern District Championship. Keighley RSC invites IOM sailors is year's IOM NDC, at Weecher Reservior, high in the hills above Keighley West Yorkshire on Sunday 17th August. NOR will be published soon, and the on line entry will be open, but for now, save the date & plan to be there!!!! Many thanks Derek Priestley Chairman. Northern District MYA.

Hi Damian, You're lucky to at least have a form to vote with!! Even though I own a 6m which I race regularly & have raced in at least 4 National Championships, no voting form for me!

Hi All, Sorry but I can see NO sensible reason to have a second mast & boom on a 6m . Everyone knows the rules before they enter the class. All this will do is make the boats un necessarily more complicated and expensive for no good reason, especially as most of the time 6m's sail in their top suit across a large wind range! From a recent convert to the 6m class, who has been 1,2 & 3 in the Nationals and races regularly at club level! DP.

For info the vane 36" boat I race has alluminum half inch diameter shroudless rigs on the 2 smaller rigs. They work fine.

Hi Gents, Moving carriage.......... that's a challenge for you Wayne!! I've got one made by the Master....Bill Sykes (Chris Harris's godfather) . It came off his 10r "Stroller" I'll bring it to Southport with the Clem Edwards M vane for you to look at. D

Rob Vice is Fleetwood 36 Nats this year not a good enough reason to dust off your "old Girls" ??!!

Jez, The moving carriage would look great on "Bobcat" as that's what it had on originally. The break back is a Jones type and with the bottom slot cut down will probably be o.k. on a 36. several of us at Fleetwood use Jones types on our 36 boats. Maybe, in the future, when you've had some practise, Eastbourne could host the V36" Nationals over a weekend?

Hi Wayne I have a Clem Edwards vane on my Clem Edwards Marblehead which I'll gladly lend to you to copy. I'll take it to WLYC for the 1st DF TT weekend and give it to Nigel if you're not there. Hope that helps D

Allocation of places. Guys, I've just looked at the website for these Worlds, and adding up the total list of names it comes to only 64 of the permitted total of 78. This includes a large number of FRA entries looking for a place at "Stage 4" of the process. 2 of us, Olly Murray & I are very reluctant to start booking ferries and accommodation until we are notified that we have a place which may be in Feb less than 3 months from the event. This sort of thing happens at almost every international event. So, is there anything which can be done to make the process smoother and easier for the competitors? Derek.

Yes a great read. We have a member at Fleetwood who has just finished one and it raced for the first time last sat showing very good speed.

ME!!!!!