There seemed to me to be a lot more vehicles at the show this year, in fact the whole of the smaller hall and I am wondering if this is a tendency creeping in which is likely to dominate our hobby in years to come. Even one of the clubs where I sail has several members with fleets of lorries, one even claims to have a whole armoured division of tanks. This is all very well, because the club has a large tarmacadamed area adjacent to the lake, which is ideal for them, but I find that very often, I am the only person sailing a boat whilst there are lorries running around all over the place. It disturbs me, how do others feel?

Cheers, Nerys

Is this a JHull?

Hi Andy,
Many thanks for that info. Sorry Bob has passed on - he was only a few months older than me. I do not want to contact the MYA as I am not in line to join that organisation or to buy a boat/hull but I wonder what happened to his superb moulds - I would hope that they have not been destroyed.
Derek.

Hi Derek, I found this on Google, appears your fears were correct,
https://www.mya-uk.org.uk/bob-underwood-obituary/
Seems he was a very interesting and clever chap.

Andy

A few photos of my bob Underwood hull - you can see what a lovely moulding it is.
Derek.

Got to agree with Nerys and others about the 'J Class' yachts - they are absolutely superb. Must have a look at the website for the 'Folkboats'. You will see from my photo that I had a lovely yacht, built on a Bob Underwood hull. I made the mistake of selling it on many years ago and have regretted it ever since, especially as the purchaser hardly ever sailed it and I am sure it now languishes in his garage gathering dust and deteriorating☹️. I tried to get another hull from Bob but he said that he had virtually given up to concentrate on his miniature engineering side of the hobby. I don't even know if Bob is still alive - do any fellow members have any knowledge of him? He resides (resided?) in Bradford On Avon. He must have some of his superb yacht hull moulds tucked away somewhere - what a sad waste. I am now too old to start building another model yacht and no longer belong to a club. Bob's hulls are easy to work on and it would be good to know that someone else has acquired his moulds. I still have photo copies of his catalogue.
Derek.

Roy

I feel for your position. You’d think of all places, the Lake District, would have somewhere to sail. Not certain where you are based but feel lucky being within 30 minutes drive of Fleetwood, the council seems to see the boating pond as a good resource and keeps it good condition, which means there’s an active club.

Diverging from the boat show theme I personally have found the biggest problem for me is to find somewhere to sail my models.
Most Councils have filled in any boating lake mainly due to liability issues.
I live in Cumbria there are two clubs one in Windermere, which is tiny only for slow motorized models and you have to pay for parking, the other is on the outskirts of Carlisle and is massive but has over hanging trees if you lose control you my have a 2 mile walk to get it back. No clubhouse so exposed to elements and a fair walk to the toilet, also have to pay for parking.
So in Cumbria and the lake District there is virtually no suitable sailing water.

To find a water that has access all round of a size to be able to sail large yachts and speed boats with a club house I have to travel about 45 miles (90 miles round trip) to the outskirts of Darlington in County Durham.

If the public never see models sailing on a pond they're not going to be inspired to have a go building or sailing a model boat.

Regards Roy

I’ve come to the conclusion that making and sailing model boats in a non competitive environment is very much a minority activity, which is a shame and I’m not certain why. The racing side of model yachting seems well organised by the MYA and well done to them. Looking at club websites most show some photos of boats sailing, so there is some interest out there.

Not certain if there’s a solution but do wonder if Model Boats magazine could make more of an effort to include some “sailing” content and wonder why there isn’t a regular update/news from the MYA. It would be a start.

I agree with AndyB about the lack of sailing boats at the show, but I have always found this and, let's face it, we see far more motorboats than sailers at the lake. I agree also about the lovely J Class Yachts, absolutely superb. How I'd like the gaff rigged example. However in saying that I don't want to take anything away from the utterly lovely model Folkboats on the same stand.These boats made the show for me.

Nerys

I looked for it on YouTube but found only one and the fellow posting it was into cars n trucks not boats.

We visited the show on Sunday morning and I thought how quiet it was compared with when I had visited in previous years on a Saturday.All in all, although the models were superb, as usual, they could not be seen to their best advantage by the lousy lighting in the hall. The traders too must have despaired at their customers not being able to see all the components on sale properly . We know the hotel is a dump, but if they want to to rent out their hall, they should spend a bit of money on it, not least in the lighting. It wouldn't cost that much. I was also surprised at how early the whole show disintegrated on the Sunday afternoon, but I suppose if the visitors had ceased coming in, there was little point in carrying on the agony.
Was it worth going? Yes, but I would try to go on the Saturday another year.
Let's hope that Meridian are able to run the Warwick show again next year, Blackpool is a long way for anyone living in the South.

Nerys

Was this show listed on this site's Events list, as I don't remember it being there!

🙄

Almost all model boat shows were cancelled this year but Blakpool was an absolute treat!

The club displays were universally superb and it was good to see so many old friends. I even managed to sell my large wishbone schooner in the bring and buy sale.

Those who missed Blackpool this year clearly missed a treat! Well done to organiser Ian Lewis and his team!!

John. 👍👍😁😁😁

The truth be known the Norbreck Hydro
is a dump on a par with the Adelphi in Liverpool. The catering was appalling, the toilets hard to find, no money spent in years to improve the place, I certainly would not stay there, I only hope it was cheap for the organisers to rent! I used to love Blackpool but no more It's not the place it was,It's a pity I blew my cars head gasket on the trip back.☹️

Looking at the people in the background of your picture it didn't seem very busy. I have attended on previous years and it was always very good, but I was always very dissapointed with the catering, especially it being a hotel!

Glad you liked the Windemere launch on our stand,
'Bury Metro Marine Modelling Society',
thought the show was better than last year, but bring & buy boats were to expensive.

Cheers, Pete

Yes I went on Sunday morning and it wasn't too busy. Good selection of beautiful boats on display. Bought a few tools and some accessories. I was hoping to buy some Humbrol enamel paint and some small modelling nails but couldn't find any. Worth the visit. 😊

Hi, yes, forgot to make a list of what I wanted and either couldn't find what I thought I needed or bought the wrong things. On the journey back home I had my own Blackpool illuminations on the dashboard, engine problems,emission issues and the tpms light came on (again!). This is going to be expensive! Too much electronic crap on these cars these days! It was also my birthday, one to remember for all the wrong reasons. I enjoyed the show though! Regards Graham.😇

Went along on Saturday morning. It seemed busy, which was good to see. Bought a few materials and some tools, there a good range of trade. I paid on the door, all seemed to work well, good level of staffing. Had a look at the bring n buy but wasn’t tempted. The show also included RC trucks, which would attract a wider range of visitors. Enough space around stands to move around.

As a “sailing” enthusiast there was not so much of interest. An impressive pilot cutter on one club stand, but couldn’t see how well it would sail, as the sheets seemed fixed and didn’t manage to talk to anyone on the stand. Impressive J class stand, super models, one day I’m sure a purchase will be made. They were also showing a new Folkboat model. A few sailing boats on other club stands. Am not into racing but no sign of the MYA. Good display by RNLI.

Perhaps building sailing boats is a minority activity, therefore not much representation. Don't buy model boats magazine, why would I?

Well done for putting it on. However, the catering was poor and this may be out of the organisers control. Coffee in cardboard and chocolate from a machine! It was interesting to see that one of the advertisers in the show guide was the local fish n chip shop! I think they may have done good business.

Yes😀 it was excellent, I have never seen so many models in one place before, they even had an indoor pool so we could watch the models in action the trade stands had many bargains and show specials , I bought a Tony Green live steam engine kit to power a future build ,alll in all a great day out 😀.