Colwyn Bay Model Yacht Club
Mad March Hare – Results
23 March 2008
Sail No. R 1 R 2 R 3 R 4 R 5 R 6 R 7 R 8 Tot- D Pos
149 Dump Truck
Peter Robinson 1 2 3 1 1 3 1 2 8 1
145 Micron
Graham Elliot 3 3 1 5 2 2 2 1 11 2
147 Mistrallette
Trevor Thomas 5 4 2 2 4 4 4 4 20 3
99 Moonshadow
Mike van den Peet ret 6 6 6 3 1 3 2 21 4
131 ‘507’
John Meredith 4 5 5 3 5 5 6 6 27 5
156 Dump Truck/17 Bug
Mathew Lulham-Robinson 6 7 8 7 6 ret 5 5 36 6
118 Razor
Andrew Halstead ret 1 4 4 7 ret dns dns 38 7
113 Audrey/13 Gull
Gary Sanderson ret ret 7 ret ret ret ret 3 54 8
157 Ro-Ro
Benjamin Lulham-Robinson 2 dns dns dns dns dns dns dns 57 9
86 Pip Squeak
Russell Potts dns dns dnf dns dns dns dns dns 66 10
And so they came from the four corners of the country to sail Footys. Some came for a dabble, some were committed Footiers. The weather forecast was, shall we say, rugged, giving 20 knots + from the north and the possibility of snow. Although in reality things were a little better, a number of the less experienced drivers, often in borrowed boats, decided to stand the dance out – or at any rate to ‘cruise in company’. Accordingly the sheet above does not really give a very good idea of the true size of the fleet of Footys that congregated on West Shore in Llandudno.
However, this did not stop Peter Robinson from winning by a country mile. A skipper new to Footydom, a brand new moulded depron design - Dump Truck - and the promise of low-cost kits to follow, all mated to an endearingly forceful Yorkshire personality: Peter is sure to become a power in the land of the Footy in the future. A run of scoring firsts and seconds with two thirds as discards suggests a fair degree of consistency. The only shadow over the whole deal is the structural failure of the boats of his two sons, Mathew and Benjamin, but Peter reckons that this can easily be overcome. Watch the wall my darling as the adverts pass on by!
After that it’s really a matter of cataloguing the excuses. In second place, Graham Elliott, the well-known IOM sailor was in his first time out in a Footy sailing a Micron borrowed from Bill Green. Even his learning curve against Dump Truck was flattening out toward the afternoon. His major assessment ‘The only sensible rig in this class is the McCormack rig’. Swing rigs, he felt had insufficient ability to dump lift.
In third place we had Trevor Thomas beautiful new Mitraillette – modestly described by its designer as a pastiche of a USOM design and a Footy. She represents yet another step along the road toward narrower beam and lighter displacement initiated by Ian Dunmore and more recently pushed by Moonshadow. Not only is she fast, she is also consistent and beautifully built: she would probably have been awarded the concours d’honeur if we had thought to award one. Poor Trevor will never live this down – the poor, simple railway modeller who built a Razor on a whim and was inveigled by that dreadful man Richardson into having his poor little boat registered and taking it for a race. The growth in his competitiveness and skills over the last year odd is tremendous and we should all raise our glasses in respect.
A single point behind Mitraillette we had Moonshadow sailed by the genial South African Mike van der Peet. In the early races Moonshadow was hampered by a defective servo which gave her a DNF and placings in the lower half of the fleet. Once the servo had been replaced, she was back up at the top, but still lagging fractionally behind the two leaders on average. Graham Elliott reckoned that, once the wind was just a little free, there was nothing on the lake that would hold her. Others have suggested that her big weakness is to windward in a disproportionate wind and chop in which she develops a kind of ‘bob’ – a mixture of pitch and heave. Hopefully this matter has been improved in her successor Voortrekker.
In fifth position we had the intrepid John Meredith sailing his 507. It has been an open secret for some time now that the 507 is not all that it is made up to be. The matter is now scarcely secret: all three of the Brumm Mafia (Messrs. Meredith, Hubbard and Apps) were all there, but the latter two preferred to ‘cruise in company’ since they reckon their boats are essentially unraceable. Complaints include getting into irons excessively easily, monstrous leeway, poor helm control and sails of which someone said “‘joke lines’ on the sails to make you look kewl are fine if you’re winning. If you’re way down the fleet, they make you look like an idiot”. However, doughty West Midlander that he is, John battled his way round the course finishing every race, discarding two sixths and taking a third as his best place. Your good health sir! Equally encouraging, all the Mafia are determined to do everything they can to improve the performance of their 507s. Angus Richardson is already being consulted on suggestions.
In sixth we had Peter Robinson’s son Mathew. After a structural failure of his Dump Truck, he borrowed Roger Stollery’s original Bug and recorded steadily improving positions after that. Clearly a young man to be watched!
Andrew Halstead recorded his first first – and would have done much better overall had he not been called away by wife and son for much of the afternoon. While by the lake he was frequently to be seen taking people behind bushes for their confidential viewing of the first shell mouldings of Voortrekker 1. Given Andrew’s sense of humour, what this struck into them must be a matter of debate.
Finally. At the back of the fleet, we had Gary Sanderson’s very sexy looking new Audrey which is the only Footy so far known to have sunk twice in one series – ironic given Gary’s usual meticulous preparation – Benjamin Robinson suffering from structural failure (after 2nd in the first race) and Russell Hobbs whose Micron keel box went a wandering, after which he went on to discover that his unbalanced una rig was nigh-on uncontrolable in heavy winds.
More glory to Russel though. During the breaks he brought out his Phin – the only working example of this Alex Austin design. To everyone’s total amazement this extraordinary device sailed much like any other Footy, albeit rather further over on its ear. Hope to get some photos.
Finally, our heartfelt thanks to Owain and Iolo Roberts, OOD and Assistant OOD. After the racing Owain was invited to become an Honorary Member of Colwyn Bay Model Yacht Club. He accepted the club’s invitation.
I will be getting back to you as soon as possible with pictures, stories, an analysis of mistakes and (for competitors only) a questionnaire on the format of future events.
Cheers,
Angus
