Technical & theoretical aspects of RC yacht racing

Updated June 2018

I'm interested in radio-controlled racing yachts, in particular the International One Metre (IOM) class, where I campaign a Pikanto.  I've taken up vane sailing as crew for Anthony and assist with his A Class and his 36R.  For some years I campaigned an Italiko IOM, and before that an Ikon.  Until recently I also campaigned a Sword A Class.  When I do put my hands on a R/C Tx, I'm probably sailing Graham Bantock's venerable Puzzle design 10R, "Jigsaw".

My "Bakers Dozen" A Class, built by Graham Bantock in Kevlar to Roger Stollery's design from 1983 and the RA National Champion of that year, has returned to my garage after being cared for and re-painted and faired by Derek Kitchener.  She is ready once again to go to a good home, send me an e-mail if you are interested.  "lg11" at "soton.ac.uk".

This site is aimed at technical and theoretical aspects of RC yacht racing. In particular, it has a number of spreadsheets to download. Although aimed at the IOM, they should be useful for any non-rotating fractional Bermuda sloop rig.

Site news & other interest

June 2018:  It turns out that quite a few images have moved their folders and therefore fail to show on the pages.  Site undergoing maintenance therefore, please let me know in a few weeks if you spot anything still missing, thanks!

Not directly relevant, but I've added some Picnic Units to our Toyota Alphard to make her a more comfortable picnic camper and hence more comfortable visiting away sailing venues.

Site content

My additions to the site content are now more episodic than regular, so I thought I'd reorganise the site into better sections to recognise that it is now much more static, and to help newcomers access its content.

The material has been classified into the three major headings of Design, Build, and Race.  Anything not fitting that scheme goes into Other Topics (except for Links and Reports which have a place on the main navigation bar).

Under Design are pages on How a yacht works, How aerofoils work, Where lift comes from, How fins and sails work, Appendage design, Hull design, Sails and rigging design, and The boat as a whole.

Under Build are pages on Hull, Fin & rudder, Bulb, Sails, Rigs & fittings, R/C, and Finishing off.

Under Race are pages on Preparation (Boat speed, Avoiding errors, Strategy), During the regatta (including topics on the racing rules), In the race (Boat speed, Avoiding errors, Tactics), and Performance improvement.

Other Topics include pages on International RC racing, Classes, Sailing venues, Event management, Event scoring, Observing, Ancillary equipment, Bulb calculator, Plans, References & book list, Alphard picnic units, and Terminology.

Commercial stuff

I've developed sticky-backed gauges that can be purchased from SAILSetc.
I publish Larry Robinson's booklet on making model yacht sails using blocks, also available from SAILSetc.
I've manufactured a Limited Edition adjustable spreader that, until stock runs out, can be purchased from SAILSetc.

This Web site content is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
This Web site content is to be Attributed to Lester Gilbert.
You are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the Web site content)
and to Remix (to adapt the Web site content)
for non-Commercial use
under the conditions of this licence as long as you Distribute under the same licence.
 

2018-06-22

©2018 Lester Gilbert