Editor's Notes
Chairman's Notes
Iroquois Owners' Association Summer Meet
Advert
Technical Bits and Pieces
Letters
| Chairman | Harry Faulkner |
| Secretary/Treasurer/Editor | Rony and Elise Buque |
The Annual General Meeting was this year held on the first Thursday, 7th January 1982, and it was pleasing to see how many members were able to make it, despite the terrible weather (it was even worse on the Friday, so perhaps it was lucky we had the AGM before the next heavy fall of snow).
You will probably not be surprised to learn that your above Chairman and joint Secretary/Treasurer/Editors were reappointed to their respective posts for yet another year, so here we are. Finding time to administrate the membership and edit the Newsletter is our main concern, but so far there has been sufficient typing and cutting and pasting time available to allow for two mailings a year. Most of this text is also being typed onto a word processor - well, I did tell everyone that I needed plenty of practice!
There are two Summer Meets this year, so we hope that as many of you as possible can come to one or other of them. Details within. Also, it may not be too early to confirm to you that our booking of the Library at the Cruising Association has been accepted - for the first FRIDAY in January 1983.
Apart from gales over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend, the start of the season from a fine but cold Easter onwards has been encouraging&.dare we hope for less fraught sailing this summer.&enjoy yourselves anyway!
Rony and Elise
As I mentioned in the last Newsletter, the crucial issue facing the Association, following the demise of Sail Craft, was to decide upon its additional role in supporting members now that advice, spare parts and repairs are not available at source.
The Annual General Meeting and ‘get together’ at The Cruising Association Library (incidentally yet another well attended and well organised event to the credit of Rony and Elise) provided the first opportunity for a full discussion of members’ needs and proposals to meet them. I was very pleased to hear the positive approach to this discussion, and the proposals put forward, which resulted in Ken Pack kindly volunteering - and becoming unanimously elected - to co-ordinate a register of sources of information, plans, materials, equipment and services which members might now need. Likewise David Asdell (“SEA SQUAW”, Comanche No.166) volunteered the same service for Comanche owners. Our thanks are due to both of these public spirited people.
And for our members across the Atlantic, Ted and Susie Loder volunteered to become our American Secretaries - they have already done much sterling work in drumming up worldwide responses from present and (hopefully) future members to the questionnaire they sent out earlier this year. We hope you have all sent in/will send in your replies, and we look forward to Ted and Susie’s future articles with interest.
If you really do want the best possible service, you have to recognise that these Technical Secretaries/Co-ordinators can’t do the job alone. They can collect and classify information, but they can’t generate it all themselves. So, phase 2 of this operation is for all of you to write in with any useful tips or information you may have. A short note to the Newsletter is the sensible first step - this brings it to the attention of all members - and from there it will find its way into the appropriate files. Incidentally, one problem I have is finding good batten material for my MkI (fully battened) mainsail. The longest battens are about 10 ft. 6ins, long. Any ideas anybody?
One family who obviously have a wealth of good ideas to pass on are the Butlers. At the AGM, Roy gave a talk, supported by slides, about how they’d fitted out the shell of their boat “COMANCHE KRYSTAL” and then taken her via the Brittany canals and the Canal du Midi to the Mediterranean. Many thanks to Roy for an interesting talk, and congratulations to the whole family on their achievements.
Another feature of the annual meeting was the return of Reg Crampton, formerly Chairman of the Association, from Mexico where he’s been working for the past three years or so. It was great to see him back - still looking forward to trying out the ideas he wrote about in a recent Newsletter for self-righting a capsized Iroquois. I can positively confirm that it’s quite a long way down my list of things I’d like to try out!
Anyway, all the best to all of you for the 1982 season. Good Sailing...
Harry Faulkner
NEWTOWN CREEK, ISLE OF WIGHT
SATURDAY 3RD JULY 1982
In response to requests made at the AGM a summer meet has been arranged at Newtown Creek for the evening of Saturday 3rd July 1982. El Buque V will arrive there as early as possible from Chichester and act as host boat, from 1800 hours onwards. High water Portsmouth is 1025 hours Saturday, so members from Chichester and the Solent should not find too much difficulty in making the rendezvous.
The shallower water marked on the chart below is the most suitable for catamarans, and we expect to foregather there, followed by a picnic supper on the beach (lets hope the weather is fine), members should bring their food and a bottle with them. To help gauge numbers, please complete and return the Summer Meet form at the end of this newsletter.
To all Iroquois Owners at Home and Overseas
SPARE PARTS SUPPLIED
Centreboards and rudder blades made to order
Stainless steel pivot pins, trampolines and fittings supplied
Rigging, fitting out, glassfibre repairs
First Class Workmanship and Fully Experienced
Will Travel
PETER SMITH YACHT SERVICES :
76 Regent Road, Brightlingsea, Essex
Enquiries : Brightlingsea (0206 30) 2854
After the AGM I set about producing a detailed schedule of parts for the Iroquois and immediately ran into the problems involved. Whilst the hull is, of course, standard for various reasons the equipment altered continuously and there were considerable optional extras. Many of the manufacturers and suppliers have either superseded their original fittings or even gone out of business.
Without Sailcraft we are on our own and only after working on this project did I realise what the implications are. Obviously if one is prepared to have the local boat builder hack your boat about and do the best he can, there is little problem until something inadequate gives way under stress -usually the worst moment.
As far as I have been able I have listed all the parts, with either the original or a viable alternative e.g. bow fairleads, Simpson & Lawrence Cat. No. 140701. The hole centres are identical but the hole diameters must be increased. I can only regard this as a start but will be happy to let anyone have what information I have gained and should be most grateful for information from owners who have replaced or modified parts successfully.
Sails were originally by Seahorse and are generally available from most lofts. Spars and rigging were by Sailspar and they will be happy to help with spares, - their address is Tower Street, Brightlingsea, Essex. Tel. 2679.
Reg White tells me he can now supply a new 24 - 261b mast head float with radar reflector at £325.00, trampoline £85.00, painted centre boards at £275.00 all ex. VAT and would be pleased to quote for any particular item.
I have a contact for producing such special items as leeboard pins but by the next issue it should be possible to tidy up much of this. Hopefully in the future I will be able to extend these letters to include modification and alternative equipment.
In my view, our boats were designed and built by real experts in their field, tested and worked up under Reg White who must be the best. However, I do not think it amounts to heresy or an indictable offence if we indulge in the frustrating “beat the designer syndrome”.
I should therefore be most grateful to receive information, comments and opinions about sails that I can put together into an article for the magazine e.g. an owner I know puts up a modified light dinghy sail on the inner foresail and gets a fair result up to Force 3 and another floats a Ghoster with devasting effect. Sailcraft sail plans recommend the use of a 2’ 0” OA Tackstrop for 1 and 2 jibs, 8” OA for 150% and l’ 0” for 180% genoas. There must be various interesting solutions to the roller reefed foresails.
Engines and handling in windy marinas is another interesting topic, having personally had a 40hp Mercury, 18hp Fastwin, 252 Penta with a 6hp Evinrude I have finally settled for a very long shaft 15hp Mariner and go backwards into a tight corner. Happily however, the days of cavitation are over, the electric generator is acceptable and without carrying vast quantities of fuel or a massive battery. Motor sailing is a really practical alternative to slopping up and down the Channel in a 36 hour crossing.
Ken Pack,
THELKEN II, #86
Dear Rony and Elise,
1982 East Coast Meet
This event will be held on June 19th 1982 at STANGATE CREEK just off the river Medway. Fred and Frankie Boyd have agreed to act as host boat in their Comanche ‘BUSTER’. Cheese and wine will be available providing the weather is kind enough to allow us to get to Calais at Whitsun to load up with Duty Frees.
High water on the Saturday is approximately midday and as we keep our boat at Burnham-on-Crouch, we hope to navigate the Havengore Bridge which makes for an easy passage from the north and hope to arrive at Stangate at High Water or very soon after to pick a suitable anchorage for a raft up. So we are looking forward to a good turnout, one Iroquois which we are sure will be there is ‘KAWA’ with Doug and Janet McKay, who talked us into this, so they had better be there, along with lots more.
A good sailing season to all,
Regards,
Fred and Frankie Boyd
Dear Buques,
As you and most member of IOA (those for whom we had addresses) know we sent out a survey form this winter to find out more about Iroquois owners and their boats. Out of a total of 231 posted we received replies as follows:
Replies are still trickling in. European and North American surveys were mailed several weeks later, so replies are similarly later in being returned. Also they have farther to travel.
In order to make the information on sails easy to understand we have summarised it in a table. As might be expected UK owners had the most sails per boat and the North Americans the least. We had to be arbitrary about where we included some sails since “gennie” could be either large or small. When just gennie was listed, we placed it into the small genoa category. We were surprised that not everyone owned a working jib, but perhaps people felt a jib was self-evident and so it was not listed. Some differences are worth noting. The N. Americans had the most drifter - ghoster type sails and seemed to have fewer heavy weather sails (small jibs), perhaps indicating lighter sailing conditions. However, the UK had the most spinnakers - more racing? The UK had the most spare mainsails - most of the earlier boats, i.e. replacements? Both fully battened and normal main sails were replaced, sometimes with the opposite type when spares were bought. Not many owners have roller furling headsails in spite of the obvious advantages.
The “next one to buy” category had 32 replies and as seen from the table, there was a heavy emphasis on the larger sails for those light wind times. We assumed the rest of those surveyed were happy with their sails. Four owners wanted no new sails, 5 wanted spinnakers, 10 wanted a drifter - ghoster - blister type sail, 7 wanted gennies, 4 wanted a roller gennie, and 2 wanted other smaller jibs. So if you are a sailmaker, the business seems to be for the light air sails. Anything to go faster and avoid using the engine!
Only 11 owners replaced the halyards with rope, a few using Kevlar line. Nearly everyone has kept the original winches as well, with a scattering of winch types used for rope compatible replacements.
Replies to the comments on normal sailing conditions covered the range of force 2 - 3 to force 8. Some quotes:
Any of you recognise your replies?
| Sail Type | UK (30) | N America (13) | RoW (17) | Total (60) |
| Spare Main | 23% | 8% | 12% | 17% |
| Jib #1 (working) | 83% | 67% | 88% | 82% |
| Jib #2 | 47% | 23% | 76% | 50% |
| Jib #3 | 13% | 0% | 18% | 12% |
| Storm Sail | 67% | 54% | 71% | 65% |
| Genoa #1 (160% - 180%) | 43% | 54% | 47% | 47% |
| Genoa #2 (130% - 150%) | 73% | 62% | 71% | 70% |
| Spinnaker | 63% | 31% | 71% | 58% |
| Drifter Type | 3% | 31% | 0% | 8% |
| Roller Furling | 17% | 23% | 6% | 15% |
| Sails per Boat | 4.5 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 4.1 |
Ted and Susie Loder
The following letter appears to have been written by Ted and Susie Loder from notes supplied by John Richards regarding his capsize in Crow Dog, sent to John for review, and then included verbatim by the Editors - Webmaster.
Dear John,
I have written up your reply to our question on flipping basically following your notes. They are included below for your perusal and corrections. You could either send these on to Elise directly for the Newsletter or return them to me and we will forward them with our survey report. You’ve made some excellent observations; I’m certain we’ll all benefit from your description and commentary. Thank you.
In reply to the survey question on flipping John Richards (#180, Crow Dog) says, Yes, he has and here’s how it happened. The general situation was as follows: Two people including the helmsman were in the cockpit with 4 others down below. The wind forecast was F8-9, southerly. Rig - full main and No. 1 jib, sailing close hauled approximately 50 deg. to wind in the lee of trees at Pin Hill on the River Orwell. Speed 10 - 11kt steady for ½ mile, then dropped to 8½kt in the lee of trees. A valley gust flipped us when we came out of the wooded shelter. Estimated gust at 40kt at 50 deg. off starboard bow.
Last year I sailed from France to Corsica, Sardinia, Liparie Islands, Sicily to the Aegean and over Kreta, Sicily, Ustica, Menorca, Mallorca, Formentera back to
France. It was exciting sailing to visit all the islands. My English is not so good, but I will try to tell you more in another letter.
Peter Winzeler
NISCHA, No. 28
(Yes, please, we look forward to it! Editors)
Dear Rony & Elise,
Enclosed please find our cheque in payment for this coming year’s Owners Membership, and please note our change of address for your records.
We were very interested in Rod and Haidy Blake’s idea on exchange sailing. The idea had crossed our minds but as yet, we have done nothing constructive about it. We will now, by writing to the Blakes. But then, why do we have to go abroad to meet other Iroquois owners? Plymouth isn’t that far away you know. Give us a ring on Plymouth 337263, if anyone ever finds the place! However, during the end of July, start of August, we hope to take Moon Duster to the Scillies.
Best regards,
John A. Loughran,
“Moon Duster”, # 46
Dear Mr & Mrs Buque
Thank you for your letter of the 3 December and the Newsletters. I would very much like to join the Association and enclose a cheque for £10 which I hope will cover the subscription and the newsletter costs. May I also say that I would very much like to come to the Annual General Meeting on the 7 January and hope to bring two friends (Mr & Mrs J Weate) who are co-owners of “Two Much”. May I ask for the following please:
I am sorry if I am giving you too many questions, but perhaps we can meet and discuss further at the Annual General Meeting.
Yours sincerely
J Platt
Dear Sirs.
Re: My subscription, very sorry to be a little late. I am always late, I shall be too late at resurrection day.
P.S. I have had my Iroquois Mk1 ten years now, for the past five years I have used a Mercury 20HP outboard. I have had no trouble with the engine. I get cavitation under certain conditions, which can be expected. I have often thought about fitting a diesel engine in the cockpit with an outdrive, this would cost in the region of £2000 - £2500, but as I only average about 20 gallons of petrol per season it would take about 100 years before it became economical. Also a diesel engine can be troublesome at times. On the other hand I sometimes think, to me, the diesel is sour grapes, owing to my afforementioned financial state.
I always get a bit morbid around this time of year. I shall be happier after December 21st when the sun starts coming back.
When we run the cat onto a beach and dry out we've always used a boarding ladder, this wobbled about and never seemed stable. It was damned awkward to stow amongst other things, so last season I made a little stainless steel step and fitted it onto the transom, very convenient, the galley-slave calls it an on-an-off step. Anybody want to buy a boarding ladder?
R Smith,
FAWNIA
We received the Autumn 1981 Newsletter, and were glad to see that Reg White is carrying on in one form or another.
We had a good season in 1981 in our Comanche “NISA”. For part of the season we berthed away from our own club in Port Hope on the north shore of Lake Ontario. The temporary berth was in [Betterville] on the Bay of Quinte which although made another sixty miles of driving gave us six weekends of sailing on the smoother waters of the Bay. We were able to take our summer vacation to the 1000 Islands area which is at the eastern end of Lake Ontario and the start of the St. Lawrence River.
Although we had been there many times before in our Iroquois and monohulls, this was the first time for us in the Comanche. As always, we had an excellent time, the weather being excellent for the last two weeks of August. When leaving Kingston on our way back to Port Hope we sailed out through the C.O.R.K. fleet in 30 kn. winds on their way to the courses. There were 48 Tornados (I got the number from a subsequent article in Canadian Yachting) and it was certainly the largest number of Sail Craft boats we had ever sailed in company with.
We continue to be very pleased with the Comanche and we are considering installing two of the small (9.5 HP) Volvo diesels with sail drives. If any other members have experience with this option we would be pleased to hear from them on the pros and cons.
Noreen and Ian Greer,
“NI SA”, Comanche No.16
I have bought Iroquois Mk.II No. 295 “Seacat” from the McArthy brothers. Halton Quay is on the River Tamar above Casgreen and Wier Quay. Plenty of room to anchor (and take the mud at LWS).
Tony Barnes,
“SEACAT”, #295
This year’s big experience for us has been with centerboards also. We lost one last year, and this year I had to make one myself since Sail Craft was out of business. The loss occurred due to delamination; while Sail Craft used good marine plywood, they did not fibreglass the edges of the centerboards, and for whatever reason one of mine came apart while underway one day.
Strong recommendation: pull both boards every few years while the boat is out of the water and check for damage on the boards and in the slots housing them, especially around the hull. I recommend fibreglassing the edges of the boards to reinforce the lead edge in particular and to help prevent delamination. I was astonished at the wear and incipient damage on the second centerboard which I pulled just on speculation.
Having looked into the centerboard situation on Iroquois, I now view it as one of the weaker parts of the boat. The thumping one hears from those boards when underway undoubtedly causes turbulence and probably results in noticeable drag. We always sail with only the leeward board down, and the new board that I made was made flat on the inboard side so that it would ride tightly against the hull. That helped to reduce the thumping, but a better idea is needed.
If anyone knows of a source of 1 inch thick marine plywood five feet by nine feet in size, it would save the next people who have to make one of these centerboards the trouble I went to in glueing up my own blank that size.
The whole process was a lot of work. I had two mounting studs made out of stainless steel to replace the brass ones supplied by Sail Craft. That hinge point is another weak spot to watch. Having gone through the reconstruction process, I’d urge everyone else to do a careful job of preventative maintenance and treat those centerboards with tender loving care.
Robert Johnson,
“VIVACE”, #235
John Owens, ex-owner of No. 34, tells us that while taking a ferry from Nantucket Island to Cape Cod Massachusets in the second week of September 1981, he sighted an Iroquois approaching Nantucket Island harbour under inboard motor. He would be interested to get in touch!
We bought “Semper Fi” last July, live on the hook and extensively cruise the Florida Keys. We sold our business, moved on board last September, and pursue the ‘good life’ full time. We will be leaving for an extended cruise through the Bahamas in a few weeks.
Paul and Therese Cheney (Aloha Nui, #105) were kind enough to pass on information about your association. They’ve become our favourite ‘pen pals’ - prolific, informative and quite thorough.
I am enclosing sketches of some of the modifications I’ve made to ‘Semper Fi’[ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]. I hope you and the family of Iroquois owners will find them helpful.
Bob and Gail Zwickel,
Semper Fi, #191
