Technology is an amazing thing. It allows us to do tasks that are so common today that we hardly take notice of it until something fails, and we then realize how dependent we are to technology. This recently happened to me when my computer’s hard drive crashed. With a new hard drive and some rebuild time I got my computer running again with my files intact. You may be wondering how does this relate to model boating. Electronics for model boats will never be as complicated as the computer’s, but we should always be ready to have a backup whenever we are at an event. One never knows when something will fail, so it is best to be prepared. _/)

by Mark Mason, Ultra Smooth Sails

Are you one of the sailors that keep your sailboat moving at all times before the starting bell?

Watch the top sailors and how they control their boat speed, including going from max speed to dead stop in two boat lengths.

Both boat speed and position are most important at the start, however be patient. Consider luffing (reduction in boat speed) at a pre-bell position of 10 to 15 feet from the start line at about 10 seconds before the start. This method will give you more options to find a clear spot on the line to start with.

Fair sailing, no bailing. _/)

by Richard Sillert

Next step is to make sure shadows all line up. Take a square and set on centerline, see Photo 1.

Make sure centerline of all the shadow is square, see Photo 2. Adjust any shadow that is out of line. Now take a plank and set one edge on the centerline of the stern and on the Bow (see Photo 3 & 4) and check to make sure all shadows are all lined up. Adjust if necessary.

Now take the plank and run it along to sides to check for voids and fix, see Photo 5.

The fun is about to start. You will need to cover the edge of the shadows and part way down the side, see Photo 6, except the bow & stern, which you will be gluing the planks to.

I like to use wax to cover the edge of the shadows. You can use vinyl tape, caulk, and anything the glue won't stick to. If you use wax, you can use a candle. Light it and use a stiff art brush when there is a good quantity of melted wax, brush it on the shadows. If it lumps, take an old spoon and heat it over the flame and run it on the shadow. There must be a good coat of wax on the shadow.

I use a small potpourri pot and old candle wax, see Photo 7.

We will start Planking next time. _/)

Mesa Model Yacht Club member, Craig Mackey has done it again, he has won another national Victoria regatta! This win makes Craig’s fourth championship and the third Victoria championship in a row! Well done Craig.

Not to leave out other Mesa MYC members, Charlie Ellis took Third Place and Ryan Ellis took Ninth Place. This means three Club members were in the top ten positions. But that is not all, two other Club members, Raymond Dagenais and Dennis Staley participated with Raymond taking the Eleventh Place and Dennis in the Twenty-sixth Place out of a 37-boat event. Not bad for the guys from MMYC! _/)

If you are interested it an item, please contact the person that is selling the item for more information.

by Glenn Cupit

Oval track race cars utilize a similar principle of one wheel affecting the diagonally opposite wheel to reduce or increase body roll in a turn. This is done by adjusting the weight on the wheels with jack screws on the coil springs.

"Jacking" a spring on a race car, increases the weight carried by that wheel and the diagonally opposite wheel. This also reduces the weight on the other two wheels an equal amount.

Car racers call this "wedge" or "cross" and is the most adjusted component used to dial-in a car at a particular track and surface.

You may have watched a NASCAR race on TV and seen a pit member "add a turn", or "take out a turn" on the jack screw over a

rear wheel during a pit stop. As weight is jacked down or increased on the left rear or right front, it makes the car "tighter" by inducing understeer. As weight is jacked out of these wheels, it "loosens up" the car by inducing oversteer.

Even though "cross" or "wedge" does not apply to boats directly, the diagonal dynamic is what I want you to visualize.

Even with zero caster, the rudder will exhibit a lifting dynamic because of the drag on the rudder blade, even when straight ahead. This is not usually noticeable on hydros, but is super important on monos.

An overly deep rudder on a mono will in effect, act the same as a down trim tab in front of the rudder. This effect is more noticeable on smaller, lighter boats (.21 flat bottom monos) with no trim tabs. Mono rudders should be as short as possible and still turn tight.

In my opinion, trim tabs are a tuning crutch which is a convenient means of dialing-in a mono, but at the expense of more drag. None of my monos ever had trim tabs. I trimmed their running and turning attitude by lengthening or shortening the rudder (I had multiple identical rudders differing only in length, which could be changed quickly. In extreme cases, some bottom re-work was necessary in the last 4 inches before the transom. (This area should be dead-flat or have a slight hook of a few thousandths on the right side to flatten torque roll to the right.

To make a flat bottom mono turn fast, it must turn FLAT. Monos tend to bank themselves in a turn, which creates more drag and slows it down. Monos also tend to blow the prop out of the water in the turns, which can hook a chine and spin it out suddenly.

Positive rudder caster (rudder kicked forward under the boat) on a mono can hold the prop down in a turn,

but should be tried gradually and judiciously. Usually, just a little negative or zero caster works best on monos.

Mono rudders should be on the inside (right side of transom) because we want to try to roll the boat counterclockwise in the turn to counteract the normal tendency to bank into the turn.

The turn fin on a mono should be as far back as possible without hooking the boat in a fast turn. This is a problem if you want to put the fin on the keel because the stuffing box is in the way. So, the fin must be offset to one side. WHICH side?

The intuitive choice would be the inside, or right side, which in the case of monos, is correct. To explain why, we must talk about water spray lift.

Water spray from the turn fin, prop, sponsons and transom, if it hits any part of the boat, is DRAG and usually LIFT.

If you doubt this, hold your hand out the back of a ski boat into the spray from the rudder or prop. It feels like almost the same drag if you had stuck your hand over the side into the water!

A LOT of water is thrown off the inside (left, for a model) of a turn fin in the turn. It is extremely important to realize this and know that wherever the water hits the boat or fin bracket, it is causing drag and lift at that point on the boat.

Normally, we don’t want this lift, but in certain instances it can and has been used to serve a purpose. We for sure don’t want to gain any lift in the turn fin area of an outrigger with the fin mounted on the inside sponson! This could easily blow the fin out in the turn!

However, consider the case of a conventional hydro - - say an old Hughey. Ed Hughey mounted the fin under the tunnel, on the left or outside!

Intuitiveness, said that would not work, EVERYONE had the fins on the INSIDE, or right.

Well - - what happened was, it not only worked fine, it caused these boats to turn FLAT and tight at wide open throttle! The fins were not canted or angled and they did not unhook! What I think was happening was the spray off the left side of the fin hit the bottom of the tunnel on the outside (left) of the hull and caused lift at that point which offset the tendency to roll counterclockwise in a tight turn! This made the Hugheys turn tight and flat.

So, if the turn fin is mounted under the center section of an outrigger, it need not be canted and should be on the LEFT side! The problem with doing this on an outrigger, is that the center section is not wide enough to allow the fin to be offset very much until the spray would completely miss the bottom and blow out the left side, eliminating the desired lift.

On a mono, however, we want the opposite roll, counterclockwise. We want to reduce the tendency to bank into the turn, so we want the turn fin spray to lift the RIGHT side of a mono. This explains the above correct choice of placing a mono turn fin on the right side.

OK – now we come to rudder placement on hydros. Inside or outside?

For years, the only choice was the intuitive one – the inside or right side of the transom. However, in the model boats of the mid-seventies and some of the full-scale hydros of the eighties, we began to see outside rudder placement! This works very well for the following reasons:

Remember the earlier discussion about cross dynamics from the rudder with caster other than zero? A rudder on the outside with slight negative caster or kick-back, PLANTS THE INSIDE SPONSON AND FIN in the turn!

The only problem with this set-up, is the clockwise roll force thus imparted can aid the prop torque lift of the left sponson when shutting down on turn entry and the boat may fly and blow-over with a clockwise roll just into the turn. This can usually be dialed-in by reducing the negative caster slightly.

Too much negative caster also causes the prop to blow out in the turns and the boat will "hop" through the turn.

We are talking about fine adjustments with feeler gauge stock under the top or bottom of the rudder bracket and the transom. I made thin wedges of aluminum in ½° increments from ½° to 5°. Once the boat was dialed-in, I would mill the bracket on that angle and eliminate the shims. I don’t ever remember going back and changing the caster once I felt it was dialed-in. We tuned the full-scale Shazam and the Unlimiteds exactly the same way. It does not take much caster! This was a closely guarded secret back then and I have never heard this discussed publicly.

Outdrives and steerable struts are "rudders with thrust", and should be included in this discussion.

Caster also applies to outdrives, but the caster dynamics are opposite that of rudders.

Because these "rudders" are thrusting instead of dragging, positive and negative caster of outdrives causes boat roll OPPOSITE that of rudders discussed above.

The dynamic is the same, just opposite effect.

Negative outdrive caster, unlike negative rudder caster, causes the nose to lift in the turn (to either direction). Positive outdrive caster applies down pressure to the nose of the boat in a turn.

Since outdrives are in the center of the transom, no diagonal dynamic is transferred to the front corners as with a castered rudder. The roll effect comes from the up or down thrust angle in the turn and the natural tendency of a mono to bank into the turn.

Don’t confuse outdrive caster with thrust angle straight ahead. You can have whatever outdrive thrust angle you wish. Caster is independent of straight ahead thrust. Remember, caster refers to the PIVOT angle of the outdrive and has nothing to do with the straight ahead thrust angle of the prop shaft.

Outdrives have not proven effective on hydros because there is no rudder blade area, only a small fin under the prop. The rudder blade area in the water of a hydro is necessary to keep the transom tracking with the boat centerline in the straightaway. _/)

by Dave Acree

It is time to start work on the bulkhead that goes inside the hull where the mast will sit. The reason for the bulkhead is to give added support to the deck for the mast and sail rigging. Without the bulkhead, the plastic deck will sag which causes stress to the deck and is something that should not be avoided.

The first item to obtain is material for the bulkhead. A bulkhead can be created from either .064 carbon fiber sheet or 1/8 aircraft plywood. For me, cost is a factor. Carbon fiber sheet is the best, but it is costly, so I opted for the easy to obtain plywood.

The next item is a bulkhead pattern; a good one is from Craig Mackey which can be obtained from the Victoria Resource Center, Building the Victoria – Hull: www.victoriarc.org/buildinghull.htm#hulltip1. Another pattern that does not follow the inter shape of the hull, is the triangle shape, see Picture 1. The triangular shaped pattern is easy to make and to install. Both patterns will work well and give the desired results.

When transferring the triangular pattern to the plywood, allow a little extra length at the "v" bottom. The reason is hull shapes may vary, so it is best to add a 1/16-inch extra in the event it is needed. It is better to remove wood than it is to add wood or make another bulkhead.

The triangular bulkhead has two holes, which takes away a little weight but gives you two finger holes to install the bulkhead with. In Photo 1, you will also see a blue plastic bead that has been glued into the bulkhead. The reason for the bead is to allow the jib sheet line to pass through the bulkhead without it fraying against the edge of the bulkhead. It is just the matter of drilling a hole to fit the size of the bead and epoxy in the bead.

Once the bead is glued in, sand the edge of the bulkhead and the two holes. The last thing to do if you are using plywood is to waterproof it with whatever coating you want. It is time to fit the bulkhead to the inside the hull. The most important thing to remember when fitting the bulkhead inside the hull is it must be forward of the Keel Mounting Tube, see Picture 2.

If the bulkhead needs more material removed for it to fit right, do so a little bit at a time. When fitting it in, it goes directly under the main mast mount hole, right on top of the Keel Fin Box. You want the bulkhead to be in place and not press on the deck and keel fin box. The fit should be all along the top and bottom parts of the bulkhead so the glue will have good contact. Use a small mirror inserted into the hatch hole to check your work. Once you get the bulkhead fitted, lightly sand the contact area of the underside of the deck and top part of the keel fin box, and glue it in. _/)

from the Helmsmen

Suggestions to get the best from your boat.

1. Most boats perform best upwind with nearly neutral weather helm. Boats will develop weather helm especially when in point mode. Quick fix: Sail the boat flatter, decrease mast rake or flatten the mainsail.
2. Maintain optimum rig tension. If the rig is too loose, the jib entry will be quite full resulting in poor pointing ability. Too tight a rig is sometimes indicated by over bend/inversion wrinkles in the entry of the jib. Also, if the rig is too tight the entry of the jib sill be flat and the telltales will break on both sides of the jib at nearly the same time making the jib hard to steer to.
3. Sail your boat on its lines. Usually a boat won’t perform when its bow or stern is buried in the water. Besides the obvious drag this can affect the balance of the boat and create weather helm. Position weight so the transom is just kissing the water for a smooth, undisturbed wake.
4. Set your jib leads so your luff breaks evenly from top to bottom. When the boat is overpowered, move the lead aft until the top breaks just ahead of the lower and middle telltales.
5. Every boat has a ‘sweet spot’ - a precise steering angle for optimum performance upwind. At this angle both jib telltales should be streaming straight aft. The luff of the jib should rarely break, but the leeward telltales should never stall.

Every boat has a groove, which is the range off acceptable steering angles. The lower end of this range is for acceleration. The center of the groove is the sweet spot where the boat should be sailed 75% of the time. Steer so the weather telltale is slightly stalled. The other end of the groove is the pinching mode used in breezy conditions on flat water.

6. When in doubt, copy the fast guys! _/)

by Dick Lemke

Just completed the design and paper "mock-up" (and cutting patterns) of the sails for the MultiONE. While they follow my very first concept/ideas, these are much nicer design (to me) and look good on the boat. (Yes - one of these days, I will have to paint that main hull!) Nice to have software that allows you to change a few dimensions and completely alter the entire profile of the sail.

At just a touch under class rules maximum of 1100 sq. inches, this may be the final design that I go with for my first set. Sails will be built from 1.5 oz. treated rip-stop. I have two other jib designs of lesser area that I will also make. Mast has 13 degree of rake. I pushed it back to help load up the rudder and also to provide some "lift" upwind. Flat-top main is approximately .47m2 (728 in2) and jib pictured is at about .23 m2 (370 in2). I may have to reduce the 1 inch roach on the jib, in order to clear the mast when tacking, however, if I add a jib boom, the weight may allow the top part of the jib to "pop" over to the other side when tacking. Speaking of jib boom, both the main and the jib will probably be deck mounted a tiny bit behind the tack of each sail. I like the idea of the main sheet being both sheeting and vang (to a degree). If I have problems with the boom wanting to come up too high, I may still add a compression type vang. Now I have some cutting, taping and sewing to do. More to follow. _/)

by Mike Eades, Regatta Director

The WVRCM held its Fall Regatta at Litchfield Park Lake Saturday/Sunday, October 11/12^th. Commodore Ronnie (Woody) Wood was on hand as Race Director both days and both events were completed on time and with all protest activity resolved on the water. Purser, Barbara Ruenke-David took care of all participants with cold drinks and served an excellent lunch at the Sunday event. Thanks guys!

This event, intended as a tune-up for the Sunday Seawind Championship, attracted six skippers. As we arrived at lakeside to set up there was no wind at all. The usual East-West course was set up, skippers’ meeting was held and we waited for wind. Around 10:30 AM there seemed to be enough breeze to begin racing. Jay Barnes and Mike Eades showed their skills immediately by failing to make the start line between the buoys and having to circle around and restart. Jay eventually recovered and managed to take first place, while Mike trailed home last. Conditions were light and very shifty all day, in fact out of twelve races completed; seven required starboard mark roundings and five were to port. Patience and luck were at a premium!

Newcomer Bob Crockett, in his first Regatta, found the conditions very challenging. Chuck Goerke, after a good start, fell back and eventually succumbed to a major servo failure. Jay Barnes led the early going but made a few adjustments over lunch break and performed only moderately thereafter. Ben Kowaliski and Mike Eades, after early stumbles managed to get it together and were the main contenders down the stretch.

Five skippers managed a win, an indication of how close the competition is getting, with Mike Eades emerging as the overall winner followed by Ben Kowaliski and Jay Barnes.

Seawind Class – Region 5 Championship Regatta – Sunday, October 12^th

WVRCM hosted the first AMYA-sanctioned Regional Championship Regatta (*see below) for the new Seawind Class on Sunday, October 12th. Four skippers and boats had been entered and duly registered, weighed and inspected for compliance with Class Rules. Jay Barnes’ boat was an ounce under weight until he replaced a 4-cell battery pack with a 5-cell pack. Weights ranged from 6 lb. 9 oz. to 6 lb. 12 oz. Sunday began with a more promising light breeze which eventually settled in to a generally easterly direction, but still shifty, at 5-12 knots. All races were sailed with port mark roundings.

Some excellent racing ensued. Twelve races, as scheduled, were concluded over a span of 4 1/2 hours, including an hour lunch break. Each skipper managed to score at least two second-place finishes. There were several very close finishes with boats overlapped down to the wire. Bob Crockett, with some tuning help Saturday from Jay, sailed very well in his second event and finished only 2 points out of third place behind Rowland Stevens. Jay and Mike battled it out all day with six wins each. Class Secretary, Jay Barnes, finally took first place honors by a 1-point margin over Mike Eades in second place.

Overall, the weekend’s activities were enjoyed by all and once again demonstrated that the Seawind Class boat is a great, tunable, kit-built one-design where skipper "stick time, tuning and tactics" rule the day. We look forward to the next event.

* After completion of the Regatta and awards we learned that the AMYA requires a minimum of 5 boats entered for a legal Regional Regatta. Following the advice of John Hanks, Executive Secretary, AMYA we will call this the AZ State Championship Regatta. We will try for a legal regional next time. Oh well! _/)

Hello everyone, another Mesa Model Yacht Club scale boat points event is scheduled for this coming Saturday, the 1st of November. There will be a skippers meeting starting promptly at 9:00 A.M. If any of you can help set up for the meet, please be there around 8:00 A.M. A lot of work is required to hold our scale events and any help would be appreciated. We again will be having lunch and you will be asked for a donation to keep the lunch program going. Drinking water will be provided for all participants. Also, there will be a $2.00 entry fee to pay for trophies at the end of the season. With the cooler weather, we should see more participation from our fellow boaters, so bring your boat(s) and join us Saturday at Dobson pond. See you there! - Doug Nolte, Operations Officer. _/)

Here is an interesting holiday card idea from US SAILING. The US SAILING Holiday Cards uses sailing images from US SAILING, and come packaged 25 to a box with free imprinting, address labels and festive holiday seals. Each image is distinctive and has been chosen to appeal to sailing enthusiasts. The purchases help US SAILING to encourage and promote excellence in sailing and racing in the U.S. If you want to preview and order the US SAILING Holiday Cards, visit http://www.holidaycardcenter.org/ussa2. You can also order the US SAILING Holiday Cards by calling 1-800-324-9694. _/)