Tried out the electric outboard this weekend, it makes course setting a lot quicker and a lot less effort, :lol: but now we need a small dinghy instead 'cos the canoe doesn’t steer real well with only one person in it (flat bottom-no keel). 
:idea: Has anyone got a spare 8’ lightweight dinghy at a reasonable price ?
Is the Ballarat Regatta limited to “Old Marbleheads” and if so how old is old or can any M’s enter?
Well the theme of the weekend is planned around old Marbleheads mainly due to the fact that we are only a new club (rebirth of the original Ballarat club) and we only had old boats to start with ourselves.
We thought a weekend like this would entice a few older (less competitive by todays standards) boats, of no particular vintage, but buried in sheds and the like, by sailors that lost interest due to being outdated by the speed of todays yachts.
Boy what a mouthfull.
Basicly the weekend is not solely for racing, and we don’t really care who wins what.
We are mainly just getting together as fellow sailors and modelers to sail, exchange ideas, teach new sailors how to sail,learn how to set your sails for different wind conditions, maybe some sailing tactics and rules. A sharing of ideas, some trips down memory lane, construction tips, or just sail with the fleet.
I believe some maybe bringing along some junk ? maybe someones old junk will be tomorrows new boat for a beginner, you never know.
I guess what I am saying is that any Marblehead is welcome but the $9000 2005 model Walliki definately won’t take home the prize pool, although it will however get a lot of interest from those who wish to upgrade their fleet if they wish to race competitvely one day at an international level.
Most sailors do like to win once in a while, it gives you that warm feeling inside, and of course, bragging rights. But basicly we are all out there to sail and enjoy ourselves, so dust off the old hull in the loft and set up those 20 year old single pannel sails or just throw the Walikki in the wagon and come for a sail, I’m sure we could arrange some sort of handicap system to bring us all together at the finnish line. ?Maybe we can have a prize for the most boats in a dead heat finnish, the photo would look awsome. ?
Thanks Diversion,
I thought I would raise the issue as there might be some newer boats out there interested in attending.
The $9K Waliki is a bit of an exaggeration as the current version complete with 4 rigs is around $7K landed in Aus including taxes. Very competitive Australian designs with three rigs like the Vibe (Jeff Byerley, Qld) and Boogie (Brad Gibson, NSW) and an unnamed design by Lincoln McDowell (Vic) will be available for a fraction of this cost. I am not privvy to their latest prices but expect something around $4K.
I wish you great success for the weekend.
Graeme Turk
No worries Graeme, sorry to over exaggerate, but these figures still keep it out of my reach at least… ?I would be a lot more comfortable if the price didn’t include a k at all.
Thankfully I am not a newcommer to hobbying, and with my wide and varied experience I can produce almost anything given time, unlike a lot who start from scratch into sailing models and find the going verry tough and expensive.
This is one of the issues we hope to help people with during the regatta, answering any questions we are asked by the less experienced.
Some people like to take their secrets to the grave, I am not one of them, so if I can help, I will. On the other hand I am not backwards in asking others for info either, I feel it is the main way we learn things.
hi all yes i’m still alive and kicking.
Greame T i noticed you mentioned some australian boat builders including Lincoln McDowell (Vic) well anouther not to forget is Chris Ryanns Crone wich from what i’ve seen is competative as well (i own one)
Hi Seagull
I am glad you are happy with Chris’s Crone. The list I mentioned wasn’t meant to be a definitive guide to M’s available in Oz only those I was aware of. There are no doubt others out there who are building the occasional M
Gee our mate Janus is getting some stick. Just remember shipmates that all these U Beaut boats at what ever price, have to come our way sooner or latter. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Hi Graeme, I see you doing good things with 12s. Keep up the good work Shipmate. How are the Old Marbleheads in your state of Queensland going ? I hope they don’t disappear! For your blokes have a hell of a lot of experience in running them.
I always thought the theme of the old Marbs week end was for (at This Stage) to talk about how we should proceed with it, (and without trying to usurp our Shipmates at Ballarat) try to have “something” just a little different in the usual racing of R/C Marblehead scene in Australia. One of the exciting things is to try to have a different event. As you all know (in Australia) we R/C sailors have become largely a consortium of retired folk.Through no fault of our own, who are willing to travel to something that just may grab our imagination.
Steve,
There is evidence that the Marblehead Class has a bright future in Qld as there have been some recent converts from the IOM Class with experienced skippers purchasing new boats.
At the recent South Qld Championship run by the North Lakes Club at Lake Kurwongbah we had a new Vibe, a recently acquired Strad, a new balsa planked Monarch design (Graham Bantock design similar to his latest Prime Number) and all were competitive. As well the event was well supported by the Pine Rivers Club members (7) who sail mainly locally built Abacus 2 designs. It was a successful weekend. See details at www.rcyachts.net
It is my opinion that the future of the Marblehead Class in Australia rests with new designs built to a competitive price from the likes of Jeff Byerley (Vibe) Brad Gibson (Boogie) Licoln McDowell in Vic, Steve Arthur in SA and no doubt others and attracting some of the successful IOM Skippers to the class. We of course must not loose sight of the older designs that may be catered for with relaxed handicap events that focus on having a fun time.
Graeme , I’m not sure I understand the ramifications of “Competitive price”, nor do I understand “relaxed handicap races”. I have always found that handicap races are quite the opposite to relaxed. For the tension to do well against ,“them”.
As far as designs go, the criteria should be about performance and the cost factor will sort itself out.
As we have found out that cost has a way of finding performance. But the performance of all the boats you have mentioned is not the same. It is like having X,Y,Z Boats all cost the same or similar but Z boat is better in performance than the other two. While it is fundimental that the cost are contained in these boats… Someone said recently that the new M would be the same price as a IOM.
So to basically answer your original question about the Old Marblehead regatta is if your got an old Marblehead (even if it is two weeks old) come along and give it a wetting.
Along with short courses and a realistic H/cap, I’m sure we can accommidate You.
This all may sound a bit flimsy , to have a basic regatta and to not know Exactly , what will be the order of races, is for a reason or reasons. The club in themselves have not run one of these regattas … ever. One can only give them so much advice on how to do it. So for a whole lot of people from at least 3 States to get together at one place , to try something a bit “different” , require some trust in each other.
Some people may think we’re a collection who are a “bit iffy” on regattas in general, not so but there must be more than JUST racing, to it all. The word MORE has to be the key word here.
Steve
I’m not sure what happened here, suddenly I had to search the archives to read an old post.
News for those interested.
The Eureka Model Yacht club has now become official, we are now affiliated with the State body, and have our insurance sorted out, so everything is going to plan…
The next week or so will see a new jetty installed, for ease of launching without getting too wet, and the public are getting interested, with new visitors enjoying the sailing, and sometimes participating, with minor prompting.
Our New club is now well under way…
Div , I had the same trouble as you. I thought it was just me ‘fiddling the fandangoes’.
Every thing is on track with us coming from NSW. I’m collecting some interesting “BITS” to bring along. For ‘show and tell’ and other stuff.
Congrats on your becoming members of the ARYA , it is the way to go and welcome to the family! I have been a member for about, well , {I don’t want to tell how young I am). but I suppose about 35 odd years. All my mates (1) says I am ODD.
Has your your club posted some sort of program/ guide for the weekend? At some stage that will need to be done. It just a way of getting everybody at the right place , at the right time.
As you are finding out ;when people can see your having FUN , they want to do it with you also. your future should be rosy.
New Jetty now installed.
Its only a short one but it gets you out over the water with enough depth to put a modern Marblehead in without troubles.
We are working on some flyers and advertising at present Steve, and hopefully work out some sort of itinerary at the same time. At present we just planned on getting together at the lake Saturday morning, sometime early, to set up tents for shelter (sun or rain, whatever) some sort of sign in listing, so we know who is there, and the BBQ, porta loo, and maybe a PA for announcements, etc…
Div , we will be looking over the fence (from the Motel) watching you guys put up the tent and we will be applauding tight roping of tent pegs and other sundries. How many are you expecting at the meet?
Is there anything you need that I should bring (except the bloody rowing boat)?
We expect around 20 at this stage Steve.
We already have a canoe with an electric outboard on it but we are still looking for a 8 foot dinghy to replace the canoe…
Anyone got a spare ?
G’day Div, Well shipmate, less that a month to go. I haven’t packed the Sportswagon yet but I’m out in the garage ( boathouse) doing some work on the old (tom Potheroe’s) Epic. The old “476” to your US historic buffs (1976circa).I Had to put a new rudder in it, for various reasons and put another plug on the RMG winch and I have decided to paint the deck,(I don’t know), Lunatic Asylum green I suppose?? “Hair -oil”, my mate is bringing his Maltese Falcon and reckons he is taking no prisoners.
We’ll be bringing our R50s as well,(to our American shipmates, these are like an Etchells 50" or like your Soling 50") We have had these for a couple of years and have been taken up by some Full -size yacht clubs in Sydney and else where. Those who sail Old Marbleheads could be interested in a boat that comes new and has similar characteristic to a Old Marb in general looks, with a weed free keel. We’re booked into the Miner’s cabins with Coo’s mob.
To those who don’t know , Ballarat is an old gold mining town not far from Melbourne, Australia. About 600 miles from my city, Sydney.
Steve
hi gents \ ladies
steve therer is a couple of things you could do\bring with you when ya come. Being new to this whole deal of regata’s if you could bring with you score sheets or computer software as i realy don’t have a huge idea in that feild. I guess you or somone else will know the correct way to handy cap as well
Good to hear from you seagull. Unfortunately nutting out Handicapping is an art. I have seen over the year different SO- called automatic Handicapping but basically it doesn’t work. Some many different observations go into doing it properly, including many factors so that ALL the boats come in the first couple of seconds of finishing the race. This makes it exciting if you get it right.
Because there are many factors to consider in good handicapping, basically the job has to be learnt with the hands on policy. OR to put it in a cruder way… suck it and see.
What might be a good idea at this event is to have a little talk about handicapping a race in general. I put myself forward here, for I have quite a lot of experience over the last 5years .
Differing factors have to be considered , such as state and age of boats, weather, pond conditions and skipper ability. For any or some of these factors , together can produce a winning combination on the day and we want to share it around. Don’t we.
After thinking about my last post , I thought I might put something down to perhaps help in doing some rudimentry handicapping. I must tell you , The fleet I have been working on have been Marbleheads. The fleet is made up of the Hotshots, Intermediates and the novices. Your basic handicapping starts here. You have to do an accessment of: The skipper to the boat he is sailing. You have to know the different type of boats. You have to evaluate the boats by looking at sails and there general set up.
Know how much experience a skipper has in the class. And evaluate where Or in what order he would run in a “normal” race if everything was equal.
Your model Handicap (For handicapping The Fleet) if there is say 10 boats where everyone sits or starts in the race. So they all finish together. The whole basis is for the fleet to finish together. It should be obvious to everybody who are Hotshots are to start last.
Now make out a quick list in your mind,WHO, out of the Hotshots are the best in order. And then the next , Intermediates in order and so , down through your list.
Okay you have got every body in their right place. This takes practice as I said so don’t panic, if in the first race it does go according to hoil. Or work out precise. At the end of the race , you allot a plus 20seconds to the winner, plus 15 seconds to 2nd , 10 seconds to 3rd and 5 seconds to 4th.
In every race you allot this PLUS to the winning scores. DON’t at this stage put minuses on to the loosers.
Now, one of the great Eveners in Handicap racing is the weather. There is a natural phenomina, that some skipper can sail light weather and some can sail heavy weather. Seasons change and winds vary and your fleet is going to vary as well because of this.
The Trick to the whole thing is: Don’t be swayed by people who want to use LOGIC on your efforts to Handicap. I have seen logic applied and … well, disaster quickly follows. Handicapping is an “Art” and has to be learned in a hands on way. This is not all there is to it but just a start . You will know your on the right track when your boats are all coming in together, if there is a big spread in time , your doing something wrong. Have a go, its FUN.
Just one question
Will there be any spectators allow to come to this competition?
JozB