Summer 1997 Newsletter

Newsletter of the Friendship Sloop Society Commodore’s Message A recently completed national survey indicated that many Americans are choosing frequent, short vacations rather than the longer, more glamorous, and expensive trips. The Friendship Sloop Society has the perfect offering for your summer vacation schedules which fits perfectly with the national trend. Grab your calendars and begin your summer with the Vibbers in New London, Connecticut on July 5th and 6th. This is a perfect opportunity to spend the long Fourth of July weekend among friends and Friendships. On July 19th and 20th, just prior to our Homecoming in Rockland, the Lauriats will again host races up in Southwest Harbor. For you race enthusiasts, this is a great chance for a shake down for you and your crew – and you are bound to have fun at the same time. July 22nd, 23rd and 24th we will all gather in Rockland for our major Homecoming of the year. Once a year we all share in the true spirit of how our lives really should be-in tune with friends, family just looking to have a good time and relax and enjoy each other’s company. Certainly there is no better way to spend a few vacation days! On July 25th travel over to Friendship where the Zubers and their Friendship group host a cookout which can’t be beat! This is where it all began for the FSS and it is a time to pay tribute to our founders and the roots of our organization. By August 9th and 10th you will be eager to show Massachusetts Bay just what a gaff-headed sail can do, so travel to see David Graham and the Corinthian Yacht Club in Marblehead, Mass, for a fine event. Top off the summer in Gloucester, Mass, on Labor Day weekend and join in a Friendship race. Do you need a boat to enjoy all these events?? Absolutely not. As we have tried to emphasize, the FSS is about friendship – not just the boats. This summer we will not be launching Desiree. After building her for 12 years and enjoying 3 glorious seasons of cruising with our family, we are making a commitment to complete a very large renovation on our home. For the 3 years that we have enjoyed Desiree, we have also not had a kitchen in our home. With three children growing ever so fast, the adventure of living as the pioneers once did is over and now it is time to address our living space. This will in no way diminish our enjoyment or participation in the FSS schedule. Like most Americans cited in the vacation (Continued to Page 2) Race Committee Chairman’s Message by Bob Rex July 21 – 25 — Save these dates for the Rockland “Homecoming” and 37th Annual Regatta. The invitation has been extended by Rockland, the Coast Guard has been notified, and the insurance purchased. This year there will be a new harbormaster to welcome us, and with his approval we will again raft up at the Town Dock. Race days are July 22, 23 & 24, with arrivals on the 21st (or earlier), departures on the 25th (or later). The 26th of July is Friendship Day, a most rewarding event in the waters where the Friendship Sloop Society Regatta had its early beginnings. Despite minimal weather conditions for racing in 1996, people once again had an entertaining time socializing back at the dock. Thanks to the Rockland Share the Pride, the Rockland Chamber of Commerce and other support groups, this 37th “Homecoming” Regatta shapes up as another happy occasion. Share the JMde has promised no fog, sun, and 12-15 knot breezes every day this year! The Rockland Harbor Yacht Club has offered boats and crew to once more assist us in setting marks, observing, and supplying an additional safety factor for the races. Thanks to our Executive Board we have purchased two new racing marks which will allow the Race Committee more flexibility in choosing courses with which to confound the fleet this year. The new 1997 to the year 2000 IYRU racing rules are now in effect. These rules have been altered from the 1996 version. The Race Committee plans to discuss the more significant changes at the Skippers’ meeting. Activities other than racing are being planned. Racing is not mandatory for having a great time, although hesitant skippers and crews might give some consideration to trying a race, crewing for another skipper or just coming out to observe the starts. The “Homecoming” is an all-inclusive event with no other requirement than to come, have wonderful days of fun, scuttlebutt, and quite often pick up some valuable information on the care and feeding of a Friendship Sloop. Recipients of permanent trophies are asked to please return them to the Race Committee or the Trophy Committee before or during the “Homecoming”. Your Race Committee looks forward to seeing you at the dock or on the line. Remember – as B.N.M. once said: “Just because we’re the Race Committee doesn’t make us bad people!”

Friendships to Help Celebrate New London’s Fourth of July by Jack Vibber The city of New London and the Friendship Sloop Society will be celebrating the Fourth of July together this summer. The Fourth is on a Friday, with sloops arriving that day, and racing is scheduled for the Saturday and Sunday, July 5th and 6th. This year marks the llth year that New London has hosted the Friendships at the Windezvous. There will be, as usual, two days of racing on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday night there will be a beach picnic and gam for skippers, crews and friends at the Thames Yacht Club, which is also a good location to view the gigantic fireworks display. On Sunday morning there will be a breakfast at the club, followed by the start of the race. The awards ceremony will be held at the club following the race. Tliis year we have added something new – an award for the sloop that will fly the largest American flag or ensign. It is not necessary to enter the regatta to attend the Windezvous. The idea of the New London Windezvous is to have as many sloops in the harbor as possible to make a showing. Come with your sloop, anchor, or follow the participants around the course. If you have any questions, please call Jack Vibber at (203) 442-7376. Rumble Down East Miff Lauriat, who sponsors the racing in Southwest Harbor, submitted the following: Southwest Harbor — 1996 was our windiest year yet. Race day brought a rare July gale. The race committee postponed the racing for twenty hours, and let the wind abate to about 18-22 knots. On July 19th of this year, the 1997 “Rumble Down East” will start after lunch off Sandy Point, Greenings’ Island. The gallant trio from last year, Eodeavor, Bucephalus, and Solatia, will be returning, and all comers are welcome at our no rules regatta. No entry fee, no handicaps, no trophies save the glorious sound of cannon fire! Competition should be smart this year. Endeavour has sprouted extra chainplates for a topmast and Solatia has a new headsail. This race is a good tune-up for Rockland and a group cruise west is planned for Sunday – Monday. Come mess it up with the sloopers from the East; you’ll be glad you did. For information contact Miff Lauriat, 47 East Ridge Road, Southwest Harbor, Maine 04679 (207)-244-4313 – E-mail: jvestal@acadia.net. Editor’s note: Contrary to some nasty rumors, Miff doesn’t win this every year! In fact, sloops from the Westward have found great success. Ask the Burnhams on Resolute or Tad Beck on Phoenix. Volunteers Needed Volunteers are need to be hosts / hostesses at the Rockland Homecoming. Their duties would be to help answer questions about the Society and the sloops, assist visitors find members, and to help the general public who will be visiting the event during the week. If you can help for a few hours, please contact Debbie or Larry Plumer at (508)-462-9629. Commodore’s Message (Continued from Front Page) survey, we each have full time jobs and limited time or resources for vacations. The FSS will offer us, and hopefully all of you, the opportunity to get away from it all. in an arena full of friends and family, with something for everyone. We are beckoning all to join us whenever possible- to enjoy good time, a few sea stories, friendly competition and life the way it should be! Now isn’t that what a vacation is all about?! See you in Rockland! Massachusetts Bay Regatta David Graham and the Corinthian Yacht Club of Marblehead will again be hosting the Massachusetts Bay Regatta to be held on August 9th and 10th. The Corinthian is located near the end of Marblehead Neck and enjoys a great view of the entrance to the harbor. The hospitality of the club, coupled with its large porch overlooking the harbor, provides a great setting to meet fellow skippers and crews, as well as a location to race. Once again, the races will be conducted on the two-division concept that has proven to be a success at Marblehead, with Division I, the smaller sloops, sailing a course inside that of the Division II sloops, so that the winners in both divisions will be finishing at the same location at approximately the same time. All this assumes, of course, that the wind will hold throughout the afternoon and that the race committee will have done a proper job. As has been the tradition, there will be a dinner Saturday night at the Club, and an after dinner speaker. This year’s speaker will be Harold Burnham, who will recount the building this past winter of the 65′ Gloucester schooner Thomas E. Lannon. David will be sending out the race notice and entry forms shortly. As usual, there will be moorings in the harbor, and laundry and shower facilities will all be available to the participants. -2-

Frame Up in Essex This article, -written by Bob Hicks, appeared in the May 1st edition of “Messing About in Boats” and describes Harold Burnham’s project, building a 65′ Gloucester Schooner. The May meeting of the Mass Bay Friends of Friendships was held at Essex to survey Harold’s progress. Harold also did a slide presentation on the building of the schooner. A dream of reliving bygone times afloat is taking shape in Essex, Massachusetts, where Tom Ellis and his wife are pouring about $400,000 of their own (and borrowed) money, into a 65′ traditionally built wooden schooner, the Thomas E. Lannon (Ellis’ grandfather who fished out of Gloucester from 1901-23). And the realization of this dream has drawn in nearly a dozen local traditionalist Essex boatbuilders and riggers to build the schooner the traditional way. Heading up the crew is 29 year old Harold Burnham. Right across the tidal creek from the building site on the old Story Shipyard property (now owned by the Essex Shipbuilding Museum) is Burnham family property where the family has built boats since 1650. Today Harold’s Friendship and Muscongus Bay Sloops and his dad’s Friendship Sloop and inboard launch Chief await the coming of summer. When historian and former boatbuilder on the site, Dana Story, got down to the yard mid-winter, frames were already up and Dana was heard to remark, “A vessel in frame… I though I had seen the last of them.” The last had been in 1947 when Dana was running the yard which had, under his father Arthur D. Story’s management, turned out about 400 fishing vessels for the Gloucester fishing fleet over a 50 year period from around Civil War times. The youthful master boat builder confided to me that he was, of course, thrilled with the challenge of being responsible for this vessel’s construction, a dream he’d harbored through a youth spent on the water and repairing Beetle Cats on up through salvaging old Friendships and setting up a local charter operation in Gloucester with one of them, Saltmarsh Charters. Harold got pretty determined sounding when he went on to state that this lot where the Lannon is taking shape was set aside by the town of Chebacco (Essex’s original name) for the purpose of shipbuilding, and that, “I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep this from becoming another marina site.” Right now “whatever he has to do” includes already doing a redesign of the original choice of design for the Makomis, a turn of the century schooner built here. Now in the building phase, Harold puts in 14-16 hour days seven days a week, as do most of the building crew, all on Tom Ellis’ payroll, striving to meet an early June launching deadline. Ellis has to get the Lannon to work for the summer earning its keep as a charter/tour boat in Gloucester, this year offering only daysail outings as the interior will not be completed for overnight trips until next winter. Hundreds of fascinated onlookers stop by every week to view the progress and savor the atmosphere of old time wooden shipbuilding. The site is accessible to the public and Sunday afternoons the Museum conducts a weekly update of what has been happening. It’s a thrilling time for old Essex, and the local support for Tom Ellis’ dream has been outstanding. All the white oak and black locust came from Essex County Greenbelt (an area land conservation trust) forest nearby and the tall pine spars and booms were cut on the Trustees of Reservations’ Hog Island in Essex Bay. The hired help turned up when the call came, all with prior wooden boatbuilding experience and eager to get into this major shipbuilding adventure. And when launching time comes in June, Tom Ellis hopes the local schools will let out so all the kids can come by to witness the historic moment. They always did over the two previous centuries when yet another “Gloucesterman” fishing schooner slid down the ways into the Essex River. Ed. Note – The Thomas E. Lannon was scheduled to be launched into the Essex River on the evening tide of June 17th. Membership News by Doug Amsbary, Membership Chairman Several new members have recently joined our ranks: Keith Kolfage of Ludington, MI, Edward O’Meara of South Portland, ME owner of #9 Amity, Tom Moran of Little Compton, RI, Jack Donohue of Arlington, MA and Woodstock, NH, and Thomas Nicoletta of Franklin, NH. Roger and Mary Duncan have commissioned Ralph Stanley to build them a new 28′ schooner so that they can continue sailing the Maine coast with more easily managed sail area. She has been named the Dorothy Elizabeth and obviously has a Friendship look to her even though she carries two masts. Hopefully you will be able to see her sailing in and around Linekin Bay later this summer. Eastward has been transferred to Roger and Mary Duncan’s son Robert, who lives in Concord, MA and spends summers in Newagen on Southport Island, ME. Bruce Lanning, past owner of Schoodic, has acquired through public auction a 40′ Captain’s boat off the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. He’s been busy building a cabin to connect the two existing cabins on deck. Through the Internet we heard that Gail Eberhardt and Frank Stefanone have put #209 Friendship on the market. Heard from Bill Pell of Southhampton, NY requesting membership information and also informing us that he is the new owner of #247 Rita. The sloop’s new homeport will be Greenport, Long Island. An update about David Frid, the new owner of #242 Tecumseh: He has sailed the boat from Florida as far north as Charleston, SC and will be bringing her up into the Chesapeake Bay area for a couple of weeks of cruising with the family before bringing it into the Hudson River, through the Erie Canal, then onto Lake Ontario hopefully some time in late August. – 3 –

The View from Down Under This article is from the April, 1997 publication “Windling”, which is a magazine of model yachting in Auckland, New Zealand. Bob Monk, our publicity chairman, has been corresponding with Mark Steele who wrote this article. It’s interesting to read how another organization views us. The original title of the article was “Of Friendships in Maine, and Friendship Sloops!” and contains many photos supplied to Mark by Bob. “FRIENDSHIP is a particularly revered quality aboard a Friendship sloop”, so wrote Roland S. Earth. I will come back to that aspect later, since “windling” is very much the model yachting cruising equivalent, where friendship and camaraderie are key ingredients. Friendship is also a working fisherman’s town in Maine, USA, and the sloops built both there and on Muscongus Bay (which is also in Maine) are traditionally known as Friendship Sloops”. Ever since I met Aucklander Mai Wilkinson, and later sailed his beautifully constructed RC model of one of these sloops, the more determined I became to learn about and be able to pass onto readers, a background story on these unusual but graceful workboats that are as legendary as they are loved, by so many. That I am able to do so is largely due to Betsy Powell, Editorial Assistant of “WoodenBoats”, and Bob Monk, who is publicity Chairman of the Friendship Sloop Society in Maine. Bob and I have exchanged so many letters, that it feels as though we have known each other for years. His guidance, and the photos and Society Yearbooks he has provided, are testimony to that wonderful aspect of life that we humans prize, and so often take for granted – and sometimes treat with scant respect, Friendship. Betsy Powell too – has been marvelous! Captain Roger Duncan who owns and sails the beautiful Eastward, said in his publication on the marque: “The people who sail these boats are unique among yachtsmen. They admit that their sloops do not go to windward with the speed of a modern yacht, and they find it hard to explain why they like to sail a living antique”. He went on to say: “The Friendship Sloop has what fishermen call ‘heft’ – she has momentum, power under sail, she dashes through the chop in businesslike fashion, her motion is classy and she deals with the wind and sea confidently – as if she belonged to them, like a duck or a tern”. Strangely, the small town of Friendship is unable to cope with the influx of tourism which it therefore does not encourage, and the annual Homecoming of the Friendship Sloops (held there from 1960 for about twenty-eight years) was then shifted to Boothbay, later to Maine’s Windjammer capital of the world, Rockland, where schooners and Friendship sloops based there, do multi day and day cruise adventures. Again learning from Roger Duncan’s excellent publication, the Friendship sloop is all the more unusual – in all it went from its original purpose of being a successful workboat, was then neglected for half a century, then suddenly enjoyed a phenomenal rebirth as a yacht, despite not being particularly easy or cheap to build. With their graceful sheer and stern, and its clipper-style bow, the sloops enjoy a cult-like following. Whereas the ancestor of the Friendship sloop (the Muscongus Bay sloop) was fitted with a centreboard, this design evolved into the full keel model that was more suitable for fishing offshore. The early Friendship sloops therefore had full keels as well as the modern yacht versions, and today, several modern builders have built the Muscongus Bay sloop centreboard version for pleasure use. Nobody seems to know for sure who built the first Friendship sloop, though it is claimed that a Wilbur Morse conceived the design, while lying in a bunk aboard a schooner after a hard day’s fishing. The Friendship Sloop Society was established in 1961, and their Friendship sloop days (or the homecoming of the fleet) for which they put out a magnificent little Annual Yearbook and Guide, is their big event. The Yearbook itself is a veritable gold mine of information, and all the material sent, is clearly indicative of a vibrant and ‘alive’ society, whose activities are motivated by this wonderful American sailing vessel, and the pride and joy of owning, sailing aboard, or even just being ‘associated’ with these sloops. The ‘Bulletin Board’ pages in the Society’s Yearbook carry delightful messages, which by my interpretation speak strongly about the great friendships that have been born, and live and grow within this particular fraternity. Friendships never die – they just get restored! Model Friendships also have their say at these annual regattas, and the Central Park Yacht Club of New York City (at the 30th Annual Homecoming held at Boothbay} held their own excellent event, won by Frank Soto sailing Julie Robb. In 1996 there were 262 registered with the Society, and a further 18 of “unknown status or whereabouts” – a further 24 registered but no longer in existence..gone but not forgotten. Included in the last group are a great many that would today have been priceless, including Aurora launched in 1898, and Susan (designed by Charles Morse) – launched in 1902, wrecked on Christmas Eve in 1977 in Florida. I particularly like Captain Roger Duncan’s paragraph which reads: “One may describe a bald eagle, but when at last you see one, you find that the description while accurate, is inadequate and unnecessary. From then on you recognize that majestic bird, by the feeling it inspires. So it is with that masterpiece of timber and sail – the Friendship sloop.” Dues Reminder If you haven’t mailed your annual dues in for 1997, please send them to: Caroline Phillips, Society Secretary. 164 Sturbridge Road Charlton, MA 01507 – 4 –

The Family Sloop by Roger Duncan As reported in the membership news, Roger and Mary Duncan have passed ownership of their sloop Eastward onto their son Robert. This story appeared in the 1968 Yearbook and describes the building of Eastward and sailing aboard with Robert and his brothers. We have always had a boat in our family. I can’t remember a summer in 45 years when I haven’t been on salt water. The immeasurable things our family boats did for me and my brother would take a poet and a psychologist to describe. However, in the summer of 1954 my wife and I found ourselves with no boat but a pea pod and with three sons aged 12,12 and 9. We at once took giant steps to provide the family with a sloop which would pay her own way. Because we could not afford a cruising boat big enough to take all of us and a paying party as well, we decided on day-sailing parties. We needed a vessel small enough for me and a boy to sail and maintain, big enough to accommodate 6 to 10 passengers, stable, dry, fairly fast, and very good looking. A Friendship Sloop was the conspicuous solution. Eastward was designed by Murray Peterson of South Bristol and built by Jimmy Chadwick of Pemaquid Beach in June 1956. She came to us “bare hull.” This picturesque expression means just exactly what it says. There was no sheathing in her, no floorboards over the floor timbers, and of course no sails, rigging, engine, tanks, head, steering gear or indeed ballast. We bought an ancient sloop built on Swan’s Island in 1905 (we think) named Islanda and from her gleaned spars, engine, some wire rigging, an ancient head, steering gear and some ballast. The boys and I hove her ballast into our track and bought old street car rails from a junkie. We hoisted the engine over the side, tore out tanks, head and steering gear. The boys learned a great deal about how things come apart and how to get things done rapidly by main strength and ignorance. Together we spliced in all the standing rigging, a boy “passing the ball” as I swung the serving mallet to snug down the splices. We steamed and bent mast hoops from straight pieces of ash, taking them hot from a canvas-swarthed stovepipe standing in a pot of boiling water and bending them around a log. About half of them survived. We installed the engine and tanks, and stowed ballast as our new boat, just launched, lay alongside the wharf below the fort at Pemaquid. The mast we lowered into her with a tackle from the wharf, one boy remembering just in time to slip on the hoops. From a bosun’s chair I rigged her, the eager boys sending blocks and gear aloft to me as I needed it. On June 21, 1956, we got her underway for the first time, none of us knowing just how she would act. There was a raw easterly drawing out of the Pemaquid River; with the staysail backed and the wheel hard over, she swung gracefully off, filled her mainsail, and started a new kind of life for all of us. She demanded a great deal of all five of us, and in providing it, we all got more than we gave. Together we sanded her, reciting Latin declinsions to give force and rhythm to the motion and incidentally to master the Latin. The boys learned to lay paint evenly, to cut a straight water line, to keep off a newly painted deck for 48 hours no matter how important they might be. The day one boy came aboard in a hurry and tied the skiff painter in a monkey hitch, he learned about the value of a good knot for he had to shout ignomim’ously for rescue as the skiff drifted ashore. They learned to splice, to snub up a dock line when the old man came alongside with too much way on, to break out a fouled anchor, and never to stand in the bight of a line. When it breezed up and got rough, they learned about when and how to heave to and how to tie in a proper reef. When it blew harder, they learned to luff along in the hard puffs to keep the vessel on her feet but still moving fast and working out to windward. One rough day in a heavy southwester we had to take in the jib. The downhaul fouled in the block on the end of the bowsprit. I ran her off to ease the motion but in all the violence of that windy afternoon my 14-year-old had to go out and clear the jam whether he was afraid or not. Also they learned to answer the passengers’ questions politely and to be interesting, if not entertaining in their conversation. If they were sick – and almost everyone is seasick sooner or later – they learned to ignore it as long as possible and to get to the rail promptly and inconspicuously when that time came. In the choking thick fog, a boy on the foredeck learned to look for the loom of trees or the shadow of a buoy and especially he learned to listen – to listen for the distant wash of a ledge, the far clang of a bell or the screaming of gulls. And he learned to come aft and plot a course on the chart making proper allowance for tide, and then to steer it within a one-quarter point on the compass. One boy learned to recognize the hard, white arch on the front of an approaching line squall. That day he learned to tie everything down tight with extra gaskets and he hasn’t forgotten it. He saw the line of rain come rushing across the water. He learned to act intelligently amidst thunder, lightning, wind, and hail until the squall whopped off to leeward and left a clear northwest evening behind it. We got ashore and got off again; we got lost in the fog and found ourselves again; fouled up our rigging and went aloft to clear it; went fishing, landed on islands, lost anchors, were caught out at night. We came to Friendship, won a race or two and saw 25 gaff-headed mainsails spread across Muscongus Bay. We cruised the coast from Cuttyhunk to St. John, N.B., and wrote a book about it. These experiences we shared and they have become a part of what we are. All this learning is valuable if one is to own a sloop and sail parties, but beyond these skills acquired, there is much more. Together we have developed a confidence in the efficacy of our own efforts and some judgment about our limits. We have (Continued to Page 6) – 5 –

The Family Sloop (Continued from Page 5) developed a wise humility in the face of tide, wind, and sea that tempers pride to sound confidence. Most enduring and most valuable of all, we share an appreciation of the power, the beauty, and the vastness of land and sea, of wind and tide, of the inspired work of man and the natural world. The boys have grown up and are scattered now, each on a different continent; but my wife and I still share with our boys a sloop in the family. 1997 Schedule of Events New London Regatta, July 5 & 6 Contact: Jack Vibber (203)-442-7376 Southwest Harbor Rendezvous, July 19 Contact: Miff Lauriat (207)-244-4313 Homecoming Rendezvous & Races at Rockland, July 22, 23 & 24 Contact: Caroline Phillips (508)-798-0178 Marblehead Regatta, August 9 & 10 Contact: David Graham (617)-631-6680 Gloucester Schooner Festival August 30 & 31 Contact: Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce (508)-283-1601 Annual Meeting, November 15 New England Center, Durham, NH Handicap Reminder The Society Measurer and Handicapper, Dick Salter, reminds us that if you are planning to race in a Sloop Society sponsored event, you must have a current handicap sheet on file. Please submit your handicap form to Dick as soon as possible so that he can provide a handicap rating to the race committee in advance of the event. If you have any questions, need a form, or would like a set of instructions on how to measure your sloop, call or write Dick at: 151 Bridge Street, Manchester, MA 01944 Tel: (508)-526-1004 Sloop Society Internet Home Page The address of the Sloop Society homepage is:HTTP://WWW.FSS.ORG Browse the home page, enter your comments, questions, or ideas, and communicate with others who are interested in our sloops. Race Committee Seeking Volunteers Race Committee Chairman Bob Rex is looking for volunteers who would be interested in joining the Race Committee. Volunteers would be provided an opportunity to assist the committee in their duties at the annual homecoming regatta, learn how to prepare and manage a sailing event, and also get a great view of the races. If interested, write to Bob at 151 Grove Street, Reading, MA 01867 or call Bob at (617)-944-1481. Support Our Supporters Our yearbook is made possible not only through the efforts of our members, but also through the businesses that place ads in our book. When you read the articles, take some time to notice the advertising. Then, when you stop in the store or restaurant, make a point of telling the waitress, manager, or anyone that will listen, that you saw their ad in the Friendship Sloop Society publication. Please help us keep the yearbook afloat by supporting our supporters. Best of the Yearbooks Under the editorial guidance of Vice-Commodore Tad Beck we are selecting articles from our yearbooks to compile and publish together with pictures documenting our past. Original information on our founding fathers and other prominent Society members will also be included to help round out the Society’s history. It is our intent to put together a camera ready booklet that the Society can publish and then sell. To get all this done we need your input. Do you have favorite articles? Is there some information you have on past races and members that is a must for a complete history? We are at the beginning stages of this project and intend to not let it become history while in the making. Give us your ideas and help your vice-commodore! Send your ideas, a photo of your sloop, and a list of your favorite yearbook articles to: Tad Beck, 380 Broadway, New York, NY 10013 Sloop Society Officers Commodore Larry & Debbie Plumer 8 High Road Newbury, MA01950 (508>462-9629 Secretary Caroline Philips 164SturbridgeRoad Charlton,MA01507 (508>798-0178 Yearbook Editor Roger Duncan P.O. Box 66 East Boothbay, ME (207)-633^780 Race Committee Chairman Bob Rex 151 Grove Street Reading, MA 01867 (617)-944-1481 Vice-Commodore Tad Beck 380 Broadway New York, NY 10013 (212>966^690 Treasurer David Bell Box 321 HC Pumpkin Cove Rd New Harbor, ME 04554 (207>677-2069 Newsletter Editor John Wojcik 347 Lincoln Street Norwell. MA 02061 (617)-659-2820 Membership Chairman Doug Amsbary P.O. Box 1297 Cooley Hill Rd Franconia,NH 03580 (603)-823-8459 -6-

Spring Executive Board Meeting The spring executive board meeting was held at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath on April 26th. Larry and Debbie Plumer presided over the meeting attended by 13 members of the board. Mary Cronin (filling in for daughter Caroline) reported the 1997 membership to date as: Boat Owners: 94 Full Members 48 Cooperative Members: 24 Honorary Members: 8 Total 174 Rockland: Horatio Cowan of the Rockland Share the Pride Group was present at the meeting to discuss the plans for the 1997 Homecoming. The festivities will be July 21-25 with the same location, tent, music and parking area. Members are reminded that cars have to be moved from the parking area by the following Saturday afternoon or they will be towed. It was mentioned that some sloops will be arriving on Sunday, with the majority arriving on Monday. The grill be available Monday evening in the tent for a cookout. Cm Tuesday morning, breakfast will be in the tent or possibly onboard the Monhegan from 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM, followed by the skippers meeting at 9:30 AM. It was noted that a committee has been formed to control ALL FOG! If the barbecue is to be held, the final head count will be needed Tuesday. Debbie suggested a different type of menu, no question on price range. It was suggested that the public be invited to the barbecue. Horatio mentioned that two weeks prior to the barbecue, an approximate head count will have to be given. The Society will get a count and payment ahead of time in the mailing that will go out for Rockland. If tickets remain available, they may be sold by the Share the Pride group on Tuesday. The cost of the barbecue and menu will be given to Rich Langton and Bill Zuber by the end of April. Races on Tuesday will start at 11:00 AM. The Share the Pride Group has not discussed the small boat handling , etc. which would also be on Tuesday. There are no plans for dinner on Tuesday, members, although the grill will be available in the tent. Wednesday schedule will be breakfast at 8:00 AM with the skippers meeting set to start at 9:00 AM. The Parade of Sloops is scheduled to be started at 9:30 with the racing to start at noon. The FSS will arrange for an announcer for the parade, while the sound system will be provided by the Chamber of Commerce for the parade of sloops. Bob Rex will bring the portable loud speaker for other gatherings. The public and FSS members will be invited to tour the sloops starting at 4:00 PM with the chicken barbecue to start at 5:00. Entertainment under the tent will be from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Thursday’s schedule will start at 8:00 AM with breakfast, followed by the 9:30 AM skippers meeting, with racing to begin at 11:00 AM. The awards ceremony will be held at 5:00 PM. There are no plans for a dinner on Thursday, so members are on their own to dine at a local eating establishment. There are no plans for breakfast on Friday under the tent, sloops will be departing in the morning for the gathering at Friendship the next day. There is the possibility of shore side tours for those not racing. The list of activities will be included in the packet if they can be arranged. The Chamber of Commerce has asked for press releases. Hostesses from the C of C will not be needed this year, as we are asking for volunteers from the FSS to serve as hosts and hostesses. Horatio mentioned that there will be a new harbormaster this year who will take over on May 1st. We will have to abide by his wishes for the waterfront. Horatio said he is planning on suggesting the same arrangement as last year – sloops tying up to the town float – no charge. Members of the board stated that the FSS did not want to impose on the Rockland townspeople and become a burden. Horatio replied that the FSS is not a financial burden on the town, that it fits right in with their ideas for the lobster festival, since these were the sloops that brought in the lobsters. All comments on the Friendship Sloops have been favorable and the merchants are happy with the amount of money spent during the FSS stay. He went on to say that the waterfront in Rockland is expanding, that the tall ships want to come, other clubs have expressed interest in coming, and the Farnsworth Museum is expanding. The Chamber of Commerce and the Share the Pride are not sure what this means, but the Friendship Sloops are still a part of the picture. Tad Beck discussed the small posters which were supplied by the FSS and put in store windows. Rich Langton did the posters last year, Tad volunteered to do them this year and $200 was allocated for them. Bob Rex will call the Rockland Yacht Club to secure their services for 1997. Bob has made all the arrangements with the Coast Guard, and the skipper’s gift has been decided upon. A deadline for tickets to the barbecue will be established and one check will be written from the FSS treasurer to the Chamber of Commerce. All ticket sales will go through the FSS Secretary. The notice of the barbecue, menu and price will be included in the mailing to members. Tad mentioned that more and more people are interested in the sloop racing at Rockland. He stated that the captains are expressing interest in continuing to come. He asked if there is anything that we should be doing to continue coming to Rockland? Horatio stated “no” . Before leaving, Horatio stated that there is not much charter space available in Rockland. The Monhegan will now have its own dock and breakfast may not be under the tent but aboard the Monhegan. Her dock will be on the other side of the Black Pearl Restaurant. Horatio also asked if we could have volunteers to help move the tables and chairs for the tent. Annual Meeting: The annual meeting will again be held at the New England Center on the campus of UNH on November 15th. A menu has yet to be decided upon, but the price should be $17.77 per person. Carole Wojcik and Irene Amsbary again volunteered to provide “snacks” before dinner. (Continued to the Last Page) – 7 –

Spring Executive Board Meeting (Continued from Page 7) Tad discussed the new FSS publication that he has volunteered to edit. The idea of doing one story from each yearbook was not a good one since some years had several good articles. Tad had been talking to others (Historical Society, Island Institute and Bath Museum) that have published books. The printing might mean a large cash outlay and is that the way wish to go. Tad will get something together and come back to the board for comments, etc. Debbie Plumer stated that it sounds like we have a long way to go with our publication. Tad said that not all boats will be pictured in the book, which will probably be held to 125 pages. Irene Amsbary volunteered early 1900 photos from her father’s collection. The book may also contain an overview of each year of the Society’s existence. The publishing date will likely be 1998. Doug Amsbary discussed a number of items that could be included in the chandlery. The idea of plastic glasses brought forth a comment from Tad Beck that the Society has always had a resistance to plastic! The survey revealed that members enjoyed having items in stock at events. The chandlery will be reprinted to be mailed with the yearbooks. Tad mentioned that the old t-shirts with the small logo were better that the new ones. Plastic cups, green sweatshirts with small white breast logo and more copies of “Eastward” will be available in the new chandlery catalog. Race / Trophy Committee: Bob Rex has bought two new race marks at a cost of $493 and four boxes of shells ($52). Bob further mentioned that there would be an additional charge to put letters on the sides of the marks. Bob commented that he would like to use handicap alley again if possible. Trophies: Marcia Morang began a discussion about the keeper plates that we have been giving out for years. She asked if it is time for a change. She also mentioned that many of the skippers do not know the history, if there is one, to the awards. The Society is paying for many trophies that were originally donated many years ago, and should we continue with these old trophies or discuss acquiring newer ones which would not be as “boring”. There was also a discussion about the size of some of the trophies, and whether we should retire some of the oldest trophies since they are badly beaten up. No decisions were made at this meeting. Publicity: Bob Monk has sent our event calendar to 29 different publications. Bob needs a copy of the plans for Homecoming for the publications as well as extra copies of the yearbook and newsletter for his correspondence. Friendship Sloop Society 164SturbridgeRoad Charlton, MA 01507