The previous header photo was of a Blue Jay drifting during the 2014 "Polly's Folly" regatta on Lake Megunticook, Maine. Two of the "Free-for-Alls" that I listed were cancelled this year; Polly's 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 year's Rally in his RS Aero. The Sebago Cup was mostly an event for the local Sebago Canoe Club's 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 didn't shine overall ( we were the last start ) but it was a real blast.Tom Price's restored 1959 Lippincott Star at the AYC dock.
6 comments:
Regarding Tom Price's 1959 Lippincott Boat Works Star: I was wondering if the deck winch was one of the original ratcheting winches or the "Hunny Silent Deck Winch". My Dad, Knute Hunn, invented a silent winch that was used on a number of the Lippincott boats. Dad designed and built them in our basement. The bronze parts were all chromed and the spindle was rubber coated. When a lead boat caught wind in a light wind race, the ratcheting sound of the winch would let those behind know a puff had come up and would gain precious seconds on the leader. The fatal flaw of the silent winch was the salt water of the Chesapeake Bay. It gummed up the mechanism and sailors would foolishly try to take them apart while on the water. The result was springs and metal parts bouncing across the deck and into the water. Eventually, the deck winch was replaced with another contraption that incorporated the boom vang. I don't recall how that set-up worked. Love your blog. Keep up the good work.
Addendum: Tom's boat was from the era when my Dad was quite active in the Riverton Yacht Club Star Fleet. Those wooden boats were absolutely beautiful! I remember that Howard, Stan and Bob Lippincott were racing stars. Phil Somerville was also racing a Star. Dad crewed for Morris Ligerman, teaching him how to sail. His boat was a Lippincott #3892 named "Offset". It was painted black and white. Mr. Ligerman was in the offset printing trade and his Doctor recommended sailing as a calm hobby to reduce his blood pressure. LOL! Broken masts, hitting a channel buoy head-on, and line squalls on the Delaware. Yeah, that will calm you down.
Thanks for the link to my post about how I (just) failed to win this year's Archipelago Rally. Anyone who bothers to read my excessively long and exceedingly boring post will learn that I only came close because of an extraordinary series of fortunate circumstances over which I had no control.
Roland,
I really enjoy your stories. Sailboat racing as a relaxing hobby - yeah right!
Tillerman,
You too. Enjoyed your sea story about the Rally. Somehow the races where our intuition clicks and "Lady Luck" shines on us are the ones that seem to stick in our memory.
Roland, interesting...the winch is either rubber coated or black phenolic and it is silent. Still works very well. 4100 was owned by Dan Hubers from the Baltimore YC at Sue Island (Middle River). I'm sure your Dad knew him. Dan was kind of a big deal back in the day.
Wow! A real Hunny winch. How about a close up picture of it? I actually have my Dad's original drawings for that winch. Whatever you do, Don't remove the center screw on the top. The slot is big enough to get a quarter into and turn it. Dad sailed in the bay mostly on the Eastern shore so I imagine they crossed paths at the regattas.
Thanks for sharing Tom
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