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One year ago this month, the DF95 class started competition as a PBGMYS class. Since then 15 members have sailed their 95s in competition. Thanks to all the skippers that have supported this new effort.
After four months into the Winter Season, the top three in the club DF95 standings are: Luscomb, Wright and McMullen. Thanks, Brent, for doing the scores quickly and accurately. The fourth round of the Florida Travelers Trophy Regattas for DF95s, The Gerd Petersen Memorial, will be held at C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines on Sunday March 1. I was told recently that Chuck Le Mahieu from DSNA made a presentation on a webinar about the DF95. They are seeing lots of reports about cracking around the keel area in the hull. The cracking occurs when boats are toss-launched and the keel bulb bottoms out on the lake bed, which creates a shock load into the hull. I suggest you check the water depth first and then launch more horizontally maybe with the boat slightly heeled to avoid the keel bulb contacting the lake bottom. New changes coming to the DF95 include: A revised rudder post assembly with a stainless steel insert to remove excess slop between the assembly and the rudder shaft (It already allows you to re-sleeve the original design to add your own insert). A new sheeting clip design available as a spare part or you can use any clip you want as long as it does not have a swivel. A 1 mm increase in the rudder servo opening in the servo tray to accommodate the upgrade servo. Lessons Learned: I found a crack slowly advancing across the forward end of the hatch opening from port to starboard side. As the boat sails, the keel, rudder and servos load the hull structure and that works the crack. The crack initiated in the port side forward corner hatch opening radius. The corner radius crack was the result of pushing down too hard when installing the spool on the main servo while the servo tray was attached to the hull. The crack was fixed with Super-Glue. If the crack had advanced across to the starboard side corner radius, it would have been time to get a new hull as that flange supports the forward end of the servo tray. Check your boats. See you at the Lake, Terry
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The Hav-A-Chaw Regatta is this coming Saturday Feb 8 2020 at the PBGMYS pond, Lake Catherine. Our Soling fleet will try to win the Have-A-Chaw trophy back from the St Lucie Model Boat Club. NOA predicts NE winds at 8 mph, perfect. But cool/cold in the upper 50 degree area.
The skippers meeting will be held at 9:15 with racing beginning at 9:30. The format will be odd-even. Sandy Warrick is the Race Director. John Biles is the scorekeeper assisted by Peter Burns, Ken Harman and Al Stall. We need more help as mark judges, so please volunteer. We will have cold drinks available but bring your own lunch. Entry fee is $10 cash paid at the pond. Racing
September 1 At the start of the DF95 sailing time, Hurricane Dorian was a category 5 storm with 180 mph wind speed, heading west at 5 mph and 120 miles east of Palm Beach Gardens. The Hurricane Center promised us it would slow down, turn North and never hit us. The storm did slow down and turn North a few days later and we never got the full impact. The hurricane did however provide wind speeds of 10 - 15 mph from the North. Five boats sailed with four different winners in the first four races. By the start of the last race, I measured wind speed on the lake at 15 mph. The dragons, all on A rigs, were flying downwind in that race. Eight races were run and Jon Luscomb took the day. September 8 We had a new member Charlie Sumner join us for racing with # 790. Welcome Charlie! We had wind from the SW with many different wind speeds depending on the race and position on the lake. Six boats sailed six races with four different winners. Chris Wright took the day with three wins followed closely by George Balaschak. September 15 The wind was up. It was a beautiful sunny day. The wind shifted to the NW during the Soling races and weeds floated out of the canal on to the race course and stopped the Solings in their tracks. We had to suspend racing for the rest of the day. September 22 Strong gusty NE winds were the order of the day. Usually when the autumnal equinox arrives at the end of September, the winds tend to pick up and this year has been no exception. We had five boats sail and ran five races with three different winners. Jon Luscomb took the day with three wins. September 29 NE winds were again the order of the day but not as severe as the previous week. Four boats ran six races with three different winners. Jon Luscomb won the day with four wins. Other items During September, the city mandated that we reduce the number of buoys and make our buoys uniform in type and color. During October, all the buoys will be lobster trap buoys painted yellow and numbered. We will then have twelve buoys down from fifteen. The Region 7 DF95 Championship Regatta (in St. Augustine) had to be cancelled due to the hurricane (Dorian) and was rescheduled for September 28 - 29. Dragon Sailing North America ( DSNA ) is currently producing video tutorials related to the Dragon classes and will list them on their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/DragonSailingNorthAmerica Topics to be covered will be boat and rig assembly, radio setup, tuning guides, race tactics and more. None of those videos are on the channel yet. Check this site every so often for new additions. There is, however, an excellent 22 minute video “Intro to Racing Rules of Sailing” hosted by Patrick Rynne of the Miami RC Sailing Squadron which uses race videos, drones eye videos and animation to explain the rules. Quiz time In a two sail system, jib and main, how much lift is provided by each sail? Is it: A) The jib more than the main B) The main more than the jib C) Both sails contribute equally D) I don’t care as long as they keep me ahead of Jon Luscomb While D might be a popular answer, the correct answer is A : the jib ( foresail ) provides more lift than the main. According to the book “ The Physics of Sailing Explained” by Bryon D. Anderson: ….there is a net larger displacement of the air perpendicular to the general direction of flow for the two sail case when compared to a single sail….the two sails create, in effect, a larger wing around which the air must move, The total path around the outside is also longer, and the differential in air speeds on the leeward and windward sides is greater with two sails, which helps to create even more lift. For some time, this effect was believed to be due to something referred to as the “slot effect” with the gap between the two sails supposedly funneling more air at a higher speed along the outer surface of the mainsail, thus causing the mainsail to produce more lift. Since then, however, measurements of the actual lift along both sails have shown that this is not really the case. Rather it is the fact that the combination essentially produces a single larger airfoil that creates a greater total lift. Note that it is normally true that it will be the foresail, not the main, that produces the greater part of total lift. “The Physics of Sailing Explained” is available on Amazon as a new paperback for less than $ 20.  By Bob Greer
Palm Beach Gardens Model Yacht Squadron was honored to host the Region 7 Soling 1 Meter regatta on April 13 & 14 2019. Twenty skippers from all over the state were registered and we started with 20 on the start line. We are lucky to have a large lake and we sailed as 1 fleet. The winds from the southeast allowed us to set a good beat and there was opportunity to find passing lanes if one looked. Racing on Saturday was dominated by Tony Gonsalves, followed by George Balaschak, Chuck Millican and Chris Wright. A collegial dinner at JJ Muggs in Abacoa was enjoyed by many Saturday evening. Sunday offered a bit more wind, 15 knots, more southerly allowing for even LONGER beats! The increased wind increased breakage but resourceful and helpful skippers kept the fleet moving and we completed 24 races. There was some juggling of the top on the final day but Tony Gonsalves dominated the fleet, followed by Jim Child, Chuck Millican, George Balaschak, and Chris Wright. Summary of 2019 Soling 1 Meter Region 7 Regatta. Dates13-14 April Location: Palm Beach Gardens, Fl. Host Club: Palm Beach Gardens MYS #94 Entries:20 Winds:8-15 Knots Races:24 Scoring: Low point with 4 throw-outs The crew: Organizer: George Balaschak, RD: Doc Greer, Scorer: John Biles with Michelle Wright, Gail Ring, Ken Harmon and Rafael Roure, Rescue: Carl Ring,Lunch: Ann Gelina and others and Chet Brewer & our Commodore Ernan Scavella, for the heavy lifting. Results: 1.Gonsalves 78 2.Child 105 3.Millican 116 4.Balaschak 120 5.Wright 135 6.Luscomb 145 7.Newfield 168 8.Bremen 182 9.Scavella 210 10.Kenney 210 11.McMullen 229 12.DeWolf 252 13.Lange 270 14.Schmeising 308 115.Reinke 337 16.Tiano 348 17.Newman 417 Not sailing Sunday: Al Stall, Ed Gelina, Chester Brewer DF95 skippers,
Thank you so much for a great showing of the DF95 fleet this past Sunday March 10. We had 8 boats sail and completed 6 races. The water level at the dock was only down 2 inches but I cleared out some of the water weeds prior to all racing to make it easier to launch and sail the boats back to the dock. On the water, the larger fleet and wind conditions created a lot of close racing and finishes. The wind was from the SE and could be described as “challenging” as the oscillations in wind direction and speed produced major puffs and annoying holes sometimes right next to each other. Brent had the scores up on the website the same day. Thanks Brent! One of the benefits of a one design class is that any lessons learned on one boat can be applied to the fleet. Doug won a race and then the boat started to sheet erratically: turns out the boat batteries were going away. Changing the batteries solved the problem. If you have any lessons learned on these boats, pass it on to the fleet. If you haven’t done so, get your sail number registered at the DragonFlite USA Class Owners Association website https://dragonflite95.us It costs only $7. It could help for future regattas. The list of registered numbers is on the website. If your number has already been claimed, say 94, you could register as 1194, for example. Next Sunday March 17 is St. Patricks Day. There are two green boats in the fleet and Doug has his boat painted in the colors of the flag of Ireland. (Erin go Bragh!) See you at the lake, Terry Saturday February 9th at lake Catherine saw shifty winds out of the North between 7-10 knots on the lake. Wind forecast called for 7-14 but buildings and trees prevent those maximum wind on the water. "A'' sails were the order of the day. Allen Perkins jumped out to an impressive start, winning race after race after races. Lunch was a blast with a variety to choose from: "No Bull" chilli, pizza, hot dogs, coffee, fruits, and all the desserts you can eat. At the end of Saturday racing Allen lead the way followed by Jon Luscomb, Earnan Scavella, Chuck Millican, Joe Walter and George top the 6 competitors on the list. A nice gathering of skippers and wives met at Duffy's for dinner and had a great time. Sunday rolled in stronger winds out from the ENE at about 8-15 knots on the lake. Racing got off to an earlier start. All the skippers were prepared and ready to go. Strong wind gusts presented challenging time for skipper to maintain great control of their boats. Some missing of marks and collisions, rigging down and losing control was seen. After all the challenges and battling for a finishing position the top five finishers were: Allen Perkins 1st, Jon Luscomb 2nd, Earnan Scavella 3rd, Chuck Millican 4th Bill Newman 5th. Thanks so much for a wonderful job by the members and wives year after year supporting our Valentin's Day Regatta. RD: Bob Greer Score keepers: John Biles,Ken, Gail, Line watchers: Chris, Karen and Joe Party host/regatta equipment/coffee man/competitor: Chester Food preparer/organisers: Kelly, Karen, Ann, & Mrs Ruschak Park permit: Ed Organizer/potty: George Trophies: Jon Luscomb & Chester Brewer Rescuer: Carl Ring  Last Sunday we had a baker’s dozen Soling skippers sailing and most of us found some weeds that killed the boats sailing ability. Even with that said the competition was lively dealing with mostly strong shifty southerly winds. The starting line was pretty square to the windward mark and sometimes boats starting at the far end of the line on starboard tack had the advantage. And sometimes they got trapped near shore with their sails flapping. Boats daring a port tack start sometimes leapt out front. Boats clearing the top end of the line on starboard tack as the starting bell rung sometimes were first to the windward mark, sometimes not. Dick Reinke, relatively new to sailing the Soling but an experienced EC-12 skipper, commented that the Soling is a handful in the strong breeze, completely different than in normal winds.
Four EC-12’s sailed. I believe 5 Micro Magic’s sailed and Carl said the weeds were not too much of a problem except for Doc’s weed-magnet boat. The annual meeting will be held on Thursday January 17 2019 at Duffy’s in the upstairs room. Cocktails at 6:00, order Dinner at 7:00. Standard 20% gratuity added to group dinners that are billed individually. Address is: 11588 U.S. Hwy 1 N, North Palm Beach, FL 33408. Last year we voted to move the meeting to after most of the snowbird skippers who sail with us could participate and now it is happening. This is the meeting where the Vice Commodore moves up to Commodore for two Years and I get to be the past Commodore. Earnan will be a great commodore. We need a volunteer to be the next Vice. Or nominations. Let me know if you would like something on the agenda. Also let me know if you are going to attend. George George Balaschak, Commodore PBGMYS Sundays Soling racing was quite interesting with the starting line heavily port tack favored. Often a few boats would run the line on starboard. In the past this would result in a bunch of port tack boats crunching the right-of –way starboard boat. But for the most part there were very few fouls of that type. Positive sign of the attention to the rules we have all tried to master.
This Sunday coming we will get a chance to waddle off some of the good-food-created-pounds from our Thanksgiving dinners while sailing our model yachts. Again we will include the DF-95 at the 1:15 time slot while the Micro’s sail. I’ll get the EC-12 Valentines regatta NOR and entry stuff posted next week. We need a Race Director for that regatta and the all the usual things that go into running our regatta. Feb 9 &10 2019 is really not that far away. Please let me and the club know what you can do. By George Balaschak 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 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 |