Wednesday, May 8, 2019

The last set of pix from Dave Schill--for now.

This photo, dating to the summer of 1963, shows the Wildwood YC members off loading their Cates Moths at Larchmont (NY) Yacht Club in preparation for the IMCA World Championship Regatta.  That's quite the trailer! Thanks to Bruce Menz and Bob Patterson I now can reveal the people in this photo.  From left to right:  holding the tongue of the white dolly is Chip Menz; holding the mast is Bruce Menz; the dark haired girl leaning over the bow of the Moth on the dark, web slung dolly is Gail DeFrancisco; the guy at the yacht club's road trailer, wearing glasses is Jim Barkalow; the blonde holding the battens poking out of the sail bag is Debbie Taylor.

A south Jersey sweep:  The winners of the 1963 Worlds from left to right:  Sandy McConnell, Stone Harbor YC  Junior World Champ; Bill Schill Jr. Avalon YC Senior World Champ; Martha (Chicki) Seaton Cooper River YC Women's World Champ.


Does anyone recognize the venue of this photo from a regatta in south Jersey during the summer of '63?  The siding and the row of windows remind me of either the old clubhouse at Margate YC or perhaps the clubhouse at Stone Harbor YC.

I now have a few individuals ID'ed:  from left to right, dark shirt Butch Milligan, next is Bill Kontes, guy with the large platter is unknown, gent with the dark hat, is unknown; Bill Schill is second from the right, holding the large platter; on the extreme right is Tom Patterson. 
Here is a photo,regretfully badly damaged by mold, of Bill on the docks of Cooper River YC with some of his loot from the '63 racing season spread out on that famous blue and white striped Seidelmann sail which he used on both Pegasus and his earlier Fletcher-Cates Moth.  This photo was used by Seildelmann Sails as an advertisement and appears in black and white on the back cover the the 1964 edition of Moth Doings.

The final photo of this group shows Bill standing behind Pegasus with more trophies.  The tower in the background is the "bridge" of the Cooper River YC as it appeared in 1964.  This was Bill's final year racing Moths.

Monday, May 6, 2019

Classic Moth action: Ocean City YC during the mid60s.

More period photos via Dave Schill.  This time a regatta at Ocean City YC (New Jersey) at some point in the mid-1960s.  The first two photos show the packed rigging areas (both sides of the street next to the club house.

Could this be a young Bob Patterson pushing Nr 2720?

I well remember this concrete launch ramp.  Just wide enough to allow a boat to pass an empty dolly being brought back up to the dinghy park.  When ever I launched there, the wind seemed to be out of an awkward direction!

The ramp could be hard on bare feet!  And of course it was slippery at the water's edge.



Bob Seidelmann was the dominating supplier of  Moth sails during this era but as the class saw the introduction of boats from Europe like this Shelley, other sail makers started to make inroads.  This Shelley has a sail from the Howard Hild loft (note the "HH" sail maker's patch at the tack).

Hanging the rudder on an old Challenger Moth.  The Challenger design predated the Cates Florida and was very much an entry level racer by this time.

Nr 2734 is a "Swiss" Moth and thus dates these photographs to at least 1965 and more probably 1966.

An old Ventnor Moth from the late 1940s with no doubt a brother-sister, junior sailor pairing.

A Cates updated with a center traveler and a laser style boom vang.  Note however, that the outhaul is still tied off at the clew end of the boom.  Sailors were at this time point just beginning to grasp the importance of being able to make adjustments to sail shape while underway rather than rely on a "set it and forget it" mode of rigging before they launched.  Is this Danny Hilferty?

No long hair for this young man.



The old OCYC clubhouse in the background.  If anyone looking at these photos can identify the sailors in any of these photographs please do so via the comment box for this  post.

Sunday, May 5, 2019

Nostalgia courtesy of Dave Schill.

Dave and Bill Schill's father was a professional photographer.  Back during the two brother's racing days in the early 1960s, their father took many photos of  them at various regattas, mainly at yacht clubs in southern New Jersey.  Dave is slowly going through their father's photo archive and when he has a few minutes he emails me his latest finds.  Today's photos feature close action at a mark during a regatta at Wildwood YC.  The presence of Shelley design Moth suggests the date of these photos to be around 1965.

Three Cates-Florida Moths plus a Shelley.  Does any one know who is sailing the Shelley (Nr 2692)?  Nr 2209 is William Hopkin, Ocean City YC; Nr 2324 is George Hollenback, Corinthian YC; Nr 2082 is Peter Neeson, Avalon YC

OK, with a bit more digging in my "archives" I believe that Nr 2692 is being sailed by Bruce Menz representing Greater Wildwood YC.

Nr 2725 is also a Shelleys ailed by Michael Gratch, Avalon YC.  Another Shelley, (technically a Fletcher Mk V) Nr 2769, is partially obscured by Nr 2477's sail.  Nr 2769 is being sailed by Jack Wheaton from the Ocean City YC.    I will post more of the photos which Dave is sending me in the next few days.