Photos of the 1979 Worlds at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club

The 1979 Worlds at Long Beach California was the first fleet racing world championship. Previously the International 14 class had used their international team racing week to establish international bragging rights.

The 1979 World Champ, John Gallagher, sends along these photos, taken by Peter Gale, of that championship.

Peter Gale

A little bit of bother on the spinnaker set.

Peter Gale

John Gallagher, with his brother Dave, in US 906

Peter Gale

Peter Gale

The double wire, much lighter, Aussie 14-footers were invited as an "open class". The International 14's were able to stay with, and even win, against them in the light air races but once the Aussie 14-footers were able to use both wires, they were away.

Peter Gale

This appearance by the Australians at the 1979 Worlds was the beginning of the International 14 class moving towards an Aussie 14. Today the modern International 14 is considered an Aussie skiff without reservation.

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.)

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!

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.

Peter Gale on the History of the 14 in Southern California

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