Neat 1963 Photo of a Dutch "Schakel" dinghy

Rene' de la Rie, a former 505 sailor out of West River Sailing Club, sent me this image of him sailing a Schakel dinghy in Holland in the 1960's. From Rene'............

"The picture is from the early 1960s, Amsterdam, The Netherlands - the boat is a 'Schakel' and was popular there at the time. I raced it for a number of years. It was a two-man boat and sort of a small version of the 'Valk'. It is a scan from an old print and it may have been its maiden voyage, which would have been 1963, out of the marina where I grew up near Amsterdam. I haven't thought about "Schakels" ("schakel" means "link") for many years. Mine was built by my father and I believe it was the second year of their existence. They were sort of a mini Lightning (the size of a 470 essentially), built from plywood, and were very popular at the time. They still exist but my brother, who lives in Holland, tells me that they are limited now mostly to the northern part of the country (Friesland). There are still a lot of wooden boats in Holland."

More information on the Schakel can be found here