John Hanton

Fellow Class Owners, hopefully you have now received and had a chance to read the correct version of the mast proposal. This was put forward simply for the benefit of those who struggle with sail changes on the new round tube masts and feel disadvantaged by the process. The proposal is for ONE additional mast, as identical to that first measured as possible, within tight manufacturers and building tolerances. Outside of these tolerances, alternative combinations of tube size, length or weight are not acceptable. Your entry point <£500 6M with a single mast will still be competitive, I will have a single mast but still support those who feel the need for a second. Clearly in Full Size 6M this would not arise as its far easier to change sails than the mast. If we were closely aligned to Full Size, Masts and Spars would still be wood or aluminium. This will be my final statement on the matter, it’s been a year long struggle to reach the point where you have been allowed to make a choice. Happy Sailing, John

Hello Shaun, Thanks for your comments, I did wonder what you meant by a 90mm difference in mast length. I then read the Proposal as distributed and find it differs from what I believe we submitted. This line is missing from Objectives " + /- 1% tolerance for mast and boom length dimensions." section 6.1.2 which read as below has also been changed. 6.1.2 An alternative mast and main boom combination is allowed and shall be within a +/- 5% tolerance for general dimensions and weight from the 1st combination measured, However, a +/- 1% tolerance shall apply to the mast and boom length dimensions. Alternative sails and headsail booms may be used provided they have been checked for compliance with the relevant class rules, and the sails signed by an official measurer. No idea where this error has crept in however I will remind you of the appeal decision in favour of the proposal's inclusion :- "Proposals to change the class rules do not have to be technically perfect as refinement of class rules text is, in any case, an on-going process and, in this case, the class rules themselves are to be voted on" Best wishes, John

Gentlemen, Thanks for your comments on the Broads Alternative Mast Proposal, you will firstly note it says Alternative Mast Proposal and not Multiple Mast Proposal. In olden days we were permitted a single Jib Boom and changing sails was a pain, the rule change to allow more than one Jib Boom was greatly appreciated. I would anticipate that those lucky enough to have a groovy mast will have no desire for an extra as main sail changing is easy. Unfortunately only round tube masts are now readily available and less dextrous owners find sail changing time consuming and damaging to the sails. It was felt that most of the time a choice of two options would cover changes in breeze between home and the water or increases/decreases during the day. The first draft was for an alternative Identical Mast but we were advised this may be impossible to achieve hence the suggested tolerances which are subject to change by the Technical Team. The vote is For or Against the principle. I find 5% of my Mast /Boom to be 12.6g, I can make a bigger change to the measured displacement by changing the battery. Shaun's suggestion of a local rule was appreciated but many of our members sail at more than one club and it was felt this proposal could benefit a wider group of owners. John Hanton

Hello, These look very like my mystery 6, now classified on the certificate as "Unknown", latest picture is of No47 on the 2017 Shearwater Cup report. Would have gone with Panther but mine is 1484mm LOA and weighs 11.9kg, worth getting on the water as they seem to go pretty well. Best wishes, John

Unpopular view perhaps but probably a fair compromise, the original rule interpretation made them illegal, the approved rule change means they don't have to be replaced just trimmed to size. John

Hi Dave, I am not a measurer but your very clear diagram looks to be correct according to how the rule has been explained to me, regards, John

Hi Stephen, Welcome to radio sailing, unfortunately cannot speak for Spektrum, no doubt someone who has one will comment but most of the transmitters I have had apart use the same stick units left and right so it would only require swapping the parts from one side to the other, on my kit if I wanted rudder/winch control swapped I would change over the receiver plugs. I guess with these modern all singing sets you may not get some of the dual rate or other tweaks on the correct channel but there might be an easier way of switching it all around. Don't think any of this is stupidly naïve there must be other Left handers about. No one needs the extra channel of the DX6i, I and many others manage with 2 but I believe there are more options to vary how much rudder/winch travel you get in relation to stick movement on the DX6i. Good Sailing, John

R6M is now measured and sailing, recorded on the certificate as unknown because it's measurements did not match the Panther or anything else. Being regularly beaten by the Ravennas at present - were plans ever available for them or could hulls only be purchased from licenced builders? John.

Hi Graham, Are you perhaps meaning Luff Wire in the sail? If this is the case then yes, mast rings or ties are still used, as far as I know there is no max or min but my sails have been delivered with the necessary holes in place, three I believe one at each panel joint. regards, John

Hi David, as far as I know regatta winches are around the same size as the whirlwinds, plenty of both used in club racing around the country, if you are developing the ultimate speed machine whilst refurbishing / replacing you may want to bite the bullet and adapt it now for an RMG.... other speedy winches are available!!! regards, John.

Thanks Val, A friend has confirmed:- My notes on the JR Regatta B.Nr 5172 were obtained by trial and error:- Winch to operate when battery is connected to Winch requires the Switch to short red to orange, to switch the winch off the switch connects red to brown. Winch to operate when battery is connected to Receiver requires the Switch to short red to brown, to switch the winch off the switch connects red to orange. So in my configuration with battery to winch I solder red to orange and unplug the battery to switch the system off. No problem with the switch in situ but if it's removed the appropriate wires have to be joined for the chosen supply. Good luck with the Mixing, John.

Well done Val, glad you got them working, pretty sure the Regatta's I looked at only had one three core switch wire, perhaps someone could post switch bypass diagram/s, does seem that something that ought to be simple is a bit trickier. regards, John.

Thanks John / Gordon, so if as above, Port Hand Rounding, Boats on Port, the Outside Boat is ROW and is responsible if he makes the wrong approach and the inside boats hits / misses the mark but if approaching the same situation, Boats on Starboard, the inside boat is ROW and, as long as outside has kept clear, is responsible for hitting/missing the mark themselves. It is always the ROW boat which needs second sight in judging the distance. It's hard enough getting myself round such a mark! Happy New Year, John

Thanks Dave, if it's not an issue probably a good idea to run the regatta BEC in tandem on a large installation and the low volts current output is vey low. The faulty ones I have are in the hands of someone who can see SMD components but even he is having trouble finding how the battery volts get to the regulator and motor fets, they have no power switches but there is an extra three core lead with two wires soldered together and one insulated which is probably where a switch may have been installed. Have yet to find any wiring information or diagrams seems the manuacturers have managed to keep it all pretty secret. regards, John

Thanks John, I think your replies confirm my problem with this situation," Without some 'facts' or a clear diagram, there is no way to answer", to clarify some Items, I was considering a single mark with all boats on the same gybe and overlapped at the 4 boat circle, inside one perhaps slighly ahead of the outside ones. The inside boat would not be starting to turn until they saw the mark going behind the hull and because of the view although clear of each other no one really knows how much room there is between them. Until the inside one misses or hits the mark no-one knows there is a problem, so is the only answer in this situation to give the inside boat an exceptional amount of room when of course there might be complaints of taking too much space. Best Wishes, John.

One of the problems of the racing rules as applied to our sport is we do not have the benefits of vision / perspective of crewed boats. This a question which often causes some discussion. Sailing downwind to the leward mark, located so there it little depth perspective, a single boat misses or hits the mark, mutters a few choice words, goes back and around it again. Now, two or more boats approaching the same mark, overlapped so the inside one is entitled to Mark Room, the inside boat misses or hits the mark, despite keeping clear of the inside boat, are the outer ones protested for not giving Mark Room? Thanks, John.

Thanks Dave, First class diagrams, I agree that the winch BEC outputs should be equal and run in parallel but would be inclined to remove one red lead. As an aside which may or may not be applicable I was recently given two regatta winches for investigation / possible repair which no longer function when powered via the battery input but work perfectly when powered by the receiver lead. regards, John

Hi Val, Not familiar with this idea but maybe a bit more information is required, what are the winches? Do they have seperate battery and receiver leads? Does the reciever have it's own power or is it fed by BEC from one of the winches? With the Winches powered from your Hi Power battery they would still need signal and ground connections to the receiver for control. Perhaps someone who uses this idea could post a diagram. regards, john

I have a suggestion it is similar to a Revival and was designed in the North East possibly called a Panther?

Hi Mike, Thanks for replying, I am in Norwich and will sail it at Broads, I have the other rudder, it has a curved leading edge and seems to be made of some plastic type material as is the fin, hull is probably glass/epoxy and the deck some sort of light weight plastic. regards, John.

Hi all, thinking of dabbling in 6M, anyone recognise this? Many Thanks, John

Hi Mike, Six Metre Web site mentions Rules downloadable as PDF but I didn't spot them? Thanks, John

Well done mark! Second build in 2014, that is good going. My "Corbie" took me around 11 months, it too has winch, rudder servo and battery pack just behind the fin and very low in the hull, I am glad it's dry otherwise I would be worrying about the winch motor getting wet. Cannot keep up with you though likely to be 2015 before I get another together. Best Wishes, John Was going to add a picture but the file size is too large it says.

Thanks John, I am sure that in the heat of the moment many might forget which lap they were on upon hearing an out of place signal so is "Fault of her own" not having the confidence to carry on regardless? However, supposing such a claim was made, how could a decision be made that was fair to all, being first on one round is no garantee to being first on the next, would the loss of 3 places be " significantly worse"? regards, John.

As well as this version where the measurements are defined by tank depth and strictly maintaining the water level I have also seen a version where a Jig is suspended on the tank top edge, with the boat floating in the water the jig height is adjusted to water level and then slid under the boat for pass/fail on hull and fin depth. Guess this method could simplify construction of the actual tank as the critical measurements are on the Jig. Tank still has to be levelled to keep the water line parallel to the top edge. regards, john