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Editor - S D Fisher
Reg White and son Robert are off to the Olympics soon; first for a 5 week work up session and then for Robert to helm and David Campbell-Jones to crew, as the UK Olympic representative in the Tornado Class aboard Robert’s boat WANDERER. Reg is official team reserve and if the team is smitten with the Long Beach Lopes, he could end up in any of the boats.
The selection between Reg and Robert was very close, no fatherly easing up here, Reg wanted to be the one! Each won a race and in the final selection Reg had to win, with Robert no better than third and that’s not quite how it finished so Robert became the Olympic helm.
The Tornado team are taking Reg’s boat FIERY DRAGON as work up boat, plus additional helm Dave King, for the full 5 week warm up period. Reg reckons that 85% of the Tornados in the Olympics will be REG WHITE LIMITED BOATS. Because, as he puts it in his usual modest manner, “no-one can build faster boats than we can”.
COMANCHE CATAMARANS of Ash, Sevenoaks, Kent, have now launched their first boat, a motor-sailer with a sensible and elegant deck house. This was a shell-only version and is afloat in the Medina River being fitted out by the owner. They have orders for four more kits, the basic bonded mouldings of which includes keels, cockpit and anchor-well, skegs, rudder post together with rudders, tillers, ‘A’ frame and hatches supplied loose; it costs under £10,000.00. The same specification, but for motor-sailer layout, is just under £1,000.00 extra.
However, Malcolm Kerr of COMANCHE CATAMARANS also undertakes to supply with the mouldings:- (a) a full set of “as finished” photos above and below decks; (b) a full set of building drawings with sketches of major components; (c) an instruction booklet; (d) “learning time” at the moulders; (e) free loan of major templates.
The new COMANCHE is not only 2’0” longer than the old, but also offers a dozen or so significant improvements, as standard, over the Sail Craft version.
Finally, COMANCHE CATAMARANS have contracted, with Johnson & Jago of Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, to build the interiors and fit the boats out. Malcolm Kerr will now sit back and presumably fight off the customers.
CHEROKEES are being built at Willments Shipyard, Woolston, Southampton, and their revival has aroused a lot of interest. The first one, for a Canadian customer, will start to be built soon.
| IROQUOIS
Reg White Limited, |
COMANCHE
Comanche Catamarans, |
CHEROKEE
Solaris Yachts, |
The Annual General Meeting was held in the Cruising Association Library, London, on January 6th 1984. There were no nominations for the posts of Chairman, Secretary or Editor, apart from the standing incumbents who were therefore reelected unanimously. The Secretary is also Editor and cannot produce a newsletter for members without news from members; please write down now any scrap of news regarding your sailing, lack of it, modifications, leak chasing etc. and/or corrections to the owners’ list and send it to the Editor, Stuart Fisher, today so that the rest of our far flung clan may keep in touch. We look forward to hearing from you all, a postcard to 157 Sackville Road, Hove, is all that is needed!
The Annual South Coast Rally will be held over the weekend of July 28th to 29th, the same as last year. As members will see from his letter, Guy Juneau is sailing his Iroquois, No. 34 FLEDERMAUS, over from Canada to meet us, so a good turn-out from those of us who only have to come from Chichester or Poole should be attempted.
May I draw members’ attention also to the MOCRA Swanage Weekend on July 7-8th and MOCRA Newtown Rally on Round Britain Power Boat Weekend, July 14th and 15th at Newtown Creek.
However, the main event is the Iroquois Rally and this is great fun; everyone should make the effort to get there, not least in order to be amazed at the vast differences in the layouts and fittings of our boats; Apaches, Aztecs, Cherokees, Comanches and Iroquois are all welcome. The only entry fee is some sausages and wine for the barbecue, there may be a “best shorts” competition.
Those of you who are East Coast based might like to get in touch with Peter Allen, 292 CATCRACKER, on 0449-781494, who is keen to put together an East Coasters Rally or meet, or even a team-contingent for Burnham Week.
So far this year has been pretty iffy in sailing terms, North Easterly gales alternating with flat calms. I knew the weather was going to be funny this year. After all, coming back from Christchurch in David Smith’s 100, CHIQUITA V last June, we were subjected to a spectacular and painful storm of hail at the end of June. Iroquois have not featured in MOCRA events much this year, not least because MOCRA events have largely not featured much themselves due to the weather. In the Seahorse series held in early May, CHIQUITA took part, whilst that other stalwart of the racing scene, Richard Collier, took 77 CHEROKEE across to the Channel Islands. (Did you get there Richard? How did you get on?)
Our trip down from Brighton to Cowes was an omen of course, if only we’d had the wit to recognise the fact. We hoisted the spinnaker off the Marina entrance and barely touched a sheet or a guy until we arrived at Cowes, rather ahead of our ETA. The sun was out, at one point we even took our shirts off. The Autohelm buzzed away; the boat, newly scrubbed, swiftered on, what a difference clean hulls make These were achieved by David’s newly invented method (described elsewhere).
The first Seahorse race was a wash-out; no wind, swingeing tides and inadequate race signal reading! We knew that the course would be shown by the letters and numbers in red or green exhibited by the Royal Corinthian Committee. What almost everyone forgot was that as there were three classes, there might well be three courses, long for class one, short for class three. Everyone carefully wrote down the course first indicated and attempted to complete it, a feat not even Colt Cars GB, could achieve. Result; a long motor back over the tide from somewhere West of Newtown Creek; just as well really, in CHIQUITA I had us over the line at the start, but by such a little bit that it seemed a shame to ruin it by going back and beginning again.
Day two was windy, no spinnakers this time and after one lumpy circuit we were delighted to see the cancellation flag hung out and receive a gun. Wrong again: the gun was afterwards explained away as being for someone else (although there was no-one else, multi or mono, racing anywhere nearby) and we were told we hadn’t crossed the finish line correctly. Shame, really, as that turned out to be the only race in the MOCRA Seahorse Series 1984 and had I remembered that the start and finish lines were different, CHIQUITA would have won the trophy.
That afternoon, thoroughly fed up with Cowes in a North Easterly six, David and I motored up to Chichester harbour and anchored up the Emsworth Channel for the night in perfect peace. Next day the weather forced the racing to be abandoned whilst CHIQUITA left Chichester well ahead of normal schedule in order to get through the Looe Channel before the tide changed to flood in the teeth of the predicted North Easterly 6, 7, occasionally 8. A swift reach across Bracklesham Bay had us in the Looe Channel with two hours or so of ebb left, but in reasonably calm water. The motor drove us slowly through over the tide and into the eye of the wind and we were well beyond the Mixon beacon and bearing away for Littlehampton by the time the tide changed and the seas became short, steep and very lumpy. The prospect of beating into this all the way to Brighton appalled me and may have caused David some inquietude, although I saw no outward sign of it, With the engine going, three large reefs in the main and only a small triangle of genoa unrolled, CHIQUITA needed to be fairly broad on the wind to keep the sails full and not flogging. Unfortunately on port tack this took us almost directly out to sea (but unfortunately equally directly over the Owers Banks) whereas Starboard took us towards Bognor Regis and its unpleasant offshore reef, with Selsey under our lee. Not only that, we went so fast that I felt that during the times when the boat was fully airborne we were actually travelling bodily sideways. I was, of course, frightened at the time (although thanks to Stugeron, not sea-sick) so as steerer I luffed up, let the genoa flog and made less headway, but pointed into the wind and towards Littlehampton and the lee of the land. At this point the engine faltered due, we eventually discovered, to my violent steering having dislodged the fuel supply pipe by pressing the bulldog clip against the electrical leads. However, we didn’t know that at the time and David, as ever relishing an emergency, had the engine up, the plugs changed, all connections routinely checked (including refixing, unawares, the fuel supply) and the engine back in the water and running again so quickly that the swiftness of his hand certainly deceived my eye. Eventually, as we edged out of the main tidal stream and got closer to the shore, the seas dropped and the gusts eased away a bit and we made good, if careful, progress. The boat was eventually tied up in Littlehampton and taken on to Brighton the following weekend.
Really, we should have turned back when the tide changed and it got rougher, but we didn’t and that sort of experience does encourage confidence in the boat and make the next time easier to cope with.
The next MOCRA event was the Seaview Weekend. Seaview Yacht Club is built on what must be the most North Easterly point of the Isle of Wight, usually perfect in our prevailing wind conditions as it is sheltered from the South Westerlies, good holding ground, with Bembridge a short reach away. Unfortunately it has a steep-to rocky shore and in a strong North Easterly breeze is not a happy place to be. CHIQUITA once more set out from Brighton, this time with Yvonne Smith aboard as well, but no sail set could have got us there, the variables kept varying to head us. After a quiet night in Chichester we put on our full foul weather gear and sailed across to Seaview and reached up and down off the Club a couple of times, well reefed down, trailing our cape as it were. Thankfully no-one was there to take up the Iroquois challenge (we did it for you all, we did, we did) the cancellation flag was hoisted and so we sailed away, leaving lugubrious faces peering out at us from the bar windows.
For a trip we went to Southampton Water and up the Hamble, where we moored up alongside 79, CLAUDIA, and spent the rest of the day with Di & Derek Morris on board their boat, or on board David’s. Have you been to Alladins Cave at Burseldon? It's the most fantastic collection of boat jumble, yot. grot, whatever, all heaped about unpriced (there must be something there I need badly, if only I could think what it was and find it). Next day we sailed peacefully and pleasantly back to Brighton in rather heavy rain, and Di & Derek were intending to set off on a week’s holiday cruise. (How did it go then Di & Derek? a nice little letter in our next maybe?).
When CHIQUITA arrived in Brighton it was to find a mini rally in progress. Ken & Thelma Pack, 86 THELKEN, had come down from Shoreham to Brighton (7 miles!), having read (and believed) the adverts about Sunny Brighton. Brian, Sue and Victoria Keeler were there in 138 TREAD SOFTLY, and what with Ken & Thelma’s daughters, husbands-in-law and grandchildren, the 20 passengers required for any sensible Iroquois gathering to become a boat party, was instantly achieved and was still in progress when I left at 10 pm to go home to my bed.
Finally, so far this year, the news is that the ghosts of George Tinley (he of the aluminium buttons) and Ken Istead still stalk Iroquois seas. In 1984 TOMAHAWK has done it again, sailed this time by two Frenchmen, Pierre Lauriat and J P Bergouignan. At the 1984 Trophee Des Multicoques, held at La Trinite in Brittany and attended by over 50 Multihulls (including almost all the OSTAR monsters now being lost or damaged at such a rate in the North Atlantic) TOMAHAWK won the first 4 of her five races and was 4th in the last race. This made her overall winner on corrected time with a perfect score of 0.0 points. There were five other Iroquois competing, one of whom was GULLIVER, who capsized and was wrecked at the same meeting in 1983. I wonder if Pierre Lauriat has ever heard of George Tinley or Mons. Bergouignan of Mr. Istead.
As your secretary, I’ve written to France inviting them all over for the rally as our guests of honour. So, if they get the letters and can come, we may find out.
SDF.
My first Iroquois cruise took place in 1977. As I was not much of a cruising cat practiser, in that time, I “put my bag”, as a crew member, on the Iroquois of a friend of mine. With 6 persons on board, we had a nice trip, from Lorient, to Belle Ile, Noirmoutier, la Vilaine River, golfe du Morbihan, La Trinite, Groix, and back to Lorient.
Next year, I promoted myself to the skipper place, for another trip in the same landscapes with few stops on the South-West coast of Britanny. Together with other friends, we had formed a “Squadron” of two Iroquois and one Quest, to perform this cruise. The drawback was that Quest is considerably slower than Iroquois, but, in the time we were waiting for him, we had some nice races between both Iroquois and I had the good luck (and good crew) to take the first place, rather often.
1979 was the year for a family cruise, on South West coast towards Concarneau, Benodet and les Glenans archipelago: a wonderful place for sailing!
In 1980, we changed our sailing place, to the Channel, for a trip from Perros-Guirrec to the Channel Islands: Guernsey, Sercq, Jersey. Despite a very bad weather for three days, that was a very interesting sailing experience, namely with those awful tide currents in the Islands!
1981 saw us back to South Britanny for a short cruise to the Atlantic Isles, Noirmoutier and Yeu.
ln 1982, the program was the round Britanny trip, from Etel (nearby Lorient) to Perros-Guirrec, crossing through Le Raz de Sein and Le Chenal du Four (between Ouessant and continent). As the weather was particularly bad during the whole week, except a short sunny day in Mer d’Iroise, we have not seen very much of the landscape, but got a valuable experience of sailing in rough conditions in Le Raz and Le Chenal. In 1983 took place another “island-cruise” in the Atlantic, from La Rochelle to Etel, successively touching the Isles of Re, Yeu, Noirmoutier and Belle-Isle, not forgetting Houat and Hoedic, those marvellous small islands of South Britanny.
The plans for 84? Quite another landscape! Probably we take a Comanche (no available Iroquois, unfortunately) at St. Cyprien, harbour of Perpignan, for a trip to the Spanish Costa Brava, and Baleares islands.
As you can see, my experience of Iroquois inshore and close off shore cruising has pretty well improved, and I expect further opportunities of sailing a bit farther, as I did in 1983, from Baie de Somme to Rye, and back...., but that was on a monohull!
Bernard Morel
Residence Les Frenes, 7 quater,
rue de la Justice, 60200 COMPIEGNE.
Letter from Ted & Suzy Loder, WIND DRAGON, No. 182
Dear Mr Fisher,
Thank you for your splendid efforts on the IOA Newsletter. It is very important to people like ourselves who live far away from their place of origin. We have enclosed £10 for 1984 - 1985 subscriptions. Please note that we have changed our boat's name from "Duet" to "Wind Dragon". After having our boat sit in the boat yard for two summers while we were in England, we finally got lots of work done on her and some fine cruising during this past summer. The work was the result of several years of neglect by previous owner and ourselves and took a good part of spare time in May, June and July last summer. You will see why it took so long as I describe what we did.
The top of the sliding hatch had been sanded by the previous owner through several layers of ply and felt as strong as cardboard. So I cut a nice mahogany board 1¾” thick, into ¼” thick strips and glued them on the hatch top lengthwise with West System epoxy. I sanded it smooth and varnished it. Now it is beautiful and strong. There were two absolutely awful jobs I had to do and both dealt with fibreglass work inside small spaces. The forward sail locker on the port side had leaked around the underside of the hatch and water in the balsa core had frozen, expanded and cracked the deck. I had to cut through the inside ceiling in the forward berth area, chip out soggy balsa core, lay in mat and resin to reinforce the cracked area and build the area back up. It was awful The problem stemmed from poor building in the hatch area. If only the original builders had finished that area off by sealing into the hollow it would not leak there. While I was doing sail lockers I also sanded the plywood bottom and back side of these lockers and fit pieces of heavy fibreglass roving in place with resin. It is now all waterproof and no rot can occur. The propane locker had a similar leak problem, causing the port stern berth to become damp now and then. This was fixed by sealing the sides of the locker to the underside top of the locker with fibreglass and resin. No leak now.
I was impressed (incredulous) by the chap that did the leeboard reinforcements during one tide out. It took me several weeks off and on to do that job since the hull had five cracks around the end of the leeboard slots. I cut the areas out, drilled holes into the hull to let many cups of water drain out. Then I filled the cut out areas with epoxy putty, smoothed it, and then laid in 6 circles of roving-mat fibreglass and resin, cut out the slots, and smoothed it over. It looks good and I put the boards down with confidence. I urge everyone to check for hairline cracks in this area.
The reinforcing (backing plates) blocks for life line stanchions are plywood and freezing water had saturated several of these. This encouraged drips on berths and a squisy feeling when a stanchion was pushed and ripped out the soggy plywood, filled in the under cavity with glass mat and resin and, fit a nice 4 x 6” stainless steel backing plate. Problem solved!
1 also had to fix the teak rub rail in place in several areas because whoever put the rail on, had used non-stainless bolts and they are all rusted. I would cheerfully like to punch the guy in the head for making that decision. Finally some good things. We replaced our old “nobody-can-start-it-but-Daddy-sometimes” 15hp Chrysler engine with a Chrysler Sailor-250 (9.9hp) with electric start and nearly full reverse. It is lightweight, relatively inexpensive, gentle on petrol consumption and pushes the boat at just over 6 knots. Its only problem is that it is too short a shaft for steep seas. A 15” extension being fitted now should solve that problem. It is as powerful as the 15hp engine was. The other great addition was installation of an Autohelm 2000 purchased as I left England from Ron Paine at RP Marine in Poole. Known as “Han Solo”, because it is sort of singlehanded, it allowed us to spend many days of sailing along the coast of Maine in August without being tied to the tiller. What a wonderful invention! We spent two weeks sailing coastal Maine in August with our two sons, Thede (12) and Chris (14). The coast is rocky and rugged with many islands and small harbours to visit. It is similar to the coast in Sweden or parts of Scotland. Our goal was to reach Rogue Island, a privately owned island shaped like an “H” with the inside of the lower part being a huge gorgeous cresent beach of white sand over a mile long. No houses in sight and eagles overhead, nice walking paths in the woods with 100-150 foot cliffs along some of the shores. The tides are over 15 feet in that area. Rogue Island is sort of a mecca for cruising sailors along this coast and we could understand why.
In two weeks of cruising nearly 600 miles we never saw another multihull boat. Most people have never seen a catamaran like ours and were amazed at the room, etc. on it. We did our best to spread the word. Now if only the double berth aft was just a bit wider In spite of the lack of catamarans in this area, an Iroquois named “Aurora” owned by Fred Doll is right beside mine in the boat yard this winter. I think they are trying to keep us segregated.
One final item worth doing was to place small St.St. vents over cockpit holes under deck facing alt. They keep water from spurting up into cockpit in rough seas.
Fair winds and following seas to all.
Sincerely yours,
Ted and Suzy Loder
Letter from Capt Al Krech to Michael Ellison.
Dear Michael,
Please forgive me for being late with my dues. Enclosed is a cheque for dues and a little extra.
How stupid of me not to send you my Uncle’s address and ‘phone number. Gerald Krech, 8 Lennox Gardens, London SW1, Phone 589 5594. He also belongs to St. James. I’d appreciate it if you’d call him sometime when you’re in London and give him my love.
We have been busy making changes on our Iroquois. We made our ice box better by removing the setee under the chart table and building a new box from the galley to the outboard edge of the nacelle and all the way back to the aft cabin bulkhead, the inside measurements of the box are not much bigger than the original box, but we have 5” of foam under, around and over 4” of foam in the top of the box. Will hook it up to some form of mechanical refrigeration, probably an Adler Barbour Cold Machine. We have added another 15 horsepower outboard and have put them as far apart as room will allow. What a difference docking and undocking. We are making our changes with the idea of going on a long cruise in March of 1984. We are going to island hop from Walkers Cay in the Northern Abacos to Venezuela, then the A.B.C. Islands possibly Maracoibo, Venezuela, Cartegeno Columbia, the San Blas Islands off Panama, through the canal to an island 300 miles off shore owned by El Savadore, San Diego to see two of my daughters, back thru the canal to (?)Proitau and the Bay of Islands, Yucatan peninsula stopping a few places and then back to Florida. We’re looking forward to it. Will keep you posted.
Please send me Rod MacAlpine Downie's address. Would like to write him.
Hope you have a very nice Christmas and a happy new year.
Sincerely
(Signed) Al
Al Krech, c/o Dr Shepard Krech,
P.O. Box 779, Easton,
Maryland 21601
I think it was the only occasion we had ever loaned CANDIDA (No.2 & No.150) to anyone in sixteen years of totally safe Iroquois sailing (Mark I/Mark II) but it seemed a pretty safe bet with a relation who sailed a sliding seat canoe and had skippered large sailing vessels.
The scenario would appear to be Candida travelling light with no cruising gear aboard, going like a bomb but with far too much sail (gusting 6 or 7 with every stitch set). The skipper had left someone else on the helm and there was no-one manning the genny winch or the mainsheet.
Then with the combination of a Helford gust and a lurching wave, over she went, I suspect they had overtacked and were stationary with everything pinned in. The crew said it flipped quickly, but from my experience with sports cats, I would say this was unlikely (can anyone comment?). The probability is that the crew of four, all taken unawares, slid across the cockpit unable to take any action. So far so bad, but worse to come. A passing yacht took the disconsolate crew off the inverted bridge deck to try and get help. Then a fishing boat, against the Coastguard’s instructions, took the capsized Candida in tow. When Candida’s skipper returned with a yard manager he was brusquely waved off and told that the boat is being taken away for salvage.
But with all sails set under water this was a pretty unmanageable tow, and Candida is taken from a comparatively safe position out at sea onto the rocks, where she is bounced for some hours upside down. Not surprisingly, the very strong mast shattered. Towards morning more vessels then took part in a clumsy decapsizing operation including, amongst other nonsenses, releasing a shroud instead of the forestay, which tore out a large section of deck together with the tabernacle, The total damage, if the repairs were carried out by a yard, would have cost over £11000, which was more than the insured value (another lesson learnt).
However, in these circumstances, the main worry is whether to settle the salvage claim yourself on top of all this. It is a relief to find that in addition to having paid out very promptly on a “total loss” basis, Navigators and General also handled everything to do with the salvage claim. However, after two years of argument, a £9000 claim was settled out of court at £600 to great relief all round.
On going back to the wrecked boat, you will find that you are not allowed to remove anything until it is released by the Receiver of Wrecks, who will only do this when he has a guarantee that any salvage claims will be met.
However, eventually the rebuilding can begin and this provided an opportunity to tackle some of the jobs which never got finished after Candida was built eight years ago.
When modifying the Mark II, I wanted to achieve something like the layout which had been so successful with the Mark I in providing a particularly spacious light and airy cabin with a 360o unobstructed view all round through the enlarged windows. These came above the sight tine when seated in the cabin,
So a gleaming white shell from Sailcraft was promptly sawn in half, or nearly in half. That is the after bulkhead was removed and set up vertically 18” further back, enlarging the cabin 18" but reducing the cockpit.
The extension to the cabin roof proved to be quite simple. First a section of 1” expanded polystyrene was tacked into position. It was then propped up from below till it conformed to the double curvature and the upper surface was skinned with BRP and Gelcoat. The props were then removed and the under surface was skinned.
All this stood up well to the underwater bashing. So did the large hatch (which we would not be without) the inner bulkheads and outer and inner doors, all with skins of plywood on a core of expanded polystyrene (polyurathene might have been better). Not so the attachments to the hulls for the open shelving and cupboards and for the lightened floor beams, proving that Rod’s built up sub frames were not such a bad idea (not that we have any intention of repeating this particular test!).
Incredibly all the toughened glass windows survived in spite of the fact that there was a heavy Honda charger bouncing around inside and the much used South Coast Rod Rigging reeling gear with the original stainless steel rod, only needed a £15 check over and has worked splendidly ever since.
So it all could have been much worse.
The Iroquois comes out of the ordeal as an incredibly tough boat, quite apart from its being such a joy to sail.
Barry Bucknell,
The Red House,
St. Mawes,
Cornwall
We had about twenty of the questionnaires returned, not really a very good show at all I’m afraid chaps! This represents a less than 20% response. In general there is no doubt that (surveyiological inexactitudes apart) members are predominantly:
The favourite article in the last Newsletter was the one on sailing the boat; the most wished for information was how to stop leaks, most “whatever happened to” was Reg White and Sailcraft; however, one member was disappointed at not being told what happened to the Marie Celeste, and The Sabine Girl Pipers.
There is also some interest in the capsize and its avoidance; boat swapping for holidays; Snoopy and the Whitby to Tonga Express and why the leeboard came through the side; self steering; double head sail and forestay arrangements; Reg Crampton, is there indeed life afterwards (and Roy Hodson similarly); and more photos are required.
Bob and Gail Twickel, 191 SEMPER Fl of Florida, previously owned a 34' 0" proa, several members owned smaller catamarans, but most started in monos; David Shankland, RAZZMATAZZ, is the ex British National Canoe Champion; Ken Pack, THELKEN, owned Bobcat no. 1.
As a number of members wanted an up-to-date owners list one has been produced and is attached. In so far as I have been able to collate various information, it is as complete as possible and represents the bulk of this Newsletter. This is not a members’ list, but an owners’ list, many of the addresses are “last known” and some boats will have changed hands. Please check it against your information and let us have any corrections, expansions or fillings-in.
D Gutteridge now has 277 HABICAT, a Mark IIA with tiller steering, underhull rudders and skegs and a 35 hp Yamaha outboard. HABICAT was holed last year on a breakwater and has had her hulls repaired. Mr Gutteridge and his wife are now refitting the interior and carrying out various repairs and improvements. Their leeboard pins had both fractured and Peter Smith in Brightlingsea is making them some new stainless steel replacements. The boat is up at Conyer Creek, but the mooring only floats for about an hour each side of high water so they are thinking of bringing the boat around to the South Coast. Mr. Gutteridge says he has been told that the Sail Craft masthead floats have a built in radar reflector which is extremely effective, does anyone have any factual evidence to confirm this story, which I have heard myself elsewhere?
Brian and Sue Keeler now have 138 TREAD SOFTLY at Brighton and are beginning to get her into their way of thinking. They have fitted a new forestay fixing consisting of a backing plate below the cross beam with a rod passing through the beam and providing the forestay attachment and are fitting Colnebrook Seareef equipment, so far the equipment and service from the new South Coast agents has been appalling. TREAD SOFTLY has two magnificent, brand new Arona (Stuart Solvay, now made in Spain & Italy) 10 hp diesels which are very reliable starters and runners and use hardly any fuel; 1/3rd gallon per hour each. The gearboxes and Silette sail drive units are splendid, but a temporary problem regarding couplings is just being overcome. Their first cross channel trip was fine and Brian and Sue are now considering what to do next.
Guy Juneau, 34 FLEDERMAUS, of Ottowa, has joined us, his letter is published elsewhere in the Newsletter. Members will see that he’s intending to sail to Saint Malo from Canada this Summer. He then hopes to come to our rally. FLEDERMAUS will be a boat worth seeing, we wish him fair winds and good weather for his crossing.
Gunnar Enberg, 188 GUN-GUN, and his family are coming to England for a holiday this Summer and have arranged to visit Russ Dordi, 305 BARU, in Faversham and will sail some English waters with them; we hope to be able to report Gunnar’s reactions to the weather, tides and mud banks of the Thames and Medway after the clear and tideless Baltic, in a later Newsletter.
Michael Skinner, 38 GANISA, bought his Iroquois some time ago, but has her ashore and is working hard on improvements and alterations, a report is promised in due course. Michael has also paid his sub up to and including 1989 in advance, there’s an act of faith if you like!
Darch Oborre, 92 AIRBORNE, sends 2 years sub in advance and writes to say that he is fitting a 41’0” mast to his Iroquois in order to make it more competitive in his home waters off the State of Washington, USA. Airborne seems a fortunate choice of name, we long to hear how it worked out and what effect on the boat such a generous spread of sail achieved.
Betty and Jim Dean, 179 WAR DANCER, are now based in Las Terrazas Illetas, Mallorca, Spain; no doubt visiting Iroquois owners might be permitted to take them out to supper!
Paul Berry, 115 BERRY PATCH, has now retired to Florida and away from sailing after 30 years and has sold his Iroquois to Ken Perry, from whom we hope to hear in due course. I’m sure all our members wish Paul and Jeanette a happy and fulfilling retirement and would be happy to welcome all “retired" or “sold up" Iroquois owners to our ranks. Their experience is especially va1uable considering the growing numbers of new Iroquois owners springing from the second-hand market,
Fred Privett, ex 138 TREAD SOFTLY, has also recently retired and sold his Iroquois. He now lives down in Devon, where he will remain a member of the Association and hopefully, now that he has a little more time, let us share some of his Iroquois memories and tips.
Mike & Caroline Lovatt have bought 285 ORENDA (ex Lillibet) and are fitting out for the 1984 season. He is using the Iroquois masthead float and has ordered one of the standard designs from Reg White, who is back in business again. We hope to be able to hear from Mike soon, he tells us that Orenda is Iroquois for "natural phenomena". The Editor’s little bird whispered that this Iroquois was a close competitor to ADAH RACHEL in the General Splendour Stakes!
Clive Wells of Burgess Hill has bought 208 SUPER TWO from Diana Campbell, as yet he has not joined our ranks, but as he only lives 10 miles from the Editor/ Secretary/Treasurer, I believe the Association may entertain a faint hope for that fortunate eventuality.
Michael Thompson of the Isle of Man has bought 83 POW WOW and joined us, so far no more news from Michael, no doubt a letter on Irish Sea Iroquoing will be forthcoming in due course.
Bernard Morel, Secretary of the Union Nationale des Multicoques, has also joined us, his Iroquois sailing is described in his excellent and interesting letter.
D Hamilton has sold 84 HONKY TONK, and moved to Essex. So far we haven’t traced or reached the new owner, so if anyone sees HONKY TONK, spread the word! Ron Houslip has sold the lovely 262 PHOTOFINISH to Juan & Pamela Ponce in Virginia Beach, USA, so far not members but we have written and hope that when they see the boat again they’ll join up.
David Harvey, 276 NERON (built 1979, beautifully fitted out privately by Victor Gunther, who was (or is) reputedly one of Reg White’s Craftsmen) has his boat up for sale, phone 0736 3279; write to Bella Vista, Highfield, Newlyn, Penzance, Cornwall. NERON was vandalized before Xmas and is being refitted out in full teak by the insurance company to a high standard. The boat has hardly been used and lay off Hayling Island just below the Marina for some time, asking price £16,000.00.
LORENDA has been sold to Gary Ross in Danville, Illinois, and lost to us I fear. There is no record of her or her previous owner and no more information on the new owner. The same applies to FLOPSY MOPSY, sold by Stuart Boyd to a Frenchman and on moorings in Sardinia, and CATAFIA sold to Greek owners whilst lying in Palma, and to 78 SEAING DOUBLE, 18 CAYUGA, NO NAME (a stripped racing machine) and 47 GERONIMO (now lying in S Spain).
Finally, there was a Dutch Mark 2 Iroquois advertized for 5000 Guilders; 5 sails, gear in a good state (zeer goede staat), 20 h.p. Yamaha Willemsen; Antwerp 03-2308039. However, it seems likely that in fact this is a misprint for 50,000.00 guilders.
It seems only a short time ago when we were winterising KATIKI for the end of season lay up. Spring 84 came round very quickly, accompanied by some very cold weather. Every year it is the same course of events, planning in the Winter what has to be done for the next sailing season and struggling at the beginning of it in sub zero temperatures to complete these tasks.
The weather was so bitterly cold when we were preparing the boat at the end of March we thought it would never get warm again. In anticipation of lots more cold weather Rod rushed out and bought a Taylor paraffin heater. It has been fitted on the port side between the steps and the single berth, the fuel tank is in the loo. After a few teething problems with the fitting and initial operating I can honestly say it is lovely. It has made life much more comfortable in the cold weather, it is dry heat so cuts down the condensation and is great for drying wet oilies and smalls. It does of course add more weight, no good for you racing enthusiasts.
The weather did in fact improve dramatically and Easter this year was the best ever. Sailing at times in shirt sleeves I have never done before at this time of year. We left Fareham hoping to cross to the Channel Islands, but lack of wind did not allow this so we cruised West visiting Lymington, Poole, Studland and Lulworth Cove. On the 4th day the wind still NE started to increase so we abandoned the Channel trip. On to Weymouth, now a compulsory stop for the children, it has such a lovely beach with donkeys and roundabouts. On round Portland Bill to Bridport, a very small harbour with a long narrow entrance, impossible to leave in onshore winds of Force 4 upwards. We decided the next morning to retrace our way. We had an eventful trip back; on nearing the Bill the engine stopped, closer investigation showed the line of a sunken fishing buoys round the propeller, thank heavens for outboards. Five minutes later a burning plastic smell wafted from the cabin, after sniffing every electrical appliance we located the problem in a fluorescent light just starting to give off smoke. After this series of events, rounding the Bill was no problem. We spent 1½ days relaxing in Lulworth Cove before we sailed back to the Solent feeling very glad we did not go to the Channel Islands, the wind stayed in the NE all the trip.
May Day Bank Holiday was spent in the Solent, not very good sailing weather, cold, wet and windy. Whitsun proved to be much better, a very bad start but once everyone went back to work the weather changed. We left Lulworth Cove on Monday morning and crossed to Alderney in 10 hours. Showers and shopping completed we sailed on to Guernsey. Great excitement here as our visit coincided with the Queen Mother's. Once we had seen the Queen Mother we sailed over to Herm, beached the boat, and scrubbed the bottom using the galley’s fish slice to remove the barnacles. A quick visit to Sark and then took the tide back to Alderney. We had a sightseeing and beach day, saw the Q. Mother again. On Friday we sailed back to Yarmouth, a lovely day, Main and Coaster 11 hours.
Our latest sailing week/end was spent on Iroquois No. 275 Seventure, on the east coast. We arranged a boat swap with friends, this allows a change of scene and a chance to collect new ideas. Seventure is moored at Maylandsea. The weather was glorious, just right for an east coast potter. We sailed to Tollesbury where we spent Friday night. In the morning we looked in to West Mersey and then sailed on to Pyfleet Creek where we lunched and had a beach stop, on to Wivenhoe and back to Pyefleet Creek for the night. Sunday morning we lunched at Brightlingsea busy with motor boats and water skiers, ending with a lovely sail back to the mooring in the evening.
You may remember we visited the Florida Keys at Christmas. We arrived at Miami to temperatures in the 80o+, lovely. On driving south to Marathon the next day to collect our boat we became quite excited, it was looking good, palm trees, sunshine and sea. That was the good bit, it got steadily worse as the days went by. The boat, a Pearson 42ft, was a lovely boat but not in a good seaworthy condition, and unclean. The three men in our group spent 30 man hours making the boat ready for sea and the females cleaned the boat. The weather suddenly took a dive. Cold, wet and windy, worst weather recorded since 1837. It was an expensive joke; we had flown 3,000 miles to find the sun and spent £900 to charter a boat that really was not suited for the very shallow waters of the Keys. We yearned for a multihull. However it was an experience, but a rather disappointing one. Walt Disney saved the holiday in the second week and the weather improved a little so it was not all bad.
We are looking forward to the Summer and hopefully good weather, Please try to attend the South and East Coast Rallies if you are able, they are always enjoyable events.
I look forward to meeting some of you at sea. Good sailing/wining/dining and PUBBING
Haidi Blake
This contribution from our Chairwoman sets an example to us all in several ways. Firstly it recounts KATIKI’s sailing so far this year! I’m still considering what colour paving slab to put across the yard up to the steps by which I reach my grounded boat. Secondly it tells us all about it, a few similar words on their adventures, or otherwise, from each member would perhaps justify an EXTRA issue (!!) of the Newsletter. Ed.
John Spicer has put ZOSTERA 23 on the market. John is too busy now to use the boat effectively. Zostera is a Mk I in good condition, with a 3 year old 20hp long shaft Yamaha outboard, asking price is £8500; phone 0703 454588.
Peter Pitcher is selling STAR GUIDER 171, very reluctantly after 5 years of loving ownership. She was yard finished and is a registered British Ship. She is very well equipped having main sheet release gear, Bosun self-steering, new radio, depth sounder, Shark RDF and log, new spinnaker and chute and a new head sail and reefing gear. She also has a spray hood, Wheel and Tiller steering, a fridge and gas fire. Asking price is £12,500; phone 0603 (Norwich) 22585.
David Smith has come up with an extremely effective way of water-borne bottom scrubbing. All that is needed is a couple of lengths of line, a block, a shackle and a short length of hairy warp.
One end of the first line is tied to the cross beam close to the hull and the line is passed aft and under the boat. The line is then passed through a shackle holding a block and the end tied off close to the hull and as far aft as possible. The second line then has both ends attached to the shackle and the bight passed under the boat fore and aft. This results in a block travelling fore and. aft under the bridge deck close to the hull, controlled and located by the second line.
A piece of hairy warp of adequate thickness is passed through the block, and both ends taken to the outside of the boat with the bights under the hull. Whilst one crew moves the block slowly forward by means of the controlling lines, the second vigorously see-saws the two warp ends. The resulting scrubbing effect reaches those parts that an arm from a dinghy can’t get pressure upon or reach.
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
IROQUOIS OWNERS' ASSOCIATION
SOLENT SUMMER MEET
Newtown Creek Isle of Wight
JULY 28th & 29th, 1984
We will meet in the same place and at the same time as last year, that is the last weekend in July, on the starboard side of the entrance to Newtown in the shallows on the sand bank. Members will remember that 14 or so boats anchored and moored up abreast along there last year, its well protected, dries out well and gives easy access to a spot where we are allowed ashore. Once ashore its easy to find enough flotsam and jetsam for a barbecue. Members who remember to bring any sort of a griddle or tore-out frying pans will be especially welcome, not to say fawned upon. Please bring a bottle, some suitable food and enough children to control and work the fires satisfactorily.
CASUAL VISITORS WILL BE WELCOME.
IROQUOIS OWNERS ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The next Annual General Meeting will be held in the Cruising Association Library, Ivory House, St. Katharines Dock, London, El 9AT, at 7.00 p.m. (1900 hours). The bar will be open from 5.30 p.m. (17.30 hours). This location is within easy walking distance of Tower Bridge Underground Railway Station and there is easy parking in the enormously wide main road which passes the gate to the dock. Once again supper will be available at £4.00 per head, excluding drinks. THE DATE is THE FIRST FRIDAY of the BOAT SHOW, JANUARY 4th, 1985.
Haidi Blake has arranged for Vic Bennett to show his film of Iroquois Sailing in the Greek Islands. If any other members have slides, film, log books, souvenirs, amazingly portable conversion items, photos, diagrams or fascinatingly damaged fittings, please let the Secretary know and I will make arrangements for their display.
