The
Schooner
The
Schooner was built before I was born. It wasn’t modeled after anything in
particular. We just referred to it as
“The Schooner”. I don’t know what
happened to it. It had a couple of
cabins on it with windows made from small nylon rings. It sailed rather nicely.
Miscellaneous
Scale Sloops
My
father built a couple of scale sloop models in the 1960’s. One was given as a gift to my cousin
Forest. I don’t know what happened to
this one. This was sometimes fitted with
square sails.
The
Pinky
After
about eight years focusing on building and racing model yachts, my father
decided to build a pinky. It was a
small, tear-drop shaped boat that was planked over temporary ribs and held in
place with fiberglass. When he took the
boat off its temporary ribs, it warped ever so slightly, much to my father’s
disgust. On the outside, it looked like
any other of his scale models. It had
cloth sails. You couldn’t tell it was a
little lopsided without him to point out where. After he finished it, he brought it to
Central Park and sailed it after a race.
He was soon approached by a fellow member of the club.
“That’s
a nice boat, Forest.” The man said.
“Nah,
I messed it up.”
“Would
you be interested in selling it?”
“Maybe.”
“How
much do you want for it?”
“I
don’t know. Two
hundred dollars?”
Without
a second thought, the man pulled two crisp $100 bills out of his wallet. My shocked father brought the boat in and
took out the radio control. On the way
home he admitted that based on the speed that he was handed money, that perhaps
the price of the boat was too low. I was
sworn to secrecy. I understood fully
that if my mother ever heard about any of this, my father would not hear the
end of it. Unfortunately, the boat was
not around long enough for any pictures to be taken.
Topsail
Schooner
The
topsail schooner was built on a fiberglass hull of a 36/600 racing boat. Planks covered the fiberglass above the
waterline and it was painted flat grey below the waterline. It had a planked deck, railing, wooden masts
and Dacron sails. He loved the way it
sailed. Below the waterline it was a
racing sailboat with the keel and rudder from one of his other 36/600’s. I believe he raced it at Central Park because
it was originally built as a legal 36/600 racing boat and he brought it to
Central Park often. After a couple of
months, square sails were added; first the top one and later, the large, square
mainsail. The mainsail could be furled by radio
control. While I never actually saw him
race it, based on a conversation I had with a couple of friends, I think he
did. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able
to find any pictures of it. According to my sister, we gave this to one of my
parent’s neighbors as a thank you for their help with the house after their
passing. She also told me that the man thought the boat was “unfinished” and replaced
the racing sails with cloth ones. I just
wish I had pictures to show off how good it looked when it sailed or better
yet, when it was in a race.
Barque
The
Barque was built in 1979. It was built the same way as the Pinky only
the hull was painted grey after the planks were covered with fiberglass. It was about four feet long and shaped like a
bathtub. This boat along with the
Topsail Schooner was brought with him to Florida. I don’t know where this boat is now.
Barge
This
was a flat, rectangular sailboat that was about the size of two pizza boxes
sitting side-by-side. I don’t know where
this boat is now.