Frensham Pond Sailing Club - Model Yacht Group, 10 April 2010
The FPSC Model Yacht Group hosted the third 2010 UK Footy Class open meeting on Saturday 10th April. Footy radio sailing boats are very light and only one foot long, but are great fun to race and sail amazingly well. They are the starter radio sailing class with simple designs able to be made by DIY enthusiasts for just £50 including the radio control gear.
Sixteen skippers of both sexes, all ages and from as far away as Gloucester enjoyed 16 races in fantastic sunny weather and a good breeze. Big waves built up near the lee shore control area, but the Footys sliced through these impressively going into the wind and surfed down the waves on the run back.
Six young people took part and the best placings were those sharing the sailing with a parent or grandparent in 5th and 7th places. A special junior race was sailed after lunch and the early lead was taken by 10 year old Charlotte Broszek, but 11 year old CJ Vice clawed his way back on the second beat to win the prize; a box of Heroes.
In the main event Cotswold member, David Wilkinson with a narrow American design won the early races in 6-8mph winds, but later his balanced una rigged RAZOR 3 struggled with nose diving and suffered structural and leak problems. Reducing rig area to prevent this as the wind increased to an average of 8-10 mph with 14mph gusts, did not help as the wind also dropped in between the gusts leaving this boat underpowered. It was very interesting to compare this narrow hard chine Footy that fits diagonally across the measuring box with the more stable Stollery designs that made upmost of the fleet. In the afternoon the wind was very variable in strength with some boats in their lowest rigs whilst those who didn't bring small rigs were overpowered both up wind and down. Most skippers opted for Swing Rigs just under 400mm high with their low centre of effort, which coped well with both the gusts and lulls.
National champion, Rob Vice from Clapham MYC dominated the remaining races with his powerful ICE Footy, winning all except Races 12,13 and 14, which were won by local skippers, Alan Viney and Paul Brooks, with ICE and ANT designs respectively. Lots of the finishes were close and in Race 12 the finish was very close indeed with Paul's ANT just holding off Rob's chasing ICE, by a couple of inches!
A beautiful new trophy, the Videlo Globe, created by Chiddingfold woodturner Fred Shepherd, was presented to the winner by Mona Videlo in memory of her husband Don. Apart from being a past commodore of the Frensham Pond Sailing Club, he had played a key role in setting up the Model Yacht Group over the last 3 years.
FPSC Commodore, Judith Young welcomed this new aspect of the sailing club's activities, thanked the organisers and gave away the prizes to the winners. She said afterwards Model yachting is becoming an important part of FPSC's activities and we hope to introduce lots of young people to the sport.
The FPSC Model Yacht Group meets every Tuesday afternoon and welcomes new members to sail Footys, International One Metres, and fast, elegant 10 Raters with their massive seven foot rigs. Come and have a go by contacting Pat Cushing on 01420 835 55 or join us for a trial sail any Tuesday afternoon.
