More yachting ephemera. Stumbled across this old lockspike knife, made in England. They make these still, so maybe it's not really that old.
More yachting ephemera. Stumbled across this old lockspike knife, made in England. They make these still, so maybe it's not really that old.
Here's another nice shot of Tern being sailed by Bill Schultz and Donna back in 1995.
Niiiiiiice!
Mike
Totoro (Sea Sprite 23 #626)
Found this great old picture and caption of an Ariel sailing with this strange sail arrangement. Sorry about the small size and quality of the photo.
"Vanitie" Hull ID #41, Owner: Milton Thrasher writes: Here is a photo from 1963 of my Pearson Ariel #41 sailing on Barnegat Bay, NJ. It shows a Star Class jib set off the backstay like a mizzen sail with a missing mizzen mast. I sailed the Ariel for about 10 years on Barnegat Bay and Long Island Sound. I ran an Ariel-Commander YRA newsletter for about 4 years with about 140 subscribers.
Had an enjoyable phone conversation with Milton Thrasher, original owner of Ariel #41, last night and learned some of the early history of Ariel / Commander sailing.
Milton told me about getting to go sailing with Carl Alberg on his Commander up in Marblehead. Designing with his wife the yellow star logo that's on the Ariel / Commander Yacht Association burgee. The difficulties of creating Ariel / Commander one design racing fleets. Seems that the Cleveland Yachting Club had a fleet of about 10 boats racing in the sixties and of course the mighty long lived San Francisco fleet may have been the only two.
Here's some more vintage pictures of Milton's boat down at the Jersey Shore, Barnegat Bay. The spinnaker is cast away from a International One Design. He told me it eventually tore apart in a spectacular fashion during a sail. And I think that's him in the water with his two kids. Imagine beaching your boat like that and going swimming.
Some more images sent by Milton.
Brand new from the Pearson factory, Ariel #41 being launched in 1963.
Ariel #41 laid up for the winter with Milton's Mercedes 220 Ponton.
Nancy, Jim and Carolyn on Ariel #41 in 1968. This was taken before disposable plastic picnic utensils became the norm.
Here's a copy of the Ariel-Commander Yacht Racing Association newsletter that Milton produced. This one dates form 1969.
Last edited by Ariel 109; 03-09-2011 at 03:42 PM.
Another foray into nautical reading. This book recommend and belonging by my good friend Hans.
Alan Villiers was an Australian sailor and writer of great accomplishments. "Sons of Sinbad" is about two years he spent, just prior to WW2, sailing with the Arab seaman of the Indian Ocean. Voyaging from Kuwait to Zanzibar and back in a sea dhow named "Triumph of Righteousness", great name, during the final days of a tradition descended from the Phoenicians. A remarkable book of great insight.
Miltons photos are terrific! thanks for posting them!
Mike E
By popular request more Milton pictures!
This is a neat photo of Miton's wife Nancy single-handing Ariel #41 back in the good old days. I like how the jib sheets are rigged using blocks attached to those mysterious strap-eyes mounted just behind the mast on the cabin-top. I just took those mounts off my Ariel #109 this week and epoxied up the holes.
Here's Nancy again at the helm this time while racing on Barnegat Bay. Good view of the original Pearson off-white gel-coat color.
Milton made this Ariel / Commander half model. He's an accomplished model maker and model kit manufacturer. Check out his website.
http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/mft/
I learned during my conversation with Milton that he was stationed at Pearl Harbor at the time the Korean War while serving in the Navy. While there he sailed many times one of the Navy built Herreshoff S-Boats. Said it was made on base in their wood shop and that he met the Boatswain's Mate who built it. The Hawaiian S-Boats are kind of legendary in S-Boat circles. Seems a fleet of five(?) Herreshoff built S-Boats were purchased by the Navy and brought to Pearl Harbor for the enjoyment of the officers in the 1928. By the end of WW2 none of these original boats survived so the Navy went about building a new pair for themselves. Herreshoff Manufacturing being no more, their hallowed shipyard patiently waiting for the Pearson brothers to one day take over.
One of the S-Boat skippers sent me this picture and description.
Hey Ben,
Funny you mention this. I've been in contact with a gentleman in Pearl Harbor for about a year. It started as a secret, odd tale he told of the last remaining S-boat in HI (he was trying to keep it out of the hands of a local who was known to take over care of wooden boats and then let them rot in a yard). It is the Mokulele, one of the S-boats built by the US Navy. As you can see by the picture, from ~2004, she is barely recognizable as an S-boat. Since the picture was taken she has been on the hard and suffered....9 cracked ribs, lots of dry rot, LOTS of modification, and unfortunately, she had been glassed over. He just took on ownership of her from the US Navy and put her up on blocks to determine if she can even be resurrected or not. He is hopeful and intends to put together a syndicate and/or get funding from the Navy to have her completely restored. He is, however, realistic and knows this is a long-term project. I've put him in touch with Jim Titus for advice.
Of other note, he also has the lead from the S-boat Panini, which hit a reef and sank.
Best,
Sean
A fun book. Cult classic amongst the cat boat crowd, is there is such a thing? If you're thinking of a long coastal journey you can conveniently get it out of your system by reading this great book.
Order this book real cheap from the link below. It's a print on demand copy, but nice done.
http://www.alibris.com/booksearch.de...&qsort=&page=1
Here's that S-Boat rudder project getting started. This is a picture of how I tapered the thickness of the rudder blank with an added strip of MDF glued to the stern side of the rudder. This lifted that side off the planer table and allowed me a cut a precise bevel across the width of the rudder. The two boards that make up the blank are glued temporarly together with a strip of thick drawing paper sandwiched between. The paper rips and allows the joint to crack open with a screwdriver driven into the ends of the joint.
Nice trick... I have seen it done before but never used it myself.
BTW I lust after stationary sanders like I see in your shop. The large belt/disk sander in the background and the large edge sander you showed us previously. I bid on a nice edge sander in an auction a couple weeks ago but someone else was willing to pay almost new price for it. Guess I'll just have to keep my eyes open for a deal.
JERRY CARPENTER - C147
A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiam.
Sanders, I lust (like Jimmy Carter) after a wide belt!
That Crouch edge sander is a great machine. I was lucky to get it cheap ten years age because it had a burned out bearing. With sanders it's the more horse power the better, I think my Crouch has a 7.5 HP motor on it. The Earth moves when you turn it on. I remember talking with old Mr. Crouch on the telephone years ago, he was a pisser. "You're an idiot if you think you need an oscillating edge sander", he told me.
Here's a picture with both sides of the rudder blank beveled. The next step is to repair on the hull the rudder fairings on the S-Boat's rudder post so that they will line up nice with the new rudder's width, eighty years of wear and refinishing.
Last edited by Ariel 109; 04-12-2011 at 02:44 PM.
Indeed,
"Why Not the Best?"
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