The
Fair American
Usually
referred to as “The Brig”, this was probably my father’s
favorite boat. This is the boat he brought most often on our early trips to
Central Park. Eventually, he would
set it aside to build something new.
While most boats he would set aside and never sail again, he would
always come back to this one.
I’m not sure what it was.
Perhaps it was because this was his first serious attempt at building a
square rigged sailing ship (that I can remember) or maybe it was because he
liked the way it sailed. I asked
him about it once. He just shrugged
his shoulders.
I
can remember when it was being built.
I remember the ribs laid out across a frame as
he put on two planks per day. When
I first saw the boat, which was before any planks were laid, I asked him what
was on the workbench. He told me it
was a boat skeleton. I told him to
leave it like that so we could scare people on Halloween. He told me it would sail a lot better if
he finished the boat.
In
1969 he entered this boat in a contest sponsored by the Westchester Radio Aero
Modelers (WRAM). This boat won
“Best of Show”. It
seemed to bother a few of the other model contestants since this was a show run
by a model airplane club and the participation of boats was an
afterthought. The boat pretty much
sat in the basement collecting dust through most of the racing years. Eventually he started to bring it with
him to Central Park to sail after the races. He modified the cannons so that they
would fire a broadside in sequence.
My sister witnessed an incident where she got to see the cannons fire
for herself.
This
boat is currently at my sister’s house.
