Saturday, December 27, 2008

The Suicide Class

Steve Clark asked me to go through some of my archival material on the Suicide Class. The Suicide Class is one of two development dinghy classes to originate in the U.S (the other is the Moth class). The Suicide was a sail area class; limit of 125 sq. ft. The Suicide originated in New England in the 1920's with some big names (Herreshoff) designing to the rule but the hotbed transferred to Florida after WWII. It is not surprising that Moth sailors and Suicide sailors overlapped. Harry Cates, noted builder of Moths was also a Suicide builder. Both the Moth and the Suicide classes died out in the U.S. in the 1960's. The Suicide tried a comeback in the 1980's but it was just old timer nostalgia. The Moth class has resurrected itself in the U.S in two versions; the International foiler and the more sedate hiking Classic Moth.

The last rules of the Suicide class had the LOA between 18.5 and 22.5 feet, hull weight around 200 lbs., beam was 5 feet. The fleet sported wishbone booms. The crew was on a trapeze.

I find this class very interesting. Unfortunately Anne Henry was writing a class history in the 80's but I never heard any more about it.

From the annual class review of the American magazine, One-Design and Offshore Yachtsman:




Below is a picture from one of the Suicide promotional brochures. This one looks to have the high sheer chines of a Florida Moth. January 2020; Doug Halsey sends along this update on the photo:
"I've found that photo in a Miami Herold report on the 1946 Miami Orange Bowl Regatta. The boat is identified as Moray, sailed by Ralph Knowles. Unfortunately, there's no information on the designer or builder. However elsewhere, Harry Cates is listed as having built Joker (shown in one of your later photos) in 1948. That's a much different design though.
Double click on the image to get a larger version.



Addendum April 2019.

Profile drawing of the hard chine Banshee design including sailplan. 

The Suicide class in newspaper photos.


Note the extreme rake.






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9 comments:

  1. UnknownDecember 19, 2009 at 10:05 PM

    I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. As a teenager in the early 1960's I raced a Rhodes Bantam, which is a 14' hard chine dinghy with 125 sq. feet of sail. That class is also defunct. Frequently there were also Suicides racing at out club and others. It was very fast and could plane upwind. Some of the boats were strip built with rounded topsides. All had the wishbone boom. In the late 60's my older brother bought one and I had the privilege to sail it with my wife. Steve Mason, Chipley, FL, grdgator@gmail.com

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  2. UnknownDecember 19, 2009 at 10:07 PM

    P.S. I have some 8 mm home movies which may have pictures of the suicides.

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  3. UnknownFebruary 7, 2010 at 7:43 AM

    Here are two short videos of Suicides sailing on the St Johns River in Jacksonville in the early 60s. Go into YouTube and type in the title as shown in Search.
    Suicide 1.mpg
    Suicide 2.mpg

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  4. UnknownDecember 30, 2019 at 8:57 AM

    FYI. Several years ago I came intopossession of two items of interest: the Egyptian cotton mainsail from #8, the Joker, and a set of plans for one of the late Suicides designed and raced by Gene O'Conner of Palatka, Fl.

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  5. TweezermanJanuary 1, 2020 at 11:45 AM

    Unknown,

    It would be neat to see a copy of the O'Conner plans.

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  6. Doug HalseyJanuary 29, 2020 at 4:14 PM

    "Here is a picture from one of the Suicide promotional brochures; Somewhere in Florida. This one looks to have the high sheer chines of a Florida Moth. I wonder if this is one of Harry Cates Suicide's?"

    I've found that photo in a Miami Herold report on the 1946 Miami Orange Bowl Regatta. The boat is identified as Moray, sailed by Ralph Knowles. Unfortunately, there's no information on the designer or builder.

    However elsewhere, Harry Cates is listed as having built Joker (shown in one of your later photos) in 1948. That's a much different design though.

    ReplyDelete
  7. TweezermanFebruary 2, 2020 at 6:58 AM

    Thanks Doug! I've updated the main post with your information.

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  8. UnknownAugust 29, 2020 at 6:55 PM

    My father, John Webb, and I, sailed a suicide from 1950 through 1959 at the Miami Yacht Club that he designed and built in 1949. It was the Phantom,#4, state suicide champion in 1950. In 1959 the boat was sold to Jack Wirt of Miami. That is the last I heard of it. If anyone has any information about the boat after that I would like to hear about it.
    Robert Webb

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  9. AnonymousMay 10, 2023 at 7:46 AM

    I am slowly rebuilding Suicide #39 “Macabre” in Marietta, Georgia. I’ve installed a kick-up rudder on the stern and now working on a centerboard and trunk instead of the old flat daggerboard. Phil Jouanet

    ReplyDelete