d'12metre radio yacht
and other things associated with the sailboats that have been a part of the America's Cup contests 1851 - 2007

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  New Zealand Nats 2009 - Date TBA.....     2009 World's Regatta, USA, November, Charleston, Sth Carolina..... 


Editorial Comment


19 September 2008:  - Friendly competition vs Non-friendly competition.

Things appear to have been comparatively quiet of late. And I suppose that's not surprising seeing that in the southern climes of this great land of ours, we have been experiencing a rather cold winter. A rather harsh winter. But this is only my excuse for sailors on the mainland.

This cold weather has apparently not affected a group of dedicated and intrepid sailors on the Apple Isle. And that place is even further south! And even colder than the mainland!! The next land mass south of this place is Antarctica!!!

This band of hardy souls sail in a canal somewhere near Lauderdale, Tasmania. This group of sailors comprises guys who are not part of a club formally affiliated with the ARYA. They are just a group of guys who get together, very, very, regularly, from the information I have received, to sail a variety of yachts, in a spirit of friendly competition. And from all the comments I have heard, these guys enjoy their sailing. They enjoy having a few laughs with their sailing companions, just as they enjoy ribbing each other in the friendliest of manners, with the end result, that at the end of the day, despite the innate sense of competition we are all born with, these guys go home after a day's sailing on a high. Irrespective of where they finished in the races they participated in.

In my years in this sport, this is only the fourth group I have ever come across, that enjoy sailing in friendly competition, and welcome all comers, irrespective of what they want to sail.

And in my opinion, it is these groups that will keep this hobby/sport alive in such a way that the general community can and will be happy to be a part of it. If more promotion is not given to groups like these, this sport will die out, despite what the entrenched old-fashioned thinkers that hold committee positions in the ARYA might think.

How can I make a comment like this?

Because I have knowledge of, both from personal experience, and from comments made by others, many others, about what they have experienced, when they have believed the guff about newcomers being made welcome into this club or that one, only to find that one is instantly made a pariah, an outcast, simply because, being a beginner, one didn't know the rules of racing to the nth degree, and as a result collided with another boat that had right of way. In most cases, this sailor does not return to that club again, and not only that, more often than not, gives radio yachting away completely, simply because of the intimidation by the competitive sailors. And we lose another potential member.

But do not get me wrong!

There is absolutely and definitely, not only room and space for the competitive clubs, but I consider them to be a necessity, for if they did not exist, then there would be no avenue for the seriously competitive sailor to get his/her challenge met from this sport. And where would the likes of Craig Smith get his experience?

So, where do we go from here?

How do we promote the Non-competitive clubs? Often not affiliated with the ARYA, but in my opinion, the basic building blocks of this hobby/sport, for they offer competitive, but fun sailing, as well as generating interest for those who may be extremely competitive.

If this hobby/sport is to succeed, both groups need to be catered for. But they both need to be promoted to the public at large, not only to those already in the know.

Comments appreciated to me directly, at editor@dldirect.net or respond to the appropriate forum on the d'12-metre forums'. Do not be put off by the title. It may say 12-metre, and that is most definitely the base, but the bigger objective is to get people into, and hooked onto, the sport of radio yachting in general, irrespective of which type or class of boat, they eventually decide to sail, and the forums' are there for that purpose.

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Happy Sailing!
Don Leitis - Editor

Editorial comment for periods prior to the above month can be found at the Editorial Comment Archive page.

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General News - Regatta's, Championships, Club News, all welcome.

21 December 2007:  Correction to posting on 6 November 2007. The Nautic12 Association championships to be held on 26th January 2008 are a National Championships, not a NSW State Championships as previously reported.

12 December 2007: Just in - Australian 2008 EC12 National Championships Confirmed.

EC12 Skippers,

The 2008 EC12 National Championship will be held at Lake Eden, NORTH LAKES QLD on 17th and 18th May.

On the EC12 page of this site is attached is an invitation to compete, together with supporting accommodation options and things to do activities while in SE Queensland.

The formal NoR and online entry will be available shortly

May is a super time for a short break away which can be combined with an enjoyable sailing weekend.


6 November
2007:
 The Nautic12 Association are holding the NSW State Championships on 26th January 2008.

And according to the Radio Waves newsletter, the EC12 National Class Championships are scheduled for 17th - 18th May 2008, although I understand this date still needs to be confirmed by the ARYA.

26 October 2007:  The NSW EC12 Championship results are up on the ARYA website. Have been for a few days now. Sounds like it was a good regatta with a very healthy turnout.

14 October 2007:  The NSW EC12 Championships are coming up this weekend, (20 & 21 October 2007). My best wishes to all the competitors and their supporters, for a most successful and enjoyable regatta.

09 October 2007:  Results, pictures and comments of last weekend's Central Queensland EC12 Championships are now available on the ARYA website. Congratulations Malcolm!

07 September 2007:  The EC12'ers are at it again! More Championships coming up! The ARYA have just posted "Notice of Race" notices for two more State/Region EC12 Championships. Visit the ARYA site for details.

QLD - Central Queensland EC12 Championships
Central Queensland E.C.12  Championship
Bundaberg 6th - 7th Oct 2007
at the Botanical Gardens  Bundaberg on the North Side of the River

 

NSW EC12 Championships

Blakehurst 20th - 21st October 2007 at the Kogarah Bay Sailing Club. Dover Park (East), Princes Highway, Blakehurst.

29 August 2007:  I am most appreciative of Graeme Turk for making the following comments available after only just returning home to Queensland from sailing in the National EC12 Championships in Canberra this last weekend. My congratulations to Malcolm Kampe, Graeme Turk and Gary Declauzel for their top three placings in the championship.

To see full final results listing and to read Graeme's comments click here.

Again, my very special thanks to Graeme for his comments.

19 August 2007: You know, it's just dawned on me. There are more competitor's registered for these Australian National EC12 Championships than there have been in recent times, for any other Australian registered class except for the IOM's. I stand to be corrected in case I have missed any relevant statistics, but this has got to mean something doesn't it? There has been one dropout from the original 19, but the official entry list is still 18 competitors.

18 August 2007:
Better late than never, and referring to, and supporting the report on the ARYA site, regarding the QLD EC12'ers Championship I quote the following results and comments made available by Graeme Turk.

Well we have just completed the Qld EC12 Championship. Another great weekend sailed in light conditions.

Placings were:
Tom Butler QLD sailing Ian Gilmour’s Sorensen 1st,
Malcolm Kampe QLD Sorenson 2nd
Yeoman Sands QLD Sorenson 3rd
GT QLD sailing a Kiwi boat owned by Yeoman Sands from the International mould 4th
Garry Declauzel NSW Mini Mariner 5th
Andrew Sands NSW Delisser 6th

There was very little between the top six boats with Garry suffering some battery problems which dropped him from a possible third place but he was never a threat to the first two who sailed a very good regatta.”

Thank you Graeme for providing the results. I will try to get them up a bit sooner next time, if you would care to make the effort again. I must admit that I am feeling some pangs of disappointment that I can't be there with you guys this coming weekend. Not to compete, but just to have a sail with a group of folks, that seem to me, to be Gentlemen. I really look forward to hearing/reading/seeing news of this coming regatta.

16 August 2007: Well, the Queenslanders should be in fine form coming up to National Championships on 25th & 26th August. They have this weekend just gone, 11 & 12 August, just finished the QLD EC12 Championships with Tom Butler taking the trophy against some formidable opponents. Congratulations to Tom. The National Championships look like they are certainly going to provide some close competition for the record numbers of skippers attending.

08 August 2007: I have been advised that the Australian national EC12 Championship entries as at today's date is 19 confirmed entries, with rumours that there may even be more on the way.

So far the list is four Queenslanders, eleven New South Welshmen, and four Territorian's (the ACT kind).

This is an absolutely amazing turnout and as I have stated before, having in fact to eat some of my words, indicates this Class is certainly alive and well. I can only hope it continues.

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Miscellaneous Stuff

13 March 2008: Release of revised version of EC12 rules previously issued 19 April 2007. Click on this link to read.

17 November 2007: As a result of my exposure to the Micro Magic folks, I have changed the way the image galleries have been presented on this site. Previously, the images were held on a directory on this site. However, as previously stated, because of my interest in the Micro Magic site, I was impressed by the photo's shown of the recent World Championships. And more than that, the photo's were shown in a very nice format. In Web Albums hosted by Picasa, now a Google company.

In the past I have I have had a reluctance to go with any Google add-on programs due to their hidden information gathering capabilities. However, their Web Albums' site is simply too good to ignore, so I have relented, and will now make use of this particular service at least, until further notice.

If you go to the Galleries page of this site, and click on any of the links, they will take you to the Picasa site where you will have a number of options on how you wish to view the photo's.

29 September 2007: New Categories added to d'12metre forums'. Include provision for adding boats similar to, but not quite fitting the 12 Metre/IACC class boats. For Sale/Wanted category also added.

23 September 2007: A Web Links page link has been added to the Links page of this website. At this stage it is a trial only and will depend on how spammer proof it is whether it continues. I do not have the time or the inclination to waste time by deleting spammer registrations or posts. If it becomes an issue, this link will be deleted.

However, if is proves OK, then it is most certainly another service offered by this website. It is an opportunity for individuals to publicly acknowledge the web sites of persons/organisations they have dealt with for the benefit of all. It is NOT a place to air gripes or bad experiences. The forum might be the best place to do that, if indeed that needs to be done. Or letters to the editor might be another avenue.

11 September 2007: It is my intention to stay with the current forum setup (Activeboard). As I was restoring the other forum a week or two back, it was already getting spam posts even before I made it publicly available again. I do not want to get to a situation like some of the other phpBB boards, where they are showing hundreds and hundreds of members, but they are mostly all spammers. This current forum has to date not been afflicted by these problems, (touch wood), since its trial launch, and that saves the administrator lots and lots of time, especially if one does not have the time to remove the jerk members on a daily basis. So folks, like it or lump it, unless something serious happens, the forum as it stands now will be it. And I have the postings from the previous forum setup and they will be added to this forum as I get the time to do that.

I have a pretty high degree of confidence in Activeboard, who are hosting the forum. They have been around for many years, and indications are that that will not change.

Final thing. As previously stated, you will need to register again to get posting access. My apologies for that.

07 September 2007: I have set up a new Forum, having gone to a remotely hosted one for the time being, as I have had some difficulty restoring the previous one to the point where I am in full control of it again in the time-frame originally advised. I do believe a website needs a forum to support it. People need the opportunity to have a say, so I have dived in once again. I hope to put up a new forum topic soon which will contain postings from the previous forum. Whether this new one keeps going will depend on how much work I need to do to keep hackers out, but at any rate, any posts anyone cares to make will not be lost. One problem, everyone will need to register again. Sorry about that. Click on the following link to try out the new forum d'12metre radio yacht forums

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18 August 2007: Looks like the link to http://dldirect.net is once again working as it should. Have no idea of what happened here.

17 August 2007: Hmmmm, not sure what has happened. Whereas I could previously get to this site simply by typing dldirect.net into the address bar, now I need to type in www.dldirect.net. Not sure at this stage if only my machine affected or whether it is something more general. Coincidentally, this and other problems started not long after my Vista system was automatically Microsoft updated. Nahhh, couldn't be, could it?

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25 July 2007: The Forum pages have been temporarily taken off line due to their having been compromised. They will be restored once again as soon as I get some time to do that. My apologies for the inconvenience but I thought it safer to do this than leave a compromised site up and running.

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22 June 2007: The Editor is setting up an "Letters to the Editor" page on this web-site for a trial period for persons who want to have a say but don't want to go through all the hassles of a Discussion Forum. This is basically intended for responses to Editorial Comment, but other constructive comments will also be appreciated, indeed, they will be encouraged.

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25 May 2007: Quite a few changes in the Forum. New forum's/topics set up. This sport/hobby is only as strong as the people who are prepared to contribute/participate in it.

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26 January 2007:
A discussion forum has been set up to cater for any questions/comments/suggestions/comments people may have regarding their interest in this site and 12-Metre and related America's Cup inspired yachts in general.

The forum can be reached at d'12metre radio yacht forum

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Web Changes

04 November 2008:    Website Updated.
03 November 2008:    Website Updated.
02 November 2008:    Website Updated.
04 October 2008:    Updates: Links page.
01 October 2008:    Updates: Home page, EC12 Latest News page.
19 September 2008:    Updates: Home page, EC12 Latest News page. Editorial Archive updated.
19 July
2008:   
Updates: Editorial comment.
09 June
2008:   
Updates: Letters to Editor page.
02 May 2008:    Updates: For Sale & Links pages.
24 April
2008:   
Boats & Gear - New Page Added - Micro Magic.
20 April 2008:    Updates: 12-Metre Group page.
05 April 2008:    Updates: Editorial comment. "The Boats" page. "Editorial Comment" Archive.
04 April 2008:    Updates: Editorial comment. "For Sail" page.
28 March 2008:    Updates: Editorial comment. EC12 Latest News page.
25 March 2008:    Updates: Australian 12-Metre Radio Yacht Group.
19 March 2008:    Updates: "The Boats" page. Editorial comment. EC12 page.
16 March 2008:    Updates: Editorial comment. New 12-Metre Owner's Association page.
13 March 2008:    Updates: Miscellaneous Stuff item on News Page.
08 March 2008:    Updates: Editorial comment.
23 February 2008:    Updates: Editorial comment.
20 February 2008:    Updates: Editorial comment.
19 February 2008:    Updates: Links page, Home page, EC12 Latest News page.
01 February 2008:    Updates: Links page.
26
January 2008:   
Updates: "Stars & Stripes" page.
25
January 2008:   
Updates: A "Building of a NSW Australia II" page added to the Victor's boats menu.
16 January 2008:    Updates: Boats & Gear - EC12 Latest Information page updated. Website Home page.
12 January 2008:    Updates: Links page.
11 January 2008:    Updates: Editorial comment. Editorial Archives. Links page. Home page. The Boats-Real Thing page.
05 January 2008:    Galleries page updated.
01 January 2008:    Boats & Gear - The Real Thing page updated - Sydney-Hobart Press Release.
30 December 2007:    Boats & Gear - The Real Thing page updated - Sydney-Hobart Press Release.
29 December 2007:    Boats & Gear - The Real Thing page updated - Sydney-Hobart Press Release.
28 December 2007:    Boats & Gear - The Real Thing page updated - yet another additional Sydney-Hobart Press Release.
28 December 2007:    Boats & Gear - The Real Thing page updated - additional Sydney-Hobart Press Release.
28 December 2007:    Boats & Gear - The Real Thing page updated - Sydney-Hobart Press Release.
27 December 2007:    Editorial updated. Busy day today.
27 December 2007: 
  
Boats & Gear - The Real Thing page updated - additional Sydney Hobart Press Release.
27 December 2007:    Boats & Gear - The Real Thing page updated - Sydney-Hobart Press Release.
26 December 2007:    Boats & Gear - The Real Thing page updated - Sydney-Hobart Press Release.
21 December 2007:    General News item updated on News page.
20 December 2007:    Boats & Gear - The Real Thing page updated - Sydney-Hobart Press Release.
14 December 2007:    Links page updated. The Real Thing page updated - Sydney-Hobart Press Release.
12 December 2007:    General News item updated on News page. EC12 Latest Information page updated.
01 December 2007:    "For Sail" page updated.
30 November 2007:    "For Sail" page updated.
29
November 2007:   
"For Sail" page updated.
27
November 2007:   
Galleries page updated. For Sail page updated.
26 November 2007:    General News item updated on News page. For Sale page updated.
23 November 2007:    Links page updated.
17 November 2007:    Miscellaneous Item updated on News page. Galleries page updated.
11
November 2007:   
Editorial updated. News page updated. A2 Class page updated. Nautic12 page updated.
26 October 2007: 
  
General news item updated. Radio gear page updated. Links page updated.
21 October 2007:    New Editorial comment.
14 October 2007:    New Editorial comment. General News item updated.
09 October 2007:    General News updated. Links page updated.
05 October 2007:    New Editorial comment. Editorial comment archive page updated. Links page updated.
29 September 2007:    Forum Categories/new Forums added. Editorial Comment of 28/9/2007 minor revision. Miscellaneous Items updated.
28 September 2007:    New Editorial comment.
23 September 2007:    Miscellaneous Items updated.
22 September 2007:    The Galleries page updated. A2 Class more info page updated.
21 September 2007:    The Real Thing - Australian Sail Numbers page updated.
18 September 2007:    New Editorial comment.
15 September 2007:    Editorial comment updated. Home page modified.
11 September 2007:    Miscellaneous Stuff updated with news that the forum as configured now will stay. Home page updated to incorporate link to forums' showing last three posts.
08 September 2007:    Editorial Comment page updated. Letters to the editor page updated.
07 September 2007:    General News item updated. EC12 Latest Information page updated. Editorial Comment updated. Miscellaneous Stuff updated.
02 September 2007:    A "Building of Stars & Stripes" page added to the Victor's boats menu.
01 September 2007:    General Interest page updated.
31 August 2007:    The Boats page updated. General Interest page added to website.
30 August 2007:    EC12 "More Info" page renamed to "EC12-Latest News" and page updated.
29 August 2007: 
   EC12 Class (More Info) page added - includes full list of EC12 National Championship results.
28 August 2007:    A2 Class (More Info) page updated. General News item updated with EC12 National Championship results.
27 August 2007:    Nautic12 page updated. Additional page (More Info) added to the A2 Class main page.
25 August 2007:    Nautic12 page updated.
23 August 2007:    Editorial Comment updated.
19 August 2007:    A2 page updated. General News Item updated.
18 August 2007:    Galleries page updated. Miscellaneous Stuff item updated. Editorial Comment updated.
17 August 2007:    Galleries page updated. Miscellaneous Stuff item updated.
16 August 2007:    Links page updated. Galleries page updated. A2 Class page updated. General News section updated. Editorial Comment Archive page added.
10 August 2007:    Links page updated.
09 August 2007:    Letters to the Editor page updated.
08 August 2007:    Nautic12 page updated. Links page updated.
08 August 2007:    New Heading added. General News. For latest info on Championships, Club activities, etc. Just let me know and I will update.
07 August 2007:    Editorial Comment updated.
06 August 2007:    Nautic12 page updated. EC12 page updated. News page updated.
04 August 2007:    Nautic12 page updated. A2 page updated.
03 August 2007:    Editorial Comment updated. Links page updated. Nautic12 page edited. A2 page updated.
26 July 2007:    Editorial Comment updated.
25 July 2007:    The Forum pages have been taken off air until further notice. See Miscellaneous Stuff above for more info.
19 July 2007:    Editorial Comment/Links/A2 Class pages updated.
28 June 2007:    Editorial Comment updated.
24 June 2007:    Letters to the Editor page added. Links page updated. The Boats page updated. The Real Thing page updated.
22 June 2007:    Home page updated. Links page updated. Editorial Page updated.
19 June 2007:    Editorial Comment updated.
09 June 2007:    Editorial Comment updated.
07 June 2007:    Editorial Comment updated.
25 May 2007:     Forum Editorial comment updated. Forum pages - new categories/topics added.
20 April 2007:    Editorial Comment updated.
26 January 2007:    Editorial comment updated.
22 January 2007:    Radio Gear page added to the site.

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