Chairman's Report
Editorial
Letter from the Chairman
Ignorance is Bliss
Hit by Inflation
Self Steering Gear
Portsmouth Yardsticks
Another Yardstick Query
A Cat on Chesapeake Bay
CAT - CHAT
Chairman Dr Reg Crampton
Secretary, Treasurer & Editor Harry Faulkner
From the Chairman to members of the Iroquois Owners’ Association.
At the Boat Show Meeting in January 1975 there was an overwhelming opinion that some sort of technical information bulletin be compiled. I have given much thought to this, and have corresponded with Reg White, in particular on the degree of participation which Sailcraft is willing to offer. From these considerations a number of possibilities have emerged, and I am therefore listing these and asking you to reply with your preferences.
These are the major possibilities as I see them. Each has two factors in common: firstly owners as a group cannot get out more than they put into either scheme, with the exception of contributions from Sailcraft. Secondly it seems inevitable that, whatever we do, Association subs will have to be increased-- or else!! Option 1 would be the cheapest and option 3 the most expensive.
However, at this stage I feel that the best plan is to assess the reaction of members to these possibilities, or any other ideas which may be forthcoming.
My last plea is for information on which to update sailnumbers and current owners. If this letter reaches owners who have disposed of their boat would they be kind enough to send me the sail number and address of the new owner.
I await your replies with interest ---- and with a great deal of curiosity.
Dr R F Crampton,
3 Old Styles,
Langley,
Maidstone
Kent
The traditional Annual General Meeting and ‘get together’ was held, as usual on the first Friday of the Earls Court Boat Show, this year on January 3rd. The Hotel Eden once again provided a pleasant and convenient venue, and we extend our warmest thanks to Sailcraft, as our most congenial hosts for the meeting, for their hospitality in the form of drinks and an excellent supper. The meeting was very well attended and it was especially pleasing to be able to welcome so many members from abroad, and I'm sure our colleagues who travelled over from Europe won’t begrudge my giving a special mention to Mr. & Mrs. Ian Greer over from Ontario, Canada, Ian spoke to the meeting and quite obviously the problems of sailing and maintaining an Iroquois in Canada are quite different from those at home. How about a short article for the Newsletter Ian?
To turn to the business of the AGM, Pat Boyd suggested that, having been Chairman of the Association for a good many years, it might now be appropriate for him to stand down to make way for someone else. Reg Crampton - well known even to members who haven’t met him personally for his regular contributions to the Newsletter - was duly voted into the office of Chairman for the coming year. I’m sure all members will wish to join me in thanking Pat Boyd for all he has done for the Association over the years and not least for the very competent way he has chaired as many Iroquois Owners’ AGM's as I can remember.
Pat agreed to remain in office as treasurer, but has since passed this over to me, feeling that as sole outgoings and income are concerned with the Newsletter this would simplify matters.
Whilst dealing with financial matters, costs are now such that we can produce and post between 3 and 4 issues of the Newsletter for £l. We have transferred all details of members from their reply slips to a card index system, and recorded their subscriptions thereon. However, it would greatly simplify the collections of subscriptions if I could ask members to send £l for every three issues of the Newsletter they receive without my sending a reminder - funds are absolutely at rock bottom at present. Membership has increased steadily of late, but please keep your eyes open for any owners not on our list. Quite apart from the fact that the more members we have, the greater the value of the Association to everyone, there is also the point that the more Newsletters we print and circulate, the less is the cost per copy.
Finally, my thanks to all those who have written letters or sent articles for the Newsletter, and my regular exhortation and reminder that we can only produce a Newsletter if we receive material from members. Please send something off NOW. Yes, you, not the other chap. I’m sure everyone has some interesting or instructive experience to relate, or tip to pass on.
The next issue of the Newsletter will probably be sent out in. December, so please note in your diary now that the AGM will be on the first Friday of the Boat Show around 8 to 8.30 p.m. Final details, no doubt at the last minute, in the Winter issue, so make sure that you’ve got the date booked. Don’t let the idea of an AGM put you off - the business is relatively short, and is not allowed to interfere with what is essentially a social occasion.
See you there!!
Harry Faulkner
TAQUAMENAW, 60
The whole process of being elected Chairman of the Owners’ Association a few weeks ago took me completely- by surprise. I now feel even more obligated to make some contribution to the Newsletter.
I feel that this rather reluctantly accepted post gives me the right to say on behalf of so many Iroquois owners, how much is owed by them to the work and enthusiasm of Pat Boyd. He was, in no small way, responsible for welding the owners into such a thriving organisation, apart from the invaluable advice on our boats which appeared in the many articles in the yachting press. As a mere East coast mud crawler, I cannot even attempt to emulate such a notable figure.
Much of what I could write about various points raised in past Newsletters was said at the January 1975 meeting. However, here are a few afterthoughts.
On rudders that jam, careful adjustment of the pivot nut and bolt is essential When this achieved, I put a blob of Araldite on the nut to prevent it slipping. However, wood swelling is also a contributing factor, and to prevent this I paid particular attention to the inside of the rudder stock cheeks: some 6 coats of 2 part polyurethane varnish, applied with some foam on a stick after thoroughly sanding and cleaning. After this had really hardened (2 weeks in a warm room) I smeared on a coat of heavy water pump grease, to minimise the tendency of the rudder movement to shear off the varnish. After 2 years, everything is still in excellent condition,
With regard to sailing itself, 1974 was a bumper year for me, with trips to France and Spain which included meeting the Bay of Biscay in one of its moods of ill reputation. Also some docile, but enjoyable (almost idyllic) sailing in Chesapeake Bay, and in December a repeat performance from San Francisco.
During the year I have been playing with a Hewlett Packard HP 45 computer, applied to the art of navigation. It is so much easier than Transverse Tables, However, I do feel that John Peacock and I have produced enough arithmetical copy for the Newsletter, and so will not bother you with details.
If this issue appears before Whit, any owners will find Calais packed with UK boats during Whit this year: last year there were 2 Iroquois, about 10 Prouts, and a medley of Bobs and Tris, not to mention over a hundred of the slower and less comfortable types.
In the course of time I will collect problems raised in previous Newsletter and pass this list on to Reg White et al.
from Dr Reg Crampton
VAHINE II, 74
It is easy to start a real adventure like crossing the Bay of Biscay when you know nothing about sailing. In June 1974, I was invited to join an experienced crew with Santander as the objective, by way of the Channel Islands and the Brittany canals in an Iroquois.
It all sounded delightful and I did not think of the trip in terms of hard work, challenge, responsibility, or even fear. Before our return. I had acquired experience in all these fields. However, the ultimate result was that I discovered in my nature a real taste for sailing to the extent that any trip now of less than a hundred miles seems slightly disappointing. Also having survived large seas in the Bay of Biscay, I now have a real sense of confidence for any less severe conditions.
Just before we left England, one of the members of our crew told me that there was no need for concern until the tops of the waves appeared higher then the crosstrees. I laughed out of politeness at this strange sense of humour. A week later it all came true. In time I was entrusted with the helm, and having to concentrate on this job gave me little opportunity to feel afraid. But I consciously appreciated the physical dangers of such seas. In fact the boat behaved very well, and its stability and lack of rolling gave me a great sense of security.
One night, in the middle of Biscay we had an electric storm. The sky filled with sheet lightning, the rough sea, lashing rain and shrieking wind are all experiences for which there is no substitute, a sentiment which is more true after the event. At the time one prays that it will all end soon, and the subsequent shipping forecast will predict "NE 3-4 moderate to good". And it did, the last 50 miles to Spain was, by comparison, sheer heaven, and the sighting of the mountains of North Spain made everyone happy. Although only two ad a half days out of sight of land, the appearance of the mountains enabled me to share the emotions of Columbus. Before the sighting I had retired to my berth, fully convinced that land no longer existed.
Biscay is not always so awful, on our return trip, the moon and vivid stars made steering so easy, and the nights were so serene, almost idyllic, so that one felt sad that so few people would ever have such delight.
This exposure to rough conditions in a state of ignorance has its advantages. The next time it happens, as it will, at least I will know that survival is possible provided that sufficient degree of skill and common sense have been acquired. In fact there is no better stimulus so to do.
Consuelo Agrelo
BBuenos Aires, Argentina
Where do the rest of you ‘cat chaps’ keep your life rafts when at your home moorings? For anti-vandal reasons, ours has to be humped into the cabin when we're not sailing. But we thought the following little incident, caused by this habit, might afford some chuckles and a warning if your raft is similarly stowed.
It was the last race of the season, and there we were, busy about the usual details in the mill-around before the gun. Happy, relaxed Skipper is paying a quick visit to the heads. Visitor very eager and enthusiastic somehow gets entangled in the rip cord of the life raft as he helps to lift it from cabin to cockpit. The next few minutes I’m sure he would rather forget. We won’t for a very long time.
With a bang and immediate hissing like a steam train, our little square of security became a heaving writhing rubber monster that grew larger every second. Like some ghastly genie, it pinned all and sundry (who were unfortunately placed) to bulkheads and hatches and forced the rest to seek escape in the hulls. Poor visitor, full of apologies, vainly attempted to prevent inflation, only to be squeezed out of the cabin door as the thing reached its full size.
Meanwhile, down in the toilet, matters had come to a head (as you might say). Grey with shock - his mind had gone through all sorts of crises as he heard the bang -the Skipper materialised and gazed with disbelief at the sight of his raft in almost complete possession of his.cabin.
Mountaineering over the grey, blubbery mass to the cockpit, he seized the rudder from my now nerveless fingers, and keeping his priorities in the right order adjured us to ‘get that bloody thing down quick - the race is starting’.
Now, if you haven’t ever seen one of these life-savers in all its fullblown glory (they tell us we’re probably the first to have achieved it this way), then like us you won’t know where the release valve is either. And even when you find it, it takes a moment or two to realise that a coin is the quickest way of releasing it. In full heavyweather gear, finding a coin isn’t easy. It doesn’t help at a time like that, I found, to be a female and interested in the cooking facilities aboard the raft, and to exclaim over the daintily-packed emergency rations and the ‘cute little gloves’ - I discovered later they were oars! Nor did the fact that the change of tack now necessary would have us rushing headlong with the rest of the impatient boats for that bottle-neck they call the starting line.
So while the Skipper and I wrestled with sheets and plates, the rest of the trapped crew coughed carbon dioxide fumes as they finally located and operated the release valve. Incredibly we made it through between the flagship and buoy, headed confidently if somewhat waggly-legged and tight-chested for the northerly course shown in the race instructions, only to see the mass of other yachts in a swish of sterns and a rattle of sheets head equally confidently in the opposite direction. A new course had been set and notified on the flagship while we were otherwise engaged. Southerly.
We can laugh now, and our Visitor has departed for faraway places - very faraway places. Perhaps it’s just as well. The bill for repacking the precious life raft has just come in! Talk about the cost of inflation!
Of course, being an account by a woman, you’ll say I’ve exaggerated the story.
Honest, it’s true.
Good luck with the Newsletter.
Brenda Dick
Rose Marie, 44
This year my wife and I invested in a Tiller Mate for our Iroquois Mark II, Sea Squaw. We were lucky enough to get it at a slightly reduced price from Telesonic in Euston Road. Naturally we both regarded it as a rather large expenditure, and are happy to say that in June this year it fully justified its cost, and we are exceedingly pleased with the results.
We mounted it on a block of mahogany just aft of the main sheet track. It is located on a brass pin and restrained from moving by a simple lashing, as you can see in the diagram. We then made a bracket which lies on the port after deck which is hinged so that it can lay flat on the deck so that it does not get in the way when boarding or moving around, but when erected it takes the outhaul pulley block. The lines to the Tiller Mate drum are connected to only one tiller, there being a direct pull in one direction and via the outer pulley block a direct pull for the reverse. Naturally both tillers move together being connected by the cross spar.
With the Tiller Mate we have three methods of use; one is by a small resistance unit that enables one to go forward and steer the vessel from the fore-deck, the other is by a compass unit with a setting dial on top, and the third is via a wind vane gear which mounts on the guard-rails on the windward side,
We have mounted the compass steering gear on the after cabin bulkhead in the cockpit, in this position we can trim the compass unit by our main steering compass. As we store warps only in this locker no steel or magnets affect it.
We first came to use the gear on the trip across Lyme Bay one lovely sunny morning about 7 o’clock in June. After several unsuccessful attempts to steer a compass course (in which) the vessel with whom we were sailing In company thought we were leaving for the Channel Islands; we successfully got the compass unit working. The clue seems to be to alter the compass unit only about five degrees at a time, waiting for the correction to take place before the course is altered again. In this way we moved from due south to the correct course for the Dart. Or should I say, nearly the correct course for the Dart, because we had crossed Lyme Bay so fast that we missed the day marker and were well set for Salcombe before we realised our error. On the return journey from Brixham to Portland we encountered fog, and happily we found that the self steering unit enabled both of us to remain alert listening for other vessels, and it indeed steered a better course than we could have done in the circumstances, it was all so easy that we forgot to worry about direction and concentrated on the fog.
Later in the season we came to use the wind vane steering which is particularly suitable when making passage close-hauled. The unit is set up in very much the same way as the compass steering unit, but in this case the degree of steering off the wind is set up first, and by putting this first at 45 degrees it can be gradually headed up until a good windward course is set, and then the self steering unit sails a better windward course than either member of Sea Squaw’s crew.
As with so many units of this sort we found that careful reading of the instruction book is absolutely essential, and although we both thought that we knew what to do, on several occasions we have stopped, taken a large gin in one hand, the book in the other and realised our errors.
Since we usually sail with just two of us on ‘Sea Squaw’ a unit of this sort enables one when offshore to lunch very comfortably, only keeping a sharp lookout and not having to worry about course or other matters. Here one should offer a warning, and that is that after two gins before lunch the watch in the afternoon gets so confident in the self steering gear that frequently there is a tendency to nod off in a distinctly non-maritime manner.
We can strongly recommend the unit for use on an Iroquois Mark II, and we should be happy to supply further details of installation to any other owner thinking of fitting one.
David Asdell
SEA SQUAW, 98
In answer to James Playfair (Errant, 80) the following Portsmouth Yardstick numbers have been issued by MOCRA:
|
Name |
Mark |
Yardstick Number |
|
Snoopy (and the Whitby to Tonga Express) |
IIa |
80 |
|
Minnetaree |
IIs |
79 |
|
Roguish |
IIs |
80 |
|
Honky Tonk |
IIs |
80 |
|
Adah Rachel |
II |
80 |
|
Catawarnpus |
II |
80 |
|
Idaho |
II |
81 |
|
Joy Feline 11 |
II |
81 |
|
Cheshire Cat |
II |
82 |
|
Dandelion |
II |
82 |
|
Fortunella |
II |
83 |
|
Doodlesak 2 |
II |
84 |
|
Catapult |
I |
84 |
|
Asmodeus |
I |
84 |
|
Pyewacket |
I |
84 |
|
Fia Fia |
I |
84 |
|
Mbote |
I |
84 |
|
Super Too |
II |
85 |
|
Moggie D’or |
I |
87 |
I hope the above information answers. I have written to Mr James Playfair and enclosed a complete MOCRA Portsmouth Numbers list for 1975, will you kindly forward this to him as you did not put his full address.
Russell A. Madden
ROGUISH, 78
I don't know what a Mark IIs is, but Honky Tonk (now Pen-y-Mor Dau, #84) is definitely a MkII - Webmaster
I have been racing and cruising in boats for many years and since I purchased an Iroquois in 1973 I have raced her frequently. As you know her Portsmouth Secondary Yardstick number is 81 but I believe it is very rare for the boat to race to that number under normal conditions. I have also timed the results of other Iroquois and drawn the same conclusion.
I would like to contact other keen enthusiasts and obtain their opinion and if you could name a few I could write to them.
I thank you in anticipation of any help you can give me and I would appreciate any personal views.
David Shankland
RAZAMATAZZ, 160
I think Russell Madden would be able to help more than me on this one David, why not call him? See previous letter. Ed
I purchased my Iroquois directly from Sailcraft in the Spring of 1973, and had her shipped to the US and, after many vicissitudes, got her sailing in the Autumn of 1973. She is named LA CHAT MARIN - I know that CHATTE is feminine and MARIN is masculine but if I stuck to noun-adjective agreement the play on words wouldn't work - and her sail number is 165.
The past season, then, has been my first complete season with LA CHATTE. In all I have sailed her on about ten cruises ranging from five or six overnights to a fairly extensive 8 day trip around the middle Chesapeake. Dr Reg Crampton visited me last August and accompanied me on a short cruise, and on one of the overnights. We took off from my home slip - Podickory, Maryland just off the entrance to the Magothy River - one Friday evening in August at about 5pm and beat out (or very nearly) a threatening thunderstorm to an anchorage in Meredith Creek of Whitehall Bay just outside Annapolis harbour. The creek is quite shallow and virtually a millpond. Reg was quite amused when I broke out my 8lb Danforth anchor, referring to it as a "watch charm". I assure you it is quite satisfactory in protected creeks around the Chesapeake. I also anchored too close to shore so we found ourselves aground when the tide went out. The next morning I got out my two 12' poles and we pushed off the mud bank. Reg says this is the first time he has been punting in an Iroquois.
On one of my overnights, on the evening of June 21, in fact, when I was heading up the Chester River from its mouth towards an anchorage at Queenstown Creek I observed another catamaran on a course opposite to mine and steering to pass close aboard. When we got within hailing distance the other boat turned out to be Bob Krentel's VOLANTE, 135, and we both paused for a chat. As he states in his letter, he keeps his boat at Davis Creek in the Chester River, about 5 miles upstream from Queenstown. He was on his way to Annapolis. It was a windless day and both of us were motoring, he with his 12.9 Chrysler and I with my Seagull 6.5. My Chrysler was stolen one month after I got the boat in commission so I replaced it with two Seagulls which I can take off and stow for security. With one I can get about 4 knots flat out. With two, which I seldom use, I can get about 5 knots or a little more. Of course, I can't charge the battery so I have to use a battery charger at the slip.
I could write a book on my problems of getting LA CHATTE into commission and on my adventures since doing so. Many of the problems discussed by other owners (such as leaking windows) I have or am encountering so I greatly appreciate hearing about their solutions.
Charles M Proctor
LA CHATTE MARIN, 165
From Bengt Israelsson
Many thanks for the Autumn Newsletter. I can assure you that the Newsletters make very interesting reading for me on the lonely voyages over the Oceans.
I have been a visitor in many yacht harbours in the world but so far without seeing any Iroquois. I hope to bring mine to some of the places where I’ve been a guest.
Wishing you all the best with the coming issues. I'm looking forward to the next issue and till then good cat-sailing.
Bengt Israelsson, CAT-BJUG, 199
The Swedish East Asia Company Ltd, M/S Tokyo
From Paul Cheney
Last year it became my good fortune, to purchase the Iroquois Mark II owned by Mr James Whitmire, as listed in your December 1972 Iroquois Owners List.
Recently I read your Summer 1973 Iroquois Owners Association Newsletter, in which your name was entered as one of the editors. Both I and Mr Armstrong, another Iroquois Mark II owner, below would very much appreciate information regarding membership in your organisation, and the possibility of obtaining previous and future issues of the Newsletter.
| Paul Cheney, 15907 Redington Drive, St. Petersburg, Florida, 33708, USA Sail number 105 |
Jack Armstrong, 37 Sandy Hook Road, Sarasota, Florida, 33581, USA Sail number uncertain - possibly 115, 116 or 118 |
From Heinrich Wolper
Many thanks for your Autumn 1974 edition of the Newsletter which arrived a few days ago. Please find attached a £l as a small support towards your expenses.
I don’t want to criticise, but if I had received this Newsletter say before Christmas, I might have been able to arrange to attend the AGM on 3rd January. I expected this meeting to be one week later, a time at which I would have been unable to come. I trust, however, that the next issue will give a report on that meeting.
Heinrich Wolper
MAIMUNA IV, 71
(To repeat last year’s warning: Don’t forget to book the first Friday of the boat show. The next issue may again, inevitably, give fairly short notice of final details. Ed)
From K Roukema
About the rattling centre-boards of Mr. Martin, maybe he’d find it helpful to try what we usually do: simply pull up the boards - and keep the tackle taut - under all circumstances except one: when sailing between a close reach and hard on the wind we have one board fully down - the one on the windward side, the lee board stays up.
K Roukema
ONDINNONK, 85
From Ed & Carol Boyle
We are planning a get-together of Iroquois in the north Chesapeake Bay. We have contacted the six Iroquois owners we know and are looking for more. Perhaps you can help us by publishing note of this in the next Newsletter.
Currently, our plans are for meeting the last weekend of May (30-31-1) on Seneca Creek, which is in the north Chesapeake Bay near the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. We have a small cottage on the water there (well anchored I hope - Ed) just one mile from the Bay. There is a pier for mooring some boats and lots of room in the Creek for more. We plan a pot luck dinner for Saturday evening with perhaps a race in the afternoon and plenty of time left over for swapping sea stories.
Any Iroquois that is going to be in the vicinity is cordially invited to join in. We have contacted the owners of numbers 26, 30, 103, 122, 134 and the former 111. We also have talked with Charlie Procter, 429 SW Drive, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA whose hull number we dont know, and who wasn't listed in your summer issue. We have been told about a family by the name of Brandt who had an Iroquois in the summer of 1973, but dont have anymore information on them.
Barry White (30) is moving his boat to Great South Bay on the south shore of Long Island, and his new address is: 45-16 79th Street, Elmhurst, NY 11373, USA.
For those interested, we can be reached at 301-252-0729 or 303 Gateswood Road, Timonium, Maryland, 21093 for more information on time and place. We are always glad to have people drop by to see us, even if they can't make this particular weekend. We will let you know how it turns out. Thank you for spreading the word.
Ed & Carol Boyle
LADY RACHEL, 75
(My regrets to Ed and Carol that this Newsletter is published too late for notice of the get-together to be effective. However, printing it will let owners know about the kind of events being organised, and if news of next Springs events can reach me by say November in time for the December issue Ill be delighted to include them. Ed)
From Rony & Elise Buqué
We are most interested in the Association and have pleasure in returning your subscription form and our cheque for £1.
As you will have realised, we run a sailing school on board our craft, and enclose a copy of our brochure in case you feel this might be of interest to members.
Rony & Elise Buqué
FORTUNELLA, 137
From Warren Noden
Near the end of last year I sold my Iroquois MkI, number 58. He new owner is Ross Webb of 2301 West First Street, Fort Meyers, Florida 33901, USA. To keep your records up to date and to keep your Iroquois Newsletter coming I am enclosing $5 to continue my subscription and also to start a subscription for Mr Webb.
I'm in the market for a used MkII Iroquois if anyone is ready to part with same. If I can't find a MkII, preferably in the Western hemisphere but not ruling out England or the Continent, I'll be looking for a cat in the 30' - 40' size if you or anyone in the "cat" clan know of anything available, all glass or glass/foam, not glass on plywood. Waiting for the next Newsletter.
Warren Noden
