When Schooners Boomed by Prentice Cushing

By Prentice Cushing

1993

In part VI, "The Day of the Great American Schooners," of his classic and recently reprinted, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, William P. Stephens (grandfather of our Past Commodore Ken Stephens) says: "Even if we disregard the somewhat apocryphal origin ascribed to the term schooner, it must be admitted that this rigfore-and-aft, gaff-rigged, two-masted is distinctly an American institution." (British yachting strongly favored the cutter.) Stephens continues, "Its popularity may be due to the influence of the piloi boats, all schooners, and noted for their seaworthy qualities.” The 1875 Yacht List shows some sixty schooners totaling 6,000 tons (including Sappho), but less than half as many sloops and cutters.

Having previously examined the doings of Sappho, Douglaston's most famous schooner, we move up a century and find that one of our top sailors, Douglas H. Fleming, left Nimblets and National One-Designs, which were the order of the day for pre-WWII Juniors, and had fallen in love with schooners. His white split-cabin 38'Ripple was brought into the Bristol condition typical of the likes of Doug and Commodore Tom Holman and, as schooner-racing was no longer the fashion in Little Neck Bay, Joanne and Doug were frequently seen cruising to Block Island and other favorite Eastern areas fortunately so available to us twoweek vacation types. Later, house-buying took priority over ripple and the last Nimblet in the Bay (more on Nirnblets in a future column) was Doug's yacht until he felt flush enough to sell her to me and go back to his beloved schooners.

Black-and-buff Chantey, designed by the famous Billy Atkin and built in Huntington in 1927, became a fixture here. Under full sail, with gaff fore and main, self-tending club staysail, jib tacked to the bowsprit, a main-topsail and fisherman staysail, she was a lovely sight and Kodak made money every time she was out. An unusual feature was that below the cabin sole she had been washed with mortar and filled with concrete, leaving about a 3" bilge. Presumably concrete was cheaper than lead ballast, but it also kept the air and fresh water away from the wood planking, which was found to be perfectly preserved fifty years later.

One day in 1961, Bud Bruns and Eddie Matthews were poking around the waterfront in muddy Roslyn Harbor and discovered a familiar looking shape in disreputable condition. With the support of wives Bobbie and Rita, a lot of hard work and assistance from friends, especially Doug, Ripple again appeared in the Bay, this time dark green and re-christened Rubicon (connoting the line crossed when the sale contract was signed). Henry Hock fell victim to the schooner bug and a wholesome Murray Peterson design, Herandis, joined the fleet.  

Although superbly fast on a reach and easy to tack, schooners aren't notable for upwind ability; attempts at the Sappho trophy were more optimism than realism. This seemed unfair to such beauties, so in 1965 Commodore Van Waring and David James established a Windjammers Trophy, to be raced for by yachts of "traditional American design." Excluded were such modernities as staysail schooners (DeCoursey Fales's famous Nina, a Bemiuda Race Wirmer, was lurking in Oyster Bay). A fair amount of word-of-mouth and invitations to known owners produced such a large classic fleet that half the sailors in the Bay went out to watch and were delighted when Chantey won.

The following year, Beer Bubble, a tiny catboat, appeared on the starting line and, by the simple rating rule we were using, had an enormous allowance. Although last to finish, she ended up with the best corrected time. When the Committee learned that she was constructed of FRP (the correct term for fiberglass-reinforced plastic) there ensued huge discussions and references to the Deed of Gift, which did not mention materials, so she was awarded the trophy. John Atkin, Billy's son, a famous designer himself and a crew member on Chantey that day, was infuriated to learn that his father's handiwork and been done in by something made of "frozen snot." In 1967 he presented the Squadron with a trophy including a marvelous half-model of one of Billy's notable ketches, specifying that it be awarded to the best finisher of both classic American design and traditional materials. This added interest to the Race; we made an effort at mailings and publicity and the only traditional yacht race in the Northeast became an object of admiration of DYS by other clubs. (In 1967 the New York Times paid me to write a three-column article on the race and its background.) Gaff-rigged sloops, yawls, ketches, and bugeyes participated in increasing numbers.

The fun of watching the old ladies interested the Cruising Class of Little Neck Bay, which held a lot of unusual races in those days, so they invented the Schooner-Chaser Race; with the agreement of the DYS Race Committee the modem boats had a start of ten minutes after the Windjammers, with the same course. Usually, but not always, they would pass the oldies during the race. The popularity of such doings attracted the interest of Mystic Seaport and others; soon there were "traditional yacht" races springing up all over the place. William P. Douglas's grandson, Gordon Bennett Douglas, Jr., donated a "Sappho Trophy" for the race in Newport.

An indifferent DYS Race Committee took over, so Henry Hock volunteered to gather his friends in the American Schooner Association and organized the Race, which worked for a while, but they were not particularly interested in Chesapeake Bay Bugeyes and the like. Soon, participation was mostly by schooners, of which there were dwindling numbers in Western Long Island Sound. When the Hocks moved to Maryland's Eastern Shore, the death knell of the DYS Windjammers Race was at hand.

So now we have the sad spectacle of a dusty and unnoticed Billy Atkin Trophy on the wall, an unused silver bowl in the trophy cabinet, and as the sole reminder, a CCLNB (not DYS) Schooner Chaser Race, the name of which is meaningless to most of the participants. John Atkin, rightfully annoyed, gave another Billy Atkin Trophy for a race that is sponsored and participated in by New Englanders with a feel for history and the traditions of yaching, even if themselves prefer to play the IOR-IMS-PHRF-ESM (Enrichment of sail makers) game. Some Douglas-Sappho heritage.