News
Editorial Comment
General News
Miscellaneous Stuff
Web Changes
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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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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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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d'12metre
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