Ames 2 Woodie For Sale

Just recently got this email from Jamie Leopold;

"I am the fellow from Vermont who bought Bill Moss' wooden Ames 2 I-14. I still have the boat....not much has been done to it. It still needs a better home than I have to offer it. I have lots of 14 stuff to go with it including 3 masts, a couple of centerboards, lots of fittings and more. Any one interested should contact me."

This is the same one I featured in a previous post and video not quite a year ago. Definitely somewhat of a project though it has most of the pieces. And this 14, classic looking though it is, has never touched the water!

I asked Jamie who shot the YouTube video;

"The video was shot by a friend named Tim McKegney, who was looking for a 14......I think Tim came to look at it about 3-4 years ago. Don't know if her ever found one."

Stradivarius Sails Again!

Stradivarius was the name of the International 14 that Bill Moss and I campaigned in 1980 and 1981. It was an McCutcheon built (Isle of Wight) beautifully cold molded in mahogony, a Kirby IV design that Bill bought from West Coast hot shot Steve Toschi, who, if I remember correctly, won a POW in her. US 960 was her number and she was a good craft and, as she had done for all her crews, treated Bill and I well.

I got a call from fellow old 14'er Tom Price that he and Doug Lupe (Stradivarius's current owner) were going to bring her to the light of day after  being garaged for twenty five or so years and race her in a pursuit race for Classic Wooden boats sponsored  by the National Sailing Hall of Fame. Mid-day on a Saturday I was off Trident Point on the U.S. Naval Academy grounds with one of my not-so-fancy cameras to record for posterity the re-splashing of a once top of the line International 14 and now definitely a Classic. Stradivarius sports a full battened main which became class legal in 1982, 1983 time frame but still has the single trapeze and the symmetrical spinnaker which Bill and I raced with.

Tom and Doug were able to win the Dayboat division but not without some tense moments with the 1860's reproduction Sandbagger at the finish.

Three photos of Tom and Doug in the "Strad". The craft in the background of the first photo is the Herreshoff 25 which was competing in the Cruising division.

---

Stradivarius sailing in the summer of Covid-19.


Coincidentally, that same weekend, Bill invited me and former I-14 World Champion John Gallagher (and wives, girlfriends) over to dinner on Friday night and on Saturday morning, I ran into Jim Biles, who owns the other Classic 14 in Annapolis, another McCutcheon 14, in front of West Marine where we chatted for 15 or so minutes.

Catching up - another US One-Design surfaces

This blog has been dormant for most of the summer. It happens.

I have been receiving some emails and here is one I would like to share (look at the post following this one for a Douglas and McCleod 14 that is up for sale).

Allan Pickman of New Hampshire has picked up a Douglas and McLeod Int. 14 and has posted on the Woodenboat forum about his find. The hull looks very restorable. Unfortunately he is thinking of putting a rig other than the normal International 14 rig into her.

From a photo I lifted from the Woodenboat forum.

Douglas and McLeod 14 up for grabs

I received the following email just last week from Bill Haugen;

"[I] wanted to let you know about my Douglass & McLeod boat with sail US 264, currently located on Tilghman's Island, MD.

The cold-pressed mahogany boat was purchased from the builder as part of a fleet by Dartmouth College about 1945. About 10 years later, a group of physicians in Burlington, Vermont bought the entire fleet from the college who was planning to replace them with new boats.

The first man to launch and board his new vessel stepped though the hull. The result was that the whole fleet was taken to the Shelburne Shipyard in Shelburne, VT, where a thin skin of fiberglass was applied and new gunnels were made for rigidity and sitting comfort.

In 1964 after my high school graduation, I purchased "Whirlaway" from a physician whose daughter I had been dating and with whom I had often sailed the boat over a several year period.

Over the succeeding 48 years, I have maintained and sailed the boat in Burlington, in the Dartmouth area, in the Belgrade Lakes area of Maine, and now in the Chesapeake. Throughout the many restorations I have taken great pleasure in bringing it back to its original glory, the most recent being three years ago. Since then it has taken a beating and again needs attention.

At this point I can no longer take pleasure from the excitement and risk of dinghy sailing and I want to pass the boat along to someone who will continue to love it, sail it, and maintain it."

Bill sends along the following photo.

Looks like a good vintage International 14. Respond through this blog using the profile email and I'll pass it along.

Canadian LSSA 14 foot dinghies from 1914 Yachting Magazine

I came across some old Yachting magazines that Google Books has digitized into the public domain. From 1914, here is an image of the 14-foot cat-rigged L.S.S.A dinghies racing on Toronto Bay.

US 728 - Bud Easter Proctor VI Resurfaces

Dennis Canty from Seattle finds US 728 on Craigslist and writes:

"The current owner thinks it was built in the mid-70's, but it sounds like that would be inconsistent with the sail number. I have never sailed a 14 but have raced a lot of other boats, including Lasers, Lightnings, Melges 24s, J24s, etc, etc. We would be using this boat for a local beer can series, the Duck Dodge, where there is a mixed dinghy class with 505s, 470s, and miscellaneous others. It's primarily a light air venue in mid-summer and favors a powered-up boat. Seems like the 14 might fit the bill nicely.

Does anyone retrofit a classic for an assymetrical spinnaker, or is this considered sacrilege? And is there any source for used sails? The boat as a whole is $750 and I would be a bit reluctant to spend more than that on a new suit of sails."

My reply:

"Most likely a Bud Easter fiberglass Proctor VI circa 1962-1963 (I have no records for this particular number). The Proctor VI's were very competitive in their day. Bud Easter's molds eventually went to the Clark Boatbuilding Company and they built Proctor VI's until they built the newer Kirby IV mold in 1969."

Dyke Williams, an active 14 sailor on the East Coast during the early 1960's, gives an update on the Proctor VI numbers in the comment section which I have moved over to the main post:

"The USIFA boat number book shows US 728 is a Bud Easter Proctor VI assigned on Oct 25 1962 to Fred Reebes Seattle. Seven Proctor VI hulls were assigned to Bud (US 721-728) in 1963, and an additional three (US 732, 733 and 735) in 1962. I have no idea why numbers were assigned out of order. Several of these hulls were not registered until 1964 or 1965 which suggests the owners purchased the incomplete hull and finished them later."

Dennis did buy US 728 and sends along some photos:

Talented sailmaker David Bell moved out from Toronto to Seattle and set up shop with Bud Easter to produce Easter 14 sails which is seen on this 14.

U.S. One-Design # 269

I had just got off the phone with George Moffat, who had modified and raced USOD US 268 in the mid 1950's, when I turned back to the computer and found an email about the next 14 in the number sequence, USOD US 269, built by Pat Curtiss in Erie Pennsylvania, in 1947.

From Pat's email:

"Here are a couple of photographs of US 269 which a friend and I built in high school from a Douglass and McLeod kit in 1947 in Erie, PA . The kit came with the centerboard case installed, so the difficult carpentry was done. We did all the rest . It was quite a surprise to the local small boat sailors to see the impressive performance of this boat. We sold the boat in 1952 and I don't know its fate.

By the way, the picture on Mar 2 of the interior is not a Douglass and McLeod model which was very similar to the Thistle, with a number of lateral slats forward near the mast step, and a number of lateral slats aft near the transom. There were two flotation tanks, one forward of the mast and the other just forward of the transom.

US312 was also in Erie PA in 1948 but we were never able to get a larger class going. We did race the boat at Put-in-Bay, OH a number of times."

Interesting about Pat's comments on the standard interior layout of the Douglass and McLeod One-Design. I do know that finishing off the shells, as Pat and his friend did, was a common way to get into the International 14 class in the 1940's and 1950's, and with all the amateur completions, there may be a wide variety of interiors. The interior layout I featured in a previous post as being of a One-Design was typical of the Uffa 14's being built in the late 1930's and was carried over to the early Fairey Marine 14's in the late 1940's. Come to think of it, the photo in that previous post may be a early Fairey Marine 14 and not a US One-Design. Oops! (After some thought, I've corrected that previous post.)

The two pictures, Pat sent along:

Classic 14 in Massachusetts

Simon Koch writes in:

"I am currently restoring a 14. I believe it is from the early 60's, it is made of fiberglass with wood spars and rod rigging. I have replaced the cap rails, faired and epoxy barrier coated the hull. I will send along some pictures. Any information about the boat is appreciated. It is located in Cape Ann MA."

Simon's 14 has a mainsail with the number 666, which was the number to Stuart Walker's famous Farrar designed "Salute" that won the POW in 1964. Unfortunately "Salute" was wood, built in England, so it appears this 14 may have inherited one of Stuart Walker's cast off sails. Awaiting photos so we can further ID this hull.

USOD # 370 Re-emerges - Slightly worn but restorable

Yarrow Thorne from Providence R.I. emails:

"I just picked up hull 370 today and hope to have the boat ready for display at the worlds in Toronto 2013........ I am looking forward to bringing back a classic."

From the pics, looks like USOD # 370 has spent a lot of time propped up on the starboard gunwhale, a long enough time that gunwhale is completely gone and the veneer on the sheer has deteriorated. Also, the interior seems to have disappeared; the thwart looks to be a modern afterthought. It's obvious Yarrow is starting from a basic shell, but, all in all, looks like a good project.

USOD # 360 Sails Again

Paul and Yvonne Galvez got their newly purchased USOD # 360 on the water last weekend (not sure where in Southern California it was, but there are some spectacular cliffs in the background). Paul's email was bubbling over with enthusiasm at sailing this newly rediscovered gem:

"Finally had a chance to put the old girl through her paces... I'm impressed. The boat is lively and very responsive. Even though she is tame by today's standards, it is still an athletic boat and demands precise trim for optimum speed and height. Believe it or not, the sails are original Ratsey and Lapthorne from '47. They are a bit blown out compared to what I am used to but in extraordinary shape nonetheless, with very little wear. This boat does not have any weight in the centerboard. No jib sheet cleats either. We got it planing in about 15 knots true and relatively flat seas. The vang exploded on a power reach but everything else held up fine.

She is getting a makeover now and will be beefed up at the mast partner, bulkheads,  dagger board trunk, and of course the vang. We do not want anymore explosions... Plans are to also replace the hiking straps and buoyancy tanks, along with some aesthetics. She should hopefully be ready to go by Summer. There is already talk of shipping her to Toronto for a vintage regatta that may take place during the 14 Worlds next year. Stay tuned."

And the pics of USOD #360 bombing along, spray flying after spending decades in a garage:

US One-Design Classic International 14 (Part 2)

Southern California becomes the center of the USOD class

Somewhere in the late 1940's the nexus of U.S One-Design International 14 fleet activity (the one-design now switched from the R.I.P. design to the Douglass and McLeod hot molded Uffa Fox Alarm hull shape) moved from the Rochester fleet to the Southern Californian fleet. And as one dynamic mover-and-shaker exited (the founder of the US International 14 class, George Ford of Rochester, retired from 14's and started another successful yachting career on the Great Lakes in a Sparkman and Stephens designed yawl), another one emerged, a Southern Californian, Dick Fenton, the Commodore of Balboa Yacht Club, Commodore of Southern California Yachting Association, and by 1948, president of the nascent U.S. International Fourteen Association.

Details of the rise of the Southern Californian USOD fleet are somewhat sketchy; it would be best to first go back and reread the excellent early Southern California history as put down by Peter Gales. It is at the 1948 "International Championship Regatta", hosted by George Ford and the Rochester Yacht Club, that the Southern Californians demonstrated how strong a one-design International 14 fleet they had organized in three short years. Six Californian 14 teams made the cross-country trip out east and they left with the majority of the prizes.

What do we know about the USOD from the  1948 "International Championship Regatta"?

1. A one-design rule had already been hammered out by 1948, as the regatta was split into two series; a three race series for the US One-Designs and a three race series for the "Open" International 14 (the Canadians were having none of this one-design; led by Charlie Bourke, they were happily developing new designs - also being hot molded). The USOD fleet met the requirements for the 'Open" rule (the English 14 development rule) and sailed  for the "Open" series trophies as well.
2. The one-design rule allowed lighter 14's than the open rule as some of the USOD's had to carry correctors to meet the 225 lb. hull weight minimum when racing in the "Open" rule.
3. In the light air to drifter series, the 1935 Alarm hull of the USOD would prove as fast as anything designed up to that point; five of the USOD's scoring better in the "Open" series than Charlie Bourke's 1944 'Conneda". (This was nothing out-of-the-ordinary as, much later, a re-rigged USOD would win a light air regatta in the 1970's against the latest Kirbys and Proctors.)
4. Obviously Douglass and McLeod was selling the USOD, either as a hull or a complete 14, to anyone who wanted to front the money. Since the USOD was the only 14 game in town for the United States in the late 1940's, the Douglass and McLeod USOD filtered into the East Coast - besides the fleet in Rochester there was a small fleet in Essex Ct -,  though the majority of boats were going west to the burgeoning fleet in Southern California. The East Coast, like the Canadians, would never buy into the one-design rule, but (and this is where the confusion comes from) the Douglass and McLeod Alarm hulls would always be referred to as the U.S. One Design (USOD), or One-Design for short, even though, on the East Coast, they would never be raced as a one-design.

Below is the somewhat famous photo of the kingpin of the early Southern Californian USOD fleet, Dick Fenton, in his Douglass and McLeod number 116 (note the caret symbol under the 14 insignia - designating this 14 as a one-design), sailing with a reef in the main.

(To be continued.)

U.S. One-Design Classic International 14 (Part 1)

U.S. One-Design International 14 - Pre-WW II and immediate Post-WW II

There is considerable confusion when I write about the U.S. One Design International 14 (this being the most common Classic International 14 hull being found for restoration). The International 14 has always been considered a development class. but there was a period before WW II, and the decade after WW II,  that major areas of U.S. 14 activity were sailing the 14's as a one-design, with their own rules. (As an aside, U.S. International 14 history is peppered with one-design classes that come directly from the International 14, such as the Jet 14, the Gannet dinghy and, more recently (1990's), another class called the One Design 14, based on the Jay Cross Mk 3 hull, built and marketed by Peter Johnstone.)

The history of the U.S. One-Design International 14 class starts pre WW II, in 1936, right at the beginning, when the founder of the U.S. International 14 class, George Ford, had local boatbuilders producing ribbed copies of the Uffa Fox "R.I.P" design in and around Rochester, New York. George Ford noted the success of American one-design classes of that period (the Snipe, Lightning, Comet, Star) and reasoned it would be better to get this new International 14 class, based on the English rules, off the ground in the U.S. as a one-design hull. George Ford's desire to mass produce a one-design 14 was immediately hamstrung by (in copying from Uffa Fox), the very complicated method of building these "R.I.P" hulls (double planked, about 80+ steamed ribs, thousands of copper rivets). George never quite solved the problem of meeting three criteria at the same time; how to build a "R.I.P." 14 down to weight, strong enough and, given the labor intensive construction, how to build them at a profit. It's hard to determine how many of these R.I.P copies were built (20, maybe 30). In 1938, the Rochester group ran into Sandy Douglass from Ohio at a Put-In-Bay regatta and shortly after that, Sandy Douglass started building ribbed 14's to a more modern and faster hull design than "R.I.P", that of Uffa Fox's later "Alarm" design ('R.I.P" being designed by Uffa in 1931, "Alarm" being designed in 1935). How many ribbed "Alarm's" Sandy Douglass built is unknown. (I've seen the total number of U.S. ribbed 14's built, both "R.I.P" and "Alarm" hulls pegged at 37, but this may be conjecture).

After WWII, around 1945, Sandy Douglass, now in partnership with Ray McLeod Sr, started producing both his famous Thistle sailing dinghy and the "Alarm" design International 14's using the hot molding ply veneer process developed during WW II. (The hull shells were molded by U.S. Molded Shapes in Grand Rapids Michigan - formerly U.S. Plywood - and then trucked back to Vermillion Ohio for completion.) Given the ability to mass produce hot molded ply hulls, the hull of choice for a One-Design International 14 now switched over to the Uffa Fox "Alarm" design. The Rochester fleet, already solidly pro one-design, was now to be joined by another fleet as one-design proponents; the new, upstart International 14 fleet in Southern California. (to be continued.)

Fairey Marine Early International 14 Interiror

After readers comments and some pondering, I've concluded that I was incorrect in my first post. This is not a Douglass and McLeod interior, but, is instead, the interior to one of the early Fairey Marine (English) hot molded Uffa Fox 14's that were imported into the U.S. I've put the incorrect first post in quotes after the picture.

Incorrect first post:

"Not surprising that the Douglass and McLeod One-Design (hot molded Uffa Alarm hull shape) has an interior that looks very close to the Douglass and McLeod Thistle, since Sandy Douglass transferred most of the post WW II International 14 technology into the Thistle. The mast thwart, the small side tanks bracketing the centerboard thwart can still be seen in the modern day Thistle. (This following statement is wrong!) Here is a picture of a Douglass and McLeod One-Design interior, exact date of the photo unknown but I put it in the mid 1950's."

Doc's Best

Doc has his own sailing blog and he's composed a great post over here about the years he owned a Schock Kirby 3 and how he and his wife learned about racing these tippy, overpowered racing craft. (It's funny, but when the trapeze was adopted in 1969, there was an explosion of mixed crews in the class.) He concludes with a sentiment I've heard many times from old fourteeners:

"As the years passed we realized the Fourteeners we met up with in this open developmental class were the best sailors, teachers and comrades we would ever know."

Hear! hear! (as they say in England)

I include two photos I've lifted from his post.

Thanks for sharing Doc!

A video of how did they hot molded International 14's

This fascinating video shows Fairey Marine workers hot molding a Firefly in England. The technique is identical to the process used in the post WW II International 14 production of the Douglass and McCleod US One-Designs, the Davidson Alarms, all the Fairey Mk's, and the post war Bourke designs (National Research Council and Plycrafts).

I can't embed this video but click on this link here to view.

Davidson Ski Company; More Information Needed

When I went digging into this North American International 14 history, I thought that only Douglass and McLeod built the hot-molded Uffa Alarm hull. I did have a couple of measurement certificates from the Seattle fleet that listed "Davidson" as a builder of the "One-Design" (Alarm shapes), but I assumed that this was probably a boat builder that was finishing off molded hulls supplied by Douglass and McLeod.

It appears that I have been wrong, as there was a Davidson Ski Company that morphed into the Davidson Manufacturing Company in Vancouver, British Columbia, and it appears they were hot-molding canoes, small sailboats and also, from my records, their own version of the Alarm International 14.

I haven't a confirmation of this, but everything points to this. I came across Phillip Merchant who posted this history on a wooden canoe forum:

"I have been doing some research on the Davidson company(s) and this is the first that I have heard of them building canoes. It does not surprise me however, as they seemed to have had many interests over the years. What I have so far is that Hamish Davidson was a cabinet maker and early on developed an interest in building skis. He built wooden skis (and I'm sure many other things) through the late 1920's and into the 1940's. There is a pair of wooden skis in a museum in Quebec circa 1940 built by him. There is also a reference to him building some of the first fiberglass skis. 

In the 1940's Davidson and Charles Hourston worked for Boeing together building the Mosquito bombers. In 1948 Davidson (with Charles Hourston) started building small boats of wood and later fiberglass. There seems to be several different companies under variations of the name Davidson."

Davidson had experience with the hot-molded wood manufacturing in building the Mosquito bombers, there exists hot molded 12 foot and 17 foot Davidson daysailors, and I have measurement certificates for Davidson built US One-Design (Alarm) International 14's - the only proper conclusion is that we have another builder of the US One-Design hot-molded hulls.

Internet research and inquiries on Davidson Manufacturing have not yielded anything in response. Hence, if you are reading this and have more information, leave a comment or track down my email address in my "About Me" section.

Picture of a Pre-War Ribbed Bourke

Peter Sly of the Prince Edward Yacht Club in Picton, Ontario, sends along this photo of a pre-war ribbed constructed Bourke International 14 (probably built in 1936 or 1937). Photo was taken in 1956 on one of the PEYC docks. Those pre-war International 14's were just gorgeous craft (see the rebuilding of US 112).

1971 Canadian Team at Annapolis

Former C&C designer, Rob Mazza, sends along a photo of the Canadian team at the 1971 Team Races in Annapolis. This was the first year an American Team won; the West Coast team taking the Team Race Championship - 6 wins to 3 losses. (Note the funnelator, a water-filled-balloon launcher popular for amusement at regattas, both on and off the water in those years - until someone suffered eye damage.)

Standing, L to R, Graeme Hayward (RSt.L.YC), Arthur Earl, Peter Jones (crew for Harry Jemmett).
Kneeling, L to R, John Robertson (RHYC), Ewan Swan (crew for Graham Hayward), George Overend (crew for John Robertson), Harry Jemmett (KYC), Rob Mazza (crew for Arthur Earl).

Bruce Kirby; On Designing his Mk 2

Bruce Kirby continues the story on the history of his 14 designs:

Developing the Kirby 2 (Flame)

"After the Canadians had won the 1961 Team Races (I had competed with the Mk 1. The Team Races were held in Toronto), Ward McKimm had said that if I would do a Mk 2, he would take the first one. Then I got Harry Jemmett of Kingston, my brother David Kirby, cousin-in-law Fred Anfossie from Ottawa and 2-3 others, including myself to sign up for the first batch. The boats were built in fiberglass by Johan Tanzer, located west of Montreal (there was no wood prototype). The first Mk 2's were launched in 1962. Johan Tanzer went on to be successful manufacturer of small cruising boats. The Mk 2 was also built in fiberglass in the U.S by Roger Moorman of Gloucester, Virginia (designer and builder of the Mobjack). Later on, the Mk 2 was also built in wood by Souter. Graeme Hayward had the first of these and it was in a Souter Mk 2 that Stewart Morris won his last of 10 wins in the POW."

Differences between the Mk 2 vs. the Mk 1

"The Mk 2 was not as deep under the mast (rocker), not quite as fine forward at the waterline. and not quite as full above the waterline forward. The Mk 2 was also slightly narrower on the waterline amidships. She would get on a plane earlier than the Mk 1. These were all very slight differences, but they added up to make a better all-round 14. The Mk 2 was very easy to sail to it's top potential."

How did American Roger Moorman come to build the Kirby 2?

"Roger Moorman had a glass layup system that he developed for the Mobjack that used a core material. The system looked good - I can't remember how we got in touch; Roger came to Montreal and taught Hans Tanzer his system and they both built the Mk 2 14's that way. The 14's got 1-2 in the 1962 CDA at Pointe Claire (I was first, Harry Jemmett was second) and that fall, Graeme Hayward asked me to have Souter also build them in wood. Graeme had the first wood Souter Mk 2 and quite a few were built by them. I think 'Pudders' (Jeremy Pudney) had one of them as well."

1958 USIFA Roster

One of the first things Stuart Walker did when he started the class newsletter 'On The Plane' in 1958 was compile a class roster. Good thing he did, as his roster is the best historical snapshot we have at who owned what 14 in 1958. I've redone the roster as a PDF file.

US 408

Another D&M One-Design has been located, this one in Ithaca NY. Owned by John Greenly, he bought it in 1971 from the West Coast. He has replaced the wooden mast with a cut down 505 mast and added some buoyancy. I have this 14 being owned by R.J. Savage of Corona del Mar, California in 1958.

Hopefully, down the road, he will send some pics.

Early pics from the Louise Ann Ford Collection

Start with two photos from Louise Ann Ford:

The first is an early photo with what looks like a teenage George Ford (skippering) with Bill Tarr (relaxing) on a LSSA 14-foot dinghy (decked, single main, lapstrake construction).

Louise Ann Ford Collection

And a picture of both US 1 (the original R.I.P.) and US 2 sailing, presumably out of Rochester. This photo was a frontispiece for a Regatta Announcement by the Danish club, Aalborg. George Ford would take a Rochester team of R.I.P 14's on a European tour in 1936, with stops in Denmark (racing against the Danish 14'ers at Aalborg), Norway and the POW on the Clyde. George was promoting the R.I.P. design as a One-Design and the Danes had built some of their own R.I.P. 14's.

Louise Ann Ford Collection

History of George Ford, from daughter Louise Ann Ford

George Ford was the founder of the US International 14 class. George was a champion sailor in the LSSA (Lake Sailing Skiff Association) 14 class in the 1930's and participated in the International Team Race sailed with both the International 14's (England) and LSSA 14-foot dinghies (Canada and the U.S) in Toronto, 1934. The English team trounced the Canadians and Americans, and George, seeing the writing on the wall, imported the Uffa Fox design R.I.P. in 1934/1935. George then proceeded to set up a boatbuilding operation out of Rochester NY to produce copies of the R.I.P. design . George tirelessly promoted the new 'International 14' class until he retired from 14's in 1949. The original English built R.I.P. was designated US #1.

Louise Ann Ford, daughter of George Ford, has a scrapbook of her father's sailing exploits and is kindly sharing them with the 'Old 14er'.

As I get Louse's material into the computer, I will post them.

Thanks again to Louise Ann Ford for sharing

Pictures from the Peter Gale article

Here are two pictures that accompanied the Peter Gale article about the history of the International 14 in Southern California (again from the May 1992 issue of Planing On). Both pictures are of the molded-plywood, One-Design 'Alarm' shape. Pictures from the 1950's. (Again, click inside the picture to start a slideshow.)

Southern Californian One-Designs off the Long Beach waterfront.

I'm not sure if Sue Ficker is - or is not - related to Bill Ficker, skipper of Intrepid in the 1970's America's Cup.

Picture of Bruce Kirby sailing his MK 1 International 14

Bruce Kirby sent along a photo of him sailing his Mk 1 'Torch' design.

Peter Gale on the History of the 14 in Southern California

From the May 1992 issue of U.S. International 14 newsletter "Planing ON".

Bruce Kirby, On Designing his Mk 1

In a series of emails and a phone conversation, Bruce Kirby related the story behind his first sailboat design, his International 14 Mk 1:

• In 1957, his friend, Roger Hewson, built a one-off fiberglass International 14 “Imagination” to his own design. (Roger, being an engineer with a degree from McGill, also built his own mast and sails). Before he designed and built his design, Roger and Bruce took the lines off Roger’s 1951 Bourke and Graeme Hayward’s Fairey Marine Mk 7 (Uffa Fox) . Roger developed a crude device to take sections from the hull made of pieces of ¼” ply, about 4” long by 1 ½” wide. These pieces were chained together with short bolts and butterfly nuts and the whole length was draped over the hull,and the nuts were tightened down. The now curved jointed plywood piece with the section shape was taken off the hull and the section shape was drawn on a sheet of plywood, then the lines were scaled down and transferred to paper.
• Roger’s 14 design “Imagination” ran hot and cold. Roger kept recutting his sails. Bruce feels that the Roger’s hull was pretty good; there was just so many different ideas being tried out at the same time that it was difficult to pin down the problems.
• Bruce came back from 1958 World Championship Team Races and POW in Cowes determined to design a faster hull upwind in a breeze. The Canadians were quick in the light stuff (they did win the Team Race that year) but were badly outclassed by the Kiwis (Geoff Smale and Ralph Roberts sailing his modified Windsprite “Atua Hau”) in any breeze over 10 knots.
• Bruce designed the Mk 1 over the winter of 1958-1959. The Mk 1 was built in Lachine, near Montreal by Bob Harris (Bob, an Aussie, was a close friend who designed and built catamarans nearby). Before the first one was finished (Bruce’s own 14), three others had ordered Mk I hulls. One was George Cook, Royal Navy Undersea Demolition Frog Man in World Wat II and also a dinghy designer for a few years after the war, a fine sailor and old friend of Bruce's. Bruce can't recollect the other two, though one was from Pointe Claire Yacht Club near Montreal. Bruce Kirby’s Mk 1 was actually launched in early summer of 1959 and won it’s first race. When Roger Hewson saw the Mk 1 in the flesh he said his ‘Imagination’ design was the thin one and Bruce’s Mk 1 was the fat one. In the Mk 1, Bruce fined up the underwater sections in the bow but still flared the gunwhale shape full up forward to prevent nosediving downwind.
• Compared to the Uffa designs at that time, Bruce feels the Mk 1 was definitely faster upwind and downwind in a breeze but was slower in borderline planing conditions (too much wetted surface in the wider aft sections). Graeme Hayward, sailing his Uffa design was particularly fast off the wind.
• Two of the Kirby Mk 1’s, Bruce’s and Ward McKim’s, were on the Canadian team in 1961 that won the World 14 team racing championships held at Toronto.

More 14 History For Sale; 1955

It's not just recently that the Kiwi's, in sailing competitions, have been coming out of left field and waxing everybody. The America's Cup, in modern times, is the prime example of Kiwi skill and ingenuity, but they did it in International 14's back in 1958. With no local fleet to speak of, Kiwi's Geoff Smale and Ralph Roberts showed up in England with a locally built version of the Farrar Windsprite design, and then proceeded to win the POW cup with devastating heavy air speed. Geoff cut his own sails and also decided the English were wrong and had moved the whole rig 8 inches back on his International 14.

Amazingly, just in the last week, the sistership to Geoff Smale's "Atua Hau" (Maori "Te Atua Hau-Ora: God of Nature) has shown up on the Internet for sale. Unfortunately, offered in New Zealand or I'm sure someone in the Northern Hemisphere would jump on this offering.

Pictures I lifted from the ad (the sail number K 646 is correct, according to Tom Vaughn's 14 history bible, numbers K 641 through K 646 were assigned to New Zealand):

From Carbon, Back to Hot Molded Wood

2011 U.S National Champ, Paul Galvez, (in the modern hi-tech International 14's) shot an email over to "Old 14er Central" about his surprising latest International 14 purchase.

"We just recently purchased a Douglas One Design, USA 360 built in '49. It's in surprisingly good shape and we intend to complete a restoration of her true to her era. If you have any info about this particular boat, please let me know. Any info about the Douglas One Design including photos of rigging and deck layout would be much appreciated. We are also consulting with our west coast elders for any info to make sure the restoration is accurate."

 Paul didn't detail who the "We" was in the team behind this purchase. I checked the records and US 360 isn't listed. The date of 1949 looks correct though (I have records on US 332 and US 390 as both being built in 1949). It does look like there is, on the West Coast, a considerable amount of restoration on International 14's that were built just post WW II. Perhaps a vintage gathering down the road?

Paul, two wire blasting in his modern International 14.................

US 360.... looks from the photo that Paul picked up a complete vintage 14 thats ready to go......

Two other pics of Roger Welsh and his Schock Kirby 3

Two other pictures of Roger Welsh and the Schock Kirby 3. The assumption is #835 was the first Kirby 3 out of Schock's molds.

The first one is the ad for 1968 Nationals held at Alamitos Bay, which Roger won. This is from the July 1968 issue of OTP.

The second one looks to be from the ocean course off Alamitos Bay. I'm not sure if this was from the 68 Nationals. This is from October 1968 issue of OTP.

Schock did build a Kirby 14!

The "Old 14er" blogger has to eat a little bit of crow here. See, I told Doc a couple of posts ago that I didn't think that Schock built any Kirby designs, since most of the Schock numbers were in the late 600 range. Well a couple of days ago, Mark Adams emailed me four Schock advertising pictures of, you guessed it, a Kirby Mk 3 model that Schock built. The pictures are of #835, "White Tornado", owned by Roger Welsh, the top California 14 sailor of the late 1960's. He won both the 1968 West Coast Championships and the U.S Nationals in #835.

A little research turns this up from the October 1968 issue of "On The Plane". Stuart Walker writes;

"With the advent of the new Schock Kirby III, which is being pushed successfully by the local fleet, the builder and agents up and down the coast, the continued availability  of the excellent Proctor VI and a new Kirby II in glass, several copies of which are being moulded by Bud Easter, the class will thrive in the West for years to come."

In one of the pics below, Roger is using the mainsail from his previous 14, #607, a Fairy Marine Mk ? built in 1958. (As always, click inside one of the pictures to start a slideshow.)

I don't think Schock built too many of the Kirby III's because the next year, Clark Boatbuilders of Seattle came out with the glass Kirby IV, a design that would prove competitive into the 1980's.

International 14 team from long ago get back together

Dr. Stuart Walker and his old International 14 crew, St. John Martin, got back together this Jan 1 2012, racing Stuart's Soling in the Severn Sailing Association's Ice Bowl.

Earwigoagin has the story over here.

Bob Reeves bombing around under spinnaker

Most of what I have in the photo archives are of the Annapolis International 14 fleet, understandably, since I live in Annapolis and sailed with the Annapolis fleet. Bob Reeves, with wife Peggy as crew, was one of the top Annapolis 14 sailors from the mid 60's through the 70's. Here is a series of photos of Bob and Peggy sailing their Kirby IV under spinnaker (I'm guessing early 1970's as it looks like Peggy is wearing a trapeze harness). Photos taken by Ellie Martin. (Click in the photo to get a larger format and to start a slideshow.)

Bob and Peggy perfectly in control.

Bob and Peggy perfectly in control.

Oops! Bob and Peggy not in control.

Old 14'er "Doc" posts on his blog

Another blogger, "Doc Haagen-Dazs" has an interesting post up on his blog about his time in a glass Schock, number 683, International 14.

I don't have records of #683 but #685 was built by Schock in 1961. I don't think Schock's hulls at that time were Kirby's but instead one of Uffa's Mk's.

1981 Team Race Party

This blog is, I admit it, all about nostalgia. Indulge the blogger on this one as he posts a video of the party for the 1981 International 14 Team Races. The party was held at the Robert Crown Sailing Center, US Naval Academy, Annapolis Maryland and features the sailors from the English, Canadian and the U.S East and West Coasts.

Northwyn Sails Ads

During the 1970's, Northwyn Sails out of Seattle was the supplier to the hot shot West Coast fleet. Their head sail designer, Mark Schmidt, wrote an interesting article on International 14 sail development for the North American sailing rag, One Design and Offshore Yachtsman magazine. Northwyn Sails were also kind enough to put some ads into "Planing On", the class newsletter, which featured some good photographs of 14's.

The first is an International 14 start, this may have been at the CORK regatta, Kingston Ontario.......

The second photo is, I think, of Baird Bardason screaming along on a two sail reach.......