A "V" Class boat built in the 1950's by Tom Protheroe, who is known in the R/C world for the famous Santa Barbara class. The V Class was devised by Gus Lassel and was based on a 750 sq. in. sail area limit. Like all sail-area-only rules, it yielded long, lean, graceful hulls.
Tom adusts the vane for a run down the tricky winds of Spreckles Lake.
The boat heads to port, Tom heads to starboard, and they both fetch up at the same place at the other end of the lake.
This is what keeps the Vintage enthusiasts going: the boats are just so pretty on the water!
Radio Control Meets Free Sail: Jack Gregory, President-Nominee of the AMYA, gets down to adjust the trim on Jeff Stobbe's X Class boat, while John Snow, USVMYG President, holds on.
The essence of free-sailing: the boat goes, and you go.
John shows the proper poling style. I should have paid closer attention (see below).
It's not the running that gets to us geezers, it's the getting down on the knees to adjust trim. Here your webmaster tries to remember how to set the guying rubber on Jeff's M boat.
I'm not a free sailor, I just play one on the Web. Here I demonstrate how not to turn a fast-moving M boat on a beat. (The proper technique is to get the pole under the bow and flip the boat around.)
I get instruction from Jeff on vane setting for the run. The advice is: try and stay away from that side of the lake.
Starting is something I can handle.
Turning is easier when the wind is low.
Jeff Stobbe pushes off his A Class model.
How to turn a free-sailing boat.
Proper retrieval technique.
Something you don't hardly see in R/C: Jeff's A Boat running under a spinnaker.
It wasn't all fore-and-aft racing boats: here's an R/C square-rigger.
One of the three scale J Class boats that were at the event; big, tender, and beautiful. Two of them acted true to scale by dismasting; luckily, no permanent damage was done.
