ADDITIONAL MARBLEHEAD MUSINGS OF THE MOMENT - SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Howdy from Bob Duff,



My computers (three of them right now) are playing tricks on me. My Internet access and e-mail have been down for a few days. Comcast just got me back up on only this DELL. I am putting out this blog issue using what resources are here.





I bought my own camera this week and have pictures of an old special place for IOD TANGO in Ted Hood's Marblehead Little Harbor Boat Yard. However, the Dell computer does not yet accept my little photo transfers. My MacBook Pro took them graciously for review and you may enjoy them later on. They must wait for more technical breakthroughs before I can show them to you.




Meanwhile, I am stealing three shots from Ulrika Welsch's wonderful book "MARBLEHEAD" which you may purchase via her web site identified below. Above here is a shot of the old boat yard from Gerry Island in the middle of our Little Harbor. Those multi-million dollar town houses in the background have been built where some really great racing yachts were once built and where TANGO spent several winters and springs along with quite a few other smaller racing yachts. I will get into more of those stories in the weeks ahead. The church tower in the background above is just below my old house on High Street. Its G.D. bell rings into my bedroom window as a call to church on Sunday mornings. I am usually already at Episcopal church/choir a few blocks away. However, I do sputter and curse a little when I try to sleep on a Sunday past 10 AM.




Before leaving Little Harbor tonight, I must point out that the "town father's" refused Ted permission to dredge the harbor for more of the big yachts which wanted to come here and spend lots of money in our little town. Consequently Ted took his several yachting businesses to Newport, Rhode Island where the new Little Harbor Boat Yard has generated a lot of money, jobs and employment for hundreds of people. What price quaint beauty?





Next below, Ule captured a fleet of International One Design yachts reaching out on a triangular course with the wind over the starboard (right) side. As you might expect, I suggest that my TANGO #16 is way out in front of these laggards. The triangle course is used infrequently these days with starts going directly into the wind on a windward/leeward/windward/leeward course to finish with legs one nautical mile or so each.




The other picture below is ole Duff lighting the candles on the antique chandelier at St. Michael's Episcopal Church. It was built in 1714. I sang Russian Bass here and lit candles for years to get away from that G.D. loud bell at Old North Church Sunday mornings. Incidentally, our Old North is not the one in Boston where Paul Revere saw the lanterns. Paul did make OUR bell which the Yankees broke celebrating on July 4th 1776.





Sorry for the blog bugs! They will not let me type below the pictures, but I can paste the info on Ulrika's book inviting you to see more of her wonderful work.

Photographs by Ulrike Welsch

Published by Commonwealth Editions, 2000

ISBN 1-889833-16-9

© 2000 Ulrike Welsch

" . . . Marblehead is infinitely more than a historic town by the ocean. It has always been defined as much by its nonconformity and independence as by its natural beauty and preoccupation with the sea . . . "

Hardcover, 10x10", 128 pages, 127 Color Photos

authographed for $29.95

free shipping within the continental U.S.A.

(MA residents add 5% sales tax)

As to popular demand the book has been re-printed and is again available!

Tel/Fax in U.S.A.: 781-631-1641

E-mail:ulrikefotos@comcast.net

MORE MARBLEHEAD MUSINGS OF THE MOMENT -SEPTEMBER 13, 2008

Howdy from Bob Duff Saturday September 13, 2008,

As I write this just now some IODs are coming in from racing the Corinthian Yacht Club Fall Series. I neglected to mention it last Saturday since Brad Marvin and I and the rest of EYC-RC are now on the beach for this year. The series continues for two more Saturdays with very small participation.  IOD results along with those for the Etchells are available via the link provided above for MRA-FALL Series Racing Scores-2008  under FAVORITE YACHTING LINKS (MORE). 

 Last Saturday Jennifer and Greg Mancusi-Ungaro with (I think) Margaret (age 6) and Eleanor(8) in #2 ELECTRA beat SMALL HOTEL, TANGO and RHYTHM.   Looking backward, the Mancusi-Ungaros took this picture of TANGO to make their point with me about my beloved IOD at that moment.  Come on Rachel & Ian Morrison, get her going!  Click on the photo for a larger view of Tinker's Island and the hazy view of the Boston Skyline as Tropical Storm Hanna was giving us a little scare.

As reported last week, most all IODs should defer to TANGO since she and Thornton Clark set the stage for many of the new boats that followed. TANGO (the first conversion) was hull #108 on the "new" glass numbering system starting at #101 (Jim Bishop-Long Island).  ELECTRA is hull #109 despite keeping her original Long Island Fleet sail numbers.  The whole history of conversion from old wood to new glass would be fun to research and document. 

 I am fairly certain that Bermuda's wooden boats have all been converted with the probable exception of Stanhope Joel's #1.  She was maintained immaculately since 1939  like many of the "gold platers" in Northeast Harbor, Maine.  That #1 was raced most successfully in my day by Archie Hooper.  Archie had more than one of the "keeper" cups which went with the King(?) Bermuda Gold Cup raced each year.  I hope that my stumbling words evoke comments, corrections and extensions for our common knowledge.

Speaking of that, Thornton Clark corrected some of my comments last week as follows:

"There are very few corrections.  Peter Mimno had ridden down to the American Yacht Club with me in the new Jaguar to examine the boat before I bought it, so were well aware of the color.   We went through radar at 135mph because we were late for the meeting with the owner, but managed to get away with out a ticket (that, however, is another long story)."

" It took us all night and part of the morning to get through Long Island Sound.  When we exited Long Island Sound, I think it was Tom Brennan who kept looking at a mark just off to starboard that did not show on our chart.  Only when it began to rise did we discover that we had a submarine alongside."

"We sailed into Newport, making a stop before heading on into Buzzards Bay."

  "It is illegal, and I don't know if the control officers on the west as you enter the Cape Cod Canal just didn't see us in the dark, but we did not have a working engine and had to sail through the canal.  Stopped early the next morning at that small harbor on the starboard side just before you enter Massachusetts Bay to fix the jammed main halyard."

"Had a beautiful beam reach from there to Marblehead.  Dick Kirk, now deceased, was on board and I think Dick Fleming was also.  I believe there was one more, so will ask and let you know."

I have to leave at 5:30 tomorrow morning for an Alabama Scenic River Trail meeting in the Delta near Mobile, so will have to get back to you later."

"Thornton"

editor's note - - contact in Montgomery, AL -

 thorntonclark@aol.com - 334-396-4656

That beautiful black Jaguar brings up memories of its own.  TANGO, in her wooden glory, had a black bottom which got a lot of attention.  Debbie, Thornton, Phil Somerby and I spent many hours smoothing her with black wet sandpaper.  Our son Rob (Robin) Duff (probably 4 years)  was with us and his baby sister Allison at Hood's boat yard where they spent the early years of youth.  Robin, always helpful, volunteered to help us wet sand the black bottom paint.  You probably see where this is going.  Yes, his efforts were soundly rejected by us all.  Being a DUFF,  he gathered up sufficient rejected black sand paper and did a beautiful job on the gleaming black hood of Thornton's Jaguar.

I am gaining enthusiasm for keeping with this TANGO story a bit longer.  I do have some nice pictures of our building the new converted glass TANGO.  Also some other little stories which may amuse you. 

The new link to BLUEJACKET SHIP/BOAT/HALF MODELS caught my eye.  I offer it here for your perusal.  See you next week.

 

MARBLEHEAD RACING IS OVER FOR THIS YEAR - WHAT NOW?- September 06, 2008

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.

MRA Series #4 - LABOR DAY REGATTA - Day #2 of 2 - August 31, 2008

Howdy from Bob Duff, August 31, 2008 2100 hours,




In breaking with the sailing season, I present here an invitation to "An Exhibit of New Watercolors and Children's Fantasies By Benneville Strohecker Marblehead Arts Association Henrick Gallery October 4-30, 2008". The watercolor portrait on the invitation is of a grandaughter of Jane and Tim Hunt who are the two people in the upper right-hand corner of the invitation. The granddaughter is Jianne Zagarri whose nickname is Gian-Gian as noted by her song in the little poem. Her twin brother is the "T.J." also mentioned there. Tiger and Beemer are pets. Mom is Lindsay Hunt Zagarri if I have all this at least partially correct. Dad is Ron.






Ben Strohecker was a long time member of the Eastern Yacht Club Race Committee as have been the Hunts including service during several summer months with me at the OLYMPIC YACHTING GAMES in Savanna, Georgia 1996. Ben has an outstanding racing record as captain of the SWEET SLOOP Herreshoff 12.5 when she was the corporate yacht for Harbor Sweets Handmade Chocolates. Ben could single hand SWEET SLOOP through a spinnaker jibe by using his own knobby knees. He has written a new , as yet unpublished illustrated children's book about "the day the ocean turned to chocolate". We think that you should enjoy Ben's artistry. Click on these images for an enlarged view.









The saddest day of the year is when we dock the signal boat after her last race of the summer. ETO will be hauled this week and it is all over but the shouting after a great season 2008. We managed to run two races each today for the four fleets at the TINKERS Line before heavy winds caused us to cut it short and "head for the barn".





We saw twenty-three knots of wind, a broken boom and a spinnaker pole bent like a pretzel. On the MIDWAY Line Herb Motley's IOD KUNGSORNEN #49 was "T-BONED" by another yacht and lost the top one-third of her mast. I assume that it was an ETCHELLS who rammed her since no self respecting IOD would hit another IOD. But, this is just my slightly biased view about the yachts that I love. Another mis-guess by me yesterday was the imagined lead by #46 IOD EDEN. I was deceived by the fact that Bruce Dyson and Norm Cressy in #7 GYPSY seemed to have lapped her. Oh my! And here it is the last night of August with no official scores posted on the MRA site.





My brief unofficial notes show Douglas Trees & Chris Small with a first and second today in Rhodes 19 #1680 SWING ROOM. Then came Mike Lane in WAY #3038 with a second and a first. I noted RONDAR #1 Viper (Rondar Race Boats Limited) with a first but missed the other Viper scores. Martha & Sam Altreuter pushed their Sonar #787 RESONANCE to a 1st and 2nd. Frank McNamara dominated the J-24s with two firsts in ZOT #4202.

MRA Series #4 - LABOR DAY REGATTA - Day #1 of 2 - August 30, 2008

Howdy from Bob Duff August 30, 2008, 2200 hours,




Ever since the Junior Olympics Festival in Rockport earlier this summer I have wanted to show this artistic display of starting flags created by Mariah Dunn for us on the race signal boat. Left to right are the 420 Champion flag, the Green 420 flag, the Laser flag, The Susie Schneider "BLACK FLAG" which discourages early starters and the blue "Preparatory 'P'" flag used during more genteel start sequences. I was so impressed with the artistry of Mariah's display that it is now a part of my own start flag organization. As reported earlier, my timing partner Brad Marvin just says harrumph, harrumph.





Speaking of timers, this again is me imitating Brad Marvin at the J.O.s in full race committee uniform complete with Brad's famous harrumph, harrumphs. Brad let me experience three days of the pressure and voice exhaustion that goes with yelling start times over and over. I was happy to go back to my normal job of quietly hoisting and dropping flags at the loud commands of Brad the Timer.





Today was another glorious day for sailboat racing here off Marblehead. We had 36 boats in 4 fleets with three races each for Vipers, Sonars and J-24s with the Rhodes 19s heading home after only two races. The "C" courses (double sausage windward leeward windward leeward) had 0.8 knot legs in a fairly steady breeze around six knots at 205 degrees magnetic.





I was a slacker today recording just a small piece of the race results in my personal notes. I got Viper #55 PLAYSTATION with Paul N. Zimmerman getting one gun. Martha and Sam Altrueter got a first and a second in #787 RESONANCE Sonar. Peter DeWolfe and Bill Kuall had a first in Sonar # 374 PDSquared. Official scores are not yet posted as I write. These may be available for tomorrow night's blog.






I am personally anxious to see the IOD scores as one of my favorite IOD yachts #46 EDEN owned by Jennifer and Greg Mancusi-Ungaro appeared to be leading #7 GYPSY with Bruce Dyson and Norm Cressy on an extremely long beat staged by the Corinthian Yacht Club. I hope that a Mangusi-Ungaro was on the helm of EDEN and one can never be certain but what the eight or six year old daughter was driving the boat. Hopefully we will get all the news Sunday.





Especially nice for me today was my son Stephen Duff working with David Soule on the pin boat. He will be back Sunday with Paul McCauley on the mark boat. Jim McCully and Art Saulsberry did the mark Saturday. Rear Commodore Phil Smith was our honored guest on the ETO signal boat. Jennifer Tegfeldt was our recorder with Susie Schneider PRO, Ross Peterson operator/gunner, Brad Marvin timing and me on flags. I have not heard other changes possible for Sunday.




See you tomorrow night!

PHRF NEW ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS - Day #3 of 3 on August 24, 2008 - Race for 38 Yachts on Line #1

Howdy from Bob Duff Sunday August 24, 2008,

Above Jim Ayer pictures our favorites for 2009 RACE COMMITTEE LEADERS!  It's TRACEY & RICK for our next pick and they don't yet know it!  That is the Meyers if you had not figured it out! Her IBM background should help clear up some of the EYC web site mess and they both know sailboat racing.  The web's problem is one of data management.  Jack Cochrane and Jeff Wargo operate alone in what appears to be a vacuum of computer effectiveness.  Please join me in opposing expenditure for a new web which will be no improvement if data management continues as at present. 

Below are three more of Jim's photos catching the spirit of this wonderful sport.

These are the Junior Olympics Festival in Rockport earlier this month.  The bottom one should truly be titled "ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?".   As noted previously, I cannot tell you names since "management" controlled scratch sheets in such a fashion to exclude DUFFSTUFF.  It certainly was not an intentional act!  Any questions?

The seventh PHRF NE race for Line #1 could not have been much better except for a mix up for David Hoyt and his Melges 32 #141 GOAT.  Enough confusion drifted from the protest hearing about the proper windward mark in race #7 to drop GOAT into second place for Class 2 - (YELLOW) behind Cindy and Jud Smith sailing AFRICA # 50141 into first place.  I believe that this was the only protest on our line for the regatta with David initiating action against the race committee.  Official details are seldom laid out  for us "outsiders", but the posted scores tell the story. 

 When I was a youngster racing boats at my old Chicago Yacht Club,  anyone was welcome to sit quietly at a protests hearing to expand their racing knowledge.  It is rumored that this is not the practice here in the East.  It certainly is not obvious that people are welcomed to observe.  I really found it rather boring after a while, but several people today expressed that sailors  should be welcomed to sit in without comments!  Why not ask "the boss lady" about it?

SHOUT #51918 a Farr 40 owned by Shout Racing was first in RED Class 1 followed by Tom Linkas' INDRA #522354.  In Class 3 YELLOW John Downey was first with his GAMBLER #41711 followed by Bruce Dyson's 8 meter PLEIONE #38.  Phil DiCarlo took first in GREEN Class 4 on HOTSPUR #40656 throwing out a second trouncing the fleet with Peter Engel's GOLDENEYE #40180 getting the second.

Joel Gardner and Cheryl Byrne served on the race committee mark boat while "Questy" Gringe  and Ashley Boyle handled  the pin boat.  PRO Susie Schneider summoned Ashley to help on ETO with the confusion of scoring thirty-nine PHRF yachts which seem to hit the finish line simultaneously.  Ashley helped Jennifer Tegfeldt and timer Brad Marvin support Susie's finish line calls.  Susie directed me to help with a small task which I enjoyed doing (even though I muffed it).  I was flattered to be noticed.  During a brief lull,  I jokingly asked how I was selected for this job.  Her very serious answer was "you are the bottom of the barrel!"  No smiles!  Any questions?

See you next Saturday for our final sailing weekend this year.  Maybe I will find some additional pictures by then!    I might just scoop a shot or two from the uncommented EYC webb site since none of them are available for DUFFSTUFF directly.  Any questions? 

Please note that MADDIE's SAIL LOFT OF MARBLEHEAD has re-opened after being closed for several months.  The POOPS recently met the new owner Loretta Lang and her very cute bar maid Ashley Valentini with her interesting tattoo.  I told her I would mention her in DUFFSTUFF and try to make her famous.  You know like "wanna be in the movies, honey?".  Jim Ayer used that line for years between marriages.  She said "I make myself famous!".   Anyway, Maddie's is the building where Ted Hood operated his first sail loft.  They are open daily for lunch downstairs and again at 1730 hours for dinner upstairs.  Further, POOPS is a group formed by Jim Ayer and Roger Drumm for luncheon with an invited guest each week.  They invited me a while back and cannot get rid of me.  Prosperous Old Obnoxious People Socializing is the translation of POOPS. 

With summer sailing ending, Gaele and Jim McCully suggest that DUFFSTUFF write about sailing things like "How to Time the Starts for Yacht Races".  That should give Susie S. something else to think about. But of course, she does not have time to read anything I write. 

PHRF NEW ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS - Day #2 of 3 - August 23, 2008 - Fourth, Fifth & Sixth Races for 38 Yachts on Line # 1

Howdy from Bob Duff August 23, 2008,

Another near perfect day of PHRF racing for Line #1.  Three full races for four classes makes for twelve additional starts and timer Brad Marvin still has enough voice left to yell down four more on Sunday to wrap it up.  Remarkable!  That will be twenty-eight five minute start cycles in three days if all goes well.  We have had remarkably few OCS starts requiring individual recalls AND NO GENERAL RECALLS AND NO "BLACK FLAGS".  Again, remarkable!

I apologize for the lack of PHRF yacht details so far.  My delicate new relationship with this APPLE MacBook Pro is evolving slowly.  Maybe tomorrow will see more comfort and better reporting of the final results.  I must locate the source of yacht detail reports which elude me right now.  That is my objective for this report Sunday night.

PRO Susie Schneider again had Jennifer Tegfeldt with Bard Marvin and Ross Peterson  and me on the ETO signal boat.  Cheryl Burne was back on the mark boat with Susie's son Andrew working like the All American Sailer that he is.  Andrew called our attention to the fact that our blue "RC" flag was hoisted upside down.  My bad joke that it means "everybody must capsize" met again with the usual stoic looks from some of our crew.  "Questie" Gring ran the pin boat with new friend Jay Perry.

Gaele McCully motored out all alone to visit with us on her new motorboat.  Husband Jim raced with Seamus Hourihan on RUFFIAN #51373.  Notably, David Hoyt sneaked past the finishing gang in first place on  #184 GOAT in race #5 WITHOUT GETTING THE WINNER'S CANNON.  We heard Judd Smith's informative call from AFRICA that "The Melges" (#184) had not gotten her well deserved first place cannon.  Susie Schneider talked about giving her "two guns" when she won the next race.  That gratuity was omitted after recognizing the confusion surrounding a "two guns" yachting signal. 

Wind rolled around from 225 degrees magnetic at 1000 hours to 155 degrees at 1500 hours going further counterclockwise to 142 degrees as we wrapped up the day.   Velocity grew from some 6.5 knots to around 12 per my notes.  All in all a glorious time!

No current photos available again today despite the quiet clicking away of my censor.  See you Sunday night!