Lester Gilbert's Radio Sailing

Technical & theoretical aspects of RC yacht racing

Updated October 2009

I'm interested in radio-controlled racing yachts, in particular the International One Metre (IOM) class and the International (now "Classic") A class. I campaign an Italiko IOM, a Sword "A", and now a 1997 Ten Rater "Puzzle" (chartered from SAILSetc), designed and built by those super-professional folks at SAILSetc.

My Bakers Dozen A, built by Graham in Kevlar to Roger Stollery's design from around 1984, has returned to my garage after being cared for and re-painted and faired by Derek Kitchener.

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.

These pages are intended for educational purposes
(my education particularly (smile), but I hope you find them useful too).
If you'd like to reprint, copy, or link to anything, go ahead,
but do please attribute my words, diagrams, photos,
spreadsheets, and software to me so others know who to blame.
If you'd like to use anything for gain or commercial purposes, we must talk.

Site news & other interest

Oct 2009: Reproduced from the Seahorse with permission of the Editor, Andrew Hurst: IOM Comparisons (Graham Bantock & Seahorse article).

Oct 2009: A late brief mention of RA Nationals, Poole at the end of May 2009.

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, 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, Ancilliary equipment, Bulb calculator, Plans, References & book list, 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.

2010-02-07

The (fourth!) counter -- Hit Counter -- started in early February 2010.

The second counter took over from around 1 August 2003, and died at around 160,000 in mid-July 2006. The third counter logged over 102,000 hits to mid-August 2008, over 155,000 hits to mid-October 2009, and died with around 170,000 hits in early February 2010. Sometime in December 2003, the site passed 100,000 hits, sometime in August 2005 passed 200,000 hits, at mid-July 2006 the site had clocked up around 246,000 hits, at mid-August 2008 had achieved over 300,000 hits, and by mid-October 2009 had logged over 350,000 hits in just over 10 years. The first counter logged over 35,000 visits from its start in early August 1999 to two and a half years later at the end of January 2002. At the end of January 2003, it had logged over 65,000, and just before the change-over to the new site host in late July 2003, it had logged over 86,000. For some curious reason, you're all finding the site interesting! Many thanks!

...free from those nice folks at NewsNow