Well Dick , there is only one thing to say Wahoooooooooooooo!
Alas Dick we didn’t hear from Pete, he’s probably doing Wahooooo out there somewhere too?
I “somehow” heard he had no internet…
-Wis
_/ if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it! _
He’s been MIA for some time lately. Might try the website for his club and see if anyone there is aware of what’s up.
He’s down in your bottom portion of the world, so who knows for sure?
Well Dick , I got to thank you, after our little discussion about Multi sailing with old M sails, all these Marblehead clubs are asking about doing something with the older Marbleheads. It seems that consigning the sails to a Multi , is a fate worse than DEATH. And so far 7 clubs are Clammering about wanting to do something for their older MARBLEHEADS. Now guys you did such a good job at this is there any chance you might hire yourselves out when we need you next time?
Hello,
At the Fleetwood Boat Club, here in the UK, they have a fleet of Schooners, which are
raced almost on a weekly schedule, good fun and very competitive, BIG Trophy at the end of Season.
MOST, if not all of the boats have been made from OLD Marbleheads!!.
Below the water line is pure Marblehead, above is the Schooner!.
Gunwhales are fitted to the Hull to give the correct Sheer, two Masts and Cabins etc on the deck.
With a Bigger sail area, but lower than before, the new Schooner sails very well indeed, the original long Keel makes for a very weatherly boat, much needed at Fleetwood!.
So, The original Sails can now be used on a Multi, the Hull gets a new lease of life as a Schooner, all you now need is the Time to sail them BOTH!!.
JayDee. [^][^]
thats interesting JD. I think one appeared on the cover of Model Boats in (Ithink) June 1974. I thought it was well done and a good exercise.
Steve.
At the Fleetwood Club they turn all sorts of boats into Schooners, “A” Class, 10 Raters, Lazers, Marbleheads, the LOT!.
There is no restriction on what the Original boat WAS at all!, the only rule is - - NO Winches!, to keep the costs down.
After sailing my Schooner, Bluenose, with winches for years, it was quite a shock when I first sailed, - - in a Race,-- without them!.
I disconnected the sheets from the winches and made up a set of Bowsies to set the Sails, set up on the Bank and then Race, not easy at first!.
Some of the guys had been doing it for years, I got slaughtered, NOT funny!!.
Got better after a few more races, but still struggled a lot.
Have a look at any old boats that you have, photo taken side on, onto the PC,draw a Schooner rig on it, you will be surprised!.
JayDee. [:-angel]
JD I have got a planked 10 rater hull under way for a schooner. I’m looking in your direction or should I say, for your direction.
Steve.
May be better to continue this Topic in “Scale Sail”! - - not really about Marbleheads is it?.
Any help needed, just ask, IF, I know the answer, will pass the info on.
Good for you, got a boat already!!!.
JayDee. [:D]
Thank You JD. to all you marblehead nuts. there is a new dedicated Older type Marblehead page at user.ncable.net.au-~seagull for the fans. There are a few stories and stuff. And Seagull is “beavering away” (if seagulls beaver)? it should be prettygood . Anyway we gotta start somewhere?
Steve
I can’t make that link work. I’ve tried it with an without www in front. Any ideas?
Cheers
Muzza
Muzza, I got it off Seagull in “marblehead plans” forum, I’ve put heaps of stuff there including A budget boat plan.
Hi Guy’s
Great Steve that you have your own personal views on M’s in Aus posted on the Ballarat website.
Such as
“We laugh at the girls when they follow fashion, slavishly, yellow this year, brown the next, etc. We have followed fashion in Ms that long some of the young blokes don?t know anything else other than a ?skinny? hull with a long keel, poor bastards! The boats in actual fact have not got a higher boat speed range, there is no tendency to plane to windward but there is this propensity to nose dive when pressed. One of the good designs for medium weather was the Frank Russell?s Woodpecker or Ron Attard?s Maltese Falcon, which could plane expertly in these conditions”
As one of the aparent “poor bastards” that raced my new M(4 year old hull design)recently, im sad that those of us in the world that actually try to look forward for solutions are refered to this way. I guess i can sleep well in the knowledge that all fast M designs of the last 10+ years have followed similar design trends. Obviously the Stollery’s, Walliki’s, Bantock’s, Jahan’s, Elmaleh’s, Creed’s, Firebrace’s, Byerley’s, Mcdowell’s as well as myself, are way off the pace in the current design trends of M’s with narrow boats & deep fins.
Can’t wait to see the design that wipes the f;oor with all of the above.
Cheers
BG
Hello Brad, nice to see you have joined the fray. I thought we were not going to mention your new M?
Let me pose this question to you. Is the current trends in small beams going to continue? Will there be any other trends(Eg.more beam etc) to be considered? or are we stuck in the warp?
Well I can see why you sleep well in your knowledge? I am about to waken you.
The boat that came SECOND in The National Marblehead championships published in 1994 was MALTESE FALCON 1077 sailed by Ron Attard, While you’re slumbering, I also noticed that your name was not on any race skippers lists for any of the national classes either,around 1994? Where were you?
All you Maltese Falcon owners out there.
I’ve got this great photo of the ‘Falcon’ in winning style. I think it should be seen.
Now Brad I know your going to do some great work on your M committee and I want to say that I hope we , the older Ms in Australia will be looked after in your report?
Hi Steve,
You’re right Steve. i wasn’t at the championships in 94(11 years ago).
I was busy racing 18 foot Skiff’s on the Grand Prix Sailing National Circuit. Little time back then for radio sailing i’m afraid.
Guys like Ron Attard & Frank Russel here in Aus put out some great designs over the years.
My first M hull that i raced was bought back in 84 from Phil Birdsall here in Sydney when i was 14. I raced when i could get a lift into Centenial Park during the winter months, against the likes of Ron Dunshea, Harry Freedman, Phillip Page, Bill Pettingel amongst others all with wide boats & short fins. I have also owned a Nerang & still have Ron freedmans last M mold at home here.
Whilst the class has no weight restrictions, & a fin that is plenty long enough to create stability on a narrow hull, i dont believe we will ever see fast wide M’s again as the light air wetted surface penalties are too great aginst narrow boats. Evolution has shown us this.
With regards to keeping older M’s on the water, the only solution i believe is to push for more handicap style events at Club & State level.
BG
And an illustrious career it was on the 18ft Grand Prx.
My article referred to ‘young blokes’ coming into the sport and not to put to finer point on it, you are only a few years off qualifying as a ‘nearly ancient mariner candidate’.
The early M 1932 circa were pretty narrow right up to the fourties , Wide took over from them to 1970 then thinner to 1987 then wider till about 1995 then thinner to 2005. Yes it was a type of evolution. But if the evolutionary changes keep track , we are in for a change in the not to distant future. You gave an honest answer and I agree with you and the type of events for these older boats.
Well Dick I think it is a bit like this for Marbleheads . I notice that the IOMs are down on number( with out trying to talk it down) but thats another subject. So if their not into IOM, Marbleheads , 10 rater, A class, Mini 40. What the hell are they into? I’m expecting for some Upjumped Johnny to give me chapter and verse on why the IOM is the best thing since sliced bread. So the question is, are they (R/C yachtsmen), going to come back to there old favourite, Marbleheads?
I reckon so. Apart from the Question of “can we afford it”, well only the individual can answer that. Brad Gibson and his mate Jeff Brieley are working on a National committee to find the answers on Marbleheads in Australia. This country is serious about these trends. what is the rtest of the world doing. Yeah we’re are a bit isolated but we seem to get there in the end.
Are the Yanks doing anything positive or has it become stuck in the mould’. I thought Roy might come across with some additional info about the situation there?
It doesn’t take to much to put something somewhere on Marbleheads because we are suppose to be fostering it.
Not to hi-jack this topic, and not to imply this is the “only” forum out here … a brief view of many of the topics on this forum (which seems to be much further spread among many classes and types than other boards) seems to show an increase in personal tastes which tend to be toward the “plastic” boats. Before anyone starts to flame - I do not mean this in any derogatory way.
Plastic boats are easily manufactured. They generally are much less expensive. They are easily assembled with a minimum of tools, equipment - and in some cases experience. They take less time to build. There are more every day and classes are growing.
Many balk at the cost of a manufactured boat regardless of the size or class. The person purchasing the smaller sizes may do it for convenience, cost, or simplicity. They don’t have to spend time lofting lines, cutting stations, aligning and strip building. They have even less time ( and maybe patience) to finish, fair and and outfit. Many prefer to sail than to build. Now there are a number here on this forum who do spend time building, experimenting but few if any are selling their creations. They build them for their own personal reasons. Some have done IOM’s but like the M’s, very few “homemade boats” show in the winner’s column. Were it possible to have a membership for every “plastic” boat sold, my rough guess is they would easily outpace most of the established classes that required some advanced level of home building (or the cost to purchase a ready-to-sail) boat. Builders, and especially those in development classes are certainly in the minority (in my opinion) so when fellows like Bantock, Beyerly, Gibson, and other names bring forth a new design, a lot of interest is formed by the designer/builder’s name and the line forms to the right to purchase - with performance unknown and unproven.
Why build an M to any design specs when (a) the class “seems” to be dominated by $2800 custom built boats, or (b) for half that price, one can mix it up in the IOM class? I (personal thought) think the Soling 1 Meter is perhaps very easily the poster-child for a simple, inexpensive boat sold by Victor Products that has garnered widespread appeal based on class membership numbers.
The F-48 multihull is a home build consisting of three (3) M Class size hulls. It takes up the floor/trunk space of a half piece of plywood sheet. The mast generally must be carried outside the vehicle unless it is a “wagon”. It is big, formidable and fast. BUT - one doesn’t walk into their local hobby shop and buy one. To me, it seems strangely similar to the J Boats - big, beautiful and powerful - but of ownership interest to only a few, and even less who would commit to a build of one from scratch. Perhaps the M’s are similar, but of just a smaller size? Is cost to purchase and lack of home building a factor? Is the size to transport and store a reason?
Interesting - and worthy of other personal opinions or views.
Dick Lemke
F-48 #US-06
MultiONE #US-06
Class 3 Landyacht #US-196
Minnesota, USA