a newsletter of the
Palm Beach Gardens Model Yacht Squadron
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Sunday Nov 11,2018 It was the first scored race day of the Winter Series with the temperature in the mid-high eighties. I believe 11 Soling’s sailed. Half of the EC-12 fleet had sailed in the National Championship regatta in Punta Gorda so the big boats did not sail on Lake Catherine. Micro Magic’s began their series with 4 boats. It was interesting to see how closely matched the boats and skippers were. After splitting tacks to the first mark three boats would round within a boat length or so of each other. The lead would change often with boats close together for the entire race. This happened more than once. Most of the Dragons must have stayed in their caves, but it was a good day for sailing the DF-95. Terry sent a well thought out summary of the Dragon Flite 95 to all of our members and it will be added to the website. Great to hear that Doug Bowe is ordering one. There was quite a few positive comments about the DF-95 at PG. Naples fleet is now 45 DF-95 boats. Soling 1 Meter National Championship for 2019 will be held Feb 22-24 hosted by the Suncoast Model Sailing Club in Punta Gorda. Registration is now open: http://www.suncoastmodelsailingclub.net/calendar.html The Gator Regatta for EC-12 is Dec 1 & 2 in the Villages. The Soling rudder and keel thickness minimums, and flangeless deck beam measurements were voted on by class members and approved. They will be upheld for National and Regional regattas. I suggest that we as a club bring any boat that does not meet the new rule into compliance by Jan 15 2019 in order to eligible to compete in our series. Chris has the official measuring device. Thanks to Chris working with the city of Palm Beach Gardens, a restroom is planned for Lake Catherine. This will be a relief for many. Tom asked about our thoughts on throw outs in scoring. In a Regatta of 10 to 20 races it is typical to have one throw out for every 6 or 8 races. In our season of racing over 100 races take place. The effect on our overall standings of a few races where we have something bad happen is minimal. We qualify those skippers who participate in 50% of the races as eligible for the trophies. Jean asked if there had been any thought of changing the Soling sailing time. Not at this moment. Perhaps we should have a weekday official competition for a sort of new / learning Soling group. I will make a new stand for the second start clock. George George Balaschak, Commodore PBGMYS |
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November 3, 2018
This past Saturday several of us sailed at Okeeheelee Park to publicize our sailing club. Brent, Doc, Bill, Al, Earnan & I sailed for a couple of hours, actually about half of the time an interested passerby was at the control of our sailboat. A lot of smiling guys and gals experiencing this for the first time. We had Soling 1M’s, Ec-12’s, a Micro Magic and a Dragon Flite 95. Bill suggested that Saturday at Lake Catherine has quite a few people around and perhaps we should do a demo day at our pond some Saturday. Our second Sunday of the break between Summer and Winter race series sailed the Dragon Flite 95 on a trial basis. The weed situation was quite mild and was not a deterrent to enjoying sailing this popular newcomer to the AMYA. Quite a good change from the miserable weed situation of last week. I propose we do some unofficial racing to see if we should establish a fleet. Saturdays have been suggested and weekdays are a possibility. The problem with weekdays is that it shuts out the skippers that are not retired. Please let me know your thoughts on this and we will pick a time and a day. It has been pointed out that Wednesdays several of our skippers compete at King’s Point. Wednesdays are also our club casual sailing day. We should probably figure on a 9:30 or 10 am time slot. The EC-12 National Championship regatta takes place in Punta Gorda this week with Doc, Jon, Earnan, and I participating. Three full days of completion and 36 boats entered. George George Balaschak, Commodore PBGMYS |
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October 28, 2018
Last Sunday was the first of the two weeks between Summer and Winter racing series. We spent about a half hour getting some insights into how to better our sailing skills prior to sailing Soling’s. Doc emphasized the never give up attitude and clean sailing as being very much a part of his strategy and reason for his success. He led the summer series in both the Soling 1M and the EC-12. He complimented the group on our observance of the rules. Doc also emphasized the need to bail out when you have placed yourself in a bad position at the start, often by trying to be at the favored starboard end of the line in a barging position: go over early, come back around, starting a little late, but not interfering with others. Jon talked about how to read the wind as puffs develop and how to take advantage of positioning your boat to get on the side to get lifted on the beat to the weather mark. Pretty involved and some skippers were observed with their eyes glazed over. I tried to apply this knowledge more and become more aware of how the boat heading shifted as the boat entered the puff. Earnan talked about being conscious of the overall big picture of what the others are doing and what is going on the race course. The importance of good overall sailing practices. We then sailed races that we did not score giving us a chance to try the new ideas. The wind was North and shifty and allowed a good windward-leeward course. Only a few EC-12 races were sailed as several visitors were handed a transmitter to get a feel as to what RC Sailboats are like. I saw them smiling a lot, and hope to see them come back. The scheduled Dragon Flite 95 sailing in place of the Micro Magic had four boats. The lake had a lot of floating weeds and the deep keels with a bulb on the bottom seemed to try to harvest most of them. I would say that this was the worst weed condition we have seen in several years. The wind had driven the floating weeds to pile up on the Eastern shore for 6 feet or more to the open water. Prior to the days sailing a path through the weeds had to be raked out just to launch the boats for the day. Many observable clumps drifting on the race course had become worse by the time the Dragons sailed. The rather amazing thing was that we were always able to sail the DF-95 back to the dock after some time and often were able to shed the weeds on the course. Not it was not at all fun. In these conditions the Micro Magic would be unable to be sailed back to shore and we would have to wait for it to drift ashore somewhere. Mostly we would just decide not to sail the Micros on days like last Sunday. My DF-95 would not tack and spent a lot of time in irons. But I found the jib sheet fouled on the mast due to me miss-rigging the sheet routing. We will try the DF95’s again next Sunday. Earnan rowed the rescue boat around a lot picking up more vandalized inflatable ball marks and replacing them with the stick-pool-float- foam marks that Chris made. And somehow he foam filled BIG RED, the mark at the far NW corner of our layout. I like this one as I can always tell if I made it as the boat disappears behind it! Thanks Earnan. Remember that this coming Saturday we will do some fun casual demo sailing at OKeeheelee. Refer to Brent’s’ emails on this and hope to see you there. As you have seen dues are due. Paid members get a new club burgee sticker, I’ll have them at the lake Sunday. George George Balaschak, Commodore PBGMYS |
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March 2, 2018
This is my first try using the system that Brent Headberg has set up for us to communicate with each other. You are getting this as a paid member of PBGMYS. The new website that Brent has set up is a work in progress although mostly complete: https://www.pbgmys94.com/ Please use it not only to see your weekly scores but to find other info. Speaking of scores, our scorekeeper Don Burwell has continuing back issues which limits his time able to sit or stand to do tasks. In speaking with him last week I asked if he would like to retire from the job and he said that that would help him. Now I am asking for someone to take over the scorekeeper job. It is not difficult and all the system stuff is set up I believe. Please let Don and I know if you can do this. So far no response from anyone wanting to go to the ALL FLORIDA one day regatta. See my info about it in my email of last week. As planned I attended the one day regatta in Pembroke Pines Sunday for the Dragon Flite 95 class boats. A very well run event, good winds and good group of skippers. The DF95 is incredible, the most fun model yacht that I have ever sailed.. Not the most elegant, that goes to the EC-12 with her traditional good looks. Not the most versatile, that goes to the Soling 1 meter with her simple single rig and long established following. Not the most portable, that of course is the Micro Magic. I managed to come in 4th in the small regatta of 10 boats but that is only a small part of my thinking as what an enjoyable, competitive boat the DF95 is. George George Balaschak, Commodore PBGMYS February 13, 2018
Our club held a superb regatta this past weekend. The Valentine’s Regatta weekend started Friday night with a party at Chester and Libby’s. Guitar picking and singing by Rich Mojica joined by Jon playing his mandolin was a treat. Lots of snacks, food and drink and good conversation. Saturday morning the wind was SE and a two and a half lap course was set. Nineteen EC-12 skippers divided into two fleets sailing in the Progression-Relegation fleet management system made for 11 or 12 of the big boats on the starting line. At the end of Saturday’s races Earnan was in first place. However on Sunday the perennial front runner Alan Perkins prevailed. You can check out the results at: http://ec12.org/disc/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2089 A big THANK YOU to Race Director Chester, Chief Scorekeeper John Biles, Jon the Chief No Bull Chili maker, Ann Gelina for the banana bread and caramel chocolate gooey goodies, and all who helped make the Valentines Regatta such a fun event, especially the ladies who made sure we did not go hungry. The heart shaped bamboo cutting board trophies made by Jon were a big hit. The South Florida Model Sailing Club is hosting a regatta for the Dragons; dragon force 65 on Sat and Dragon Flite 95 on Sunday Feb 18, next Sunday. I am planning to sail in the DF95 event on Sunday to see what it is all about with this fast growing class. In less than two years the class has grown to be third largest in the AMYA. The largest class, Soling 1M have720 boats registered to AMYA members, EC-12 has 352, and Dragon Flite has 344. If you are interested in going with me to race or watch let me know. The ALL FLORIDA one day regatta for soling 1M is to be held in Sebring on March 24,2018. Member clubs send two skippers to compete for the best Club and individual trophies. PBGMYS pays the $70 entry fee for our two skippers. The NOR is attached. I have been a couple times and it is a fun day sailing from an island in the pond with skippers from around the state. If you would like to represent PBGMYS at this event let me know. George George Balaschak, Commodore PBGMYS |