The Model Yacht: Volume 10, Number 3 – Winter 2006-2007

LINCOLN MEMORIAL POOL, WASHINGTON, DC NEWSLETTER OF THE U.S. VINTAGE MODEL YACHT GROUP VOLUME TEN, NUMBER THREE Winter 2006-2007 Page 1 Ebbs and Flows The President’s Message Editor’s Welcome Vintage Membership ith this issue we complete our tenth year of publication, a milestone that hardly seems real. In this issue we offer our usual mix of news and technical articles. Mark Steele is back with his alwaysentertaining Windling World column and we publish some rare photographs of model yachting in the Los Angeles area in 1936. On the technical side we report on “work in progress” in cold-molded wood construction and reprint an article from the 1940’s on construction of a 6 Meter class model. The text of the latter article is not reproduced because it is represents a fairly standard recounting of how to construct a hull by the bread and butter method. The drawings, however, provide a rare and spectacular look at the construction and rigging of a vintage yacht and should be of great help to restorers. We are also pleased in this issue to announce the availability of a new book by our United Kingdom colleague Russell Potts. Finally, we must conclude on a sad note. Model yachting lost one of its true giants with the passing of Bill Bithell in December of 2006. We will cover the life and achievements of Bill in our next issue, and solicit any photos or memories you may have of this remarkable gentleman he VMYG annual membership is $20 for three issues of our newsletter – “The Model Yacht”. It is $25 for members outside North America. The VMYG lifetime membership is $100. Members also have access to technical assistance and vintage model plans, and details on VMYG-sponsored events. To subscribe to or renew our newsletter and services, send $20 or $25 check (payable to US VMYG) or cash ($100 life membership) to: John Snow, c/o US VMYG, 78 East Orchard Street, Marblehead, MA 01945. For more information, you can call John in Marblehead @781-631-4203 or visit the updated VMYG Web Page now reformatted and running as: www.usvmyg.org 2007 Vintage M National Regatta The 2007 national event for Vintage M 50800s will be at Redd’s Pond in Marblehead on the weekend of August 17-19. This year, it will have added activities (such as old time, free-sail racing and a historical display) for the Marblehead MYC and VMYG to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the M 50-800 design becoming a US national class in 1932. It will have our standard R/C Vintage M racing and Vintage M model craftsmanship judging activities as well. John Snow is the VMYG coordinator at 781-631-4203 or Earl Boebert Page 2 jsnow@drc.com Check at the end of this column for the press release on this unique milestone event. The release comes with a companion historical photo of M 50-800 designer Roy Clough with his M1. This boat is planned to be centerpiece at the 2007 VM National Regatta history display. The VMYG will be canvassing AMYA manufacturers to invite them to participate in the 2007 VM National Regatta through sponsorships, product donations and/or pondside displays. if you have an interest in participating with the VMYG in either of these events. Vintage Etcetera Our Web Page has been now reformatted thanks to our new Webmaster Charles Hall, with support from Jeff Beck. It has also been given the additional URL www.usvmyg.org with Charles’ email address being: 2007 Traditional Sailing Craft/Scale Model National Regatta charles.p.hall@gmail.com The 2007 venue for our annual R/C Traditional regatta is still up for grabs at this time. If you are interested in hosting it sometime in late summer or so, contact the VMYG Traditional Sailing Craft/Scale Coordinator John Atwood at 757-596-9701 or john.atwood@tea.army.mil Also, check the VMYG website for any late breaking news on a venue and date. 2007 International Challenge Cup Free Sail Competition The Challenge Cup is held biennially for 36 Inch Restricted (36R) Class free sail models involving teams of UK and US skippers. In 2007, it will be on two June weekends at historic sites in CA: Our thanks to Charles and Jeff for their efforts in bringing our almost decade-old site into the modern world. Visit the VMYG website for details on ordering our “how to” vintage model building books and video. These are based on wooden, plank-on-frame method to construct 1940s era model racing class designs (with video), plus modern building techniques. We also offer a construction guide for a R/C model of the 1930 I J Boat design. Yankee III is a 36-inch, entry-level model, which also qualifies as a V36 design for VMYG events. Newly available, and reviewed in this issue, is a reprint of Herbert Fisher’s 1902 classic How to Build a Model Yacht, edited and with extensive commentary and additional material by Russell Potts, Chairman of the Vintage Group in the United Kingdom. John Snow • June 2 & 3 at Spreckles Lake, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, and • June 9 & 10 at Mission Bay Model Yacht Lagoon, San Diego. 2007 Vintage M 50-800 Model Yacht Championship Check the VMYG website for full details. Other Projected Activities 2007 WoodenBoat Show, June 29 – July 1, at the Mystic Seaport Museum, CT. VMYG plans exhibit tent and daily R/C sailing demonstrations. 2007 Woods Hole Model Boat Show, April 1415, at Woods Hole, MA. VMYG plans large indoor model yachting exhibit, with an AMYA-sponsored R/C model invitational regatta at Eel Pond on Saturday. Contact John Snow at 781-631-4203 or jsnow@drc.com “Celebrating 75 Years of the Marblehead 50-800 Class” he US Vintage Model Yacht Group and Marblehead Model Yacht Club are collaborating on a unique model yachting event to be held this August. Featuring pre-1972 vintage sailing models, this special regatta will recognize the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Marblehead 50-800 or “M” model design as an US national class in 1932. It will include a formal display documenting Page 3 the history of the M 50-800. Also, the event is being staged at the historic venue of Redd’s Pond in Marblehead, MA, which has hosted organized model yacht racing since 1892. The M design had its origins within the Marblehead club in 1929 through member Roy Clough’s vision for a new miniature yacht of the size and weight ideally suited for pond racing and transport by car. In addition, Roy crafted its design features to emulate the classic racing yachts of that era. As an example, the highly successful Live Yankee doubleended, full-size racing yacht designed by Marblehead native L. Francis Herreshoff, which Clough subsequently scaled, built and raced as his “M-1” 50-800 model in the 1930s. The M was introduced at Redd’s Pond in 1930 and quickly was recognized as “the right boat for the times” from a design and performance perspective. It then became the most popular model yacht design class in the world by the mid-1930s. It remains a 50-inch long and 800 square inches of sail developmental class, with the oldest American design lineage of today’s 25 American Model Yachting Association radiocontrolled classes. Thus, our special event will focus on the legacy of the M 50-800 design: its 1929 inception in Marblehead to present-day R/C modern M and VM racing at Redd’s Pond. Key activities planned for this August 17-19 regatta: • August 17, Friday: Old style free-sail and modern R/C Vintage M (VM) 50-800 sailing, with M Class history display • August 18, Saturday: R/C VM racing, craftsmanship judging, model building and manufacturers exhibits, with M Class history display • August 19, Sunday: R/C VM racing, awards ceremony, model building and manufacturers exhibits, with M Class history display The 2007 US VMYG VM National Championship is an official event on the American Model Yacht Association racing calendar. It is being widely publicized by AMYA and US VMYG magazines, websites and special announcements. In particular, check-out the US VMYG Web Page at www.usvmyg.org for additional regatta and venue details, or contact: John Snow, President, US Vintage Model Yacht Group, at 781-631-4203 and/or jsnow@drc.com Chuck Winder, Commodore,Marblehead Model Yacht Club at 781-631-6727 and/or chuckw88@msn.com John Snow 2006 National Vintage Regatta October 6-8, 2006 he twelfth USVMYG National Vintage Regatta, which now includes Vintage 36s, as well as Vintage Marbleheads and High Flyer Ms, was hosted by the Marbleheaders of Spring Lake, N.J. Model Yacht Club at Spring Lake. A common sight at Vintage regattas: Al Suydam’s Cheerio I leading the way. Page 4 Registrations were excellent, with 32 boats and 18 skippers. Boats included 13 Vintage Ms (1945 and before designs), nine High Flyer Ms (after 1945 designs, or boats with spade rudders and without skegs), and 10 Vintage 36s, although one Vintage M skipper reluctantly had to cancel. Most skippers came from within 50 miles of Spring Lake; but Alan Suydam and Jeff Beck drove up from Maryland; Dave Querin drove out from Youngstown, Ohio; Thom McLaughlin drove up from Tampa, Florida; and USVMYG historian and editor of The Model Yacht, Earl Boebert, flew in from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Flyers with only three races on which to decide the winner. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate as well as the skippers. On Saturday morning it was cloudy, blowing and cold. Saturday’s NOAA forecast was 15 – 25 mph northeast winds with gusts to 35 and temperatures in the low 60s. Sunday’s forecast promised slightly warmer temperatures, sunshine and 5 –10 mph winds. So we decided to cancel for the day and start a half-hour earlier and sail later on Sunday to sail as many races as possible in each class. Alan Suydam dominated the Vintage Ms with his Cheerio I, taking 1st place in all six races. Joe V. Cieri, finished second overall, with three 2nds and a 3rd to his credit, followed by his dad, Joe M. Cieri in third place in class. Some skippers adjourned to a restaurant in town for coffee and to talk model boats. One carload decided to tour the Twin Lights in Highlands, N.J. and Sandy Hook. After lunch a few intrepid skippers tried practice sailing. The wind had abated slightly, but it was still cold. Sunday morning gave us the promised sunny day. It was still chilly, but wind velocity was light to moderate. Unfortunately, it came from directions that made it difficult to set a course with good windward legs. We had set a rectangular course, with two turning marks at each end, which would hopefully separate upwind and downwind boats to minimize confrontations. The starting line was in the middle of the course with the finish between the two upwind turning marks. This would give us one short and one long windward leg, if we sailed only one lap. The wind started out from the northwest and then clocked to the northeast by mid-morning, which meant a slight course change. We started with the Vintage 36s in the morning light air to sail three races in each class, rotating each class on the water until we ran out of time. We were able to put the Vintage 36s and the Vintage Ms back on the water for a second set of three races, leaving the High Vintage 36s Alan Suydam’s superb sailing and his beautifully built Chico II design gave him four firsts and two 3rds to finish first overall. Joe M. Cieri was close on Alan’s heels, with one bullet and five 2nd places to finish second in class. And John Henson, Commodore of the Marbleheaders of Spring Lake MYC, finished 3rd in class, with a 2nd and a 3rd as best finishes. Vintage Ms High Flyer Ms David Newman, sailing a Mad Cap, won the High Flyer M class with two 1st places and a 2nd. Thom Mc Laughlin, sailing one of his beautiful creations, was second in class, with Joe V. Cieri third overall. The Boats As the saying goes, “a good sailor can win with a brick.” But Alan Suydam’s building skills are as good as his sailing. His work is clean and meticulous. Alan’s Vintage 36 is a Chico II, designed by A. J. Fisher in 1938. Alan says: “She was and continues to be one of the Detroit school boats that the Middle School students make as part of their shop classes. Sadly, only a few schools still have any shop classes left. And the annual school kids regatta at Belle Isle is dwindling in size, but it is still held at the old Detroit pond built for model yachting in the 1930s. “I modified Chico’s design slightly for my class at the WoodenBoat School by having a separate skeg instead of having the skeg be part of the keel lift. It makes the boat easier to fair before you attach the skeg. The rest of the boat, including the rig, is the original Chico II design. “I modified the construction sequence by having the boat built in halves, then glued together around a central plywood keel pro- Page 5 file to which I attach the lead ballast in halves. The basic hull is built by the stacked lift method where you take ¾” white pine segments and glue them together to form a stepped hull. Then the hull is carved out on the inside, glued together and carved to the final shape on the outside. The deck is 1/16” plywood and the spars are sitka spruce.” Alan says that his Cheerio is “a Cheerio I hull with a Cheerio II rig. The II rig is just 5” taller to get a slightly higher aspect ratio on the sails, particularly the main. “The hull is built to the plan, including skeg and rudder. She is edge-glued western red cedar planking over mahogany deadwood. I strategically placed spreader pieces inside the hull to keep the hull shape and use the usual deck beams and servo mount beams. The deck is 1/16” plywood sub decking with an overlay of cedar with mahogany strips simulating the deck caulking. Spars are sitka spruce.” When asked how he builds a traditionally constructed wooden vintage model that is also very competitive, Alan says: “My thoughts on building a competitive Vintage M are to pick a good design that was a known winner in its day. Then build the hull as light as you can to get the best ballast/ displacement ratio possible, since you are using the original lead design. Try to target the overall weight as close to minimum as you can. My boat weights just over 16 pounds ready to sail. A good set of sails is a must.” In case you haven’t noticed, Alan also builds beautiful multi-panel sails out of light spinnaker cloth, using a female mold. Ask him about it. Model sailmaking can be as much fun as building the boats. Five of the 10 Vintage 36s were sailed by Marbleheaders of Spring Lake skippers. These boats were designed and built by Pete Peterson, essentially as a club one design. They were built in the traditional way – spiled planking on bent frames, fastened with TiteBond II. The boats have layed, varnished decks and spruce spars. Craftsmanship Award Thom McLaughlin won the Craftsmanship Award by peer balloting for his new Vintage M, which attracted much attention over the weekend. Thom’s superb work is always a Thom McLaughlin’s beautiful “High Flyer” VM, winner of the Craftsmanship Trophy. highlight at these events. The new boat is Thom’s design, to the best of my recollection, and based on an N.G. Herreshoff full size boat design. Thom’s work always has a beautiful vintage jewelry box quality, with inlays and wood pegs as fasteners. The Craftsmanship Award is produced and presented annually by Earl Boebert. The award is a restored, ready for use Stanley 101 plane, mounted on a vintage trophy base. Earl finds the planes on eBay, restores them to working condition and mounts them on a wood base, via magnet, so that the plane can be readily used, which makes a fitting award for a good craftsman. The award is highly prized by those who win it. Building boats of wood, brass and varnish is a significant attraction to the vintage model yacht hobby. It generates as much excitement and enthusiasm as the on-the-water racing. These annual events serve as a forum to see the work of others and to share information about building techniques. Significant Contributions Award The last award presented at the event, an engraved crystal vase, was presented by the USVMYG to Harold W. “Pete” Peterson “for founding the Marbleheaders of Spring Lake MYC” – a club dedicated to vintage model yachting – “and other significant contributions to vintage model yachting.” Pete started model yachting as a youth with his father and brother, skiff sailing Marbleheads on the Navesink River in Red Bank, New Jersey in the 1930s. Pete followed in his Page 6 club members and people outside the club. Others were completed by club members. Pete has also built three plank on frame Vintage Marbleheads to his designs. And he is now completing his 13th plank on frame Vintage 36. It is a fair guess that Pete has probably built more vintage model yachts than any other individual. Pete Peterson accepts the Significant Contribution Award (June Pendino Photo). father footsteps as a professional boatbuilder and started his training around the beginning of World War II. Early in his career, Pete worked for Elco and other companies which were then contributing to the war effort by building PT boats. Pete subsequently went into the U.S. Navy and was assigned to the Pacific aboard a PT Tender. When the PT Boats were shot up on their missions, and were able to return, Pete helped patch them up so that they could return to battle. Upon retirement from boat building, Pete decided get back into model yachting by starting a club in 1992 with his brother Ken to build and skiff-sail Marblehead model yachts the way he did as a boy on the Navesink. The new venue, however, was the east end of Spring Lake, in Spring Lake, New Jersey, and the club was called the Marbleheaders of Spring Lake, New Jersey MYC. Pete and his brother and the first few club members used small skiffs of Pete’s design. The Marblehead was a reproduction of a double-ender that Pete’s father had originally designed and built plank on frame and sailed on the Navesink River in the 1930s. Pete and club members used the original hull as a plug to make a mold to produce fiberglass hulls that could be finished by Pete or by club members. Pete subsequently modified the double-ender for radio control, which is how the boat is sailed today, as the Peterson M One Design. Pete estimates that approximately 80 hulls have come out of the double-ender mold for club use. Pete has completed 52 of them for The USVMYG thanks the Marbleheaders of Spring Lake for again hosting the National Vintage Regatta. Many of the club’s members turned out to help put the regatta together, including Commodore John Henson, regatta chairman; Howard Royce, treasurer and trophies; Harry Mote, RD and mark judge; June Pendino scorer and mark judge; Dorothy Roden, score keeper; and Pete Peterson, Bob Sturges, Bernie Biglin, Ralph Maresco, Domenick Bonanno and several others. Class Finishes Vintage 36 1. Joe M. Cieri 2.John Henson 3.Howard Royce 4.Domenick Bonanno 5.Pete Peterson 6.David Querin 7.Earl Boebert 8.Bernie Biglin 9.Joe V. Cieri Vintage M 1. Alan Suydam 2.Joe V. Cieri 3. Joe M. Cieri 4. Thom McLaughlin 5. Charlie Roden 6. Pete Peterson 7. Bernie Biglin 8. Bob Sturges 9. Domenick Bonanno 10. Howard Royce 11. John Henson 12. David Querin High Flyer M 1.David Newman 2.Thom McLaughlin 3.Joe V. Cieri 4.Ralph Maresco 5.Jeff Beck 6.Don Odegard 7.Creighton Decker 8.Charlie Roden 9.Joe M. Cieri Page 7 Harry Mote Traditional Watercraft Regatta September 22-24, 2006 Friday, September 22. ll was ready for the arrival of our competitors at 8 AM. Welcome Folders and name tags had been prepared as had the last minute updates to the Captains and Crew roster. The tables were in place in the Patuxent Small Craft Center so that the models could be displayed and worked on, handily. All except for the Dick and Tom Pratt and Andrew Charters big Schooners which each had her own wheeled carrier. After Registration the first official part of the 2006 Traditional Watercraft Regatta was the Welcoming Social Hour. Saturday, September 23rd. The Skippers Meeting was early so that we could maximize our time on the race course. Having reduced the number of classes from six in 2005 to four in 2006 allowed us to schedule many more races for our competitors. We were able to use our “Arrow Head” course again this year. Unfortunately, the wind was from the West which gave us a downwind start. The Chase Boat was manned and ready. Saturday: Large Schooners The first class to sail in this year’s regatta was the large schooners. The wind was forecast to be 10 – 15 knots with gusts to 20 knots as a cold front was approaching. The wind was already building when the large schooners took to the water just before 9:00 am. Most of the other skippers were keen observers of the racing to judge how the building wind conditions affected the largest models to sail in the regatta. The large schooner class had a very diverse collection of boats ranging from the 6 foot schooners of Tom and Dick Pratt (2 beautiful Bluenose models) and Andrew Charters (with Elizabeth Silsbee) to Buck McClellan’s Shadow (based on an EC12 hull), Marty Hayes Lady Jane schooner and George Surgent’s Sharpie The large schooners are, well, large. Photo by Bob Hall Page 8 Schooner (smallest of the large schooners at just over 51”). Buck McClellan with Shadow showed the way with a win in the first race, but George Surgent with his Sharpie Schooner and Marty Hayes with Lady Jane were able to win the next two heats respectively in the morning’s heat racing. Saturday afternoon brought even more wind and the skippers decided to wait the weather out until Sunday morning. Saturday: Skipjacks The Skipjack class was the largest class in the regatta with 11 boats starting the first race. The Skipjacks sailed the second heat of the morning on Saturday, and having seen the wind conditions of 10 – 15 knots with gusts to 20 knots on the course during the large schooner race, they knew they were in for some tough sailing due to the strong winds. By the end of the morning’s racing, three boats had already withdrawn due to equipment or boat problems, such as a broken bowsprit and a destroyed sail winch servo. By the end of the afternoon heats on Saturday, three more boats were out, leaving only five boats to start the final race on Saturday afternoon. Skipjacks are challenging boats to sail even when the wind conditions are an optimum 5 – 10 knots, but when you have much stronger winds, they take on a mind of their own. Boats being knocked flat on the water and boats rounding up due to gusts at the wrong time gave the Skipjack skippers some of the greatest challenges of the regatta. All the starts were down wind, and trying to see the first mark with a sea of white sails on both tacks effectively blocking the mark from view, took a lot of concentration to make the decision when to turn for the mark. There were many collisions and entanglements, making a lot of work for the Chase Boat crew. Avoiding the raft-ups was key to getting a good finishing result. Saturday: Vintage M’s Extreme wind conditions affected all classes racing on Saturday. During strong wind gusts a number of boats experienced gear failures and loss of control resulting in “entanglements” with other boats or worse, dock pilings!! Needless to say the guys manning the chase boat were not bored. Afternoon races for schooners were canceled by a nearly unanimous vote of the skippers. The Vintage “M” skippers, however, voted to “go for it”!! Was this decision an expression of unthinking bravado or just well placed confidence in their little sloops? The later proved to be true. The VM’s proved themselves the best suited to survive the treacherous wind gusts that afternoon. This is not to say there weren’t any sail dunking knockdowns or brief episodes of uncontrolled flight. All in all they did very well, providing spectators an exciting exhibition of R/C model boat handling in extreme conditions. Seven of the nine boats entered in the competitions completed all three afternoon races despite the conditions. Six races in all were held including three held earlier Saturday morning. Al Suydam’s #35 Cheerio II walked away with first place honors finishing first in five of the races. Second place went to #22 “Big” Joe Cieri and third place went to #316 “Little” Joe Cieri. Saturday evening we all gathered at the Solomons Island Yacht Club for the Regatta Cook out. Sunday, September 24th. We again started our racing early so that our competitors could get on the road and past Dover, DE before the NASCAR races ended. The sailing on Sunday allowed us to make up for the cancellation of racing on Saturday af- Skipjacks at the starting line. Photo by Bob Hall Page 9 ternoon. The models had experienced winds of scale hurricane force on Saturday. Sunday: Large Schooners Sunday’s weather forecast was for even stronger winds, but the conditions in the cove looked sailable, so the large schooners launched for three more races. Marty Hayes won the first race, followed by Andrew Charters wining the second race, and another win in the last race by George Surgent. When the final results were tallied, George Surgent had won the class with 11.5 points. Andrew Charters was second with 12.75 points, and Marty Hayes was third with 17.5 points. One of the key reasons for George’s win this year was the ability of his Sharpie Schooner to plane downwind. This ability gave George a tremendous advantage as the first leg was down wind, and it was not unusual to see the Sharpie Schooner at the front by the first mark. The Sharpie was not as quick as the others upwind, however, and many of the heats saw a lot of “come from behind” from the others on the upwind legs. Sunday: Skipjacks The Skipjack fleet was back up to seven starters for the last two races. Consistent sailing and having a strong boat also meant a good result for this regatta. Rich Navickas proved to have the right combination of both to win the class with three race wins and a total of 11.25 points for seven races. Tommy Younger was second with one race win and 30.5 total points, and Charlie Roden from Spring Lake, sailing his Skipjack in it’s first regatta, was third with 40 total points. Richard Rogers started the regatta well up the field in the first two races, but a broken boat caused him to scratch #33 from the regatta. Tommy Younger offered Richard his spare boat and Richard sailed her well enough to have scored second place in total points. However, having sailed two separate boats disqualified him from the final standings. Following lunch the SIMBC Victoria’s came out and six of the ladies took the helm for the Powder Puff Regatta. Four tough heats were sailed in the Museum Boat Basin. Saturday and Sunday: Schooners As mentioned earlier, the schooner captains decided not to sail Saturday afternoon. Their decision, influenced by the sound of crunching wood during the earlier Skipjack races, reflected an appreciation of their beautiful schooner models complexities and limitations. In other words, they knew how hard it would be to untangle long bowsprits and overhanging booms while hanging over the side of a row boat in strong gusting winds without damaging the nice scale details on many of these boats. It was the right decision. None the less, schooners were able to complete three races in Saturday morning’s gusty winds and three Sunday morning’s much milder conditions. Ten schooners in all competed. Five of the ten were nifty little Sharpie Schooners that made such an impression on the Pratt brothers that it looks like they will be building 8 of them with their model club in Ohio this winter. The final results of the races are as follows. “Big” Joe Cieri #11 took first place honors with 3 firsts The 50” schooners make a lovely sight on the way to the windward mark. Photo by Marla Surgent Page 10 and 3 seconds. Al Suydam #22 finished second and Ned Lakeman #4 placed third. Commodore’s Comments: As in the past it has been our pleasure, the SIMBC and GSMS, to host this great regatta. Great because of the wonderful people to trek here from all over the USA. Thanks for coming and making our efforts worthwhile. Thanks also to the Director of the Calvert Marine Museum and all the staff who are involved in this effort and to all our members who did so much! Winners Marshall Croft Sportsmanship Award: David Querin, Youngstown, Ohio USVMYG Craftsmanship Award: Thomas Pratt, Morrow, Ohio Longest Distance Travelled: Ned and Jackie Lakeman, West Ossipee, New Hampshire Skipjack Class 1. Richard Navickas, Lusby, Maryland 2. Thomas Younger, St. Leonard, Maryland 3. Charles Roden, Colts Neck, New Jersey Vintage Marblehead Class 1. Alan Suydam, Lusby, Maryland 2. Joseph M. Cieri, Toms River, New Jersey 3. Joseph V. Cieri, Toms River, New Jersey Getting Our Feet Wet For The 2007 US-UK Free Sail Regatta e have been talking about the 2007 US – UK 36 in Restricted Class Free Sailing Challenge for about a year. The sailing venues have been selected – San Francisco and San Diego. San Diego is building some boats and practicing with that “Vane” thing that hangs off the back of the boat. What else is there to do – have a practice Regatta between San Francisco and San Diego? On November 19th, 2006 six Skippers from the San Francisco Model Yacht Club journeyed south to San Diego. They included: Mary-Rose Cassa, Mike Stobbe, Jeff Stobbe, Ed Schoestein, Steve Ma and Earl Boebert (from Albuquerque). They were joined by three Skippers from San Diego: Bob DeBow, Mark Hallberg and Ernie Mortensen. The boats were unload and rigged and readied for the competition. It was the first time in 47 years that a free sail event was held between the San Francisco Model Yacht Club and the San Diego Argonauts. The pond was created for Vane Sailing in the 1940’s. It is about 250 feet wide by 750 feet long with a prevailing westerly wind off the Pacific Ocean. Many of the American Model Yachting Association’s National Championship Regattas are held in San Diego. It’s a beautiful venue and the weather was superb. Schooner Class 1. Joseph M. Cieri, Toms River, New Jersey 2. Alan Suydam, Lusby, Maryland 3. Ned Lakeman, West Ossipee, New Hampshire Large Schooner Class 1. George Surgent 2. Andrew Charters, Meggett, South Carolina 3. Martin Hayes, Annapolis, Maryland Powder Puff Regatta 1. Marla Surgent, St. Leonard, Maryland 2. Diane Cieri, Toms River, New Jersey and Marthellen Hoffman, Locust Grove, Virginia 3. Susan Querin, Youngstown, Ohio and Kay McClellan, Dowell, Maryland Buck McClellan, Alan Suydam , George Surgent I enjoy sailing in San Francisco, but we have a different sort of pond in San Diego. First, it is a salt water pond. Secondly it is a tidal pond. Thirdly, we don’t have a walkway around the pond so when we say “Getting Your Feet Wet” we mean that figuratively and literally Protective foot coverings are recommended. The guys from San Francisco took to the pond like ducks, and had to dodge a few ducks on the windward leg. Historically, when free sail regattas were held in San Diego the boats were turned by hand, so the San Diego contingent didn’t use poles. The camaraderie and competition was outstanding. After a day of sailing the results for the top three finishers were: 1. Jeff Stobbe, San Francisco MYC 2. Mark Hallberg – San Diego Argonauts 3. Mike Stobbe – San Francisco Model Yacht Club Page 11 That was then, this is now. An unknown A Class competitor in 1958; Steve Ma of the San Francisco MYC a half century later. Lower photo by Ernie Mortensen We probably should let the UK Team know that there is deep water further out from the shore and the alligators are beastly. Just kidding guys! Ernie Mortensen Page 12 t is not easy describing “windling,” things too seriously.’ Once a week, we of the let alone the “benefits” of just tootAncient Mariners, all friends, mustard keen ling around a pond or lake with a and highly unstructured sail a variety of sailmodel yacht seemingly `aimlessly to boats. We pay no fees, we have no “execumany, and try selling that concept to tive” (I lie, there is Mo our Dogadore, Bob s o m eWalters endearone already toing little pooch) tally sold in and for a few `”racing!” Well hours we sail try selling ice “like gentlecream out in men” up and the frozen down the pond wastes of the and across, Antarctic, why sharing the lateven the penest jokes, talkguins will give ing to passers you the cold by and just shoulder ! One windling, chap rang me cruising to no up to ask me particular whether winplace. Windling had anydling? Now thing to do you know ! with human Peter Bauhofer, expellance of one of my air which I took many friendsto mean “burpnever-met who ing” or lives in Austria Peter Bauhofer’s Magnificent J Class Endeavour “farting.” I has made a thought at first m a g n i fi c e n t he was winding model of that most beautiful of J Class boats, me up and in fact the jury is still out on that Endeavour. Peter has had it on the water but one ! Since he did however take out a subthe last time I heard from him he was awaitscription to my magazine of the time I can’t ing the help of his wife to make the sails. I really be sure. A charming San Francisco visidon’t know whether he is ever going to sail it tor to our Auckland (Onepoto) lake could not a great deal, I somehow doubt it but his believe that we of the Ancient Mariners workmanship is so superb that this photowent there just to cruise around, and kept graph of the deck area is truly worthy of saying “YOU DON’T RACE ?” To him I sharing with readers. think it was like going to the ballet and wearing a mask and ear plugs for the entire perHans Staal meanwhile completed his Garformance ! nelenschuit in the Hague in The Netherlands. Having decided he wanted to build a smaller Windling is just having fun, enjoying sailing model which could fit in his car with the sails our boats, relaxing, sharing friendship and up and the false keel attached, he chose the fellowship, never arguing, and as I like to put type of boat used out of the fishing port of it, `taking seriously the art of not taking Page 13 get it to the right shape, Hans bent the planks using the heat of an electric paint stripper, which he felt was easier to handle than a gas flame. A Garnelenschuit and Crew, by Hans Staal of The Netherlands In Auckland, New Zealand, Derek Nicholson has built and is now sailing a model of the South Seas schooner, Tiare Taporo, `Flower of the lime’ in the language of Tahiti. He drew the hull up using line drawings of the actual boat by Clifford Hawkins who knew her (and her long term skipper) well. A delightful sight on the water the model evokes great nostalgia of the period when sailing ships took cargo and before engines replaced Scheveningen located just 3 kms from where he lives, the flatbottomed Garnelenschuit from the 1700-1900 period used for shrimp fitting on the North Sea coast . Because at that time Scheveningen had no harbour, the ships had to be beached in front of the village and their flat bottoms were massively constructed. This wonderful photograph of the 60 cm model up on the beach and awaiting the tide is another example of Hans Staal’s skill as both a modelmaker and a high class photographer, and for the record, his crew are all handmade. An interesting point, the hull planking is in 2.5mm oak and to Derek Nicholson’s Sailing Schooner Tiare Taporo, sails as a means of power. Built on temporary frames and scarped keel, stem and stern post, the 1300mm long model was planked in kauri and weighs 3 ¾ kgs. It took Derek 8 months to build. “BLOODY HELL ! WE ARE GOING TO HIT SKULL ISLAND ! “ Finally we must have a bit of humour (to my American readers, `humor’) and with the photo courtesy of Will Lesh’s Tippecanoe Boats I have merely added the caption. Oh and by the way, Will’s wife Cynthia (`the island’) suffered no injury and Will’s Master’s Certificate was not revoked ! Mark Steele Page 14 The start of a race from the dock at Long Beach Harbor. he photographs on these pages date from 1936. They appeared in Modern Mechanix Hobbies and Inventions for August of that year, accompanied by a singularly uninformative text. All but two of the pictures deal with the Long Beach youth program and show sailing in Long Beach Harbor. The student boats appear to be Marbleheads. (Above) Running boards had more than one use. (Right) Young builders get a boat ride to the starting float. What fun that must have been! Page 15 The upper picture and that on the facing page show H.O. Phillips, the Commodore of the Los Angeles Model Yacht Club, with his 54” Star model. Phillips regularly skiff sailed this model the 24 miles to Catalina Island. The model itself is shown to the right. The picture at the lower right is of the winners of a Park Department regatta in New York’s Central Park. The article reported that the event drew over 200 sail and power boats. Earl Boebert Page 16 Dreams of the Old Marbleheaders Live On. “Yachting With Models” Now Available D.N. Goodchild has, over the years, reprinted many nautical books that otherwise would be hard or impossible to obtain. Goodchild reprints are not facsimiles or scans but are brand new, reset versions. Over the past few years Goodchild has quietly reprinted many classic model yachting books, the latest being John Black’s Yachting With Models which is centered around his Cheerio series of M Class boats. To find the listing, go to www.dngoodchild.com and follow the “Model Boat” link. It is available at $24.95, much less than the $175.00 or so the originals fetch. don’t know how many of you who have been around this sport of R/C sailing over the years. Those that have; do have these inklings to preserve their best boat. The need to keep the symbol of these memories past. These are those that see the need to preserve the almost forgotten boats of the past. Of the past times when sail area verses waterline lengths were argued at length and the almighty prismatic co- efficient was a thing of awe and one only the intelligent few could actually grasp the meaning of. The newer sons to this all consuming hobby, wonder at these meanderings of the mind our youth in boyhood things of the touch of Dacron and what the warp is doing on the sails or the smell of the soldering iron on plastic as the spinnaker is cut. Or the smell of varnish as it dries in the workshop overnight. Fiberglass “Sun Kiss” Replica Available GRP Model Yachts now offers a fiberglass radio control replica kit of the famous Gus Lassel 1945 Sun Kiss Marblehead design. Visit their website for more details at www.modelyachting.com or call Adrian Olson at 831-724-7000. It is anticipated GRP will attend the 2007 VM National Regatta at Redd’s Pond with their new Sun-Kiss R/C model kit and an original SunKiss vane boat. Vintage Marblehad For Sale Scott Bartlett of Andover, MA, has a vintage Marblehead up for sale. For details contact Scott at 978 292 5385 or Scott.Bartlett@polycom.com Sailing in DC Member George Steele notes that the National Park Services is soliciting comments on a plan for the National Mall, the area featured on our cover and one has not seen model yachting since 9/11. If you’d like to help get sailing back, add your comments to: www.nps.gov/nationalmallplan KA 1, Thea, the first Marblehead in Australia. Page 17 For these are the memories of the Old Marbleheader’s past. I have been a Marbleheader all my model sailing life. Sure, I’ve tried other classes, who hasn’t? I always came back to my favourite class, the Marblehead. Life goes on and the boats come and go. But there is always one boat that sticks in your mind or for that matter, never quite gets out of my workshop. Year in, year out, there it is, somehow, you can’t bear to part with it. For it has that certain “something” about it and, well, it fits in the car. Over time, I guess, I have developed into a model yacht collector, for I have, what I consider a good range of boats. I only collect what I like. Now this doesn’t mean necessarily the best designs of the eras either, just what grabs me. I have a liking for Australian designs but after saying this, my favourite boat has to be the old Marblehead, Epic by Tom Protheroe, which won the National American Championships in 1976. Oddly this boat will only appeal to some old Marbleheaders for it has a traditional doubleended hull shape. This design feature is not used to any extent in this country. Perhaps, that is why it appeals to me. Funnily enough, for some reason, I have only sailed it 3 times and have no urge to do a repeat performance. Well, it sails fine and is a good goer but there it is. I have some other Marbleheads including a fine example of the Dick Priest designed Bewitched. In actual fact, the last of the Witch Series. This boat is legendary in early Marblehead designs. Planked in Australian Red Cedar from the hands of D.V. Billing, probably Australia’s foremost planker in model racing hulls. I consider myself to be lucky having at least one of his creations. This I suppose is looking at the other side of Old Marbleheads, that there is a market value on them apart from what they might sell as an ‘old cheap boat for someone’. Some really good buys have cropped up over the years, such as Blue Gum, a Witchcraft and a Les Hall’s ‘Panic’ both very early wooden Marbleheads from the old Sydney Model Yacht Club from the 1960’s era. Both worth a great deal in historical value and money. And here it is 2006. This is the year of a new beginning, another turn to life with Marble- heads. And what a life it will be for more Old Marbleheaders are joining the fray’. For this boat never stops, it reinvents itself and who knows maybe this year is the year for Old Marbleheads to come to the fore again. There are about 10 Clubs in Australia that sail old Marblehead. Recently another one club came to my attention, the Christchurch Club in New Zealand. They are a big club that sail their old Marbleheads as 10 raters in their Witch class. The funny thing they said that it was good in a weeded pond and it had a good turn of speed. Didn’t I say Old Marbleheads… re-inventing themselves? Anyone interested in Old Marbleheads can contact me: shcrewes@bigpond.net.au Stephen Crewes Adventures in Cold Molding have always admired the look of diagonally-planked, cold molded wooden hulls, and intrigued by the idea that a wooden boat could come close to the strength to weight ratio of advanced composites. When it came time to build a new free sail 36R for the US/UK Challenge Cup, I decided to give it a try. I had two starting points, an article by Ted Houk we published some time ago, and the experience of building my current strip-planked 36R. What follows is a tale of successive failures capped by a partial success, documented here because often the most valuable lessons are those which teach you what not to do. First Try: Veneer/Veneer, Pinned The first step in cold molding is to make the mold. I made mine from scraps of structural foam left over from making the Yankee III prototypes because I wanted it to be able to hold pins; as it turned out, blue insulating foam would have worked just as well. Not thinking, I made the form as if it was to be the plug for a fiberglass mold, just to the dimensions of the hull. I chose mahogany veneer and Titebond III glue, and proceeded to lay out a two-layer hull, with the inner layer wide and vertical and the outer layer diagonal planked. The first layer was steamed in a rice cooker before being laid on the mold. Page 18 Lessons Learned: Pins don’t hold thin veneer well. Steaming makes the wood flexible, but it shrinks when it dries, requiring it to be repositioned before gluing. The mold has to support wood outside the dimensions of the hull. Second Try: Veneer/Veneer, Clamped First veneer layer, clamped with battens and adjustable bungee cords. Not the gaps due to shrinkage; these planks touched when laid down wet. I built out the mold at the ends and the sheer, and came up with the idea of clamping the planks in place with ¼ square spruce battens, tied down with adjustable bungee cords. Lessons Learned: Clamping works well. Laying the second layer was extremely difficult owing the first layer moving around while laying the planks. The resulting shell was strong, but brittle. Third Try: Glass/Veneer/Veneer This time I shifted to epoxy as the adhesive and began with a layer of ¾ oz. cloth to which the first veneer layer was epoxied to stabilize it. This hull was destroyed pulling it off the mold. Lessons Learned: Laying the second layer “wet” is a slippery, frustrating business. Once the hull is planked it is too rigid to remove from the mold easily. Fourth Try: Kevlar/Veneer/Glass After considerable reflection, I decided to use kevlar for the inner layer, coating it with epoxy and laying the keelson on it. Kevlar is much stronger than fiberglass for a given weight and can be pulled down and taped over the mold without wrinkling. It absorbs more resin and is harder to “wet” than fiberglass, although I find the Aerospace Composite Product resin to work just fine. Kevlar “fuzzes up” when abraded and is therefore only suitable for inner layers. A “panel” of planks, coated with epoxy on the inside and clamped to the kevlar layer on the mold. This early panel protected the battens with waxed paper; later panels were completely covered with tape. After the epoxy set I pulled the kevlar layer off the mold while the shell was still flexible. Then I “recharged” the parting material on the mold and taped the shell back down. I also changed my planking technique, “dry planking” a course of 12 or so planks, pinning and clamping them in place and covering them with a layer of masking tape to form a kind of panel which was then epoxied and clamped as a unit. The masking tape adhesive provided an adequate barrier level to prevent adhesion of any epoxy that seeped through the cracks. After planking was completed the hull was sanded fair, filled with Microfill, finish sanded and covered with 5 oz fiberglass. Lessons Learned: I didn’t pay enough attention to the fact that the optimum planking angle, that is, the angle at which the plank will lay flat to the curve, varies over the length of the hull. I tried to compensate for raised planks by using many battens and clamping hard. This was only partially successful, leading to spots which had to be filled. This did not appear to affect the strength at all but looks terrible. Conclusions to Date The kevlar/veneer/glass sandwich is impressively strong and rigid, so much so that Page 19 very little internal reinforcement is going to be needed. The shell weighs 10 ½ oz., which, considering its 9 inch beam and 5 oz. glass outer layer, makes this technique competitive with other advanced methods. The next set of experiments will use “peel and stick” veneer to avoid the need for the clamps. The results will be written up in the next issue of The Model Yacht. Earl Boebert “Dodge” and “Dodge” Again n a previous issue we presented the plans for “Dodge,” the nifty little fourteen foot catboat from the 1880s shown here. Al Borchardt’s model; ⅜ full size comes out just five and a half feet long. Jeff Stobbe’s eighteen foot version of Dodge in the shed, with assorted smaller creations of Jeff’s in the background. Highgate Park, 1854 Dodge Within two issues member Al Borchardt built the beauty at the top of the next column at ⅜ full size. Not to be outdone, member Jeff Stobbe has scaled the design up to eighteen feet and is in the process of construction now. Someday, somehow, we’re going to have to get the two “Dodge” versions together on the water for a picture. Earl Boebert verleaf is one of the the earliest, if not the earliest, illustrations we have for model yachting. It comes from the Illustrated London News for August 12, 1854. Russell Potts assures us that the drawing is accurate; the effect of the visit of the schooner America in 1851 can be seen in the raked masts of some of the models. The accompanying article stated that “the beauties of the scenery and the and the bracing air attracted a gay company to witness the mimic match; and the novel sport continues to prosper.” Which of course it has, right to the present day. Page 20 Earl Boebert Page 21 “Kiltie” ohn Black was proud of his Scottish heritage, and labored hard and without much success to promote the 6 Meter or “Wee Six” class, so popular in Scotland, in the United States. The class rules were essentially those of the full-size 6 Meter class to the odd scale of 1 ⅔ inches to the foot. The class also required the carrying of internal ballast to simulate the weight of a crew. Black’s Kiltie was typical of her class, being 65.5 in. overall, 40 in. on the waterline, 10.62 in. beam, 9.06 in. draft, carrying 1105 sq. in. of sail area on a displacement of 26.42 lbs. Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 The drawings reproduced here come from an article published sometime in the early 1940s, at which time the class was essentially dead in the United States. As with the 1 ½ inch to the foot scale R Class, the model yachting community overwhelmingly chose the Marblehead Class, which offered a slightly handier size and, more importantly, a straightforward measurement problem. Both the Six Meter Class, based on the International Rule, and the R Class, based on the Universal Rule, required a tank and scales for measurement and a more or less complicated calculation involving waterline length, sail area, and displacement. A Marblehead, by contrast, could be measured “dry” at pondside with simple “go / no go” dimensions. Even if you do not choose to build a Kiltie, the drawings here are valuable for anyone building a replica or restoring a model from the Vintage Era. If you are interested in building one, you will have to take the ½ size station drawing and use it to redraw the profile and waterlines, as the drawing from the magazine article is hopelessly distorted. Earl Boebert A Major New Publication by Curved Air Press A Review of “How to Build a Model Yacht” rom the late 1800’s to around 1930 or so there was a significant interchange between model and fullsized yachting. The two major yachting magazines in the United States, Yachting and The Rudder, published news and technical information on model yachting, as did general “sporting” publications such as Outing and Forest and Stream. The implications of scale effect were not well understood, and even as late as the 1920s designers thought that useful information about a full sized boat could be obtained from 1/12 sized models; today we know that the minimum size required is more like ⅓. The Rudder magazine offered a series of books on topics of interest to the yachting community, covering things like design, construction, upkeep and racing rules. In 1902 they Page 26 published a thin, large-format book by Herbert Fisher called How to Build a Model Yacht. The book was reprinted in 1917. Copies of either edition are rare and expensive, and, owing to the cheap, high-acid paper used, are usually in a more or less advanced state of decay. Russell Potts, and his Curved Air press, has done us the favor of reprinting this work in a more convenient size, and adding an introduction and commentary which is almost double the size of the original text. This additional material is done to Russell’s usual high standard of scholarship and places the original work in both its social context and the context of model yachting of this era in the United Kingdom. The book is well illustrated with both photographs and drawings. The latter, though perfectly legible, could have been more clearly reproduced. Despite this minor flaw, Russell has produced what surely will become the standard work on model yachting during this period. Earl Boebert Publication Data Fisher, Herbert: How to Build a Model Yacht (1902) with a New Introduction and Commentary by Russell Potts. Curved Air Press, 8 Sherard Road, London SE9 6EP, Tel 020 8850 6805 or The Model Yacht is published three times a year by the U.S. Vintage Model Yacht Group. Copyright 1998 to 2007 U.S.V.M.Y.G. Reproduction for noncommercial purposes permitted; all other rights reserved. Other copyrights are maintained by the original holders and such material is used here under the fair use provisions of the relevant copyright acts for nonprofit research and educational purposes. Editorial Address: 9219 Flushing Meadows NE Albuquerque NM 87111 Email: boebert@swcp.com Phone: 505 823 1046 Officers of the U.S. Vintage Model Yacht Group: President: John Snow Eastern Vice-President: Ben Martin Western Vice-President: Dominic Meo, III Midwest Vice-President: Tom Pratt Southeastern Vice-President: Thom Mclaughlin Vintage M Class Coordinator: John Henson Vintage 36 Inch Coordinator: Al Suydam A Class Coordinator: Rod Carr U.K. Coordinator: Graham Reeves Canadian Representative: Doug McMain Historian: Earl Boebert Archivist: Jim Dolan curvedairpress@aol.com Available in the United States and Canada for $20.00 postpaid from the U.S. Vintage Model Yacht Group at the editorial address below or by PayPal to boebert@swcp.com Purchasers outside North America should contact Curved Air Press. Page 27