The previous header photo was of the reproduction Philadelphia tuckup, Marion Brewington, built by the Independence Seaport Museum. I lifted this photo from the Green Boats blog which unfortunately went dormant two years ago.
The Philadelphia hiker and tuckup were Americas first racing dinghies. Racing these catboats on the Delaware River was going full bore in the 1870s (which indicates that it was developing in the 1860s and maybe earlier) and continued to the early 1890s, when expanded commercialization of the Philadelphia waterfront shut down the tuckup yacht clubs and their boat houses. Following the lead of the sandbaggers, the unlimited hikers had ridiculous sail plans, carrying cat rigs up to 450 square feet. The Marion Brewington is a fourth class tuckup which had reduced the sail area to a more sensible 177 sq. feet (but still on the overpowering side in modern terms), set on a gaff rig on a hull of 15 feet in length. The fourth class tuckups were normally crewed by two. The two hull lines of tuckups that have made it to the present day, the Thomas Seeds and the Spider, are both fourth class tuckups
Ben Fuller put together a very interesting history of the hiker and tuckups in issue #148 of Woodenboat, pages 46 through 53. Well worth a read if you can get hold of a copy.
The famous and somewhat controversial American painter, Thomas Eakins, painted the hikers in his well known Sailboats Racing on the Delaware (1874).
The previous header photo was of the "Balmain Bug" a 1994 reproduction of the Aussie 6-Footer Historical Skiff Class. Aussie Ian Smith built her and she is shown on the dock sporting her light-air rig with a boom at least over 2 times the length of the boat and a bowsprit approximately 10 feet long (3.19 meter). Talk about being over-canvassed. The 6-footer class takes the cake for being the craziest of the crazies!
Quoting from the seminal book on the history of the Aussie skiffs, Bluewater Bushman by Bruce Stannard [1981];
"It is believed they were first built at Balmain in the 1890s and although they were first conceived as childrens boats, there is no doubt that they demanded the strength of three men who were courageous, good swimmers and had the strength and agility of circus acrobats...They carried a staggering 1000 square feet of sail including a main, jib, topsail, spinnaker, ringtail, and even a watersail. [Mike Scott, over in comments, defines watersail as..."hung below the main boom to catch that extra drop of wind.....almost drooping in the water....hence the name....!] With so much sail up and so little to support it, it is hardly surprising that the 6-footers spent a lot of time "in the gutter"....
The class peaked during the early 1900s, attracting numbers because it was the cheapest way to go racing. Here are some photos of the early 6-footers sailing around 100 years ago. [Found on the Net]
The original crews sailed the 6-footers upwind with the bowsprit plowing a furrow in the water; probably the only way they could balance the whole package upwind.
Now for photos of the modern 1994 Smith reproduction 6-footer. A picture of the "Bug" off-the-wind in a fresh breeze, shortly after being launched. Looks like the crew is trying to get to the back of the bus when reaching but, alas, there is no back of the bus.
After ten years out of the water, the "Bug" was relaunched in October for this years Balmain Regatta.
A quote from crew Campbell Reid:
"Even though she is based on a design close to a century old you can see how for their time these boats were pretty high tech...She will bury her bow in the blink of an eye but we were impressed at how seaworthy she was and were really happy that we could get upwind pretty well. In the six foot division of the historic skiff fleet at the regatta we think we are a serious threat.
The precarious crew position Campbell Reid finds himself on the foredeck/bow may be the most comfortable one in drifting conditions. [The next two photos pulled from the Balmain Sailing Club website.]
Stick two grown men into a 6-footer and the scale becomes obvious. A 6-footer becomes a true "micro" dinghy.
The obligatory GoPro video shoot from this years relaunch. The bowsprit is so long it gives a perspective of a much larger dinghy. The 6-footers, like her bigger historical cousins, sported canvas lee cloths in a vain attempt to keep the water on the outside
A more recent 2015 video of the Bug including flying a good size spinnaker without driving her under. (Came pretty darn close though!)
Click here for other posts on Australian Historical skiffs.
For a sketch on a possible rig if you wanted to make the 6-Footer a classic singlehander, click here.
The previous header photo was of the Australian junior class, the Vaucluse Junior, aka the Vee Jay, or simply the "VJ". A 12-foot dinghy, the Vee Jay was originally designed in 1931 by Sydney boatwright Charles Sparrow to a design brief for a junior sailboat given to him by local sporting-goods store owner, Sil Rohu. It was a simple low-angle V-shaped hull, plank and frame construction, readily built by amateurs. The pre-World War II hulls had a small cockpit, similar to the North American Sunfish class.
What makes the class stand out was its transformation after World War II. The adoption of plywood in the late 1940s considerably lightened the hull and sailors started adding planks; the first plank (sliding seat to North Americans) added in the late 1940s but not coming into common usage until the 1950s. The second plank was added by the West Australians in 1958. The small cockpit disappeared, replaced by a self-draining surfboard deck. Combined with a small flat kite (shike), this junior dinghy had enormous power and speed in a breeze - unlike any junior trainer, before or since. (Historian Chris Thompson points out this Australian penchant, after World War II, to incorporate performance upgrades, even to supposed one-designs, even when all the previous models became immediately obsolete, was one of the main drivers in the evolution of Australian lightweight high-performance dinghies.)
The class collapsed in the 1980s under the hegemony and homogenization of fiberglass junior trainers (namely the 420).
I have taken most of my information and photos from the Vee Jay website. For those who wish to read more I would direct them to click on this link to their website. I would also like to thank Aussie, John Fairfax, for also filling in the history and providing photos.
Some additional photos.
The first design by Charles Sparrow was named Splinter. Deciding the first hull was too tender, Sparrow drew up a wider modified hull the same year named Chum from which commenced the VJ class. The original boats had a gunter rig.
Two photos of the simpler, 1930s hiking Vee Jay.
The squat sail plan was easily handled by lightweights in the typically strong Australian breezes.
To me, the most iconic photo of the Vee Jay, "Warren Nupier in Impala"
A promotional brochure with the Vee Jay at full crack, under kite.
This photo shows the final development of the Vee Jay before the class died out (the boom looks shorter with a straighter leech mainsail). There was a recent movement, documented on the Vee Jay website, of bringing back the class with a more modern sail plan, but that hasnt seemed to gain much traction.
A photo lifted from South Gippsland Y.C. of a restored Vee Jay racing at their 2015 Classic Wooden Dinghy Regatta. This is a one-planker, just for the skipper.
A 1950s video showing two juniors rigging, launching, and sailing their Vee Jay.
Ed. Sea Story
"As a young sailor, during the 1970s, I came across a Vee Jay on Annapolis Harbor. I saw this strange craft buzzing about the Harbor, two sliding seats, as we sailed our International 14 out to the starting area. On our way back after the racing, we encountered the same double sliding seat dinghy and sailors again. this time entwined in the fishing lines of two irate fishing boats, the air turning blue as the skipper was working desperately under his rudder. Inquiries on shore had the sailor as someone from the Australian embassy. I never saw him again; most likely the encounter with the fishing boats left a bad taste in his mouth.
And another sea story Ive pulled from the comments... from Northwest sailor Mike S.
"When I moved to Oz in 1965 with wife and daughter in tow, aged 21, I couldnt afford a boat, but someone was selling an old VJ with cotton sails and twin planks for only 10 quid, so I couldnt resist. It was a hoot albeit pretty rough around the edges, and as I didnt have a crew I jury rigged a trapeze (stitched my own canvas harness!) and sailed it singlehanded from the trap. Great fun on Lake Illawarra with steady 15-25 knot breezes every day. Its demise happened during a race, I got a crew and we sailed with the planks, some time during the race the wind piped up, and the old plywood started to open up, with us slowly sinking. We abandoned the boat, climbed aboard the rescue boat and left it to float to the shore. I went the next day and brought it up, but it was too far gone.....Had a metal daggerboard as I recall....
Click here for the post about the other Australian pre-WWII class, the Len Morris scow Moth.
The Bursledon Blogger got this right. The previous header photo was of a beach gathering of the traditional lug-rigged dinghies from Frances Arcachon Bay. You can read more about the traditional sailboats of the Arcachon Bay over here.
The previous header photo was of the Norfolk Punt, a racing dinghy class found on the Norfolk Broads, England and derived from the bird gunning punts that were in use there in the late 1890s, early 1900s. The Norfolk Punts are 22 long, double-ended and like the International Canoe, the modern boats have no resemblance to their heritage except for the canoe stern. The Norfolk Punts of today are very much a modern racing dinghy with double trapezes, assymetrics, and a tall, overpowering sailplan. Although the modern class is a development class there does seem to be a good mix of vintage punts racing though I have no idea how they handicap Punts with hulls from 1935 versus a punt designed in the last ten years. The Punt featured in the header photo looks like a 1960s Wyche and Coppock single chine design.
The photo of the Norfolk Punt below gives a good idea of what the original sailing Punt looked like; reverse sheer, decks sloping outward, high coamings. With this Punt you can see the gunning punt lineage. This Punt looks short so it may be a reproduction.
Here is a modernized 1930s Punt hull with carbon rig and trapeze. It retains the reverse sheer and high coamings.
A video of a modern double trapeze Punt with the video also ending with a modern double trapeze teabag capsize.
The previous header photo featured a French Classic Moth Mariposa (Spanish for butterfly) sailing in tandem with a Nantais Vintage Moth (blue sail) at the French annual Classic Moth rally and regatta which was held yearly during the early 2000s. The strong sheer gives Mariposa a traditional look which suggests a traditional round bottom shape.
Nope. The header photo above is an optical illusion as other photos reveal that Mariposa is actually a multi-chine plywood shape (a three-planker) with the bow sections developed and pulled up.
Mariposa has a flat rocker panel that starts just in front of the daggerboard case and a topside chine that curves up to meet the gunwhale about 600mm from the bow. The developed bow suggests this Moth was built using the stitch and glue method.
The French Classic Mothists weigh their Moths like the Americans - on a bathroom scale. The scratched up bottom shows that Mariposa is not a coddled racing dinghy - and gets plenty of use.
An in-the-water shot of Mariposa shows the topside chine clearly disappearing into the gunwhale. This Moth design is visually appealing - Mariposa may not be much of a racer but thats OK.
The designer is the tall gentleman on the left. I have no idea who he is. Maybe some reader could help out on identification?
Update, August 14: Dominique Banse to the rescue with the designer indentification. Thanks Dominique!
"There is an article about this Moth in the French magazine “Chasse-Marée” number 147 from November 2001. The owner builder’s name is Bertrand Warion. The boat is built with 5mm plywood and weights 76 kg."
Update September 29, 2015: Designer Bertrand Warion adds a comment to this post updating us on the latest with Mariposa.
"Hello ,I am Bertrand Warion who designed Mariposa and usual reader of your blog.
The boat is still in good condition with great modifications, large cuts to flatten the bottom rocker and new cockpit plan, more "modern" but quite unconfortable for me. [I am] thinking to ameliorate that point.
I did not sail Mariposa [for] 5 years (leaving job, town) and [now] mainly designing and building others boats but i will recondition the boat soon.
Here are some new Mariposa pics.
There are a few enterprising readers of this post who could put together their own version of Mariposa, at least in model form. Earwigoagin is always open to publicizing such design experimentation.
Through the early 2000s the French Classic Mothists held an annual get together. I think it was originally held at one of the clubs on the Seine but then moved over to a small lake about 100 km. south of Paris, sponsored by Cercle de la Voile du Centre, Etang du Puits, (Google translation - the pond of the well), just off the Route dArgent. Though well attended, in a mystery still not explained, the annual French Classic Moth gathering and regatta just stopped. [Mystery somewhat explained - see below] .
The mystery of the French Classic Moth get-together got somewhat clearer when reader Dominique Banse emailed an article from a 2001 issue of Chasse-Marée, the French classic/traditional boating magazine. It turns out that all these photos were taken at a Classic Moth design competition that was sponsored by Chasse-Marée and held at Suc dErdre, just north of Nantes (and not at Etang du Puits as I wrote initially). There was a turn out of 20 Moths Classique, both new designs and old, as well as several IMCA narrow skiffs. There is still no explanation why the Classic Moths in France could not keep the annual event going after 2001.
I recently rediscovered on the Web, photos from Marc Morell (who took all the photos used in this post) documenting the Suc dErdre. The diversity of French Classic Moths is just astounding! Ill feed more of these photos into later posts on Earwigoagin.
The previous header photo was of a classic International 14, circa late 1960s. (One clue is the crew isnt using a trapeze which didnt get voted in until 1969.) This is a Canadian 14 as it has the Canadian registration numbers on the bow. Design? Im guessing Proctor V or VII given the bow rocker profile. (Yes, you could say Im somewhat of a International 14 history geek, though, to be honest, I grew up with these boats.)
More classic International 14 material can be found on my companion blog.
The previous header photo was the Australian, two-man, NS 14 dinghy "going down the mine" off of Andersons Inlet, South Gippsland Yacht Club, Inverloch, Victoria.
The NS 14 is an indigenous Australian development class; a two person hiking, no spinnaker class. It is 4.27 meters (14) long and 1.8 meters (just under 6) wide. Those who have read Frank Bethwaites High Performance Sailing know that Franks first forays into dinghy design experimentation were in the NS 14 class and that his successful NS 14 designs were the basis for his one-design Tasar.
The 1960s NS 14 fleet.
Six older NS 14s were imported into the San Diego area around the new millennium and when that effort of fleet building stalled, one or two were brought east, specifically to the West River Sailing Club, with transplanted Aussie, Tony Arends owning one. Sadly I was never around the club when they showed up and missed the chance to take one out for a spin. West River SC already had a fleet of Jet 14s so the NS 14 was again a non-starter in the United States. Im not sure what happened to the boats.
Some more photos culled from the Internet:
The somewhat smallish 9.3 sq. meter sail plans features the now de rigueur square-top (or nearly a square-top) main. The fleet uses a very deep over-rotating mast for more power.
The NS 14 has the modern, double bottom, full draining interior.
To save weight the reverse sheer profile is very "humpy", aggressively turning down at the stern.
Our impressive duo from the header photo, après pitchpoling.
The previous header photo is of Aussie Matt Kiely sailing the Australian singlehander Sabre class dinghy. The photo was lifted from the South Gippsland Y.C.Facebook page.
Probably the major trend in dinghy racing over the last 30 or so years has been the growth of singlehanded racing at the expense of doublehanded or triplehanded classes. And the trend since the millenium has been the explosive comeback of what I call the retro hiking singlehanders; those other singlehanded classes designed before, or around the date of the introduction of the Laser (1969). For the most part, these classes are not international (excepting the OK Dinghy and Europe Dinghy); they are popular country-by-country or region, and they attract fleets of thirty, forty or more boats at major championships. They have a builder or two turning out modern hulls, some have carbon masts, many have aluminum. They seem to fill a need in the marketplace that the Laser does not.
I have compiled a list of retro singlehanders. I have excluded the Olympic Finn - 1949 (which has a huge Masters scene) and singlehanders with hiking assists (trapeze, sliding seat). Feel free to add your thoughts about this list in the comments section. (Before the Sunfish sailors jump all over me for excluding the Sunfish from the list - let me state the Sunfish has maintained high levels of popularity in parts of North America and parts of South America for many, many years - I dont see a comeback in popularity - they just maintained it.):
Solo (U.K.) - 1956 - aluminum mast, stayed rig, full battens
OK Dinghy (Den.) - 1957 - carbon mast, unstayed rig, short battens
Europe Dinghy (Moth) - 1960 - carbon mast, unstayed rig, short battens
Zephyr (NZ) - 1956 - aluminum mast, stayed, full battens
Despite the recent introduction of the "modern" RS Aero, or Devoti D-Zero, with lightweight hulls, mylar sails (correction - the Aero has dacron sails), carbon rigs, it seems the singlehanded market is marching in the other direction. (I must admit the North American market is an anomaly here with not a lot of singlehanded classes under the Laser - still king by a long-shot-, and the Sunfish - a solid runner-up, The other singlehanded classes in North America - like my Classic Moth - are mustering small numbers...Oops! I forgot about the MC scow, now very popular in the U.S.)
The previous header photo was of the Tempo scow designed by Jack Koper of South Africa in the early 1960s. He did three home-built scow designs, all extremely popular in South Africa. The Tempo made it into the northern hemisphere, becoming popular in Germany and Holland and in a twist, the Tempo, in modern times, is now only found in these two countries and not in the home of origin, South Africa. The Fireball was introduced around the same time as the Tempo scow and sits in the same space, a 4.88 meter, two man, single trapeze, spinnaker performance dinghy capable of being home built. The Fireball became an international class, the Tempo is bumping along close to extinction.
Amazingly, last year, I came across a forlorn, rotting Tempo sitting around the back of Bacon and Associates (the Annapolis firm that is the top broker of used sailboat sails, fittings, and other sailing paraphernalia in the U.S.); a Tempo that was home-built in Maryland in the 1970s. Unfortunately this Tempo was too far gone but if it retained a good proportion of her plywood in decent shape I would have finagled slotting this Tempo amongst my bevy of Classic Moths. (Yes, my dear, that is one of my Classic Moths, the length just appears as an optical illusion!)
I hope the Tempo sticks around. It is a true scow whereas the Fireball is more of an unique transom bowed, flat rocker panel, multi-chine dinghy. The Fireball, with its high level of competition, no longer sees a home-built wooden dinghy among the top finishers in a major regatta. It would be nice to see a two man, single trapeze class where a wooden boat still has a chance. It would also be great to see the Tempo plans available as an Internet download. Earwigoagin would offer the services of this blog if someone wants to send the blogmeister a copy of the Tempo plans.
Photos of the Tempo scow that I have culled from the Internet:
A wooden home-built Tempo sitting in front of a fiberglass Tempo. The roundish gunwhale shape was carved out of a solid piece of wood.
The previous header photo was of a Blue Jay drifting during the 2014 "Pollys Folly" regatta on Lake Megunticook, Maine. Two of the "Free-for-Alls" that I listed were cancelled this year; Pollys Folly because of a conflict with a Laser regatta, and the MASCF at the Chesapeake Maritime Museum because of Hurricane Joaquin lurking offshore during the first weekend in October.
The Archipelago Rally went off without a hitch with over 40 extremely diverse small boats. Fellow sailing blogger, Tillerman, almost won this years Rally in his RS Aero. The Sebago Cup was mostly an event for the local Sebago Canoe Clubs Laser and Sunfish fleet. The 2015 NSHOF Classic Wooden Sailboat Rendezvous had only one dinghy registered this year. There was, however, a large fleet of restored Stars. My friend, Tom Price, had his 1959 Lippincott racing and sent along this report.
"We launched at AYC on Saturday but it was too rough in the City Dock basin for us so we hauled out again. On Sunday we relaunched and raced. It was a very nice day contrary to predictions, never getting over 15. "Conflict" (and John Sherwood - both classics) did well despite using our 1963 sails (because of their cool yellow color). Keith Donald won with his fully modern wood Star and we were second beating Elliott and # 177 "Trout". Nothing broke and we felt quite comfortable. I did the clinging vine style hiking and it suited the placement of cleats and winch perfectly. It was all reaching so the Stars didnt shine overall ( we were the last start ) but it was a real blast.
Tom Prices restored 1959 Lippincott Star at the AYC dock.
The previous header photo was of two intent sailors on their SS Sloop, one of U.S.As oldest dinghy classes. Designed by Benjamin Hallock of Moriches Bay, Long Island in 1908, he built 74 of them before he died in 1931. About fifty more SS Sloops were built after Hallock with at least one new build in the new millennium.
Moriches Bay, on the south side of Long Island, normally has a consistent sea breeze in the afternoon and the SS Sloop sports a low slung gaff rig designed to be easily handled in strong breezes. About thirty of the SS Sloop are still seaworthy and the centennial regatta in 2008 had a good turnout.
Hallock was known as a good builder of cat boats before he designed the SS Sloop. However, the flat sections and narrow beam of the SS Sloop show a lineage more towards the Seawanhaka racers rather than the fatter cat boats.
The SS Sloop has a small spinnaker which is set with both sheet and guy on the same side of the mast, not the usual arrangement for flying a spinnaker in modern sailboats.
The 16.5 hull (5.03 meters) has a long enough cockpit for three. The rudder is set inboard. The gaff rig definitely has a low center of effort.
A SS Sloop out of her natural habitat. This one is moored to a dock at Cayuga Lake, one of the finger lakes of upstate New York.
Will Haines writes a blog about the SS Sloop and also has a link to some PDFs of SS Sloop plans.
Another gaff-rigged dinghy from the same time period, the Cotuit Skiff
Photo taken from an online article on the Rockville Regatta from The Post and Courier.
The previous header photo is of the Sea Island One-Design, a local class of large scows centered around the lowcountry South Carolina, specifically Bohicket Creek, Rockville. The 1948 design is attributed to New England naval architect, Henry Scheel but the lineage goes much farther back.
A sailing competition had started with two boats in 1890 and by the turn of the century the Rockville Regatta had quickly became a sailing contest between the towns that dotted these winding estuary fingers south of Charleston. (The Rockville Regatta also became the summer social event of the year with dances, parties, and romancing; a tradition which continues to this day, though considerably in excess - think the infield of the Kentucky Derby.) The scow shape came to the fore in the competition and Walter Eugene Townshend with his nephew, Oliver Seabrook, managed to walk off with many of the Rockville Regatta trophies sailing their series of scows named Undine.
From the book Rockville by Alicia Anderson Thompson:
"In 1947, Ollie Seabrook took the best features of three of the fastest and best sailing scows and gave them to Henry A. Scheel in Mystic, Connecticut, for him to create a set of plans that each island club could use to build a uniform sailboat. This three man scow was named Sea Island One Design, and it united the area yacht clubs, allowing for equal competition among the members to this day"
A scan from a sidebar article in Sailing World. The fleet has grown to nine with the addition of a new build in 2011.
There is a strong similarity of some of these pre-WWII South Carolina scows to the 1899 Charles D. Mowers Swallow scow, which was the second scow featured in The Rudders How-To-Build series. There was at least a borrowing of the general shape. Here are the sideviews of the two starting with the Swallow.
The 1931 Rockville Undine IV.
The 1947 Sea Island One-Design is a different design, though the parentage of the Swallow is very evident. The SIOD is shorter, the transom is wider and the topside panel straighter than that of the Swallow.
