Ryde Model Yacht Club

We are basically a Marblehead RM Club and details of our racing programme are to be found under the current section. As you will see from the date on our heading, we have quite a long history and we have listed below some of the highlights from our records which we think you will enjoy looking through.

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The Club meets at the Ryde Canoe Lake every Sunday morning for racing using Marbleheads, named for a prominent yachting town on Long Island Sound. It is a "Development" class meaning that the yachts are not all the same. The only rules (apart from minor technical ones) are that the hull length must not exceed 1290mm and the sail area 5161sq cm. The class dates from the 1920s and the maximum hull length was limited so that it would fit across the width of an American car of the time. The class is sailed by quite a lot of clubs and the nearest on the mainland are Gosport and Eastleigh.
     Racing here takes place in two divisions and a serries lasts for eight weeks. The results are then added up and the two leading boats from the second division are promoted to the first and the two bottom boats from the first are demoted to the second. The course to be sailed, which largely depends on the direction of the wind, is shown on the blackboard on the door of the hut and a two-minute warning is given followed by a countdown to the start of the race. The rules of racing are just the same as for full-sized yachts but, of course there are no safety requirements as there are no crews on the boats. If a competitor breaks a rule (impedes another boat, hits a mark of the course, etc) he is required to do a penalty turn of 360 degrees.
     Unlike full sized yachts the sails on the Marblehead cannot be reefed to use in strong winds so it is the practice to have several different sized complete rigs, generally three. The boat is controlled bya two-channel radio system; one channel to work the rudder and the other to control the sail winch which lets the sails out or pulls them in as necessary.
     The pond is filled with seawater and is about 1 metre deep.