Howdy from Bob Duff early Saturday evening Sept. 6, 2008,
Like an old fire station horse being roused by the sound of a fire alarm, it is Saturday evening without the pleasure of yacht races to report. The season is over, but the compulsion is there to blog. So......here we go. The picture above is Thornton Clark and crew on IOD TANGO sometime thirty plus years ago. Phil Somerby, long gone and truly missed, is leaning on the gooseneck next to Debbie Collins Duff now Papps as I blast the air with my faithful Highland Bagpipes who are now gone like many old friends.
TANGO was built by Bjarne Aas in Frederikstad, Norway in 1936. She joined Corny Sheilds as Number 16 in the original Long Island fleet of International One Design Class yachts. They still bring pleasure to thousand of sailors all over the western world each yachting season.
Most recently Tom Brennan told a small luncheon group about TANGO's journey to Marblehead in the mid-1960s. I cannot do it justice here, but some highlights are that Thornton bought her sight unseen. I recall that the price was $1,900 versus current prices in the forty thousand range. Thornton, Tom and some other adventurous souls flew to New York after work on a Friday. They boarded TANGO (not yet her new name) after dark and did not know her color until sunup under full sail. First light did not cause gasps at her beauty but groans of anguish about the amount of work needed to bring her to the condition Thornton would demand.
They had a tiny outboard but I recall that they never used it. They sailed nonstop except for a brief pause in the Cape Cod Canal to repair a halyard problem. Some time later, Debbie and I had arrived here in Marblehead from San Franciso via Chicago with some good experiences with IC's (SF's version of the IOD name), 22 Square Meters and Scow boat racing in Wisconsis. We were right at home. I was racing with Carlie Needham and Ed Carol on SAGA #51 from my first weekend in town. That first day Jon Wales fouled us (in his IOD #9?) and yelled over that he "owed us one". I decided right then that this was the place I wanted to be. Meanwhile, Thornton had painted TANGO red and was being observed as an upstart Alabama Harvard boy worthy of some attention.
Carlie was somewhat ill in the spring of '69 and my sailing prospects with him were not bright. He never really recovered his health. In wandering around Hood's boat yard I recognized the bright red IOD as Thornton and introduced myself to him and TANGO. He had everything ripped down almost beyond recognition. I asked if I could help put her back together. The rest is history!
Debbie got very much into the act and took over all the varnish work on new teak comings, doghouse, seats, bulkheads, covering boards, etc. Fortunately, Debbie condemned the green paint Thornton had chosen as being "MAID'S ROOM GREEN" and shamed him into a glistening white with 14 karat gold cove lines. TANGO looked like new and began gaining a little respect from the graduates of Pleon and MIT who are not especially receptive to "outsiders" in case you have not noticed.
The seasons went by with some great times. We were up with TANGO and we were down. We got into several World's, North American's and a few Bermuda Race Weeks and into team racing against Long Island and Bermuda. Along the way, the first world IOD President, Bill John from the Long Island Fleet had died and Thornton succeeded him. The foundations were there by Bill John and Bjarne Aas for the new IOD glass boat design to convert wooden IOD boats to "new glass", but no one had ever done it. The opportunity to lead the way presented itself to President Thornton Clark in 1976 when wooden TANGO went down to a hard bottom at a spring mooring and could not be restored. Thornton took the initiative for the first complete conversion. This was an example of very bold leadership for which he deserves much praise and thanks. Steve Wales and John Benning followed suite right away converting #2 and #22 which they had campaigned for years after "stealing" them away from Long Island.
I started this evening with some additional scanned pictures of our converting TANGO to glass, but the "blog goddess" (she must be a woman) has banished them to cyberspace or somewhere. I will continue next week with more of the story. Maybe Thornton and Debbie will send their normal critique of my work before next Saturday.
An editor's note: the list of yachting links and the request for e-mail comments have been moved to the top of this blog. This was a frequent suggestion from my friend Jim Ayer. It just took me a long time to learn how to do it. His photos have enhanced my publications from the start. I have several more from him with ideas for future issues before the sailing season starts again in the spring.
