Michael Thomas

Hi Ian, you should arrange to have the boat measured and a certificate issued. If you wish to race, some clubs and most events will not let you compete if the boat is not shown to comply by certification. A list of authorised measures can be found on this site or you may have one in your club. Welcome to IOM's. Michael

Hello everyone, I'm sure someone can help me here. I have recently obtained an Ericca IOM for use in very light winds as I was previously assured they are a very good light wind boat. However I've not been entirely happy with the performance which is probably due to my rig set up especially as this boat is much wider in the beam that other IOM's I own. Is there an Ericca owner past or present able to help with this please? Many thanks Michael

Thanks to everyone who replied.. Mike Evans from that fantastic club at Gosport is going to do this for me. I hope the weather is kind to you up there. Michael.

I am trying to buy an IOM which can be delivered to the forthcoming IOM Nationals being held in Scotland. Is there anyone attending who could possibly pick this boat up for me and bring it south? I live in Southampton, so someone from a club reasonably local to me would be ideal and I would collect from you at your convenience and pay for any additional cost you have incurred. If you could help could you phone or text me on 07599 838955. Many thanks Michael.

Thank you John for your prompt reply. So in the case of a disabled boat where the RC or his nominee may assist (E4.2(c)) can the boat re-join the race or must she now retire? Michael.

We have a small fleet of Marblehead yachts at the club to which I belong. All have differing fin lengths within the class rules. There is an advantage in some races in hugging close to the shore but it can become shallow and often boats run aground. If the skipper is unable to re-float the boat himself by use of the radio system by sheeting in the sails in order to heel the boat over and float off does the boat become “Disabled” in accordance with the rule. E1.1? Rule E4.2 relates to outside help and is in part 4 of the RRS therefore penalty turns are not applicable. As there appears to be nothing within Part 4 which permits outside help to re-float the boat is the skipper of the grounded boat permitted to either wade into the lake to re-float her or use a long pole to push her off and re-join the race or should she now retire as it was not controlled by the radio? Obviously if another competitor in the race was to do that it would clearly be outside help and a disqualification would follow. Please advise. Thanks Michael.

Welcome to Marblehead sailing what do you have. I have an old Stark by David Creed, 1997 boat but still very competitive, an Astrix by John Taylor/Damian Ackroyd for strong winds and an old Paradox which I'm refurbishing. I store my IOM sails vertically in their sail bags but my Marblehead "A" rigs are too tall so they are stored horizontally. Not had a problem although they would be better off in fully supported rig boxes when I get round to making them.

Hi Trevor. I had similar issues with some old sails when I removed the old self adhesive numbers which left a sticky reside.. I cleaned off the residue adhesive with acetone and took off the layer of satin coating. I then decide to clean the whole panel affected with acetone which took off all the satin coat leaving a clear panel. I masked off a seam joins with masking tape above and below where the numbers were to obtain a professional finish. I then applied my personal sail number using a permanent marker and templets from BG Sails & Design. Easy to clean off and remove/change with acetone. The integrity of the sail has not been affected and sometimes it is an advantage to be able to see through the sail. New Mylar sail material can be cleaned with acetone and the satin finish does not come off. Best wishes Michael.

Thanks to Richard I looked up the mast blocks on the sails2etc web site. This led me to a very interesting article on how to calculate mast rake. It's simple when you know how. Now set to 2 deg. aft. The owner will now probably out sail everyone so I best check mine. Thanks again Richard for pointing me in the right direction. Michael.

Thanks Richard. Unfortunately it's not my boat, it belongs to a new club member and I'm trying to set it up on his behalf. He is a new MYA member. This boat is build no 10 and I don't know if they changed through their production run. There is an oval shaped mast block which fits into the oval shaped mast tube, I'm presuming this is for an A rig. Is there not a measurement for the forestay to mast distance triangle to keep the tension on the forestay to avoid sag and to get the correct mast shape to match the luff of the main sail through the backstay tension? There is no mast ram. Or am I doing it totally wrong. Cheers. Michael.

Hi, does anyone have a measurement to set up the mast rake on a Red Wine. Looking for a measurement from the rear of the bow bumper to a datum height measurement on the mast. Many thanks. Michael

I have recently acquired a Paradox Marblehead to complement my Stark. It needs a fair bit of refurbishment and some repairs however I cannot find a hull identification number on the boat. It may be it was never measured or having been repainted the original number may have been erased. Previous owner has no information to assist me. It is an early boat, build No 2. I have contact both the class registrar Roy Stevens and Brad Gibson the builder without success. The sails display No 29 and there is an international K which suggests it was competition sailed some time ago. The boat would date back to the early '90's When I removed the paint I found the name " Avantgarde II" underneath. If you recognise this boat or know of a previous owner or a registered number can you let me know please. Thanks Michael.

Hi Bill. I use Sailwave. I use two programs one for the daily racing event and one for the series. It is really quick to update results which I e-mail out or you can put the results on the Sailwave web site where everyone can view them. It has numerous options based around Appendix A of the RRS so you can customise it as you wish regarding discards, ties, etc. If you have any trouble setting it up the contact guy is really helpful. Good luck, Michael

Hi Darren. Good to hear from you. Yes SI's is something we are working on at the moment. I'm still relatively new to RS having come from yacht racing where SI's and NOR were normal practice. Should solve a lot of problems and to include the terminology used in Radio sailing. In response to earlier quotes about discards. I'm not a great lover of too many discards in a series especially at club level. It does not promote good support for the club by regular attendance and tends to benefit the best skippers who can win a series without the commitment of taking part in most of the races. In fact Appendix A default is only one worst score to be discounted. I would like to end this discussion here as I have the information I need. Thanks to you all. Michael

Thanks for you input guys. I have adopted Lester's explanation for the event that took place last Friday and adjusted the scores accordingly. There is a lot of discussion online, both at home and abroad regarding the fairness of the "best in the last race" application of scoring ties and generally it is regarded as unfair except at the highest level of competition. As the Club IOM Class Captain and IOM scorer I am drawing up a Notice of Race that amends slightly the RRS Appendix A low score system to suit our events and skill level of our members more fairly by changing the "best in the last race application" in the event that the countback rule does not resolve the issue to "take account of all scores including excluded scores" If scores are still tied then to award equal points to each. Seems fair in a small club with vastly differing skill levels. Regards Michael.