The restoration of Griff

Bill Boyle is restoring yet another vintage era Moth Boat.  This boat was constructed in 1947 in Atlantic City, New Jersey and was first registered as "Day" to Evening Star YC member Robert Armour on the 10th of July, 1947.  After racing briefly under Armour's ownership, "Day" was transferred to another ESYC member (S. DeMille) in 1952.  By 1957 she was purchased by the Zeidman family, renamed "Drifter" and moved to Mirror Lake (aka: Browns Mills YC) up near Whites Bog, NJ.   Browns Mills had a very large Moth fleet in those days and the Zeidman siblings were part of that racing scene.  In the early 1990s the son of Zeidman family brought "Drifter" to a Brigantine Moth Boat Regatta with a for sale sign on her.  BYC member Joe Courter bought her, renamed her "Griff" and raced her a couple seasons before moving to a faster Moth.  She malingered in Joe's garage until Bill Schill picked her up two years ago, "ripe for restoration".  Sadly, he never got the chance to enjoy this project.  This past spring I helped Bill's widow, Marty find homes for his Moths.  Another Bill, Bill Boyle, put his hand up for Griff.  So buckle up and follow the account of Griff's revival here:  http://griffavintagemothboat.blogspot.com/

Griff on her way back to the race course.  Will she get yet another name?

Scow Moth Club

 

For those interested in or curious about the Australian Scow type Moth there's a relatively new facebook group hosted by a Japanese enthusiast named 大野信博

The scow design was the dominant and indigenous Moth type in Australia from the late 1920s to roughly the mid 1980s when narrow skiff type Moths finally displaced the scows.  Following a period of semi-extinction the Aussie Scow Moth, like the Classic Moth in the USA, is staging a revival.  Although out classed in overall racing,  the scow never lost its loyal band of devotees.  With the development of Scow Moth Club those devoted followers of the scow now have both a forum for sharing information plus a growing archive of period photos, design plans, newspaper clips,etc.  Additionally, new scows are being built and old survivors are being restored.  Can regattas catering to scows be far behind?  I think not!

More can seen here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/447722085340660/

No Accounting for Tastes Dept: Not exactly my idea of a Mid-Winter Regatta

BYC pictorial update; 5 January, 2014.

A bit of progress since my last post back at the end of October.  The front entrance and nostalgic port holes have been moved to the south end of the building compared to the old clubhouse as seen in the first pix of this post.

Roughly the same footprint as the old building but with a useful second story.

No doubt the upper level will provide wonderful views of the bay.

The club officers are confident of a Memorial Day opening.  They've got a ways to go.  At least the building is under roof.

  We've had some fairly strong gales with higher than average tides.  The marsh straw and driftwood on the pier suggests that the tide has recently been well over the boards.

It's been an unusually warm winter (until today as I type this).  There's no bay ice for the ducks to walk on.

Happy New Year.  I'm heartened to learn that our construction crew have refined tastes.

This last pix is for Kenn and Fred, two boyhood friends who grew up on the island and lived in this house at 1801 Bayshore Ave.  Looks almost like my house on 22nd Street.