News
Please see the Events tab for regatta information
MM European Championship Regatta Final Scores
As was the case yesterday, I got this off of the German MM webpage and translated it into English:
"The 2023 Micro Magic European Championship is over.
Here are the final standings:
Kind Greetings,
Martin Clemens
MM GER30"
So, congratulations to all of the participants, in particular to Geert Middel, Netherlands, the new European Champion, Zdenek Pavlicek, Czech Republic, in second, and Jan de Best, Netherlands, in third place. Zdenek's second day charge is particularly notable.
We will post more details about the regatta soon.
Greg Norris
MM US256
Updated 8/20/23
Saturday Results, 2023 MM European Championship Regatta
I took this off of the German MM website and translated it into English.
Hello Friends,
Here are the Saturday regatta results:
We had a very nice regatta day. A bit too little wind, but we still got 10 races in. And great atmosphere and delicious food. What more can one ask for?
Don’t worry about my score. I’ve been working with the camera boat and taking DNSs each race.
Kind greetings,
Martin Clemens
Ger30
Posted 8/19/2023
An Initial Video of the Venue for the 2023 MM European Championship Regatta
Just an initial first tease. Actual results hopefully later today and tomorrow.
Martin Clemens has a boat with a camera, and he made a brief video of the venue. The spoken text is in German, but he just says that he's using his camera boat to make an initial video of the venue.
https://www.micromagic-rc-segeln.de/ext-content/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=918
Posted 8/19/2023
Some Feel Good News from MM-Russia (1/8/23)
Vladimir Dryuchkov from both the MMI board and MM-Russia sent me this video a couple of days ago. It seems they have created a 30 cm Micro Magic replica, a Mini Micro Magic, for use in schools and with children. The hull, deck and many of the parts are 3D-printed. The keel bulbs are poured as part of the project. The boats are assembled, painted and rigged by the kids.
Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh2DTgVIlNw
You can get subtitles in any language you'd like simply by loading the video, clicking on Settings (the little gear bottom-right), Click on Subtitles, click on Auto-translate and choose your language. At least the English auto-translation is really pretty good.
I really enjoyed and liked this project and video!
Three New Articles about Transmitters 11/27/2022
Friends,
We posted (to the "Tech" section of this web site) two articles about the FlySky FS-i6 (same as the Turnigy TGY-i6) transmitter two weeks ago, and we are adding a third one about the Spektrum DX6e transmitter today. If you are familiar with the FS-i6, you will already know that the manufacturer's manual is worthless, even for rc-aviation, even more so for rc-sailing.
David Flakelar's article is an excellent contribution, in that it explains many of the FlySky FS-i6's functions and their application to rc-sailing. I wrote the second article. It is for the beginner and/or non-techy sailor, and it shows all of the set-up screens that you need to use to set-up a MM properly and gives typical settings for MMs.
The Spektrum DX6e article is analogous to my FS-i6 article. Since the documentation for Spektrum products is so very much better than that for the FlySky, this article is not as necessary as the FS-i6 article, but I still hope that you find it helpful.Sail fast!
Greg Norris
A Micro Magic Video Channel
3/4/2022
Friends,
Please take a look under the Tech tab. Martin Clemens of MM Germany has set up a YouTube video channel for us. And it already has lots of videos in it!
Greg Norris
MM-US
A Brief Update on the State of Micro Magic Racing in Switzerland
2/7/2022
Friends,
Another nice update:
Some News from Switzerland!
We start racing again from February until December, about 12-14 races per year in different locations. This year we will finally be able to organize a Swiss Open Championship over 2 days, on March 7 and 8. If you can come, it is with great joy and pleasure! The information will come soon.
A very good Micromagic season to you all
Michel Froidevaux
SUI 3
Please keep sending updates! I think that this adds a lot to our site. Photos and videos are welcome, too!
Stay safe and healthy everybody!
Greg Norris
MM-US
Brief Updates on the State of Micro Magic Racing in Belgium, Russia, and the Netherlands
1/27/2022
Friends,
After Martin Clemens sent us his nice update about MM racing during the pandemic, in rapid succession I received updates from Belgium, Russia, and the Netherlands. Here they are:
Belgium:
We train every Sunday - from October to April - in Bruges. Not too many sailors but we are motivated and we try to get new sailors (with some positive results). MMs from distant cities don't currently come to Bruges for our training.
Jean Driesmans
MM-Belgium
Russia:
Hello great sailors!
[Editor’s note: I don’t know where he gets that, but I’ll take it. :-) ]
Competitions will be officially held in Russia, under the leadership of the Federation of Ship Modeling Sports of Russia:
April 23-24, 2022
Regatta of Tsar Peter I
Taganrog (Rostov-on-Don region).
Classes: MM, E/IOM, DF-65, 10, NSS-A
May 5-11, 2022
Championship of the Northern Federal District
Novosibirsk
Classes: MM, DF-65, E/IOM, Demo RG65
May 6-11, 2022
Victory Cup
Kazan
Classes: MM, E/IOM
August 5-14, 2022
Russian Championship
Kazan
Classes: MM, E/IOM, M, 10
September 25 - October 3, 2022
Lower Volga Regatta
Astrakhan
Classes: MM, E/IOM, M, 10, Demo RG65
October 5-12, 2022
Amber Cup
Kaliningrad
Classes: MM, DF-65, E/IOM, NSS-A
Not official, but very much fun
March 4-6, 2022
Moscow Boat Show
MM racing in a pool
From May to September:
7 stages of my "Zelenograd Regatta"
Moscow
Claas: MM
First round May 15th.
Vladimir Dryuchkov
MM-Russia
Netherlands:
Hello Everybody,
Here is a message from MM Netherlands. Due to occasional lockdowns in our country, the possibility to host national events has been limited during the last two years. But when we have the opportunity to sail, we do.
Last Sunday we managed to organize an event here in Eindhoven, for the first time in a while. A report can be found here: https://micro--magic-nl.translate.goog/verslag-wintercup-eindhoven-23-jan-2022/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Local group sailing has been more steady, often weekly meetings with training regattas. New Hacker NMM's are being built and have started showing up at events and a number of new sailors have joined. All in all, considering the circumstances, MM sailing in the Netherlands is going alright.
A few Dutch MM sailors have joined events in Germany and a few Belgian MM sailors have joined events here, but otherwise international sailing has been difficult, as you can easily understand. Hopefully, there will be more possibilities in the near future,
Stay safe!
Greetings,
Geert Middel
MM-Netherlands
Please keep sending updates to this! I’d love to get one from Spain and Hungary.
Stay safe and healthy everybody!
Greg Norris
MM-US
Some Notes about the State of Micro Magic Sailing in Germany, Europe,
and a Little News about the new MM
by Martin Clemens
January 10, 2022
In my opinion, Micro Magics in Germany did quite well last year. We can look back on 21 meetings/regattas. The number of participants stabilized at a significantly lower level than in previous years. Most sailors are still using older versions of MMs, and new Hacker nMMs are still uncommon. It has been very gratifying that there are no differences in boat performance between the various versions. The excellent build quality of the nMM, present since the beginning, was further improved in February 2021. This was enthusiastically praised in specialist magazines. The designer of the MM, Thomas Dreyer, to whom we presented a Hacker nMM in August 2021, pleased us with the assessment that he was holding in his hands the best MM so far. Our cooperation with Jan Hyk of Hacker Model Production remains very good.
As far as I know, there have been MM activities in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Russia. We are far from the scope of activities we had until around 2018. I hope that after the transition of the Coronavirus pandemic to an endemic situation, there will be an improvement. But I suspect that it will take some time until then and I think that many people will have to deal with things other than MMs for a while.
Several projects in cooperation with the Hacker company are planned for 2022: Improving and expanding the range of accessories, revising the Build Instructions, and approaches for further product revisions. We will keep you informed about further developments. If there are any questions about the nMM, they are always welcome at the MMI office!
Lastly, an update about a known issue with the nMMs: We can't say for sure whether some of the nMM keel boxes still show some leakage or not. An nMM keel box that is leaking can be sealed by priming and painting with paint suitable for polyamide (Nylon). It is best to apply this painting when building the boat.
I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year- and I would be very happy to read news about MM activities in many countries in the future!
Best regards,
Martin Clemens
A More Minor Update
I've been behind on keeping both the MMI and the MM-US websites up to date over the last few months. It seems like personal stuff has gotten to be so much more complex and time-consuming over the last two years.
But we've been getting caught up and have added and cleaned up a lot on both websites.
There's an initial invitation to the 2022 US National Championship Regatta and two regatta reports. And some housekeeping: We moved a number of build articles from the "News" tab to the Tech" tab, and Martin Clemen's nice article about recent MM history from "News" to Class Info". And lastly, we've added a page with more start sequence audio files than you'll ever need to the "Class Info" tab.
I apologize for getting so far behind, and I'll try hard to stay caught up from now on. Be sure to send us your regatta schedules and results, and, for that matter, any articles that you happen to write. (Emails to mmsailinginternational@gmail.com and mmcoausa@gmail.com both work for this.)
Stay safe and healthy everybody and a happy and healthy New Year to all of you!
Two Important Updates
Friends,
In the discussion around the (beautiful) new sail diagram that Vladimir Dryuchkov made for us, it became clear that we needed a rules clarification for rule 5.2, about how to measure sails. You can find it in the Class Info tab, directly below the rules. We tried hard to make it simple and easy to understand.
Hacker sails made at least through mid-June, 2021 are too large. This is true for both the mains and jibs. We have addressed this with Hacker, they are aware, and they will be modifying their sails appropriately. Geert Middel, the Dutch representative to the MMI Office, came up with a quick, elegant, and fairly easy fix for this. It can be found under Tech tab.
Please contact us with any comments and stay safe and healthy everybody!!
Another New Version of the Micro Magic Class Rules
The link below will take you to the newest version of our class rules. The reason for this new version is a good story. It turns out that the MM-Russia lead, Victor Dryuchkov, is really good at technical drawing, and he and Geert Middel of the MMI Office, together corrected a small error in the sail plan. And that is really great! We now have a really nice, very attractive sail plan. A couple of days later, Vladimir sent us a beautiful new drawing of the keels, and today two further schematics arrived. He also reformatted the text. As you will see, we now have what is likely the prettiest set of rules in rc-sailing. Thank you so much, Vladimir!
"Obviously, this version of the MM Class Rules replaces previous versions. And as always, comments, criticism, and/or requests for edits are welcome. Just contact us at mmsailinginternational@gmail.com.
A New Version of the Hacker new Micro Magic Assembly Manual
The first version of the nMM manual was the best manual ever written for any Micro Magic. Welcome to an updated, improved version of the same great manual! We are sure that you will like it!
An Update on Availability of the Hacker New Micro Magic
Good news on all fronts!
In Europe, New Micro Magic kits are currently shipping. And ARTRs are currently in production and will be shipping soon. (https://hacker-model.com/shop/Index.aspx)
In the US, we have an importer. Twisted Hobbys, long-time sellers of Hacker rc-aviation products, will also be selling the New Micro Magic. Both kits and ARTRs will be available. No word yet on pricing, nor when the first shipment will be coming in. Keep your eye here. We will let you know on both counts. (https://twistedhobbys.com)
Please consider putting in an order as soon as the kits and ARTRs come in!
Some Nice Publicity
Last week US Sailing, the principal US national sailing association, interviewed Mike Wyatt, the current President of the American Model Yachting Association. Mike sails Soling One Meters and Micro Magics. His Ohio club is the newest MM fleet in the US. Mike's report of his interview and the interview itself follows. (By the way, that's Mike Eades, two time MM National Champion, holding the Micro Magic on page 6.)
Martin Clemens of MMI Germany sent in the following brief but very important article:
"Micro Magic News
Micro Magic has had some turbulent years and we have had to watch how the world-famous Graupner model company slowly completely fell apart (except for their rc-electronics division, which is still in business). The continued availability of new MM kits and ARTRs was uncertain.
But as luck would have it, in autumn 2019 a model maker, Hacker Model Production from the Czech Republic, contacted the MMI office and showed interest in manufacturing the boat. A long period of intensive work on the project followed, and Elmer Boon of MMI Netherlands and a frequent contributor to the MMI and MM-US webpages, did extensive work together with the company's technician, Jan Hyk. We are very grateful to both.
Due to the new corona virus pandemic there were unexpected delays and difficulties in the spring. But now we can say with great pleasure that the New Micro Magic from Hacker Model Production will be available very soon. Everyone involved has worked hard to make this boat a worthy successor to the original Graupner Micro Magic.
We will publish detailed reports here soon."
Initial prices are Euros Current US$
nMM Kit 163.85 191.40
nMM ARTR 198.28 231.61
nMM ARTR + Servos 224.00 261.66
nMM ARTR, Servos, 6 channel Receiver and Transmitter 288.28 336.86
No word yet on how or where to purchase in the US, shipping costs, etc. We hope to report that here very soon as well.
See photos below.
(posted 9/23/20)
Another Further Update on MM Production
Like everyone we know, both we at MMI and our new manufacturer have been practicing social distancing and staying at home, and we are all doing well so far. We hope that this is the case with all of you as well!
There has been good progression on the new MM front. Instead of making molds in February as we had written in our last update, a third prototype was built and there has been lengthy discussion around it (see photos below). Soon molds will be made and we will be testing pre-production kits. MMI direction continues to work closely with our new manufacturer and the communication has been excellent. Some excellent minor news during a difficult time!
Stay healthy everybody!!
(posted 3/31/20)
Prototype 3
Prototype 3
A Further Update on MM Production
On February 13 our perspective new MM manufacturer came to the Netherlands, bringing along prototypes for our examination. After a day of fruitful discussion, measuring, remeasuring and measuring again both version 1 and 2 of the new MM prototypes, we just brought our visitor back to the airport for his flight back home.
As it turned out now, hull 1 was o.k. except for small flaws in the bow, canopy, and rudderpost, but the keelbox contained a number of mistakes which became clear when he brought along a separate keelbox (which by the way is very easy to glue together precisely).
It took a number of hours to redesign the keelbox and mast sleeve (the mast could lean forward too much but not enough backwards) within- and exactly to our MM class rules.
So now he left happy with an approved, hull, deck, canopy, gooseneck, and keelbox. Well, actually the canopy did not fit our Graupner V1 but he swore that will be o.k., and we are sure it will be.
So now the molds can be made next week! YES!
And we are sure the NMM will be of a higher quality than the non-German Graupner ones!
And as we had requested, there will also be a ready to race version!
Let us keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best!
To be continued.
(posted 2/15/20)An Update Concerning Micro Magic Production
The new potential manufacturer for Micro Magic kits remains very active. We are told that the next step is production of the molds for the initial prototypes. This is obviously excellent progress and we are very happy.
We will continue to keep you posted regarding all future developments.
(posted 1/7/20)Some Bad News followed by Some Good News
In November 2019 Graupner posted a notice on their Graupner.de webpage that they had closed their manufacturing facility in China due to unprofitability. This means that they are ceasing production of all of their model kits, including Micro Magics. They state that their transmitter/receivers are still profitable and will remain in production.
Happily, another manufacturer has expressed very active interest in producing Micro Magic kits, and it is our hope that these new kits will be on the market soon. We will keep you posted regarding all developments.
(posted 12/14/19)