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.