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45 - vednesdays November 25, 1987 - North Shore News

Fish
painting
wins

PAGE 59

WV native mini yacht master
declared the worid’s besi

SOME PEOPLE take their
hobbies a bit more seriously
than others.

By MICHAEL BECKER
News Reporter

In the case of Blair Atwell, a
lifetime love affair with radio-
controiied model building has
placed the North Vancouver native
among the world’s best in the
miniaturized realm of radio-con-
trolled model yacht racing.

The 29-year-old beat the cream
of the crop at the America’s Cup
Style Challenge ‘86 Radio Control
Regatta Dec. 12 to 13 at Mission
Bay in San Diego and then went on
to win the Japan Nationals held
earlier this month in Japan.

As the winner of the world
championships in San Diego, Blair
went as a guest of the Japanese to
the Japan Nationals regatta held
Nov. 7 and 8 to compete against
the top sailors in Japan.

“T’ve won trophies in the past,
but this was the first time I’d won
a paid trip to somewhere,’’ he
said.

Accompanying him to Japan
was a 20-inch radio-controlled
yacht replica uniquely designed
‘and engineered by Atwell.

The winning San Diego yacht

incorporated a new winged-keel
design to give lift windward similar
to the Australian design which won
the America’s Cup in the 12-metre
class. The model yacht also had
built into it a low-gravity keel, a
new sail design and a new carbon
fibre mast.

The Japanese sent to the com-
petition two of their top skippers
along with modified hulls incor-
porating the latest information
available in the study of hydrology
and aeronautics.

Said Atwells’ father, Ed Atwell,
“They thought they’d beat the
world. They went as far as putting
gold, because of its weight, into
the keel. The Japanese have all the
money in the world and computers
to back designs and Blair just
competed on a shoestring. It’s all
rather fascinating.’’

The Lilliputian racers cover an
Olympic-style course with a format
identical to that used by the
America’s Cup boats.

Each race lasts five to 10
minutes and may cover a distance
of several hundreds of yards.

‘Because I’ve been doing this
for years, more experience gives
you an intuition to wind shifts.
When you're racing, you have to
be able to think ahead like in a
game of chess,’ Blair Atwell said.

As a result of his winning watery
ways, Atwell has been approached
by Japan's AG Industries Inc. to
design a modification package for
the sailboat models produced by
the company.

Blair's father says his son took
naturally to model airplane and
boat building at an early age.

“Starting when he was six or
seven at Christmas | would give
him some model thing. Gradually
he advanced and got into more
complex designs. When he was 10
years old he won a B.C.-wide
science award while attending
Highlands Elementary School for a
project involving the transfer of
magnetic energy to mechanical
energy.” said Ed Atwell.

When the elder Atwell bought a
sailboat, young Atwell followed
suit with pint-sized yachts. ‘‘He
got into radio control and what
makes it work and began a similar
analysis of aircraft movement and
how the wind moves and plays on
sailboats," said Atwell,

The next North American regat-
ta will be held in Mission Bay, San
Diego in August.

Young Atwell is currently living
in prime sailing country in Long
Beach, California, and works as a
high school substitute teacher.

"NEWS photo Tom Burley

ED ATWELL displays a 50-800 class model sailboat built by his son
Blair. Currently living in California, the younger Atwell has beat the
world’s best at radio-controiled yacht regattas in the United States and
Japan.

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