1st World Championship NAVIGA C in the year 1981
Since 1972, the Admiral modelers club (founded in 1968) regularly organized the Czechoslovakian championship of table models of category C. For the events, it used the nice ambience of the Jablonec Exhibition Centre and always combined them with an exhibition for the public. These model championships were organized on the occasion of some anniversary in the history of seafaring; the exhibition scenario of these models was always thematically prepared according to it. The successes of the club members included some of them in the Czechoslovakia's representative team in this category of static models. Thus, they participated in the European Championships of category C in Vienna (AT), Como (IT) and Cannes (FR), from where they always brought medals. However, the biggest award for this 13 years of work of the Admiral Club was the decision of the Central Board of Modelling to organize the 1st ever. World Championship of ship model category C. It took place from 13th to 20th September 1981.
The motto of the championship, as it must have been then, became "Model Sport for Peace and Cooperation between Nations!" Great care was taken to ensure the organisation of the competition. The Organizing Committee, which was already established at the beginning of 1980, regularly checked the state of all preparations at its meetings. The patronage of the championship was taken over by the local government and the town council in Jablonec nad Nisou, which provided the decoration of the exhibition centre, where the competition was held, as well as the whole town. Extensive promotion by means of posters, press and radio meant that whole teams from Brno, Náchod and Chrudim, for example, came to see the exhibition of the competition models. The extraordinary interest of the spectators, who gathered more than eight thousand in total, was also highly appreciated by the foreign participants; in their words, they had never experienced anything like it before.
In addition to our representatives, the World Championships were attended by competitors from Belgium, and Bulgaria, both parts of then-divided Germany, France, Italy, Poland and Romania. The individual expeditions were patronized by companies from Jablonec and its surroundings, such as Preciosa, Jablonex, Bižuterie, Železnobrodské sklárny. A rich programme was prepared for the participants, during the competition they took part in trips to Prague, the Jizera Mountains, Frýdlant in Bohemia and the hill of Ještěd. There were also meetings with Jablonec workers, a visit to the theatre performance Intervarieté and they also watched a number of interesting films with a shipping theme. The cultural programme was also organised by the congress tourism departments of Čedok Prague and Čedok Liberec.
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The opening ceremony of the championship took place in the conference hall of the Jablonec town hall. The participants were warmly welcomed in Jablonec nad Nisou by the local authorities, the chairman of the Union of Ship Modelers Ota Šaffek wished them success in the competition and the president of the international organization of ship modelers Naviga, Mr. M. Franck from Belgium, spoke on behalf of the Union of Ship Modelers Naviga.
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It can be said that the models of such a high level and so balanced, have probably never met before at any competition. For the judges (on the committee for classes CI and C3 there were representatives of Germany, Belgium, Romania, and Czechoslovakia, on the committee for classes C2 and C4 there were representatives of France, Belgium, Poland, Germany, and Czechoslovakia) a real extremely difficult task arose. It should be noted that they took it on with honor and did not commit any blunders leading to serious damage to any of the participants. The chairman of the technical committee was Jan Marczak from Poland.
How did our contestants do?
In the C1 class, our most successful representative Oldřich Zámečník won the gold medal with his 1:50 scale model of the ship Dar Pomorza, which was awarded 90.33 points, which was the sixth-highest score in this class. Overall, we can say that we have learned from the last European Championships as well as from the international competitions held in Czechoslovakia. We have improved again in model building. However, we are still behind in the execution of the carving decorations on the model and especially in the elaboration of the rigging. The sewing of the sails and the tying of the rigging appear too rough when looking at the model overall, for which we lost some points.
In the C2 class, our modelers competed with the models with which they compete in the E and F (floating) categories, which have, for example, larger propellers or an enlarged rudder area. The models were of course also not completely new (as prescribed by the rules). This corresponded to their evaluation. Nevertheless, they were so precisely made that, even taking into account the previous facts, they were mostly awarded silver medals, and J. Slížek's model of Song of Norway even won a gold medal!
The C3 class - models of ship equipment, parts, ports, and shipyards - does not have many traditions in our country yet. Although the workmanship of our models was of a high standard, our representatives usually lacked a "good eye" for choosing a suitable motif. Compared to the models of some foreign participants, ours looked too simple. Nevertheless, L. Zemler managed to win a gold medal for his model of torpedo bomber 21, which should be a good promise for the future.
The C4 class of miniature models, which usually require working with a magnifying glass, has few modellers in this country. It can be said that one silver and two bronze medals are the highest we could expect.
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The results of the competition were announced in a new unconventional way. Instead of presenting the models on a table in front of the judging committee, the organizers projected a slide of the models on a screen. Although this method had some shortcomings, especially since not all slides were easy to read, it was well received. Mainly because it shortened the whole procedure of the ceremony considerably. The closing ceremony of the championship took place, as well as the opening ceremony, at the Jablonec Town Hall, again with the participation of the town leaders. The high evaluation of the sporting and organizational level of the competition by the foreign participants was officially confirmed at the event by the president of Naviga, Mr. Franck Belgium, who said, among other things: "I appreciate the perfect organization of the event and the preparation and support of our beloved sport in Czechoslovakia."
Class C1
Gold medal: W. Quinger, Germany (East) (L'Avenir 1:100) 97,33; N. Shishkov, Bulgaria (San Filipe 1:100) 95,33; P. Velchev, Bulgaria (La Royal 1:240) 94,00; S. Verbeeten, Germany (West) (Bretagne 1:100) 93,67; M. Paolini, Italy (Royal Caroline 1:48) 92,67; O. Zámečník, Czechoslovakia (Dar Pomorza 1:50) 90,33; E. Brodtke, Germany (West) (Imperial 1:50) 90,00; G. Trest, Germany (Eastern) (Grosse Yacht 1:100) 90,00 points.
Results of other Czechoslovak competitors: J. Kopecký 88; B. Danicek 86,33; M. Houska 83,67; B. Kopetsky 83,67; B. Daníček 83,33; R. Filka 83,33; B. Daníček 81,00. Bronze medal: M. Blažek 79,33; K. Švejda 78,00; J. Kopecký 74,33; R. Filka 72,00; ing. M. Karych 70,33; M. Houska 70,00 points.
Class C2
Gold medal: L. Feren, Belgium (Bouret 1:125) 93,67; R. Thielsch, Germany (West) (Hammonia 1:100) 93,33; H. J. Mottschall, Germany (West) (S. V. Van der Stel 1:100) 92.33; A. Pfeiffer, Germany (East) (Napoli 1:100) 92.00; H. J. Mottschall, Germany (West) (Stahleck 1:100) 91,00; P. Sager, Germany (East) (Ivan Sladkow 1:75) 91,00; G. Giraldi, Italy (Salvatore Todare 1:100) 90,67; R. Theilsch, Germany (West) (Garant 1:100) 90,33; J. Slížek, Czechoslovakia (Song of Norway 1:100) 90,00 points.
Results of other Czechoslovak competitors: L. Zemler 87,67; K. Šimůnek 87,00; M. Tesař 86,33; J. Kozák 85,00; M. Kroupa 84,00; K. Hock 82,00; M. Šesták 81,67; M. Šesták 81,67; R. Matějček 81,67; V. Libeňský 80,00. Bronze medal: M. Wintr 76,00 points.
C3 class
Gold medal: A. Molle, Belgium (Royal Soverign 1:48) 96,67; F. Soccodate, Italy (Buciutore 1:25) 93,33; D. Johansson, Germany (East) (Shipyard 1:100) 91,00; D. Johansson, Germany (East) (Steam Engine 1:50) 90,67; A. Molle, Belgium (Boulogne 1:36) 90.33; L. Zemler, Czechoslovakia (Torpedomet 21 1:25) 90.00 points.
Silver medal: ing. Z. Z. Malý 83.33. Bronze medal: M. Šesták 77.67; Š. Onda 77,67; I. Ullsperger 77,00; L. Zemler 74,33; L. Jakeš 72,33; M. Houska72,00; P. Soukup70,00. Without medal: L. Sommer 68,00; L. Sommer 64,00; Š. Onda 62.00 points.
C4 class
Gold medal: J. Debowski, Poland (Dar Pomorza 1:600) 94.33; J. Debowski, Germany (West) (Wilhelm Pieck 1:500) 92.00; S. Chanov, Bulgaria (LaCouronne 1:250) 90.33.
Silver medal: ing. Z. Z. Malý 85,67. Bronze medal: ing. Z. Z. Malý 79,33; J. Kozák 75,00 points.
Text: From archive documents and Modelář magazine 8/1981 and 12/1981 edited by Jiří Kreisel
Photo: Chronicle of the ADMIRAL club
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