Manned Models Timsbury Lake

November 9th, 2011 by JCB
Posted in Articles, Technical and Training | No Comments »

Warsash Maritime Academy (WMA)

WMA have invested around £2.7M and have moved their manned model facility to a new purpose built site, after 31 years operating at Marchwood and in June the UKMPA were invited to the one of the opening events so on the 16th June despite an early rain shower, 5 committee members took the opportunity to explore the new facilities in 3 of the models and put their shiphanding skills to the test!

The Timsbury Lake incorporates the experience gained from the many years operating manned models at Marchwood and brings manned model training into the 21^st Century with new purpose built classroom facilities incorporating the latest ‘SMART’ board technology.

The new lake is similar in size to Marchwood (around 10 acres) however the shape is elongated and includes a number of harbour basins and a purpose built canal. The new berths are a mixture or ‘open’ and ‘solid’ berths which offer a huge variety of berthing options. Importantly, WMA also owns the 15 acres of mature woodland surrounding the lake, which helps hugely to mitigate the wind effects on the lake since, due to the model scaling, the wind effect on a 1/25^th scale model is increased by a factor of 5!

Timsbury Lake is shallower than Marchwood and ‘weed free’ due to the turbidity of the water. The lake is fed by a number of streams from a large catchment area and the level of the lake remains constant. There is some current flowing through the Lake, which varies depending on recent rainfall and some counter currents have been detected. All in all the lake is proving to be more challenging than Marchwood and has great potential.

Historically the Lake dates back to the 9^th Century when monks from Winchester constructed the dam and used the lake as a source of fresh water fish and later a medieval mill was powered by the water run off from the Lake. In more recent times the Lake has been used for ‘fish stock’ with numerous bunds having been constructed and has been a haunt for carp anglers. These bunds now form the many harbour areas within the Lake.

The planning process was reasonably straightforward and incorporated the latest control measures to protect the environment and the fascinating ecology found at the lake.

Timsbury Lake ran the first course on the 2^nd May and an Open day was held on 21^st/22^nd June for the official opening. Feedback from returning students has been extremely positive and the ‘old Portacabins’ have now been demolished!

T&TC Chairman Jonathan Mills (Medway) pilots ‘Endeavour’ round the Horseshoe bend shaping up for the Top end of the Canal with Nick Lee (London) at the controls.  Photo: Nigel Allen

Further information on the lake:

www.mannedmodels.com