Vintage Marblehead

In 1930 Roy Clough, then commodore of the Marblehead Model Yacht Club, proposed a new class of larger model sailboats. The first published reference we have is from Model Yachting for Oct–Nov 1930. These boats must be “50 inches on deck” (50 in LOA). The sail area was settled at 800 in², and the single most popular class in the history of model yachting was launched. Called variously the “Marblehead,” “50/800,” or “M” class, it had at one time over 1000 registered boats. The class became a national class in the US in 1932 and an international class in 1937. There were many reasons for its popularity: the size of the boat made for a good sailing model in all kinds of weather and was still (by design, it was rumored) small enough to fit in the back seat of a car. The simplicity of the rules contrasted with the other classes of the day, which required extensive measurement to determine whether a boat was legal.