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Oscar
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2030 Posts

Initially Posted - 03/08/2004 : 17:39:03

Time for one of these "share your best..." threads. With a twist, however. Please share your oldest sailing picture.......here's mine. My guess is 1965

Oscar.

Lady Kay IV, Dragonfly 25 # 54 Former C30#618-C250WB#618-C42#76

Edited by - Oscar on 03/08/2004 17:40:45

Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2980 Posts

Response Posted - 03/08/2004 : 18:02:32

My contribution goes back to '85 though we bought the Hobie in '83 when Eric was ten. I'd been flying models, but it was time for the family to engage in something together. After some discussion... we decided on camping and sailing. We had a nice corp lake not too far off nestled in the piney woods of East Texas.

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 03/08/2004 : 23:14:31

I grew up a powerboater so I don't have any old pictures of me sailing.

Hey, Oscar...I don't get it?...Just a few days ago you advocated putting links to pictures in posts and now you are soliciting them?

Edited by - on

Oscar
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2030 Posts

Response Posted - 03/09/2004 : 06:37:33

No. that was my other personality....

. Actually, with a strictly picture thread like this it's nice to have them all together. And, if you keep the sizes down it works. If it's a technical thread, and you want to quickly get to the latest bit of information, it's another story.....does that make sense?

Oscar.

Edited by - on

osmepneo
Past Commodore

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USA
1420 Posts

Response Posted - 03/09/2004 : 07:32:11

Great idea Oscar, but my old pictures if the even ar ever existed went into storage when my mother went into the nursing home, and I don't have anything that goes back to earliest memories of sailing:

My dad built a plywood Rhodes Bantam when I was 7, that would be 1949.

Edited by - on

lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 03/09/2004 : 08:26:50

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Arlyn Stewart
 We had a nice corp lake not too far off
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

What does "corp" refer to in the phrase "corp lake"? This is a new one on me.

Edited by - on

tinob
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1883 Posts

Response Posted - 03/09/2004 : 09:11:33

My earliest memory dates to '38...did they have cameras then?

Val on the hard DAGNABIT

But looking up atop the station I see a picture of the family standing beside dad's AX-17 Waco Battleax. Sort of like sailing.

Edited by - on

Waterboy
Navigator

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USA
204 Posts

Response Posted - 03/09/2004 : 09:52:04

"corp" I'm guessing refers to the Army Corps of Engineers who've been responsible for most of the resevoirs built in the US (they are not lakes, my own little per peeve there).

Early sailing photo to come ...

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5908 Posts

Response Posted - 03/09/2004 : 11:39:05

This is a photo of the start of the first race in the 1983 C-25 National Regatta at Des Moines, Iowa. The lake was at flood stage at the time (47' above its normal level), and we sailed through the upper branches of trees on the way to the racecourse.

My boat is #2554, and is fifth from the left in the picture. There were some good racers at that regatta. As you can see, the line at the start was fairly straight, although one boat (#5049) either got a big jump on the rest or was over early. (I don't remember which.)

The boat nearest the pin end had to pinch to make it, and, when the picture was taken, was bearing off to gain speed. The boats to the right of him were still pointing a little high. Our sails were fairly well-trimmed at the time, and we were pointing well. We won that race, but finished second in the regatta.

If you can make it to the nationals this year, you won't regret it. It's exciting!

Edited by - Steve Milby on 03/09/2004 11:42:36

Todd Frye
Navigator

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USA
222 Posts

Response Posted - 03/09/2004 : 13:00:51

Sorry I don't have a picture, but the story is pretty good. Although I spent many a summer at my grandparents place in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, it wasn't until I went to school in Hawaii (1974) that I experienced true blue water. I became friends with a classmate, Chris Pauling, who was a gifted printmaker. He invited me and a few other class members to go out on his Dads boat that was docked down at the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor. It was probably 28' or so, and according to Chris, built in the 1920's in New York, and he called it an "S" boat. The topsides were pristine white enamel, accented with lots of varnished mahogany and brass deck hardware. A truly lovely boat. Anyhow, our sailing circle of classmates dwindled until it was just Chris and me, and we had some great conversations, with Diamondhead and the Koolaus shrouded in clouds as a backdrop. I shared a few of my adventures at my grandparents place on the lake and Chris started to open up about how his grandfather was very intelligent and always working on vitamins and knew a lot about vitamin C. The more Chris talked, our conversation seemed to be developing like a jig saw puzzle, with bits of information leading to my startling revelation that Chris' grandfather was the Nobel laureate...Linus Pauling.

Edited by - on

OJ
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 03/09/2004 : 14:58:16

No pictures of my early sailing adventures either. First experience was on a SailFish at Culver on Lake Maxinkuckee in Indiana. Eventually graduated to the O.W. Fowler, now decommissioned. Was really as much about teamwork as sailing. In retrospect I think I was blessed

to have had this experience . . . though as teenagers we really preferred the smaller, faster, nimbler day sailors

.

Here's a recent photo of the Fowler's replacement, the Ledbetter followed by a blurb.

THE O.W. FOWLER was the flagship of the Culver Naval School program from May 1941 to August 1983. A 54-foot boat, with its main mast standing 40 feet above the deck, the Fowler was named after a former commander of the Naval School. It was designed by a former Naval School instructor and built in Culver by Wilfred C. "Bud" Craft, a Culver Academies' shipwright. A wall in The Culver Academies' boat shop had to be removed in order to remove the completed ship.
The Fowler, descendent of the great clipper ships of the 19th century, evoked some of the same feelings as the great Flying Cloud, one of the mainstays of the China trade in that era. To see the Fowler was like seeing a flying cloud.
In 1983, after marine architects discovered the Fowler's hull had become unsound, The Academies built a new boat, exactly like the Fowler, so that a great tradition, and a great teaching aid for Naval School, would not be lost.
The new boat, named the R.H. Ledbetter for Georgia philanthropist Robert H. Ledbetter, was built during the 1983 - 84 winter by the T.D. Vinette Company, shipbuilders in Escanaba Michigan. Mr. Ledbetter is a 1954 graduate of Culver Military Academy.
In a gesture both practical and sentimental, the masts, spars and sails from the Fowler were used on the Ledbetter. Unlike the Fowler, the Ledbetter was built with a steel hull and wood trimming. Steel was selected for its longevity and need for less maintenance than wood. The Ledbetter cost to build was more than 15 times the Fowler's 1941 cost.
The 56 foot Ledbetter was dedicated July 7, 1984 at a public ceremony at The Culver Academies' Naval Building. It is painted white, with a gold boot stripe and a blue bottom. When fully rigged, the boat carries 14 sails. She has a 12 foot bow sprit, draws 4 and ½ feet of water, and has a beam of 8 feet. Her auxiliary power is a Cummins diesel.

Of course the school went co-ed a year after I graduated

. Go figure!

Edited by - OJ on 03/09/2004 15:21:16

Ed Montague
Captain

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USA
499 Posts

Response Posted - 03/09/2004 : 17:19:38

I can't remember the first sail, but I do remember that I spent a lot of time sailing on a styrafoam boat called a Snark. It had the lateen rig like a Sunfish. I remember it being a floating advertisement for Cool Cigaretts, all in green and white letters on the sail. We painted the hull with fiberglass resin to give it a little more strength and impact protection. Spent many summer afternoons on Lake Berryesa just north of the California wine country screaming on broad reaches back and forth across the lake. This boat certainly helped cure me of any problem with tilting and flipping as we spent a lot of time in both positions.

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 03/09/2004 : 18:38:58

Karen (Spike) and I were mere youngsters (over 20 years ago). I had a Sunfish. We took it to Lake Castiac north of Los Angeles. We sailed out in the middle of the big lake. There were strong gusty winds from every direction. We were having fun. I had a basket tied to the mast. We put our life jackets in the basket. I clipped the mainsheet to the tiller (primitive self steering). She kissed me. The boat tipped and we fell in. It righted and sailed off. I swam after it and caught the mainsheet, climbed on, rescued my sweetheart. We put the lifejackets on and sailed back to the launch ramp.

I also used to take the Sunfish to the beach, launch through the surf, and windsurf with it. It was great fun riding the waves back in.

The little boat is still floating on my neighbor's pond (gave it to the boy that lived there).

Edited by - on

MattL
Admiral

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USA
990 Posts

Response Posted - 03/09/2004 : 19:04:54

I'll look through my moms old photos and scan something.
Ed, I had a COOL sea snark too. I use to take it on San Luis Res, with a pocket full of plastic rings. When the light at the visitors center turned red signifing 30 miles per hour I knew it was time for things to break. The ring holding the sail would pop, the sail would come down, fix on a new one and start all over again. It also fit well in the irragation canal behind my parents house. That was great till you got too close to a bridge, then the wind would be blocked and the current would pull you in to the bridge. I'd walk the boat hand over hand to the bank, jump out and drag it a little up stream and push off again.
It's great to be young and stupid.

Edited by - on

John V.
Admiral

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USA
559 Posts

Response Posted - 03/10/2004 : 18:57:49

this is not the earliest but close I am second from the right with my parents and sisters aboard Robidoux in the St Mary's river at the west end of the north channel. this was taken about 1958.
this is the boat mentioned in my article. I was about 12 when I skippered her accross Potaganassing Bay in 4 footers with my dad a happy passenger smoking his pipe as the boat rolled along.

Edited by - John V. on 03/10/2004 21:20:08

seastream
Navigator

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USA
242 Posts

Response Posted - 03/10/2004 : 20:15:58

OK, I'll bite. I'm offering a link to my webpage, just click on the 'sailing' link when you get there. You'll see pix of my Dads' 1984 Cape Dory 28, which he still has. I think the pix were taken nearer 1990 though. Somewhere I've got a pix of my Uncle Johns' 14' Grampien, 'Irish Mist' which I'll dig up and post. We took her on a trip through the Erie Canal when I was 14...back in 1973, when I had hair and knew everything. Sigh.

www.torborg.com/seastream

Edited by - on

Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 03/10/2004 : 20:57:57

What? You expected water? Its Kansas! I never went to a lake until I was 34. I grew up a golfer. I thought high wind was what 1 irons were for.
Is it just me or did I have my boat hove to?

Edited by - Frank Hopper on 03/10/2004 21:06:26

John V.
Admiral

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USA
559 Posts

Response Posted - 03/10/2004 : 21:08:37

Thanks JB I figured it out. I appreciate your help

Edited by - John V. on 03/10/2004 21:33:54

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