Thanks to the 15 members who attended yesterday’s Zoom meeting:  Albert, Bill D, Bill R, Dan, Dick M, Jim P, Kim, Manny, Ned, Nick, Paul, Rob, Wilkie, Will, and me.
Derek reported that the club now has 3 Solings for sale generously donated by David Cochran, Ned Popovic, and Dick Priestley. Rob recommended we shave the price to $300. Agreed.Rob also says he has a Soling Kit ready to be built for sale.Rob reported that there are now two suppliers of the new Soling design and Paul said that he had taken delivery of the kit made by Vac-u-Boat.We have some new buoys with marking tape and quarter-inch line.  Rob thinks we will need thicker line and volunteered to obtain it.  We also need some anti-fouling buckets to use with the new buoys and Bill R offered to get them.Kim gave the Treasurer’s report and stated that last year we had cash and income of $1,393.97 of which we spent $722.87 on the storage box, the website re-do and awards leaving us with $671.10 at the start of this year.  So far this year we have spent $114.95 on the new buoys which means we currently have $556.27.
There were no comments on the race schedule except that the planned start date of next Tuesday might be a little chilly in the water. Rob said he had bought some hip waders from Amazon. They are called Tidewe Hip Waders and cost $36. He ordered the same as his shoe size. ( After the meeting, Rob sent me this detail)We had a discussion on membership fees with the end result that fees won’t change.  Renewal at $25 is NOW DUE and a form is attached.  It was also agreed that the initial joining fee would remain at $25, but it would be for life.Bill R gave the Soling Fleet Captain’s report and stated that Dick Priestley had donated a large variety of Soling spares to the club as well as his boat. Jim P gave the DF95 Fleet Captain’s report with the urgent message that members should order critical spares now as there is a supply issue and US stocks are fast depleting. Rob undertook to order some critical spares on behalf of the club.  Jim mentioned rudder servos at $39 are often needed, but Rob mentioned that he had switched to a Hi-Tec servo which is the same size.  Rob also mentioned a problem with DF95 sail servos apparently designed to operate at 5 volts.Paul reminded everybody that all the latest information is posted on the website mhbmyc.orgHe said that there are now 20 members of our Facebook page.Rob took the lead in our discussion about getting prepared for the coming season.  We agreed to meet at the waterfront at 08.30 on Friday (May 7) with the “heavy lifting” team led by Bill R dealing with getting the storage box and rescue dinghy to the shore and Rob taking charge of buoy preparation and installation.Under the banner of “Any other business”, Rob stated that this was a very friendly club with fun being the first item on our agenda and therefore members shouldn’t be intimidated by the complex racing rules but should rather concentrate on the “Big Four” rules: Port/Starboard, Windward/Leeward, Overlap, and Starting Line.  We should teach these rules as a means of positively improving our tactics and execution. I heard no dissenting voices!We briefly discussed adding new members and it was suggested that I try to get an email to all the condo residents about our schedule. I will.Outside the Village, curious googlers looking for model boats in Rhode Island will probably end up at our website and we thanked Paul for all the work he does in keeping it up to date.As we start our season next Tuesday, the question was asked about masks.  We agreed that those vaccinated won’t have to wear a mask unless asked by someone to please wear one. So please bring a mask. just in caseSee some of you Friday,See more of you Tuesday and even more Thursday,.Derek 

Derek has scheduled a Zoom call with all MHBMYC members for 3PM on May 4th. If you don’t receive an invite a few days ahead of that date, please contact Derek. We hope to see everyone on that call. First day on our racing schedule is May 11th.

Formation of the International DF Class Association

              The New "Vac-U-Soling" Sailboat

I am happy to announce that Vac-U-Boat has been approved as a Manufacturer for the Soling One Meter Class. The New “Vac-U-Soling” has been built and Sailed with positive feedback from the skippers who built them. The new boat has been received well by all that have seen and sailed against it.

Phil Pace of Vac-U-Boat over the last 11 months has worked hard to produce new Molds and used updated manufacturing techniques to simplify and improve the buildability. The new boat offers a one-piece Hull with Transom as part of the hull. The Keel and Rudder are already built and ready for installation. Gone are the days of using the Soling One Meter Building jig to line everything up.

Please contact Phil at philpace@vac-u-boat.com and or visit

Vac-U-Boat – Maker of Easy To Build Model Boat Hull Kits (vac-u-boat.com)

Phil expects to be ready to start filling orders the third week of January.

Please keep in mind that in the beginning the new Kit will only include the boat. Rigging, Mast and sails will need to be built at home or purchased from others. The good news is that your existing rig/s will attach to the new boat with out modification.

Some replacement parts for your existing Victor Soling One Meter are available. Contact Vac-U-Boat for availability of replacement parts

We did manage 4 races today between rain showers and we did manage to put everything away for the winter. A sad moment at the end of a most unusual season. Today’s brave racers were Rob, Paul and Wilkie with their DF95s and Bill R and Kim with their Solings. No scores today, just some end of season fun.  Will was there with his truck to convey all our “bits” in the storage box and the boat. The workers were the sailors plus Will and Jim Kelly.  Many thanks to you all.Congratulations to everyone who competed in our events this year and thanks to everyone who helped in some way.  Hats off to all.So now we can concentrate on the holidays, how to stay warm for at least a part of the winter and, of course, next Spring.Some thoughts on 2021 in due course, but we did agree to adopt Dick Mahoney’s thought that the club should purchase and stock Rob’s list of essential spare parts for DF95s.  These parts can be used by any member by a straight purchase or a direct replacement during the order time.  It will mean that no one will have to wait for a replacement part.  Rob will provide the list and Kim (on behalf of the club) will provide the cash.Stay well, safe and happy.
Derek Melven
Commodore

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Strong southerly breeze today for the 6 DF95’s that enjoyed the fun racing! Not many days left. Next Tuesday we will do it again. Bring any boat and join us !

MHBMYC Fun Racing

There was a very relaxed feel to the proceedings at the cove today. A feeling like It’s the end of the season and we’re not in the playoffs. This was a “sail what you like”, fun day. Kim and Bill Raposa brought their Solings and Bill David, Rob, Manny, Dick, Paul, and Will brought their DF95s. I kept score (and took a few pictures which are attached) and Wilkie gave general support and rowed out to lengthen the start line between races. (see picture 007)
It was a beautiful day with a nice wind and sunny skies. We used our “normal” course with both the windward and leeward marks taken to starboard. Once around with the line open. It was all fun and the results didn’t count for anything except enjoyment. They are attached, nevertheless, and show that Rob won the contest with Bill D second and Bill R with his Soling, third
Paul Mercer only ran in two races and had brought some enormous sails (see picture 003) which didn’t quite work out today.
Rob Hill’s boat had sails that he had made and, in contrast, they worked very well indeed.
Manny gave his boat it’s first real outing, but unfortunately had to retire after the third race with a broken bowsie on the jib.
Dick lost control of the rudder in the last race and Bill R rowed out to rescue Dick’s boat. (picture 012)
It sounds serious, but it really wasn’t and everybody had a very enjoyable time.
Let’s do another, “Bring any boat” meeting next Tuesday, October 13th at 11 am when the tide will be just about at it’s lowest point.
Hope to see you then,
Stay safe, well and happy,
Derek

Editorial comment – – – Paul’s boat is a US1 Meter. Big breeze in a choppy sea made it difficult to sail this skinny hull, very light speedster.

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A perfect day for DF95 Racing. Strong breeze generally southerly. Water fairly flat, a surprise given the last few days of strong wind. High Tide late morning, so plenty of water.

Jim Pascalides ran the event with assistance from Shelley Northup. Thank you both. Match Racing can be tough on the voice, and we had 55 races to complete.

Jim set up a windward/leeward course, North/South with start finish in the middle. The boats were started in pairs, and most of the time we had 3 pairs on the course at the same time.

The racing was quite competitive with only 8 points separating the entire field. 

Kim Hanna won 10 of his 11 races with consistent good starts, smooth mark roundings and strong control downwind. Well done Kim!

Paul Mercer placed second, 1 point behind. Right behind Paul by 1 point were Bill David and Dick Mahoney. One more point had a tie with Wilkie and Rob.

The rest of the field, in order: Rich Field, Bill Northup, Will Plante and Nick Bailey. Jim Kelly retired with a broken halyard.

A great fall day was had by all.

Rob

First of all, please join me in saying a big “Thank You” to Wilkie for running this very enjoyable event and to Rob for preparing the roster.
> Sue and Steve had to withdraw from racing today because of a tummy bug Sue had.  Get better very soon, Sue. My boat had control problems early on so everyone racing me had a bye or a win.
> .
>  That left seven boats to compete today.  The breeze was from a southerly direction so the boats headed south to the black/white mark to take to port, then downwind to the northern mark with the line closed, take it to starboard, and back to the line.
> Every boat raced every other boat, and at the end of racing, Wilkie added up the wins and byes for each boat to get some provisional results.
> When I got home and while enjoying a cup of tea, I went over the sheets very carefully, and here are the final results
> 1st     Bill David               8 wins/byes
> 2nd    Paul Mercer           6
> 3rd     Kim Hanna            5           equal with
>           Pat Donovan         5
> 5th     Bill Northup           4            equal with
>           Bill Raposa           4
> 7th     Bruce Collemer    3  
> 
> Some very close racing and usually we would have had run-offs for third and fifth places, but rain started during the very last race.  It didn’t last long, but most people had started to pack up.    
> 
> A good time was had by all and now for the DF95 Match Races on Thursday. The tide will be going out with a low at 1.48 pm and a super wind is forecast, So with eleven boats in the water, it should be a lot of fun.
> Jim Pascalides will be running the event so don’t forget to thank Jim and Rob for preparing the roster.  Please bring lunch and a chair and please hang around after the races because there may well be some runoffs.
> Stay well and safe and happy,
> Derek

What a great day yesterday.  There were 17 entrants so we had to divide into three fleets.we ran 15 races so each fleet had 10 races each.There were a few casualties, but everyone still had a great time.Unfortunately, the AFleet software could not cope with a three fleet situation.  AFleet really means A or one…..not three.So we had to resort to a computer-assisted manual approach and the full results are attached.We welcomed four members of the Newport DF95 group.Our DF95 Fleet Captain, Jim Pascalides was first overall. One of our guests, Brad Read, finished in second placeAnd in third place was our Vice Commodore, Rob Hill Bill David was fourth and Dick Mahoney was in the final award-winning position.Well done all competitors and special thanks to our scorekeepers, Manny and Shelley. That was not an easy job.Thanks to everyone who attended for making our first annual DF95 Regatta such an enjoyable event.
Stay safe, well and happy,
Derek
PS  I did take a few photographs and I’ll send them out over the weekend.