A while ago, Roland Hunn sent me the photo below of his parents, Ethel (Toby) Hunn and Knute Hunn standing next to Toby's Moth, Miss Fortune, Nr 500. The venue is the Riverton Yacht Club which is located on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River, across from Philadelphia. The date is some time in the immediate post WW II era. Although the specific design and builder of the Moth are unknown, the sail number suggests that Miss Fortune was most likely built in 1938 or 1939. Mrs. Hunn enthusiastically raced the boat with perhaps her best result being the third place she achieved in the women's division at the 1946 Nationals down at Elizabeth City, NC behind Peggy Kammerman (Evening Star YC) and Ruth Nickerson (Pasquotank River YC).
Knute Hunn reminds us that most Moth Boating problems can be resolved with the aid of a willing assistant, a couple bottles of beer, a good selection of hand saws and a big hammer. |
Riverton
is interesting in as much as it was a hot bed of dinghy racing
activity, spurred by the presence of the Lippincott Boat Works. During
the forty years spanning 1946 to 1986, Robert and Howard Lippincott
built a number of class boats including Lightnings, Comets, Stars, and
Dusters. Howard's obituary, which briefly details the family business
and involvement in one-design racing can be read here.
I
attended just one regatta for Moths and Comets in the early 1960s at
RYC and in the end didn't race. Here's why: My father and I
arrived early on the Saturday morning, for Riverton YC's
annual two day invitational regatta, in order to register and put my boat
together. As it turned out registration had not yet opened so I
wandered down to the docks in order to scope out the intended race
area. When I got to the pier I noticed that the water was fouled with
heavy "Bunker C" fuel oil from one side of the river to the other. I
asked an elderly man what was up with that and he said "Boy, look across
the river. Do you see the shipyard over on the Philly side?" I nodded
that I did. He continued, "They salvage old Liberty ships for scrap
over there and yesterday they cut one below the waterline." I looked
again at the river and said "I'm not going to put my boat into that
mess." A man using the chain hoist to launch his brand new fiberglass
Comet overheard me and said "I need a crew. Since you're not racing
your Moth how about crewing for me?" He then launched the Comet, and
since it was light air, pushed off for a solo sail. When
he was several hundred feet away from the pier I heard him exclaim "I
think my boat is dissolving!" I looked at my Dad and said "Let's get
out of here." In all my years of racing small boats I've never been back to Riverton.
Now
this was years before environmental concerns where large in the public's mind and
I'm sure the river is much cleaner now
than then, but thinking back to that day I now appreciate why my father was fond of declaring that politicians should be tied up in bunches of three and thrown into the Delaware!
I like Knute Hunns style - He obviously has his priorities correct.
ReplyDeleteIndeed!
ReplyDeleteGeorge. I remember that oil spill incident, although, I was much younger than you at the time. I saw the aftermath of sails covered with oil. From what I remember "someone" had to pay for the damage. I'm sure there are folks in Riverton with more information on that. I don't remember anybody's boat dissolving but it could have happened.
ReplyDeleteThe Comet's owner was probably overreacting but all that oil in the river didn't do the boat's gelcoat any good! His exclamation was enough for me to decide to head for home.
DeleteBTW Thanks so much for the remembrance of my Mom. This was a side of her that I didn't know about.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the photo. If you find any other family photos of Miss Fortune, particularly of the bow, we may be able to tell what design she was.
Delete