ACE leads LADY VAN in the breezier conditions of this year’s Alexandra Cup for R Boats. For two years we have watched LADY VAN dominate in the lighter winds on Port Townsend Bay. Now it appears ACE is coming into her own in the higher breezes facing the boats [...]]]>

Photo by Tim O'Connell.

ACE leads LADY VAN in the breezier conditions of this year’s Alexandra Cup for R Boats. For two years we have watched LADY VAN dominate in the lighter winds on Port Townsend Bay. Now it appears ACE is coming into her own in the higher breezes facing the boats this year at the Alexandra Cup for R Boats in Vancouver at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. To quote ContenderCAN2399 on Sailing Anarchy, “Great to see how the design choices made in the 20′s (what combo of length, sail area and displacement to chose) are playing out in the variable weather of 2011.”

They are calling for Sun and temperatures in the 70’s this weekend. We hope you are planning to come for the Classic Mariners Regatta. If you don’t have a wood boat of your own, there are plenty of people looking for crew [...]]]>

2010 Classic Mariners Regatta, photo M. Berman

They are calling for Sun and temperatures in the 70’s this weekend. We hope you are planning to come for the Classic Mariners Regatta. If you don’t have a wood boat of your own, there are plenty of people looking for crew (and we are talking about some fast boats here!) Come to the skippers meeting to connect with the skippers in need:  Saturday morning at 9:30 am at the NW Maritime Center above the boat shop.

You can still register at the Welcome Party Friday night 6:30-10. Free beer and snacks and lots of sailors to talk to.

Don’t miss out! The refurbished trophies are awaiting your name engraved. The pennants are completed. All we need is YOU.

We hope to have the R-boats in Port Townsend for this June’s Classic Mariners Regatta.

R-Boat racing started on the West Coast in 1912 and was very active up until 1940. Most major Yacht clubs had at least one in their stall and they raced for the Seattle [...]]]>

Lady Van -1929 from www.ladyvan.com

We hope to have the R-boats in Port Townsend for this June’s Classic Mariners Regatta.

R-Boat racing started on the West Coast in 1912 and was very active up until 1940. Most major Yacht clubs had at least one in their stall and they raced for the Seattle Lipton Cup, the Isherwood Trophy, and others, with Seattle Yacht Club’s R-Boat, Sir Tom, dominating the fleet for over 14 years. The fleet racing died on the West Coast after WWII and was not seen again until our own Wooden Boat Festival in 2010. There are now three completed, restored, R-Boats active in the PNW:  Pirate, Aloha, and Lady Van. A fourth, Ace, is almost ready to sail again. Below is a brief history of each of them.

Pirate R-11
Pirate is the well-known Ted Geary designed boat restored by Seattle’s Center for Wooden Boats and launched in 2005. She was originally built for Don Lee of Los Angeles for his son Tommy to sail, in 1926. She was successfully raced on the West Coast, and even shipped to the East coast in 1929 to compete. Beginning with the Depression and Word War II she was used as a cruiser, racing under handicap rules up until the 70’s. In the 90’s she was donated to the Blue Whale Sailing School in Santa Barbara and in 1999 she was purchased by a syndicate in Seattle and given to the CWB for restoration. Under Scott Rohrer’s direction, she was beautifully restored and began sailing the waters of Puget Sound again in 2005. More information is available at www.r-boat.org/

Lady Van R-7
Lady Van is a 1927 Charles Nicholson design that is owned by the Boatbuilding Heritage Society of British Columbia . She was originally commissioned by a syndicate of Vancouver yachtsmen to dethrone the Seattle Yacht Club’s Sir Tom, who had dominated west coast R- boat racing for years. She raced and cruised the Pacific Northwest until the mid-1960’s when she fell into disuse and disrepair.  She was rediscovered in 2009, purchased by the Boatbuilding Heritage Society, and rebuilt by Jespersen Boat Builders of Sidney, BC. She was splashed in June of 2010. See www.ladyvan.com/ladyvan.htm for more information.

Aloha R-1
An Edson Schock design from 1925, Aloha was a former flagship of the San Diego Yacht Club. She was still actively sailing in Southern California when she was purchased by a group of Sidney B.C. businessmen and restored. She hit the water running in July 2010 and made it to the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival for a reunion that September. See  www.r-boat-aloha.ca/ for more information.

Ace
Ace is a Charles Mower design R- Boat built in Sausalito and commissioned by Arthur Rousseau of San Francisco in 1926. She was raced along the West Coast, restored in the 1980’s, and was found in Newport Beach on the hard awaiting another restoration. Bob Cadranell purchased her and brought her to Poulsbo to be restored there instead. That restoration, being overseen by John Guzzwell, was begun in the spring of 2010 and is expected to be completed very soon. If we are lucky, in time for the Classic Mariners Regatta. For a complete history and pictures, see:  www.r-boatace.com/.

Port Townsend Sailing Association is reviving wooden boat racing on the Bay this year with the First Annual Sirens Wooden Boat Series. Working in partnership with the Wooden Boat Foundation/NW Maritime Center, there will be 6 races this spring and summer open only to our amazing fleet [...]]]> CALLING ALL WOODEN BOAT OWNERS

Port Townsend Sailing Association is reviving wooden boat racing on the Bay this year with the First Annual Sirens Wooden Boat Series. Working in partnership with the Wooden Boat Foundation/NW Maritime Center, there will be 6 races this spring and summer open only to our amazing fleet of wood hulled sailboats. The races will be held on:

Time for PT's wonderful wooden boat fleet to be back sailing together on the Bay.

Saturday April 2 at noon

Saturday May 7 at approx. 1:30 following the Opening Day Sail Pass

Saturday June 5- 2 races in the afternoon as part of the Classic Mariners Regatta

Sunday June 6-1 race in the afternoon as part of the Classic Mariners Regatta

Saturday July 23 at noon

Sirens is sponsoring the race and feeding the Race Committee. The races will sail past the waterfront on at least one leg of the race course, so be sure to wave at the balcony clientele at the restaurant as you go by.

The best 5 out of 6 races will be scored to decide the winners. Depending on entries, there may be more than one class.  Classic Mariners Regatta will be scored separately as well, so it is possible to win both in CMR and in the Wooden Boat Series.  Handicaps will be based on your PHRF rating if you show proof of a 2011 certificate. Otherwise, a rating will be assigned to you based on prior PHRF rating and past race results. Information on how to obtain a PHRF rating can be found at www.phrf-nw.org/ratings.

To participate, just show up at the skippers meetings to get race instructions for the day. There will be a skippers meeting at the Boat Haven yard office picnic table at 10:00 am for all those races that are not a part of Classic Mariners Regatta. The first one is April 2^nd at 10am.Bring a copy of your most recent PHRF certificate, or just let us know if you do not have one. There is no fee to participate in this series, although you must be a P.T.S.A. member to qualify for awards. There is a small fee to participate in the WBF Classic Mariners Regatta($40.00.) Download an application at www.woodenboat.org or pick up one at the NW.M.C.

Each P.T.S.A. member who completes at least 5 races will receive a bronze commemorative medallion, courtesy of the P. T. Foundry. The summer P.T.S.A. party and awards ceremony will follow the last race, on July 23^rd, and will be held at the Foundry (the Cupola House) at Point Hudson.

Spread the word to your Wooden Boat Friends!

When the doors to Sea Marine opened for the Wooden Boat Festival, there was Meteor.

The revolutionary 38-foot Meteor was designed and built in 1938 by the Jensen family, owners of Seattle’s Jensen Motorboat Company, for themselves. With double-planked hull and triple-planked superstructure, she has a beautifully [...]]]>

Meteor, still ahead of her time

When the doors to Sea Marine opened for the Wooden Boat Festival, there was Meteor.

The revolutionary 38-foot Meteor was designed and built in 1938 by the Jensen family, owners of Seattle’s Jensen Motorboat Company, for themselves. With double-planked hull and triple-planked superstructure, she has a beautifully flared bow and torpedo-like stern, far ahead of her time. The “streamlined” Meteor was cutting edge boat design in 1938 for she had hardly a straight line and absolutely no sharp corners. To some eyes, she reminds you most of Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion car of 1933.

Fuller's Dymaxion car of 1933

The Jensens had a history of fast boats and just as important as the way she looks, she was designed to go fast, hitting 25 knots with her original twin 152 hp Chrysler Crown engines. At some point in the boat’s long life, Anchor Jensen added a “wing” or large trim tab to the stern to aid in lifting her up on a plane.

Meteor turned heads in 1938 as she did under the former owner, glass artist Dale Chihuly, and the current owner, musician Neil Young. The rumor on the dock is that the plan is to convert Meteor to electric drive which in a way makes perfect sense. She’s a boat that has always been ahead of her time.

There’s a nice article about the Jensens from which much of this was lifted here.

The first West Coast fleet race for R-Class yachts in 70 years took place on Port Townsend Bay on Friday, September 11th. In light air and a building flood they struggled out to the Pt Hudson buoy, spinnaker reached back along town to [...]]]>

Pirate, Aloha and Lady Van take a light wind start

The first West Coast fleet race for R-Class yachts in 70 years took place on Port Townsend Bay on Friday, September 11th. In light air and a building flood they struggled out to the Pt Hudson buoy, spinnaker reached back along town to the “Y” buoy on the west end of Boat Haven, found a small wind line to the Tower, and beat back to the line. Lady Van took the horn followed by Aloha and Pirate. From the deck of the committee boat, Ev & Susan Diehl’s Azure, the order of finish seemed less important than the fact that these gems from the ’20′s are back on the water and racing.

Aloha in Point Hudson

With Aloha and Lady Van already in PT and Pirate on the way, this promises to be a very special WBF weekend on the Bay.

If you have not seen these boats, you owe it to yourself to head to Pt Hudson and take a look. [...]]]>

Aloha in Point Hudson

With Aloha and Lady Van already in PT and Pirate on the way, this promises to be a very special WBF weekend on the Bay.

If you have not seen these boats, you owe it to yourself to head to Pt Hudson and take a look. While the 6 Meters are essentially half-size 12 Meters, the R Boats are 1/3rd size J-Class boats and from the same era. In this case, 1/3rd size means 40 feet long and 9000 lbs displacement, of which 6000 lbs is in the keel. The other 3000 lbs supports a huge sail plan and a very bendy, tweaky rig. On the newly restored Lady Van you can see how light and careful the construction and restoration has been. To admire these boats at the dock is wonderful, and to see them fleet racing on the Bay is going to be a thrill.

Alexandra Cup

The Seattle Yacht Club has challenged the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club to a match race series to be held in Vancouver this October in 1920′s vintage ‘R’ class sloops. At stake will be the Alexandra Cup, a match race trophy dating back to 1907.

The Charter for the cup allows any recognized yacht club in North America to participate. If there are multiple entries from either country, eliminations will be conducted in Canada (current Defender) and/or the US (current Challenger) to determine which teams will meet as Challenger and Defender in the finals for the Alexandra Cup.

The two ‘R’ class sloops were restored in Canada. In Vancouver the Lady Van, a 1927 Chas. Nicholson design, was restored by a syndicate from the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and on Vancouver Island the Aloha, designed in 1923 by Edson B Schock, was restored by a Sidney North Saanich YC group. A third R-Class yacht is currently under restoration in the Vancouver area.

The Seattle Yacht Club is placing their hopes on Pirate, a 1926 ‘R’ boat which took part in last year’s WBF after being immaculately restored by a group from Seattle. (see details on Pirate at: www.r-boat.org/ ).

The series is open to all recognized North American yacht clubs. All that is required is access to a restored ‘R’ boat that measures in under the 1927 rules. A booklet detailing the 1927 Universal Rule for Marconi rigged “R” class sloops built after 1925 with amendments is available at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club site here. The event website has more details regarding the event rules as well as contact numbers for the organizers. http://royalvan.com/AlexandraCup_2010.asp

Lady Van, photo by Tim O'Connell