RC Mustangs at Fleetwood Model Yacht Club
by Tony Wilson 2 Nov 2016 12:49 GMT
1 November 2016
Last time I saw the lads with the Mustangs it was blowing about 20mph and 'C' rigs were the order of the day. I wanted to see what they'd be like in less wind with the use of the big sail.
The Schools were on holiday, so this had given me a few days off and chance to nip down the local lake and take a peak with a 10 MPH breeze coming in from the North. It seemed a bit more than this to start with and even the medium size sail was mentioned.
As usual 5 races of 2 laps at about 2 pm.of the same course and in the same direction as every week. Something to be said for keeping things simple.
5 skippers had turned up and Peter Jackson had promised me I could share his boat as he's not always up to sailing the full shift.
Peter sailed the first race and came second to John Plant and then he handed the transmitter over to me for the rest of the afternoon.
Nobody was recording results today as the guy that usually does hadn't appeared, but no one was really that bothered. What I call no nonsense sailing, which makes a change from all the usual too many rules stress.
The wind decided to drop just at the start of the second race from roughly 12 MPH down to about 5mph, which caused a few groans. One of the Jims, the Scottish one decided to pull out as he'd had enough. I thought they were both Scottish, but this one has a blue and white boat with the Scottish flag sticker. This meant that I wasn't going to come last.
So I came fourth for that race and the next two as well. Even with a bit of sail tweaking I wasn't doing too well.
The other Jim, Jim Lydon offered me a go with his Mustang. I like this one, I've used it before. It's the colour red and green never to be seen, but it really stands out well and I think it's snazzy.
This last race we left it at just one lap as the light was beginning to fail and the wind was dropping off to nothing. I won this one, hurray.
The winner for the day would have probably been John P and Jim L second had scores been taken.
Please enjoy the video of a complete race showing course layout and also remember some of these sailing vessels are 20 yrs old maybe 30 or even more.
They do go well for their age and weight.
So if you're ever at a loose end on a Tuesday afternoon and fancy a go, I'm sure one of the lads will oblige.