YouTube Head Scratcher?

John Power from Saratoga Lake sent a nice email (several actually). I'll devote another post to his 14 stories. John did give me a link to a YouTube video of a bare, varnished 14 hull and asked;

"Wondered if you had seen this? The locals up at Saratoga think this is one that was built by JOHN SCARANO (google Scarno boats and check out the scarano 21 and 22)"

Indeed the video does show a very pretty International 14 hull, a Classic but with modern lines.........



Well John, talk about six degrees of separation. There are probably five or so people who know what hull this is and I'm one of them.... all the parties involved are very good friends of mine. (As you probably guessed by now, this isn't a Scarano design.)

This is a Bob Ames Mk2 hull (Bob is the designer of the Vanguard 15). Three were built by Ovington Boatbuilders in Northern England in the mid 80's; two were double bottom glass hulls, and one was wood with a cold molded bottom and ply sides. The wood one was a bare shell, owned by Bill Moss, who proceeded to install a seat tank layout, even though the class in the mid-80's had gone double trapeze with assymetric spinnakers. Bill, being a bachelor, did all the boatbuilding in his living room and it took a while. When he had completed the hull, Bill realized he now had a 14 that was not competitive, so the 14 remained as a living room centerpiece for many years. Bill eventually sold the 14 hull and all the parts to a fellow in Vermont. Bob, Bill, and I had dinner with the fellow when he arrived to take the hull North. No idea if this hull ever got completed to a sailing stage.

How do I absolutely know this is the Bill Moss Ames 2? Bill built the tripod out of phenolic tube, the only 14 that I know had a phenolic tube tripod instead of aluminum.

Stuart Walker History Part 2

Part 2 of Stuart Walkers 1962 article on the history of International 14's.

(Again, click on the top right arrow icon to get a window to read the article.)

Stuart Walker History Article Part 1

In April 1962, Annapolitan Stuart Walker, famous sailboat racer and sailing writer/book author, wrote a two part series on International 14 history for the One-Design and Offshore Yachtsman magazine (now Sailing World). I saw Stuart Walker two weeks ago (now in his mid 80's) accepting the 2011 Soling fleet championship award at Severn Sailing Association.

Here is Part 1 (Click on the arrow-in-a-box icon on the top right corner of the article to open in another window to facilitate reading) :

Another pre-WWII 14

When it rains it pours........

John Kutz from Kirkland Washington sends pics of another pre-World War II Uffa International 14 that he is now in the process of donating to the Center for Wooden Boats. Has the bazillion steamed ribs and the cross planked construction, which I assumed to be early Sandy Douglass construction that copied Uffa (turns out I was wrong, see below). John has no record of the number assigned to this International 14.

UPDATE: After seeing this post, Stephen Smith sent me an email and correctly points out that this 14 IS NOT an Uffa design. Stephen writes;

"Take a look at the shape of the transom. See how rounded the bottom is right down to the centerline. I doubt very much this is an Uffa Fox design, it looks much more like a Morgan Giles design or other from the very late 1920's or early-to-mid 1930's. The Canadians were also building sloop-rigged boats by then, but I think they were clinker-built, so this can't be one of those. It is FOR SURE not a Douglas boat built to Alarm's lines. The bottom is much deeper and rounder. No planing surface on the back. The interior arrangement is also more typical of the Brit's in the early 1930's - not at all like a Douglas boat -- although of course someone could have changed all the interior layout. But the transom shape is a real give-away.

The other Carvel-boat US112 shown from Nov. 11 on the blog is, for sure, one of Douglas' early boats, before he started hot-molding them."

Hmmm..... I wonder what design we have here?

Some pictures;

Two Classic 14's in the Marketplace

Got this email from Bill Barringer;

"I too started sailing International 14s at 13 in 1962.  I currently have two and am looking for a home for them.  One is US970, John Carcich's McCutcheon Kirby V, and  US226, a D&M Int 14 One Design.  US226 is almost complete and original.  (Wood lead centerboard a la a Thistle.) "

If you have some interest, contact me to get Bill's email address (Go here and click on my email contact information.) Hopefully he will send some pictures along.

I have some stories to tell about John but I'll save it for another post.

Two Pictures; US 116 and Sailing in Annapolis Harbor

Two pictures (click inside any picture for slideshow); The first picture Mark Woodard found on the Internet. US 116 is presumed to be a hot molded Sandy Douglass/Uffa Fox Alarm hull.

A picture in Annapolis Harbor. Looks to be frostbite sailing back when there were no drysuits or wetsuits. Skipper and crew unknown. Hull design unknown. Looks to be in the early 1960's.

Pics of US 112

All pictures by Mark Woodard. Click in one of the pictures to start a slideshow.

US 112 in Mukilteo Washington

Mark Woodard writes;

I bought #112 a little over a year ago and set out to maker 'er sail again. The boat was largely complete, but was in pretty worn shape. It was a basket, a double-planked hull with "oiled silk (think umbrella) between the layers to give it an hint of being water tight. She was a basket. When I grabbed hold of the transom and gave it a jerk you could see the entire boat flex this way and that.

I soon realized that to "restore" the boat to using its original construction methods - 7,500+ copper clinched nails into 83 steam-bend ribs - could never be accomplished in my life time. So, I decided "rebuild" the boat using West System epoxy and turn it into a practical, sailable boat for 1-2 people. BLAPHOMEY (sp?)! When I first broached the approach on a wooden boat blog I thought they'd hunt me down and crucify me!

Please feel free to use my photos. I'd love to know who built my boat and when. I suspect that it might have been built by Sandy Douglass before the much more cost-effective hot-molding process came along, but I can't be sure. Two distinguishing features on my boat: The next to the closest plank next to the rail was (and is) a contrasting, darker color. Also, the sail insignia doesn't have a straight line under the 14, it's more of a mushed "caret" - a shallow "V". Any and all information on the origins of "Maureen" - my departed Grandmother - would be greatly appreciated.

My reply;

I looked in my archives. US119 was built in 1940 by Sandy Douglas and was listed as a Uffa One Design (this was the Alarm hull design that would become the basis of the Jet 14 class). I would think your hull is close in age to those dates.

The latest Woodenboat has a continuing series on Uffa Fox. I didn't realize that Sandy Douglass beat Uffa to hot moulding hulls. Sandy Douglass wrote an autobiography "Sixty years before the mast". I haven't read it but I did check Wikipedia which has Sandy getting into boatbuilding in 1938. Int 14 US 112 was built in the pre-war Uffa Fox method, diagonal planking sandwiching a waterproof fabric inner layer so if you have a Sandy Douglass boat, it was one of the early ones that Sandy built.

The assumption is that Sandy used Uffa's building methods until he was able to utilize the WWII developed hot moulding techniques. I think there are probably some people out there that know Sandy's history better than I. I wonder where Sandy's archival history went?