Guzzilazz

This advice applied to older hulls. If you have a V7 DF65 it's unnescessary

Just to explain "sans serif". This is a typography term. My current text I'm typing in is "sans serif" The below is not. The Serif is the little irregularities at the end of many of the strokes - e.g. the two little legs each end of the T cross piece Times New Roman

I had two issues with my T6K within warranty, and was warned off a third claim, saying it's water ingress. A bit of thought and I realised it's even run off from the boat as you lift it out. As a consequence, I never use mine now without it being in the muff. No problems since

FYI Suggested Measurer Fees – Model Yachting Association Great Britain. As a sail measurer and IOM Class Measurer, I would like to point out that there is a requirement to BUY measuring devices that are certified to certain standards. the bill for me was Class II tape £16, Class II 600mm rule £45, weighing scales accurate to 1g in 6000g £70. In addition, I do not have a table long enough to measure sails on, and a cheap hardboard wallpapering table isn't adequate (don't ask me how I know). The "proper job" was £28. Added to that I have to print out the check lists and forms required. I've probably recouped my initial costs by now. Most sailors who are in attendance when I measure their sails, are shocked with the fact that it takes around 30-45 minutes to measure a suit... As it happens I am the closest Measurer to Sails Etc, and I have measured a number of suits/rigs for them.

When taking a penalty turn a boat CAN turn either way - my preference is to bear away first to gybe before tacking

People seem to have forgotten the fundamental principle behind closed class rules, which is "anything not expressly allowed within the rules is not allowed"... People look for a "secret weapon". Be better to concentrate in improving their sailing...

I've measured a rig and a boat in the last couple of weeks, and wish I'd read the update before I told the owners where to send their Certification Control forms. Great improvement well done Jim!

At my club, there was a huge job after sailing which required Excel and the use of a laptop, and "interpretation" of the handwriting. We now find that any member can easily score the race, and that if they have an issue, it's very easy to reorder the finishing order when a mistake has been made or duplicate entries dealt with... It's a third of the job it was with HMS and Excel not to mention the club costs of laptop and Excel vs the £3.50 lifetime licence for A Fleet and the price of a tablet...

My club use a Amazon Fire Tablet, which requires a little "breathing on" to accept Play Store Apps... It's become easy recently

You can use Afleet for the series as well. Create a new "event" for the series and insert the individual overall results for each round of the series. Change your discards as you require....

I've found this with both my ARS808 and a friend's RMG. The trick that I found was to start fiddling from the centre of travel. What I mean by that is that you remove the winch drum, set the end points on the winch "equal" (i.e. both, say, 100). Set the winch stick to EXACTLY mid-position so that the winch itself is mid travel, then power off. Next move your sheet clip to EXACTLY the mid-point of its travel. Next, fiddle with your winch drum so that the sheets are still midpoint and get your drum back on the winch as close to that mid position as possible - don't put the screw in yet. Now, with the transmitter stick still mid travel, power everything back up, and GRADUALLY test the travel in both directions and adjust the endpoints so that your range of travel is correct and both endpoints should be within one or two of each other. Take care with this stage because if you sheet in or out fully you may wreck the pulley blocks amongst other damage, slowly and carefully is the watchword. On both the IOM's we moved from a single click on the winch stick (Futaba T6K) resulting in 1cm+ of sheet movement to small mm's of movement and even across the range of travel.

Austin, thanks for all your work (and I know how much it is) in updating the platform. Removing the pictures is a good step. I do wonder about software developers are on when they make changes (like the mark all read one). I mentioned it earlier on, but if you decide to do beta testing, happy to stand up as a volunteer

I'm now away from home for the day and decided to browse on my phone... It doesn't look like the platform software automatically deals with the auto switch from landscape to portrait on the switch of device. The phone is even worse as you have to scroll right as well as down. As someone who has been involved, would it have been possible to beta release to some testers before going live? I would certainly have volunteered to be involved...

Hmm, I can't agree John, It's no longer easy to scan down the list of sub-forums and see which ones have new content

As a UK IOM measurer please note that the tank IS NOT needed for "Certification Control" - i.e. the process that you need to have completed to get a Certificate. At important events the Race Committee may insist on boats undergoing Equipment Inspection and will provide information on what will be checked- for example at a ranking event last year I was asked to weigh every boat. If you go to the IOMICA website and look for the Certification Control Form for hull and appendages you will see what will be measured.

The PY System used to cause more arguments than even the rules in my dinghy sailing days... My "big boat" club uses a local handicap scheme which creates similar...

Bill Green, and the plate is the same as RMG. I have an ARS 808 in my IOM and would never go back to an RMG

IMHO, boat speed is your friend in light airs and I adopt your "if in doubt let it out" principle

It'll take you a while to get used to steering with the boat sailing towards you, worth not tangling too closely with other boats until you get some confidence. I'm in my 5th year of RC sailing following a lifetime of dinghy and yacht sailing, and I still get it wrong now - but only less than 5 times a month. I also have issues when the boat is sailing parallel to my side of the pond but at a distance... I regularly think i'm steering to port, only to find it's actually to starboard. But that's a perspective thing. By the way my description of RC racing is that it's Dinghy Racing on steroids! You'll get more starts in a month than many dinghy sailors get in their lives - e.g. I used to sail 3 races a week. Now I probably sail 30 races a week! Main thing? Have fun!!! ( and check the rule differences between full size and RC (There's an RC Appendix)

Remember that surface wind is forecast at 10 metres above ground level. Friction with the land reduces windspeed as you get close to the ground...

I have regular conversations with (big boat) sailors who say (e.g.) that a forecast is excellent - when the forecaster may only buy two updates a day from GFS - and observation says that it's patently inaccurate, but that's sailors for you!

John, As usual a succinct and clear explanation. A point from me; the forecast windspeed is generally calculated at 10m Above Ground Level (AGL). Secondly, the major part of weather forecasts is that they are based on computer models, and the cost of computing means that there are relatively few models available world wide. The most significant part of weather modelling is that each model is based on a square grid (actually cubic, but we'll ignore that for this), and all the variables - pressure, pressure tendency (increasing/decreasing), temperature, precipitation, wind speed, wind direction to name the obvious - are all assumed to be identical across the whole grid square. As some of the grids (e.g. the American GFS Model basic) are large (22.5x22.5km) and others (UK Met Office) are small (1.2x1.2km) you need to choose a relevant model within the forecast provider. My recommendation is the Windy app, together with the Premium subscription where you can compare the results of different models and the different resolutions.

I forgot to add I follow the SailsETC use of two layers of shrink wrap as well!

Most that I've seen these days is a hole in the front of the mast, and a stainless hook with an eye. Eye usually perpendicular to the hook, crimp shrouds to the hook, hook placed in hole in mast. Simple, easy to replace shrouds when needed. Deffo my preferred method

Deffo water. I sail on a brackish lake and water in the boat is a definite "standby to replace" the servos or receiver...