More Dutchman doodlings

[davidh]

quelle surprise (as they say just south of here)........

I've just been given a box of old clippings, along with some old Y&Ys, maninly from the 60s and 70s - though some are dated in the early 80s.

Was just reading through and...... several mentions of the Daring...... 'overcanvassed' is one quote from Larry Marks. More from him - his first 505 was a Fairey Marine boat, quick upwind but not so good down.

But on to the subject of the title - Larry's FD - with which he joined the fleet and for a while was the 'man to beat' despite lacking in crew weight. Now I would have expected this to be a Hoare but no, it can from Greg Gregory..... the man behind various Cherubs, then the Ghost, some of the best Merlins of the day and now it seems FDs.

We also had the Tremlett family along at Southsea making fast Dutchman, no wonder that at Hamble River they had class racing for them on Wed nights!!!!. Add to this - the early FDs in the UK were HOT moulded at Faireys - along with the Fireflys and Swordfish, but I do not know of any Fairey boats that remain. Can anyone from the FDs correct me on that?

Once again, this all just goes to show how much information is being lost at an alarming rate........ so be it CVRDA, Classic Olympics or whatever, the best does need saving!!!

D

[Nessa]

What I find interesting is to find old sailing books in charity shops or second hand shops. They have some great stuff - I've just got one called 'Dinghy Sails' and it talks about the introduction of the cunningham as a control and how to use it! There are some fabulous photos too.

I fear a collection may be starting....

[davidh]

Nessa,

I would guess that this forum is actually better than a well stocked library, as many of us on here have the makings of a useful 'collection' That is why people are increasingly finding their way here with questions! If Chris, or Rupert, Laser Tourist (out in France), Alan W or any of the other usual suspects does not have the answer, then it is a hard question indeed.

Agree 100% about the book collecting, though sadly more and more people seem to feel the same and prices are very much on the 'up' - even in todays harsh climate.

Next one for you to watch for is 'Dinghy Days' - the Eileen Ramsey book.

D

[davidh]

Nessa,

should have added.......... (just for you)

at the bottom of the box was a picture of me sailing the first ever Tony Smith boat, just after it had been launched at Weston. The rig is a somewhat willowy Proctor Alpha with forward facing diamonds and a Gale/Smith sail.

Although quick, being the first in anything is not always a good idea. The boat (k254) went to Garda, Tony had k255 for himself. His though had the king plank all glued up together - something that was not the case of 254, hence the mast spearing down through the deck and hull (okay, I had a LOT of kicker on that day) - pin thropugh a butterfly job!!! The real sod of it all was that I was well placed at the time........ c'est la vie!

D

[Brookesy]

I am not aware of any Fairey hulled FD's around but the FD registrar Tony Lyall keeps a very detailed record of all UK boats past and present, and can be contacted via the contacts list on the FD website.
There appears to be a small number of FD's that have recently been acquired for cruising on the Broads, according to the registrar, but I am not sure if this together, or just coincidence.

[davidh]

Brooksey,

what do you know about your two boats? Are either of those the ones that RP sailed at either Kiel or Kingston?

D

[Brookesy]

GBR 300 which was Superdocious number two, I know is currently being restored by the editor of 'Seahorse' in Lymington his name escapes me but I think it is Andy. He has owned the boat in its current, I am told shabby condition, for some time. It preceeded my boat 350 and many of the fittings were tranferred over by RP as he did. It is a Bob Hoare, wooden, double bottomed hull and was around in the hands of Neil Pye until he replaced it with a modern Mader.I think this may have been the Kingston boat but it is a guess.
A little Dickie bird informed me it may be available, as he has a one tonner project or something on the go at the moment, so there you go.... I even have contact details if anyone wishes to PM me.

[davidh]

Brooksey,

I think I may know the man you mean!!!

Thanks for your offer for a space in the front of the boat! I've kept my hand in with trapezing, mainly on Contenders I must admit, but these day I accept that someone with a tad more agility would be betterer than I at the front of the boat. I'd really like to find a boat to 'drive' if possible, hence my questions about the posible existence (or locations) of the other boats.

Still, despite you being at Roadford and me at Soton, if you want to do an event at some time, shout!!

D

[Michael Brigg]

DavidH said:-

the idea of doing the 'Games' is a huge attraction.

Sounds like you'll be needing another Dutchman for this David. It sounds like you'll have to give it a suitable name to attract attention of both the committee and other competitors on the water.

"Large Hadron Collider" has already been one suggestion for a tight starting gate where a name like "COMOtion" would speak for itself.

It never occured to me that Rodney Pattison had quite so many boats, or that they might all have the same name but it makes good sense of course as he was cashing in (as much as one could in those days) on the concept of what we now call "Branding." So, how about "Superfluous" (Echoing the famous RP dynasty but named after those boats you will have to dispose of for the funding, or perhaps a reference to the opinion of SWMBO)

[Nigel]

You could use "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" but as (I think) Richard Dreyfuss said in Jaws "I think we need a bigger boat". Have we found a use for a Star?

Nigel

[davidh]

Nigel,

many, many moons past (when Alan W was still a lad even) it was hard selling boats abroad, as all sorts of paperwork and rules got in the way.
The trick was to compete in an event somewhere nice, then sell the boat out there, trousering a nice profit (compared with a UK deal). Better still was to double stack on the way down, sell one boat, bring one home and then you avoided the prying comments from the Customs when you rocked up at Dover with an empty trailer.

Some people even made quite a nice side line out of this, selling the boats before they even left the UK! On a number of occasions, I trilpe stacked - one on the roof, two on the trailer, only one of course came back. (and all with an Austin Maxi.......)

That was ok until I did a deal for someone to sail a boat that had been sold....... got to Imperia, down by Genoa.... took the undercover off to find that the hull was canary yellow with the boat name
"hang on in there baby" sign written in large letters from bow to stern.
It is very difficult trapezing up the beat and NOT looking at your boat, oh my oh my, t'was........words fail me!

So getting a bigger boat to get the whole name in.....forget it. And as for a Star, I did not know that you were in to expensive and painful pastimes

[Nigel]

Hi David,

expensive and painful pastimes? Is that another reference to Max Moseley?

Probably the only reason I can think of for owning a Star is to fit a longer name on. I am not a big boat man although I did have a pleasant couple of days a few weeks ago sailing Mermaids at Seaview on IoW. Someone else was paying. If you have access to a corporate hostility budget it is an interesting way of spending it but I could not see myself doing it every week.

Nigel