I am writing to invite you to attend the AGM to be held this year on Sunday 28th November 2021. The meeting will start at 2:30pm and will be held at:
The Holiday Inn Express, Elstow Interchange A6/A421, Bedford Bypass Junction, Wilstead Row, Elstow, Bedford, MK42 9BF.

The Agenda for this meeting will follow the usual format and printed copies will be available at the meeting. If you require a printed copy prior to the meeting please contact me. In addition to the usual items, in order to reduce costs, we will be voting to send all MPBA Documentation (Including future AGM documentation) by email. However, members will still be able to receive documentation by post but will need to request this as part of their membership application/renewal.

Please note that the Draft minutes of the AGM held on 24th November 2019 were included in the paperwork sent out last year.

Members attending the meeting are reminded that you should have your MPBA membership card with you. If you are unable to attend the meeting and wish to appoint another member to vote on your behalf, please let me know and I will send you a proxy form. The printed proxy form must be returned to me duly completed no later than midday on Friday 26th November 2021.

We look forward to seeing you at the AGM.

Best wishes
Linda Buonaiuto
General Secretary
Model Power Boat Association
Home
Holiday Inn

The MPBA calendars are split be section and you will need the following information to set them up on your phone. As usual, Android is more complicated than iOS which is ironic considering it’s a Google calendar! You may find the Scale calendar a bit sparse at the moment, as we haven’t received many details from clubs. Not to worry, as the calendar will automatically add new events as they are published by us.

Android
In the calendar section of your GMail/Google Apps account there is a list on the left of calendars available to view.
At the bottom right of that list is the word “Add”
If you click this word and select “Add by URL” you can copy and paste the links below. Ignore the checkbox about making it publicly available.
If you are using an Android phone this calendar will then sync to your Android phone, providing the account you add the calendar to is the account that you sync to your Android phone!

But if you’re on iOS (iPhone/iPad) you can just click the links
Circuit : Click (iOS) or Right-Click Copy Link (Android)
Fast Electric : Click (iOS) or Right-Click Copy Link (Android)
Straight Running : Click (iOS) or Right-Click Copy Link (Android)
Multi : Click (iOS) or Right-Click Copy Link (Android)
Tethered Hydro : Click (iOS) or Right-Click Copy Link (Android)
Scale :Click (iOS) or Right-Click Copy Link (Android)

7th-8th September 2019, National Watersports Centre, Nottingham

We have a superb new venue for the 2019 GB International – The National Watersports Centre in Nottingham. The facilities are fantastic, as befitting a world-class sporting location hosting World Championship events in Rowing, Sailing, Canoeing and waterskiing. There is a waterside hotel, dedicated camping facilities, licenced bars and restaurants and a whole world of sporting activities for the whole family. Visit the Website to explore this brilliant venue.

The following pictures are taken from the website, but we have block booked the venue on the race dates so you will need to contact the venue direct to secure accommodation. Tel no: +44 (0)115 982 1212. Example prices are:

• Grass pitch camping per night (With electric) £25
• Lakeside hotel twin room 2 people with breakfast £75 per night

Should you decide not to take advantage of the centre accommodations, the following map shows some local hotels:

The racing will take place on the rowing course, which has a dedicated pit area and enclosed timing/scoring booth. A pontoon (illustrated) will be placed across the course to separate the racing area from the rest of the rowing area.

Some things to be aware of:

• All the photos are reduced in size for speed of access. The originals are 5472 x 3648 (20mp). For the most part, all these are 800 x 600
• None of the photos have been checked for quality or content. That means there may be some that are completely out of focus, too light or too dark, have an odd colour cast, have half the boat in the picture or some other quality issue
• If the photo(s) you are interested in are in focus but have some other quality issue, then it is probably possible to fix them to an acceptable level in photoshop – The blue colour cast on photos taking in early morning for example is easily fixed, as are overly dark or light images for the most part
• It is also easy to crop the images. For example if the boat is too small relative to the frame. The original image is much larger in size than the ones in these galleries, so you can cut a small section out without too much quality loss
• To request a hi-res version (Maximum 5 per person), please email webmaster@mpba.org.uk. You must quote the date(s) and image numbers. You can find these by clicking the “i” (info) icon in google photos. If you send a message saying “The blue boat in heat 5” or some other vague description, I cannot help you.

Here’s a couple of examples (click to enlarge):

Gallery image:

Photoshop image:

Gallery image:

Photoshop image:

Gallery image:

Photoshop image:

Galleries

Sunday 29th July
Monday 30th July
Tuesday 31st July
Wednesday 1st August
Thursday 2nd August
Friday 3rd August
Saturday 4th August H & O Finals
Saturday 4th August H & O Finals pt2
Monday 6th August
Tuesday 7th August
Wednesday 8th August
Thursday 9th August
Thursday 9th August pt2
Friday 10th August
Saturday 11th August Endurance Finals
Saturday 11th August Endurance Finals pt2

Day 2 – A chilly, overcast and windy start. Not a good day for the Brits – Pete mis-launched his B1, Steve got a run in but did not trouble the leaders. Norman didn’t get a run in A2 and unfortunately blew his engine in A3 – all apparently consoled with huge ice cream cornets!

Day 3 – A much better day had by the Brits and it was a bit warmer too. Good results in A2 and A3 for Norman, and in A1 for Steve all 3 boats in position 4 at the moment. Pete had a good launch in B1 but tank was too lean to get round. A big thank you from the boys to Coco for retrieving all the boats and to the GB team for helping him with his boats. 2 world records broken today : 146mph by Andrei Smolnykov (Ukraine) in A1E senior and 130mph by Alisa Dolgikh (Russia) A1E junior.

Day 4 – The weather today was nice and cool (mid 70s). We started with A1 problems with tanks and shafts on Steve’s and Pete’s boats. Pete’s B1 got away well but went rich so needed to look at tank positions so will this later. In A2 Norman had a good run but Steve beat him, the A3 was too lean. Overall we had a good day. In training both Pete’s and Steve’s A1’s are now going really well. Pete’s B1 in training hit 173mph – a really good speed. Hopefully tomorrow is an even better day. Last runs in A3 and A2 tomorrow – Norman will try Ricky’s prop after some modification.

Check out the photos from Tampa by Ian Inverarity on Facebook

Spectacular crash!

On Sunday September 24th the Southern Area Straight Running Championship finals were held at Welwyn Garden City. It was a lovely warm day with just a light breeze across the top of the course and as normal for this time of the year some leaves on the surface to add a bit of difficulty for the competitors.

The format of the Championships is as follows:
There are a set number of regattas to count towards the Championships. This year we had five plus the final and these were, St.Albans, Victoria, The Grand, Blackheath and Welwyn.
At each of the regattas the score that you achieve on the day is taken forward to the next regatta and so on with a grand total for the finals where you take away your lowest score over the five regattas, the competitor with the highest total score in each of the classes is the Champion for the year.
The total number of competitors during the season in each of the classes was:
Wedge 12, Scale Boats 6, Scale Ships 7, Functional 10, and One Metre 14. The number of competitors was down this year with a total entry of only 6 competitors.

The first event was the One Metre with five competitors but the scoring was low and only 2 boats managed to score : Dean Reynolds with 18 and Don Reynolds with 15.
The next event was for Functional craft again with 5 entries but this time all the competitors scored with the winner Roger Lane scoring 26 and Donna Reynolds scoring 24.
The Scale Ships took to the course and there was only four competing Tony Willett with the winning score of 15 and Dean Reynolds scoring 9.
Scale Boats was the next to go with 4 entries. The winner with a score of 15 was Tony Willett and second was Dean Reynolds with a score of 9.
The last event was for the Wedge Class and there were 5 entries. The winner was Roger Lane with a score of 29 and 2nd was Tony Willett with a score of 28.
These scores were added along with those that had been gained during the season to affirm the Champions in the 5 classes and these are:

One Meter Champion: Dean Reynolds with a total score of 79 2nd Donna Reynolds with 63

Functional Champion: Donna Reynolds with 131 2nd Dean Reynolds with 107

Scale ships Champion: Tony Willett with a total of 114 2nd Dean Reynolds with 107

Scale Boats Champion: Dean Reynolds with at total 121 2nd Tony Willett with 104

Wedge Champion: Roger Lane with 144 2nd Tony Willett with 133.

A very enjoyable championships and final congratulations to the winners.