New Boat 4 Sled

[Howard Spruit]

ISIS
The sign said IS IS was was here here!!

[sleddog]

Then was then. IMP was the last boat to round Fastnet Rock in 1979, 40 years ago, before conditions closed out. We were under triple reef main only, going upwind at 3 knots and sideways at 2.

The sun rose 3 hours later on a memorable scene. With 6 crew below for safety, and two on deck swapping the tiller, instructions were firm. "Don't jerk the tiller. It's the only rudder we have. People are dying out here. Don't look back when you're driving.."

IMP finished safely at Plymouth having heard nothing of the night before. Before we heard the toll, we were happy to be ashore. Initially, our wives and girl friends were pissed at our ignorance. We did not know reporters had seen the RC chalk board listing IMP in the "unreported" column. British news picked that up and reported "IMP MISSING." The NY Times stringer saw that, and wrote home for his paper, naively changing "missing" to "Americans Lost at Sea."

We did not know our gals for several hours believed they'd been widowed...

Geez.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2019...t-anniversary/

On a happier note, today is also the 50th Anniversary of the 42', Dick Carter designed, RED ROOSTER
winning the 1969 Fastnet Race.

Dick's daughter Catherine recently brought up the suggestion of an Anniversary celebration for RED ROOSTER's crew. Credit where due: At age six, Catherine not only suggested RED ROOSTER's name, but also delivered a drawing, complete with red hull and black waterline stripe. Said Catherine, “if you paint the boat red, you can call him RED ROOSTER!”



The only part of Catherine's color scheme DC nixed was the red mast..

It should be no surprise 50 years on that Catherine had a major hand in the publication of DC's new book In the Golden Age of Offshore Racing, including exhaustive research, editing, and restoration of the many classic photos.

50 years? Catherine, never one to miss details, recently asked the exact day and time of this week's 50th Anniversary of RED ROO winning the '69 Fastnet Race, becoming the Admiral's Cup high-point boat, and anchoring the American Admirals Cup Team of CARINA, PALAWAN, and RED ROOSTER to a come-from-behind victory over the heavily favored Aussie threesome of MERCEDES III, RAGAMUFFIN, and KOOMOOLOO. This USA AC win was not to be repeated for 28 years, 1997.

I had to think a bit and consult my logs...days, dates, and finish times don't always rise to memory's surface 50 years on.

I do remember motoring RED ROOSTER to the Royal Yacht Squadron start line on a Saturday after the traditional end of Cowes Weeks fireworks. According to a calendar, it must have been August 9, 1969. We had been up much of the night with broken winch gearing that had dropped the keel 6" into the tarmac at Groves and Gutteridges while doing a final bottom polish the afternoon before.



As we reached the RYS starting area just offshore, DC called the crew aft. Instead of a short speech, DC reached into his sea bag and passed out 8 small jars of p-nut butter, and an apple each. Only 7 spoons could be found, and DC said, "we're going light." "Hope you don't get hungry." End of speech.

Jim Hartvig Anderson then opened his sea bag and passed out crew shirts: white, Hanes, X-Large T-shirts on which he'd taken a felt tip pen and wrote RED ROOSTER's name on the front. Only problem, Jim was good at drawing boats in the Nahant Tower and had in fact drawn RED ROOSTER's lines. But English spelling was not his Danish strong point. All our crew shirts said "RED ROOTER."

We reached Fastnet Rock in good shape and set the spinnaker for the DDW run to the Bishop Rock. The SW'erly freshened during the afternoon as predicted by the BBC for the Irish Sea. "Southwest 6, becoming 5 later," was the succinct forecast.


"This is gonna be good I thought." DC was no shrinking violet when it came to fully retracting the keel, even with the suspect and recently repaired winch. "Dick," I said, "don't we want to leave a little keel down to help with steering?"

The answer came with no hesitation. "All the way up!" "And remember, the trunk curtain is closed. Don't tear it."

(Without the fairing over the keel trunk's exit slot, a small window revealed washing machine agitation inside. All we needed was adding laundry soap for our odoriferous clothing.)

Off we surfed, riding 4-6' wind waves downwind, rolling rail-to-rail, but with never a round up or down. DC seemed pleased as he'd pop his head from the nav station through the companionway hatch. Everyone aboard was happy we had a tiller as we slithered and slewed our way eastward. Billy, Taylor, Commodore, and I, the California contingent of ROOSTER's Fastnet crew, had a dozen or more Transpac races under our belts and these conditions in the Irish Sea seemed like home, minus the popcorn clouds and trade winds.

Between the Scillies and Plymouth, the breeze dropped as it usually does in the wee-night hours. We just had to finish before the zephyrs quit altogether and the tide turned foul.

In the dawn gloaming, RED ROOSTER ghosted by the Plymouth Breakwater Lighthouse finish at 3:50 a.m., 4 days and 17 hours after our start. We felt pretty good about our overall chances. Of the three Aussie boats, only RAGS was tied up. No MERCEDES nor KOOMOOLOO in view on our approach.

We were all pretty drained from the nite-fighting. But not too tired to answer DC's request for a hoist aloft to retrieve the much despised racing flag lashed at the masthead. We secured our captain well in the bosun's chair. Just as well, as DC fell asleep at the masthead where he spent the morning napping above the hubbub below.

The Awards Ceremony was the next afternoon, Friday, August 15th, the official conclusion of the Fastnet and Admirals Cup. DC had somehow got a cardboard box of 20 dozen Golden Cockerel lapel pin badges from the local Simpson's Brewery. Across the street was a hardware store where DC bought several cans of red spray paint. We spent the morning painting the golden cockerels red, and Dick Carter spent the rest of the day and into the afternoon's festivities at the Guild Hall graciously handing out RED ROOSTER pins to well wishers and smiling admirers along the docks and Plymouth streets.

In answer to Catherine's question, If RR finished the Fastnet at 3:50 a.m.,Thursday DT, August 14th, 1969, the 50th Anniversary of RED ROOSTER winning the 1969 Fastnet is this morning. As I write, I have my celebratory p-nut butter on an apple half on the desk.

[Wylieguy]

"Pretty Penny" For Sale

[sleddog]

30 smiling crew, including her designer, aboard last evening for MERLIN's Wednesday Night "Oldtimers" reunion sail off Santa Cruz after returning from Transpac. Memories flowing as MERLIN does what she has always done best: make apparent wind. All aboard fascinated with recent upgrades.



Bill Lee reminded that MERLIN was one of the first to use spreader "poke." I.E. if upper and lower spreaders are the same length, it is almost impossible to tune a mast.. "Poke" is the term for different length spreaders on multi-spreader masts, shorter near the top.

CW, sailing master aboard, asked what I thought. I replied, "the upper lifelines are too loose." CW quickly agreed and asked me to remedy. Indeed, when trying to board from the dock, the upper lifelines would deflect several inches, a dangerous proposition usual aboard most boats.

IMO, and feel free to disagree, is upper lifelines should be as taught as possible, even to the point of slightly deflecting stanchions inboard. The reason for this is two fold: 1) you want a positive restraining fixture if the upper lifelines are called upon to be leaned, pulled, or hung upon. 2) With any slack in the upper lifelines, if anyone has their hand near a stanchion when force is applied, it is likely their skin will be painfully pinched as the wire moves through the stanchion.

"But," reply doubters, " if I put that much strain on my lifelines, it will bend my stanchions." In that case, your stanchions are too weak. They can be easily strengthened by pounding a wooden dowel or broom handle upward into the stainless tube.

What the heck is going on? A well researched report by respected personel on a recent local fatality when the skipper of MORPHEUS, a Monterey Moore-24, went overboard leaves more questions than answers.

https://www.ussailing.org/wp-content...eport-2019.pdf

This is second time in recent months the Coast Guard has discarded the offending PFD before anyone had a chance to inspect the inflation apparatus, manual or automatic, to find the problem. Both in Monterey, and in Chicago on the TP-52 IMEDI, the PFD was reported not to have been inflated. Without this vital piece of evidence, all bets are off. Why was the Monterey PFD discarded before inspection? Says the CG, "it had vomit on it."

In addition, I politely disagree with the Monterey autopsy that the Moore-24 skipper incurred traumatic injury as he went overboard. (no lifelines, possibly a backflip). Was there a stern pulpit/transom lifelines on MORPHEUS as many Moore-24's have for just this reason, to keep aboard a helmsperson being washed aft? A photo of MORPHEUS would have been helpful.

"He sustained a considerable blunt force injury to the neck resulting in soft tissue(neck muscle)hemorrhage and spinal cord epidural(tissues covering the spinal cord) bleeding, especially along the right side of the neck. Based the extent of soft tissue damage and the pattern and amount of bleeding, the pathologist’s opinion was that the trauma occurred in the minutes before he expired (drowned), not post mortem. The pathologist was aware that the victim was under treatment for a heart condition - atrial fib and was taking medication, including an oral anticoagulant(blood thinner) to reduce the risk of stroke. There were multiple rib cage fractures - and a sternum fracture – a pattern which is consistent with fractures seen after CPR. He aspirated gastric contents, also consistent with drowning and/or CP"

Many have slid or washed overboard off Moore-24's and other small ultra lights and dinghies and lived to sail another day. I can't fathom all these injuries happening in such a situation.

Unlikely we will know the full story. Inflatable PFD's are problematical if not regularly inspected.

[Philpott]

30 smiling crew, including her designer, aboard last evening for MERLIN's Wednesday Night.

Did Bill hand you the tiller? Because that's the understanding. Sleddog aboard? Just give it up.

Um, the wheel.

[BobJ]

IMO, and feel free to disagree, is upper lifelines should be as taught as possible, even to the point of slightly deflecting stanchions inboard. The reason for this is two fold: 1) you want a positive restraining fixture if the upper lifelines are called upon to be leaned, pulled, or hung upon. 2) With any slack in the upper lifelines, if anyone has their hand near a stanchion when force is applied, it is likely their skin will be painfully pinched as the wire moves through the stanchion.

If the upper lifeline is taut on a Moore, Express 27, etc. the helmsman can't sit up straight without having his upper body outside the lifeline. Ragtime! was just wide enough back there to be able to keep the upper lifeline taut and be able to sit somewhat comfortably, but the smaller boats aren't. So it's a case of picking your poison.

[sleddog]

For some reason, I thought Isis was flush decked, and had cardboard honeycomb core.

Sam

Hi Sam,
Thanks for the post.

I helped build ISIS when working at C&B Marine, 1976-1970. Then ended up skippering her for Bill Siegel in first Pacific Cup, 1980, SF to Kauai. ISIS's hull was 3 skins of western red cedar and painted red. The deck was epoxy saturated, cardboard honey-comb core as you remember. This construction caused some difficulty mounting deck hardware due to lack of compressional strength. There was a small house ending aft of the mast. Post race, ISIS languished in Hawaii and was eventually sold for cheap. ISIS has never left Hawaii since then, and is owned by Robby Buck of Hawaii Y.C. ~sleddog

[Xavier]

I sailed with Larry Harvey out of San Pedro while Timber Wolf was being built, and for the ’80 race to Kauai. Larry would keep us informed of the happenings at C&B. To my impatient 17/18-yr old brain, most of the progress seemed to go faster on the other boats in the shop, but it was great to hear boat building news regardless of the project. At one point my friend Don, who also sailed on the boat, drove us up in his family Vega to see progress. We slept in the car in the C&B parking lot and drove south again the next day.

I recall you and a couple of others wearing Imp shirts visiting Timber Wolf shortly after the launch. There was a goofy little bronze winch on the cabin top, and you guys looked at it with puzzled expressions. I remember worrying that real sailors might think we were kooks!

Thanks for the great thread. It's a pleasure to read.

Sam

[Philpott]

[QUOTE=sleddog;24054]Then was then. ]


Well, this was a brilliant write-up, Skip. Last Thanksgiving or the one before that, I had the pleasure of eating leftover turkey fixins with you and Synthia at the CBC. Synthia asked you to tell us about the Fastnet and you did. If you recall, I asked to audiotape you but you declined. But here is the story, and you were just waiting until the anniversary. Sly boy. And it's all in the presentation: Mo betta to let the official newspaper versions describe the height of the waves and ferocity of the wind. That way no one would suggest that the sailing was exaggerated. OMG. Only our own California hippies would sail through that with such insouciance. Thanks again.

[sleddog]

Finished the 3rd and final coat of Pettit Vivid blue on WILDFLOWER's port hull yesterday, all the while trying not to get too much paint on myself, my Keens, the trailer, the fence, or the driveway.

Thanks also to Howard for the loan of his floor jack to lift each hull individually off the trailer. Despite Chuck H's online promo, the previous bargain Worst Marine CPP ablative was a flop...seeming to fertilize growth at the rate of an inch of hair a day. No amount of sailing, motoring, or following instructions ablated anything. It's embarrassing cleaning the bottom by leaning over the dock and grasping handfuls of grass.

I'd used Vivid before the CPP with mixed success. The white color looked great until it didn't, which took about a week for brown scum to grow on the sunny sides of the boat. The scum wiped off easy, restoring the white color, but swimming in Santa Cruz Harbor is no great shakes. The custom bent scrubber on an extendable pole worked well, but couldn't reach under the bridgedeck. I would float in my little K-Mart $25 inflatable raft under the boat wiping by hand, hoping no powerboat wake would sandwich me during the cleaning.

90% of the boats in Santa Cruz Harbor get their bottoms done for free and as well create a marine biosphere habitat. Owners merely avert their eyes before stepping aboard.



Welcome to Sam McF! TIMBERWOLF is one of my all time favorite boats. As many know, TIMBERWOLF is berthed next to SWEET OKOLE at RYC. TW is a Farr 38, SO a FARR 36. Both are pretty, fast, wood, well loved, fun to sail, and timeless. What more could you ask?

Does anyone have more Transpacific races than SWEET OKOLE? MERLIN has 15 Transpacs, 6 PacCups, and 2 Vic-Mauis. RAGTIME has 15 Transpacs and....