The Fairey Marine International 14 in North America - 1952 to the 1960's - Part 2

Don McVittie, with wife Red as crew, top dog in the Seattle fleet in the late 1950's, in his Fairey MkVII

Early 1950's - After George O'Day imported the initial batch of Fairey MkI's in 1951, George didn't import many of the successive Marks, the II's, III's, or IV's over the next few years. Class records show a smattering of MkII's, III's and IV's. (I count seven, several of these may have been imported directly by their owners.) It was with the formation of the Chesapeake fleet in 1953 and the decision by the Rochester fleet to move on from the one-design Alarm hull, that jump started demand for new 14's. Starting in 1955, George O'Day would bring in approximately ten a year of the MarkV, VI, VII, and the VIII. These four Marks make up the bulk of the Fairey 14's that raced in North America.

Stuart Walker related his first encounter with the Fairey's. He showed up to the Buzzard Bay Bowl with his first 14, a USOD Alarm and, on seeing the fleet gathered on the lawn, before racing commenced, turned to his wife, Francis, and said, "Winning this regatta will be easy, look how sleek our 14 is compared to these blunter 14's." Stuart was to return home, suitably chastened, after the blunter Fairey's disappeared into the distance, racing in another gear down the planing reaches.

Stuart Walker, of the Chesapeake fleet, sailing his Fairey MkV, Joyeuse. Note the transom sheeting which was standard on the 1950's 14's. Joyesuse had a one-of-a-kind mini-step running full length, 1/2 way up the topsides. 

1956 - “George O’Day says that he has nine Mark VI’s left, two of which will probably be ordered to the Chesapeake shortly.” (Feb OTP)

Graham Hayward of the Royal St. Lawrence YC sailing his Fairey Mk VII. 

1957 - Montreal gets three new Fairey 14’s.  Transplanted Englishman Graeme Hayward, and Dave Johnson are the two top Montreal helms who get the MkVII's.

John Hsu, in his recollections, said the Fairey's were very expensive in Canada because of the import tax; which is odd given that Canada was part of the Commonwealth. One should mention the parochialism of the Canadian fleets. Each fleet seemed to be doing it's own thing in designs and hulls. (The Toronto fleets would stick with the Bourke design through the 1950's and then develop the Buller in the 1960's.) It wouldn't be until the PSI Kirby III appeared in 1968 that Canada would coalesce around one designer.

1957 - George O’Day and Marscot Plastics started molding some fiberglass Fairey Mk VII hulls for two classes, the International 14 and the new one-design Gannet (a decked over lower power 14). The first 30 Gannet’s would go to the Naval Academy for sail-training.

The International 14, with it's slightly heavier hull weight, low surface area, and round bilged hull form proved to be an excellent candidate for a competitive racing hull built in early fiberglass construction. Slightly later, Canadian Roger Hewson would build a one-off fiberglass 14 to his design and Bruce Kirby first design, the MkI , would come out only in fiberglass.

1958 - George O’Day buys Marscot Plastics from Palmer Scott. From then on, George O'Day would become the leading fiberglass manufacturer of sailing dinghies in North America.

1958 - 1958 marks the apogee of the Fairey 14’s in North America. George O’Day wins the Nationals at Alamitos Bay in a Fairey Mk VIII, Bacalao. Graeme Hayward wins CDA (Canadian Nationals) in a Fairey Mk VII (Dave Johnson second in another Fairey Mk VII). Dave Johnson wins the Buzzards Bowl.

1958 - The Newport Beach fleet gets six Marscot-O’Day shells. Leigh Brite and Ken Eldred work on putting the first two together and race in the 1958 Nationals. Leigh Brite and Eldred construction included the first reported use of epoxy resin in 14's, in this case used to bond fittings.

1959 - Roger Welsh bought George O’Day’s 1958 Nationals winning Fairey MkVIII in 1959. With US 603, Roger dominated Southern California Racing and was still winning with this hull in 1965.

1959 - Schock Marine of Southern California pulled a mold from a Fairey MkVII to produce some modified Fairey MkVII hulls beginning in 1960. Designated the Schock design, the bow was made finer and the transom wider.

In 1959 or 1960 - Ben Greene of Bakersfield California fleet pulls a mold off a Fairey MkVIII and produces six or seven Fairey MkVIII fiberglass shells to finish off. Not sure how many were finished. (OTP 62(.

Summer of 2015 Update

I haven't posted for a while (actually, it pains me to say, this is the first post in 2015) though Classic International 14 news keeps filtering through at a steady pace.

Out in the Pacific Northwest, Mike Scott has put a smaller 120 square foot rig on his Ames II Obsession. He sent along a video of him and a crew bombing along but I'm awaiting a YouTube link so I can embed it. He reports he is very pleased with the performance of the smaller rig. Mike also picked up a Schock Fairey model International 14 which was lying just up the road from his house. I am awaiting photos of both Classic 14's on the water together.

Mike with Obsession on the beach at some small craft get together.

In March, Jay Hartley of Connecticut sent along some photos of a beautiful restoration he did on USOD no. 282. He also finds that a Classic International 14 has loads of sail. His story on the rebuild:

"Thanks for getting back to me, It was in bad shape then but I traded a 125 Yamaha dirt bike for it about 5 years ago. I live in amston CT but keep the boat in Marlborough. Took me 3 years of on and off work to get it back in the water. When I first got it I took it out on a lake and the lead weight on the center board fell off and almost put a fast end to a nice boat. At that point it came out and got a nice makeover. Do you think the 24'mast is original? It seams to have way to much sail for a 14' dingy and can get a little crazy in winds over 15 mph. Could easily hold two crew on trapies to try and counter the heeling it seams.

P.S. took a week of free diving in 20' of water to find the weight. Learned a hard lesson that time."

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.

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.

Schock glass for sale

Built by Schock in California between 1960 and 1961. Number unknown (may not have a number) but all Schocks that were issued numbers had numbers between 660 and 690. Has a more modern rig transplanted on the hull. Owned by J. Kennedy in Washington. Up for sale on Craigslist.