Linlithgow Canal Users Association

Start of Season Open Day

Despite a weather forecast which promised wall to wall rain, Saturday the 3rd April dawned dry and bright and fortunatly stayed that way for most of the day. Seven club members turned up to support the occasion and from about 11 am several E.M.B.C. boats could be seen in the water most of the time until the end of the day. Spud had brought his usual "Seehund" submarine and also his superb "Prince George (1896)" battleship which was impressive on the water, epecially when driven at well over scale speed and produced a bow wave that any destroyer would have been proud to own. He also chanced his arm in diving "Seehund" into heavily weed infested waters, but he was fortunate to get away with it as it always came up again. Alan had brought along his immaculate Charlotte Dundas paddle tug which also perfomed impeccably. Especially impressive on this model is the working engine exposed on the deck. The appearance of Mikes Discovery and Napoleon ferry helped keep up the numbers, at least until it was found that Napoleon had developed a crack on the keel at the rear of the hull and was taking in water. After that it became a static model for the rest of the day while it drained out.The cause of the crack is obscure but wiil be easy enough to repair. IThe wind was a bit too calm for Discovery which had to settle for a controlled drift much of the time.

Brian had his "Ayton Cross" in the water for much of the time and this time without being attacked by aggressive minded swans and Nigel's tug caused ammusement when it got stuck by venturi effect to the side of a passing canal long boat. The canal boat had to stop to enable Nigel to free his model. A new face for most of us was the appearance of David Cunningham with his brilliant red tug tender which David has crewed on. Because of difficult shift times he finds it difficult to get to the club occasions. Last but not least was Duggie Kinloch with several of his models including his Japanese flying boat tender.

All in all it was a very pleasant day, enjoyed by all and now a firm event in our clubs calendar

M.J.

May 2nd. E.M.B.C. Start of season Sail Day, Inverleith Park

Despite an indifferent weather forcast, we were fortunate that it remained dry but quite cool throughout the day with some sun showing itself around late morning but which later disappeared and became quite cold. Nevertheless a good number of members turned up and together with a trio of potential new members one of whom was a previous lapsed member who wished to rejoin and who brought both his son and his son's friend.

Several new models appeared including David Jack's almost finished german catermaran river transporter which was once it was on the water was sometimes difficult to see and understand what one was looking at, a testament to the efficacy of its dazzle or shadow camouflage. Colin Campbells new puffer "Pibroch"was a deserved winner of the New Boat Trophy but he caused some surprise when his equally beautiful fishing boat came second in the judging scoring only one point less than his puffer. 90 points to 89 points! Brian Alexander was also showing of his new fire boat and was seen to surprise a couple of boisterous dogs that came too close to the waters edge and got sprayed by the fire hoses!! Revenge is sweet! Most models on display were regular stalwarts to be seen most Sundays at the pond. Unfortunately, the wind was very light which left Mike's Discovery doing more of a controlled drift rather than being able to be put through its paces although the normal lightweight yachts seem to find conditions to their liking.

Eric Carrington won the steering and docking competition with his model"Orcades" after a close run-off with David Jack and Jimmy Kinloch. This was from a surprisingly large number of entries (mostly due to the cajoling of Dave Hamilton ).

M J.

Last updated 5th May2010.