Header Photo: William F. Crosby "Pup" Dinghy

The previous header photo was the side view of Crosby's Pup dinghy, a V-chine design published in the August 1938 issue of Rudder magazine. What is interesting about this design is Pup is one of the first dinghies designed to be built in plywood. Even more surprising is Crosby specified 1/8 inch (3 mm.) plywood for the hull and decks. Crosby seemed to have no fear, this early on, in pushing the structural limits by using very thin plywood. (Designers post WWII such as Phil Rhodes with his Penguin dinghy would revert back to the sturdier 1/4 inch (6 mm.) plywood for the hull.)  To account for the flexibility of the plywood, Crosby added one fore and aft stringer and two smaller, intermediate frames between the major plywood frames.

The Pup dinghy may be one of those "missing links" I am so fond of speculating about in sailing history. I have always wondered what spurred the Australians into wholesale acceptance of thin, lightweight plywood for their dinghies designed after WWII. (The Aussies would even convert their pre-WWII plank on frame designs before WWII over to light ply, their existing VJ class and 12 meter Olympic Sharpie.) I received an email from a South Australian dinghy sailor two years ago and he mentioned that he owned an Aussie Pup built by a local builder in the early 2000's. He also mentioned there was a sizable fleet of Pups in the Melbourne area in the 1940's but they had died out.

Could it be that some Melbourne sailors, in building the 1/8 inch ply Pup before World War II, would become the impetus of the Australian revolution in lightweight dinghies? Certainly South Australian Len Morris with his scow Moth would have taken notice as he would produce his superbly engineered, light plywood Mk II in the late 1940's. It would be an interesting slice of dinghy memorabilia if someone could dig up some photos of the Melbourne Pup fleet in the 1940's.

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For those that want more information, Steve Clark pointed out, in the comments section, the current builder of the Australian Pup has a Facebook page.

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A JPEG file of the Pup plans as they appeared in Rudder magazine, 1938.

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• The Crosby Skimmer Moth.
• Crosby and the Cricket class.

OD-OY Review: The Elvstrom Junior Dinghy

Paul Elvstrom, who, for my generation, is the greatest racing sailor of all time, introduced this dinghy in the 1960's. About the same size and weight as the Philip Rhode's cat-rigged dinghy, the Penguin , it obviously had nowhere near the popularity of the Penguin - in fact I have never, in all my travels, come across this dinghy. It remains a ghost, an entry, 50-odd years ago, in the One Design and Offshore Yachtsman's magazine annual review of dinghies, nothing more. It would be very interesting if a reader could direct me to an extant example of an Elvstrom Junior.

[Update: 05/06/17] After this post had been up for six months, Mike Scott came across an ad for the Elvstrom Jr. that was posted on Facebook. I've chunked the ad into four pieces.

This photo of the Jr. car-topped on a Beetle shows clearly the outside buoyancy tanks.

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Similar in size and weight to the Elvstrom Junior, the American Philip Rhodes Penguin (from this post).

And some geezer bloggers admiring a Penquin dinghy.

Geezer Bloggers gather around a Penguin Dinghy

I went over last weekend to help George A. of Mid-Atlantic Musings> move one of his boat collection into a U-Haul. It wasn't a Moth but a Penguin and was being collected by her new owner. George's Penguin dinghy was one of six originally built in the 1960's by a guy named John Walton in Brigantine, New Jersey. This Penguin, most likely being the sole survivor of the six, was being rightfully reclaimed as a family heirloom by John's son Bill, who had flown up from Texas.

In the photo below, George is going over the history of the Penguin with the blogmeister. Turns out George helped build the six as kid. He was on the centerboard trunk building crew. (Forgive the odd colors of the photo but I wanted to highlight the beautiful interior wood of the Walton Penguin and was working from a very dark I-Phone photo.)

Photo by Bill Walton

And from the 1960's, here is the blurb on the Penguin from the magazine One Design and Offshore Sailing annual small class review, .

Some other posts about the Penguin dinghy.

Oh! The Travesty of it all!

Good friend Bob, (see The Models of Bob, or Bob's Bolger Chebacco) was back up north from his retirement in Florida with some good news, and some bad news. First, Bob had sold his house in Baltimore; good news in a still sluggish real estate market. When he had first moved into that house, Bob had built a glorious stand-alone three bay garage with a nice loft....just the ticket for boatbuilding. Over the years, out of that building, Bob built a Chesapeake 20, a Bolger Light Schooner, an ACA sailing canoe, restored a Penguin, restored a paddling canoe and completed other boatbuilding projects that memory escapes me now. There was a nice sign hung above one of the bays, "Bob's Boathouse" (which caused problems with a cantankerous neighbor who claimed Bob was running a professional business out of this building!).

Bob sailing his restored Penguin at a MASCF in St. Michaels. The Penguin was refinished in his "Boathouse".



Now the bad news. As soon as the new owner moved into Bob's Baltimore house, he dismantled "Bob's Boathouse"! Most of Bob's friends, who are tinkerers in some shape or fashion, were dumbfounded. What was the logic in leveling a beautiful three car garage! But it happened.

Going, going.....

GONE!

Kids and Parents in a Mirror Dinghy

Following along on my "Kids and Parents" series is a family sail in a 10'10" (3.3 meter) Mirror Dinghy. Video is kind of short but the kids seem to enjoy being captain of this vessel. (I like the Muppet sound track, I've got the latest Muppet movie on my movie list but not sure I can convince my wife to go see it.)

Update, July 2020: Well the original video went away. Here is the same videographer, the father skippering, with family crew in Penguin class races (U.S.A class, cat rigged, 3.5 meters, arc bottom).

Bristol Sailing March 2010 from P Collins on Vimeo.

Traditional and Bolger type boats; MASCF

As a young buck, thrashing around on some very high powered dinghies, I didn't give much mind to traditional boats. Pretty, yes, but why would someone bash around on those slow pokes when one can scream from one capsize to the next. With age has come some softening. Some of this is my love of history, and some is my love of variety; there is just so much beige plastic decks and white production hulls that one can absorb before the brain screams; ENOUGH! Today I'm much more apt to run over to a skipper of a Luders 16 than I am in chasing down the crew of an Australian 18. This doesn't mean I would run out to buy either one of those boats; but perhaps in my dotage I've begun to appreciate the beauty of traditional yachts and the people who build and sail them.

Which brings me to the St. Michaels Mid Atlantic Small Craft Festival. I added to the end of this post that Bob Blomquist and I have gone to the Mid Atlantic Small Craft Festival the past two years, but unfortunately, I couldn't make it this year. Bob is a boat builder with many different home built craft under his belt. He has built probably the fastest Bolger Light schooner which he has brought to the Festival in previous years.

(Click on pictures to get higher resolution).



But this year he decided to bring a restored Penguin. They have a sailing race at the Festival, a one lapper and there are usually over 60 sailing craft at the start line. It's a zoo but a fun zoo. Well this year Bob and his 11 1/2 foot Penguin Won!!!..... beat all those larger traditional boats in about ten knots.

Bob in his restored lime green Penguin.



First leg of the sailing race;



Bob won on the upwind legs and though most of the festival participants aren't racing sailors, by most rights he shouldn't have beaten the larger craft with more sail area. And that is the Achilles heel of traditional craft. With their barn door rudders and shallow centerboards, they just don't go upwind as well as the more modern sailing craft. And there are plenty of dinghies that are faster than the pokey Penguin.

Here is a picture of the 2008 MASCF sailing race where a Classic Moth (all varnished I may add), all 11' to the far right in this picture, a small racing dinghy also vanquished the entire fleet in the MASCF sailing race.



And from YouTube, the 2008 Mid Atlantic Small Craft Festival. Bob Blomquist and hs Bolger Light Schooner are featured at the end of the video.......

(change to 480p for higher resolution video)



I'm planning to attend MASCF this year. These festivals really do capture the joy of boating.

Classic Moth for Sale; "Tippy"

Jim Young has put "Tippy" up for sale. "Tippy" really does illustrate the diversity in Classic Moth designs. Jim built it to a French design from (I'm guessing the time frame here) the 1950's by a fellow named Proust. It is a V chine hull, and at first glance it has some similarity to a Penguin (though the Penquin has a flat bottom). The name "Tippy" is very much of a misnomer as the design is definitely a widebody, a very buoyant design. Jim got Justin to drive the "Tippy" Moth to a win in the Gen 1 division (slower designs) at this years nationals. It is the one Classic Moth design where you could fit two people, say a Dad and kid, or two small teenagers and have a great time kicking around the lake.

Here is a picture of "Tippy" on land. Click on the pictures to get a larger image.



And another one sailing;



Jim built "Tippy" out of foam glass with a wood foredeck (the design could easily be adapted to plywood) and is asking $3500.

Contact Jim ...........jmsyoun1915....(with our friends at) aol.com.