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.

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