Just a reminder that this Saturday, September 21, is the Old Man of the Mount Footy Regatta starting at 11:00AM. The pond is clear of weeds ( has been pretty much all season) and ready. Hope to see you there.

Just because the weathermen all said we would have a nice, steady 6-8 knot breeze doesn’t mean it would happen- which it didn’t! Light, generally uncooperative breezes greeted six skippers today. On the water Cliff takes the honors with Herb and Chris tied not far behind. Tiebreaker went to Herb for second. Dave rounds out the top four. ( Note each of the top four had three wins apiece) Then came me ( Jerry ( with a new to me EC-12)) with Rick batting cleanup, who decided it was a good time to do routine maintenance while the others were on the course early in the regatta.

Nice weather and better than normal breezes, with the normal dead spots and swirlies, afforded the six skippers mostly good sailing. Racing was at times very close with position swapping the norm. Notable occurrences: Alain’s boat dead battery at the far end of the course ( Thanks Rick Gates for the rescue) and Rick Laird picking up about 20 foot of fishing line ( No… luckily he didn’t catch a fish). Note the 3 Rip Tides entered. They are scaled down from the VM boat by Jim Linville and Cliff Martin. Chris and Alain were sailing boats received from Jim’s estate.

A nice early fall day ( Of course it’s still August) with light breezes greeted the six skippers today. Before the first race Chris identified a faulty winch servo ( a Whirlwind ) and Jerry proceeded to replace it with a TGY-6114MG ( no simple task…mounting different, drum different) while Chris sailed Jerry’s boat- GRONK, built by Jim Linville (RIP). At the end, Herb eked out first place. Interesting note is there would have been a three way tie for first if there were no throw outs!

The 4^th Annual V36 Regatta has been rescheduled for Saturday August 31. First race 11:00 AM.

From Minuteman Model Yacht Club:

Skippers and Friends,

We have had a challenging season with weather and weeds. Now we have yet another challenge. The State has just closed our alternate site at Indian Lake because of bacterial contamination, and there is no way to know when it might re-open.

Our choices are now very limited. Postpone sailing or find another site.

I know it’s short notice, I know it’s not ideal, and I know it’s not necessarily convenient for some of our skippers, but out of necessity I have decided to change the venue for the upcoming Jim and Susan Linville Regatta, this coming Sunday.

The new site is at Sandy Pond in New Hampshire.

The address I use for my navigation system is 90 National Street, Nashua, NH. The site is used by the Nashua Model Yacht Club and has both parking and a porta-potty. Racing will begin at 11:00am.

Both Soling One Meters and DF95’s are welcome to race. There will be first through third place trophies for each class, and a perpetual trophy will be awarded to the winner of the Soling class to keep until next year.

I hope all of you will come and help us commemorate Jim and Susan Linville.

See you there,

Cliff Martin, Commodore

Minuteman Model Yacht Club

Only two skippers were present due to an event at another venue. What we laughingly called a breeze was about all we experienced as we still sailed for a time. Two light sprinkles also occurred during sailing time. The author’s new boat, acquired from Paul Mercer ( and earlier Rick Laird) really wasn’t tested with the light conditions present but every once in a while it heeled over a bit. No marine life were injured during testing.

After a late start due to someone figuring that the start time was the time to start assembling his boat and NOT when racing was supposed to begin whose name will not be revealed, a shortened schedule of eight races was accomplished in the allotted time frame. Light conditions were again the order of the day except in the afternoon there were very spotty good breezes evident making strategy more important. Herb was having a little trouble early with the farthest mark allowing the rest of us a little advantage but solved that forging to the front in the end. Rick retired after the sixth race for unknown reasons. This was the first VM regatta your humble author attended due to being given Jim Linville’s boat “GRONK” after his passing. The boat shows promise… me not so much LOL.

An early start still attracted four skippers however Alain’s boat never hit the water due to a malfunctioning winch. Unfortunately, the malady was catchy as Chris’s winch also died causing Chris to miss two starts while replacing it. On the water, very light fluky breezes were the order of the day. After a half hour start delay ( including Alain diagnosing his problem ) only seven races were run due to many “My boat needs tweaking” waits compounded by how long it took to get back to the start area. Herb showed his dominance without Cliff to challenge him with 6 straight wins, mostly by large margins. Rick and Chris settled to battle for second but, due to Chris’s winch problems, ended with Rick in second.

NO SAILING 7/20, V36#2 Moved to 7/27@10:00, V36#3 8/10@10:00

See the schedule for the changes.