Spring 2015 Newsletter

Commodore’s Message Spring Greetings, Shipmates! I suspect that each of you is trying to forget the historic Winter we’ve just endured. This is no small task here in Bangor, since the snow continues to fall outside my office window as I write these words in March. Maine…”the way life should be”, right? Well, Content is on her jack-stands in Rockland, surrounded by a berm of deep snow and covered under tight shrink-wrap. A couple of folks have inquired about buying her this past Winter, but they couldn’t get close enough to see her! As things stand now, Laurie and I plan to team up with Bill & Caroline Zuber aboard good old Gladiator this Summer for the various events we will attend together, so expect to see the blue Commodore Flag aloft in the rigging of Gladiator in 2015. It has been gratifying to work closely with the Zubers, the Langtons and the many volunteers at the Sail, Power & Steam Museum these past few months as we have promoted our initia- tive to see the Friendship Sloop designated as the Official Maritime Symbol of Maine by our state legislature in Augusta. State Representative Chuck Kruger (D-Thomaston) has led this effort on our collective behalf. Chuck, a former crew member of #111 Amos Swan, has been a stalwart supporter of seeing our sloops, and the Friendship Sloop Society, receive some well- deserved attention. As of this writing, however, it appears that we may need to settle for a Legislative Sentiment honoring the Friendship sloop rather than a new law recognizing her status as an “official symbol” of Maine. Now, we all know that our favor- ite of all sloops has been the undisputed sailing ambassador of Vacationland for decades…but getting a majority of politicians to agree on even this most obvious fact has proven to be a challenge! Plans are well underway for some new activities during our Homecoming Regatta in Rockland Harbor on July 16, 17 & 18. While Thursday will see the traditional waterfront fun of rowboat racing and the scavenger hunt, Friday will feature our Parade of Sloops, an outdoor jazz concert, picnic, speeches, and pomp & circumstance at the Sail, Power & Steam Museum located at the South End of Rockland Harbor. The Awards Dinner on Saturday will remain at the traditional site, “under the tent” at the harbor-front park. We are developing a wonderful new partnership with our friends, Museum founders Captain Jim & Meg Sharp, and their hospitality will certainly add to a great gathering of the Friendship Sloop Society this coming Summer. Please plan on attending! (Continued on Page 2) A Growing Collaboration The Friendship Sloop Society and the Sail, Power and Steam Museum of Rockland, ME, have continued their collabora- tive efforts over the winter, resulting in some exciting new oppor- tunities for FSS members! The February meeting of the Execu- tive Committee was held on-site at the Museum (between snowstorms), giving attendees the opportunity to see potential new exhibit, archive and meeting space, and storage areas that may be utilized by the FSS in the near future. In addition, the 33 foot Wilbur Morse sloop Blackjack is a working exhibit in the restoration shop, well underway in her extensive overhaul by the Museum’s experienced and skilled team of volunteers. Museum founder Captain Jim Sharp and his wife Meg, have made a commitment to the history and heritage of the Friendship sloop, and envision the Museum establishing itself as the Friendship sloop restoration center. Currently on site, are Persistence, completed and launched last year at the Museum, being outfitted for passengers and lobster fishing, and a new 22’ Muscongus Bay sloop, Jade, to be launched this summer. Class A sloops include Blackjack (circa 1900), with 30’ Voyager (1906) and 28’ Muscongus (1909) expected to join her over the summer. In addition to the goal of restoration and education, these early original sloops will be saved from destruction and demise, and serve as exhibits and teaching tools to perpetuate the beauty, efficiency and sea-worthiness of the Friendship sloop design. The increased public exposure will most certainly be of benefit to the FSS, its members and the sloops themselves. Starting this summer, the Friendship Sloop Society and the Sail, Power and Steam Museum will be offering each others’ members a complimentary, reciprocal one year membership. The harborfront Museum, located in the former Snow Shipyard, is a non-profit, and depends heavily on membership and grants for operating support. If you have not yet had the pleasure of a visit there, it is brimming with artifacts, photos, working steam engines, and stories pertaining primarily to New England maritime history, with a children’s museum as well. The Museum will host the Friday evening (July 17) events of this year’s Rockland Homecoming, with a late afternoon Parade of Sloops, live jazz, and a bring-your-own picnic on the grounds. Our hope at the FSS is that the evolving collaboration will serve to give our membership a boost, and increase interest in and knowledge of these lovely, historic sloops that we, ourselves, are so passionate about. To obtain your complimentary one year membership contact the Museum by phone (207) 701-7627, US mail at 75 Mechanic St., Rockland, ME 04841 or via their website, www.sailpowersteammuseum.org. Volume 27 FSS.ORG Spring 2015 Issue 2 Friendships Newsletter of the Friendship Sloop Society 1

Commodore’s Message (Continued from front page) Let’s also keep in mind that we have an important anniversary this year. By all accounts, beginning in 1880 the sloop boat that all would soon call a “Friendship” was developed in the boat shops that dotted the coastline of Bremen, Bremen Long Island, Morse Island, Cushing, Thomaston, and Friendship. So, in this 135th year of the Friendship sloop, let’s pull together some great work to celebrate Maine’s most famous of all sailing vessels, the Friendship sloop! Noel March, FSS Commodore From “Friendship Sloops, fast sailors and safe towns” by Peter Bass/View From the Porch, in Maine Boats Homes and Harbors (digital edition) “If you doodled pictures of sailboats as a child in Maine, probably the Friendship sloop was the one. It was a Maine coast icon. When I first summered in Boothbay Harbor there were a number about, the best-known being Roger Duncan’s Eastward, which he would thread through the back entrance to Newagen Harbor under sail, a tricky bit of handling in any boat. The family boat of one of my fellow wharf rats (and current porch regular) was a small Friendship named Content, which his family took to the town of Friendship for the annual Friendship Sloop Society get-together and races. Content was remarkably unsuccessful on the race course; as I recall it sailed better on one tack than on the other. It was nice to learn of the publication of a new history of the boats, called Lasting Friendships, A Century of Friendship Sloops. Authored by the eminent boatbuilder Ralph Stanley, writer/illustrator T.B.R. Walsh, and members of the Friendship Sloop Society, it is both a history and a catalogue of existing sloops, with photographs and line drawings. The hardcover is available from the Society (fss.org) and the paperback from the usual suspects. By the way, Mr. Walsh, a.k.a. Ted, illustrates this column and is probably the real reason my grandson reads it; he wants to know the stories behind the illustrations.” Taps By David Graham Always a sad spot in any newsletter, we would be remiss in not bringing our recent losses to your attention – – – Dorothy G. Huston, wife, shipmate and partner in the many adventures she shared with her husband, Don Huston. Known popularly as ‘Dotty’, she passed away peacefully at sunrise in Peabody, MA, on March 7, 2015. Dotty was born in East Foxboro, MA, one of 11 children, “five from the bottom, six from the top”. Dotty married Don in 1950, and spent the next 64 years loving everything about him. They lived in Orono, ME, Salisbury, MA and Dover, NH, before settling in Nahant, MA for the next 45 years. When Don and Dotty eventually sold their long-time home in Nahant, they moved into a newly constructed apartment complex in Lynn, MA overlooking Lynn Harbor and Nahant, where Don and Dotty referred to their new location as “North Nahant”! Dotty was an avid sailor with a keen wit and intelligent perspective, enthusiastically sailing with family and friends for 40 years on their Friendship sloop, Eagle, #53, built by Wilbur Morse in 1915. Always a treat to be around, Dotty Huston will be greatly missed by Don, their three children, their loving extended family – – – and the Friendship Sloop Society. Douglas C. Lash, age 90, died peacefully at Cove’s Edge in Damariscotta on March 4, 2015, as a result of a lengthy illness. Doug was one of fourteen children born to Captain Robert S. Lash and Levilda Carter Lash. Following his valiant military service in WWII, Doug returned home and built his first lobster boat. He later went into partnership with his brother Winfield, owning and operating the Lash Brothers Boatyard where he built many wooden vessels, including numerous Friendship sloops. It’s no secret that his very favorite Friendship sloop was Rights of Man, #52, which he completed in 1965. A few of the others were Goblin, #39; Momentum, #46; Amicitia, #64 and Voyager, #96. Doug was the second Town Committee Chairman of the Friendship Sloop Society, succeeding Carlton Simmons. The early success of the Friendship Sloop Society in the 1960’s would not have been possible without the quiet leadership of Douglas C. Lash. Gerard T. Ross, avid Mercury sailor and long-time member of the Friendship Sloop Society Race Committee, Jerry was the “numbers cruncher” who ran the calculations for the races at Friendship, Boothbay and Rockland. Jerry also produced the Sailing Instructions for the committee each spring. Jerry was also a long-time member of the Quannapowitt Yacht Club, in Wakefield, MA. He was always proud of the fact that QYC, having been founded in 1884, was the oldest “inland” yacht club in America! In addition to his duties with the Friendship Sloop Society, Jerry was a stalwart who supported the Quannapowitt Yacht Club throughout the 12 months of each year, for when not either racing or running the QYC race programs, he could always be counted upon to eagerly do a lion’s share of the always required off-season work so necessary in preparing for the next racing season. – 2 – Illustration by Ted Walsh

The Right Brush for the Right Job By Bill Whitney Boat maintenance requires tools and varying degrees of skill depending on the task to be done. As with most things, there are a wide range of tools and tool types that can be used on any job. Painting and varnishing are no different. Choosing the appro- priate brush of the right quality will make all the difference between a job that’s merely done, or a job that’s done well. Brush choice depends on the brush’s job. Will it be applying paint, varnish or bottom paint? The best brush available isn’t necessarily the best brush for the project. Inexpensive chip brushes can be just as useful as the $40 varnish brush. You wouldn’t use a $40 brush that requires meticulous cleaning to paint the bilge or apply bottom paint, just as you wouldn’t use a throw-away chip brush to lay a final coat of varnish on the toerail. As Don Casey put it in his marine-maintenance bible, This Old Boat, “Varnish will forgive some technique flaws, but it won’t forgive the wrong brush”. Cheap brushes typically don’t hold paint well. They apply it unevenly, and shed bristles – unappealing traits for a topside paint or varnish brush. Expensive brushes are crafted for optimum performance, but they are an investment and must be tended to properly to ensure a long, useful life. Synthetic vs. Natural Most natural bristles are made from hog bristle. They’re often called China bristle because China is the largest supplier of them. A good-quality China bristle is adequate for most finishing jobs. The next step up is ox hair, which is often a mix of hog and ox, and the best finishing brushes are badger hair. These are ideal for tipping-out polyurethane paints and final coats of varnish. With any of these types, there is a range of qualities available, so be sure to examine a brush for quality before you purchase it. Synthetic bristles are typically made of nylon or polyes- ter and are less expensive than natural-bristle brushes. Unfortu- nately they lack split bristle ends so they don’t hold as much paint or lay it on as evenly as a good natural bristle brush. While you can achieve good varnish results with a foam brush, you could never achieve similar results with a synthetic bristle brush. Brush Construction Brush construction is as important as bristle choice when it comes to matching a brush with a job. Handcrafted brushes with hand- chiseled tips and thick, split (also called flagged) bristles have more paint capacity than flat-edged brushes, thus enabling longer strokes and more uniform paint or varnish transfer. Handle shape and construction material is a matter of personal preference. I like the beefier, beaver-tail-style handles because they fit in my hand well and have a nice weight balance between a tip loaded with varnish and the handle. The down-side of having a larger beaver tail handle is that they are the hardest to fit in a brush spinner for cleaning. I also like lightly finished wood handles, as they are easier to keep clean. The brush bristles should be adhered with epoxy or vulcanized rubber inside the ferule. There should be no noticeable gaps in the bristles, and if there’s a plug inside the brush, it should be a thin one. The ferule should be well fastened to the handle. A brush with a loose ferule and bristles head is useless for any detailed work. (Continued on Page 4) Seguin Island – Not to Be Missed Seguin Island, “guardian of the Kennebec”, stands high and bold at the eastern margin of Casco Bay, and with its historic lighthouse, is visible for 20 miles. This iconic island measures only about ½ by ¼ nautical miles, but is home to Maine’s tallest and second oldest fully operational lighthouse, and marks the transition from the rugged Casco shoreline to the large tidal rivers of Maine’s mid-coast region. We finally made it to Seguin for a walk-around and a lighthouse tour after eying her longingly for several years as we sailed on by. We had departed Cliff Island early on a flat and windless July morning, and with only a short itinerary planned for the day, decided a visit to Seguin was the perfect detour. We motored in, leaving Ellingwood Rock close to starboard as we headed into the northeast facing cove. There is no anchoring possible due to a cable crossing, so we tied up on one of 3 visible guest moorings shortly after its previous occupant had departed. With nesting ospreys standing guard, we rowed to the boulder covered shore, which, without a place to tie up, required either dragging or carrying the dinghy a few feet over some pretty rough terrain. The trail to the lighthouse wound upward, under the wooden tramway and through low trees and grassy clearings, emerging after a few minutes into the open, with breathtaking views in all directions. We were welcomed by the friendly resident caretakers and treated to a tour of the lighthouse and its surrounds, including the excellent museum and gift shop. The lighthouse was originally commissioned by George Washington in 1795. The existing structure, with its very rare, nine foot tall first-order Fresnel lens, was built in 1857. The tramway, originally 1006 feet long, was constructed in 1895 to facilitate delivery of coal to power the steam engine for the fog horn, and kerosene to power the lamp in the lighthouse. Prior to this, oxen had carted provisions and supplies up the 150 foot tall hill. For 150 years, the light station was manned by civilian families of the U.S. Lighthouse Service, and for the next 70 years, by members of the U.S. Coast Guard. In 1995, the Friends of Seguin Island Light Station, or FOSILS, assumed ownership and management of the site, and now provide volunteer caretakers who welcome visitors during the summer months, offering local history, lighthouse tours and trail maps. The Coast Guard continues to maintain the light and other navigational equipment. (See www.seguinisland.org for more information about FOSILS). Seguin Island on a calm day, is a magnificent place to visit. The sweeping vistas of the Maine coastline and islands, the natural beauty of the island itself, and the access to the lighthouse and historical record all make it a very worthwhile destination. “I have had to pass a considerable portion of my life aboard small craft of various kinds, and after a long and mixed experi- ence of the life, I have come to very difinite conclusions concern- ing it. One is that life on a small boat in fine wather is the only kind of life worth living. The other is that, in bad weather, it’s just plain hell.” – Weston Martyr – 3 –

Tech Tips #19 – Cruising Lessons By Bill Whitney I don’t have my logs or a chart in front of me as I write this, but based on previous years’ logs the Buzzards Bay Fleet averages almost 400 nautical miles each year on our round trip excursion from Cape Cod, MA to the shores of Rockland, ME and beyond. We don’t claim to be expert cruisers, but we are getting pretty darn good at it and we have a lot of fun along the way. Over the years we have coped with anchor, engine, electrical and bilge pump problems, and the full range of navigation, accommodation, and even restaurant reservation issues. We dealt with the difficulties, learned from them, had a wonderful time in the process, and importantly, we did it in the company of fellow cruisers. It’s sort of like bringing your own maritime support group with you. As the saying goes, there’s safety in number Based on our experience I would like to offer something of a challenge: join us!! Better still, get your own local fleet together and become cruisers. It will make you better sailors. This excerpt from “How to Sail Around the World” by Hal Roth, reaches a little beyond what I’m advocating but it makes an important point. “Cruising under sail is a hundredfold more complex than merely buying a suitable yacht. We know this because the marinas and harbors of the world are dotted with private pleas- ure craft, most of which go nowhere at all. There are tens of thousands of boat owners but very few sailors. Pay attention to this phrase: lots of boat owners but very few sailors. And a sailor you must be if you’re going to try ocean voyaging. You need a modicum of sailing aptitude, some ability to fix things, and the willingness to pitch in and work. Most veteran long-distance small-boat sailors are free spirits who fall into the classification of restless adventurer and who are always looking at distant horizons and trying new things. These spooky engineers usually lack fancy certificates, but they’ve all served fairly intensive apprenticeships and have learned a good bit about the sea, the care of their vessels, and the management of themselves. To learn the fundamentals of sailing, you need to go to a special school for a few weeks. You will be taken out in a dinghy or small vessel for instruction in sail handling, tacking, gybing, docking, maneuvering in restricted waters, and following safety procedures. Then you must practice as often as possible and serve as crew for friends on their yachts. In the beginning, you will only be a grunt, but little by little it will come to you. Every time you sail on a different vessel, you learn a thing or two because each captain has his own way of doing things. You need to find out about anchors and rigging, and to get some notion of sanding and painting and fixing things because life under sail is a never-ending round of maintenance, modifications, and large and small repairs.” Now, if you grew up in and around boats, you won’t need a special school to teach you the rudiments of sailing, but regardless of your level of formal training, the best way to advance any of your skills is to use them. Add the safety and fun factor of sailing in a small fleet of friends in Friendship sloops, and you have the best learning environment imaginable. So find a like-minded soul or two, and come join us or plan your own cruise. See you on the water! Book Sales Update First Quarter of 2015 Sales of our new book Lasting Friendships, A Century of Friendship Sloops, have been good during the first quarter of 2015. While January is typically not a good month for sales, we did have some success. Three of the paperbacks and one of the hard cover books sold in January at a talk and slide show presented by Bill Whitney for the Traditional Small Craft Association on January 14. Many more copies have been sold in February and March. As we expected, the number of paperback books sold though venues like Amazon is increasing. That was one of the main reasons for having both a hardbound edition, which can only be purchased through the Friendship Sloop Society, and a paper- back edition that we can sell through the Society, but which are mostly sold through our wholesaler, Ingram. For example, from January through April of 2015, we sold 5 hardcover books through our website, www.fss.org, one hardcover copy through an event and 5 paperbacks through events or direct sales from the FSS. Meanwhile, during the same period, we sold 32 paperback copies through our wholesaler. Most of these were sold on sites like Amazon.com. We have a total of $807.43 in the book bank account from sales, some of which we will use for buying more hardbound copies as we need them, and some of which will be turned over to the FSS General Fund as profits from book sales. We are still trying to get the message out that the new book is available, so spread the word and direct people to our website, www.fss.org, or to Amazon. If you have an Amazon account, please go to their website, look up Lasting Friendships and give us a good review! Ted Walsh – Black Star #247 The Right Brush for the Right Job (Continued from Page 3) Brush Shape Rectangulr heads are good for coating flat surfaces, or tipping-off after applying paint with a roller. Brushes with oval cross-sections retain more paint and are good for finish coating varnish. Round brushes are good for trim and cutting in. If you’re going to invest in one or two quality brushes, an oval shaped brush or one that closely resembles an oval shape should be on your list. Matching the Brush with the Job For varnishing: You need a brush that is dense, has a chisel tip, and absolutely will not shed bristles. This could be a good badger hair brush or even a foam brush, although I prefer the badger hair. Don Casey extols the good performance, easy cleanup, and environmental friendlier-ness of the Jen Poly-foam brushes. The cheap garden variety foam brushes won’t hold up to the solvents in varnish and become too soft with prolonged use. For painting: Foam brushes won’t fly with polyurethane paints, plus you want the brush to hold plenty of paint, so a bristle brush is better. Disposable chip brushes are adequate for small jobs or those where perfection isn’t a priority. If you’re rolling- and-tipping a hull and will realistically follow a brush cleaning regimen, then an oval-shaped badger hair or China bristle brush with a chiseled, fan-shaped tip is best. Never use your varnish brush for painting or vice versa. – 4 –

Marlinespike Seamanship By Ted Walsh Leathering for Rigging Any place that you have a bight of standing rigging that is looped over a masthead, gaff, or boom, there is potential for compression on the outer surface and/or chafe on the spar, as well as on the service of the standing rigging. Good yearly treatment with “blacking”* for the service will help maintain the condition of the service on standing rigging, but it will do nothing to protect the spar from compression as tension caused by the working of the rig comes onto the spar. The typical solution to this problem is to cover the service with leather. The leather spreads the load slightly over both the spar and the service on the rigging and acts as a chafe guard to protect varnish or paint on a spar. You will need leather, line to stitch with, two sail makers needles (#14 or #16), some blue painters tape and I recommend a pair of surgical clamps (hemostats or needle drivers). For leather, I recommend 3 oz, or 4 oz upholstery leather (you can use sail makers leather, but it will stretch a lot more and not last as long). Upholstery leather is usually sold in “hide” sections, a quarter hide should be enough to last you for a while. To apply leather to a bight with service, follow these steps: First measure the diameter of the wire and service to be covered. A good trick is to cut a scrap of leather and wrap it around the piece to be leathered. Next, cut a strip of leather the length of the section to be leathered and slightly less wide than the diameter you have measured (you want to leave room for the leather to stretch while stitching). Now tack the strip down to a piece of scrap wood so that it is stretched tight and smooth, but not so tight that it is distorted. Measure ¼” in from each side of the leather and mark the length at ¼” intervals. Take a nail, or awl, and punch holes everywhere you have made your marks (I prefer a long finish-nail and a hammer to do this). You are now ready to stitch the leather onto the bight. For a large bight, hang the bight you are going to work on at about head height from a branch or rafter. A smaller bight can be put in a vice or clamped to a table. Place the leather where you want it to go on the bight with the seam facing the outside of the bight. You may want to use a couple of pieces of blue painters tape to hold the leather roughly in place as you get started. The stitch used to attach the leather is a cross-stitch,or “baseball” stitch. Cut a length of line (I find that two fathoms is the greatest length I can work with without getting a tangled mess). I recommend 45lb braided nylon squidding line for the stitching. Thread a needle on both ends of the line, and then pass one end though two opposing holes in the leather, now alternate stitches as you would if you were replacing shoelaces in a shoe. Snug everything down every few stitches. – 5 –

A couple of tips: one is that if you have a long piece to leather and you want to be sure that the finished piece sits symmetrically on the bight, start the stitching in the middle of the leather, work down one side and then go back to the middle and work down the other. You don’t need to do this with a smaller bight. Another tip is, that if you can get a couple of surgical clamps (hemostats) to use as clamps to hold the section you have just stitched, you will have less difficulty maintaining tension as you work. One last thought: if you have a lot of leathers to do, make yourself finger guards for the joints of your index and smallest finger (you might want one for your thumb too— see how it goes). Just make up tubes of the same leather that fit snugly over the fingers mentioned. You will be able to snug the line down tightly without damaging your hands and you won’t lose any dexterity. You can wear sailing gloves instead, but the finger guards will give you more dexterity and your hands will get less tired. Leathering will extend the life of your service and the paint and varnish on your yards, especially if you rub it down with saddle soap at the start and end of each season. Having said that, remember also that all leathering is temporary. You need to be comfortable cutting it away and replacing it from time to time (In New England every three to four years) otherwise it will simply cover problems that may be developing in the service or in the standing rigging itself. Material sources: For leather: Leather Unlimited www.leatherunltd.com If you are on a budget they sometimes have 3lb bags of upholstery scraps at a very reasonable price, you just wont be able to choose colors. For needles and line: Hamilton Marine www.hamiltonmarine.com, West Marine www. westmarine.com, Jamestown Distributors, www.jamestowndistributors.com. * For a “blacking recipe go to www.dovetails.wordpress.com and click on FSS Newsletters in the right hand column, look for the article on Boat Goop – 6 – Photos of #160 Defiance homeported in Chamberlain, ME, owned by Morgan Hendry of Wilmington, DE. Defiance is 22’ long, built in 1973 by McKie Roth, Jr.

From Dan & Kathy Pease, owners of #174 Paul Revere: Kathy and I are preparing to embark on what we hope will be a several year voyage on our little motor-sailor Willie Dawes. Willie Dawes (a play on names, relative to Paul Revere) is a 30 foot Willard Horizon. We intend to depart Maine in mid-May this year and first circumnavigate New England by way of the Hudson River, Erie Canal, Lake Ontario, St. Lawrence Seaway, Gaspe, PEI, Straits of Canso, Nova Scotia and back to Maine. It is our intention to complete this loop by this fall. After a short re-group in Maine, we then head south down the inter- coastal with a winter in the Bahamas in mind. As I write this, during our second big snow storm in a week, the prospect seems very tantalizing. Ultimate goal, dare I say it, is the Pacific Northwest and the inside passage to Alaska. At 6 knots, we’ll see how that goes… We will be hosting a blog during our trip: PeaseCrowsNest.blogspot.com Unfortunately we leave behind our still unfinished sloop project, but you know all about that. It will be something to concentrate on upon our eventual return to our home in Camden. From Lucy Bell Sellers, owner of #276 Lucy Bell: My husband, Peter, died in November. We sailed the Lucy Bell for 32 summers, and it was a disappointment to miss the summer of 2014. We have turned the Lucy Bell over to a great-nephew based in Yarmouth, Maine, and we are hoping that he and his wife and young twin daughters will get the pleasure from her that we did. Kevin Rathbone of Larchmont, NY, who recently purchased #197 Natanya: I have dreamed of her most of my life. She has a beautiful face and her curves and shapes take my breath away. When she raises her arms to the sky she springs and dances in the wind. When you let her go she races across the bay tossing handfuls of water into the sky to sparkle like diamonds in the sun. I did not know what her name was till Joe (Hliva) made me an offer I could not refuse: Natanya is her name. I am now the new caretaker of Natanya. Some of you may know me as I have been in the TSCA (Traditional Small Craft Association) for many years. From Stuart Conway, new owner of #264 Margaret F.: In January I closed a deal with Block Island Maritime Funding to charter / purchase a 23’ Friendship Sloop, the Margaret F. The boat is under wraps (and snow) just off Casco Bay, ME. My wife and I are currently in the Bahamas on our powerboat. We are boating back to New Jersey, hoping to arrive +/- June 1st. My plan is to commission Margaret F. late July, spend a month on the Maine coast, and then bring her to New Jersey. If there are Friendship activities planned for next summer, I’d like to try and participate. Todd Uecker of Port Townsend, WA, owner of #274 Remedy: Remedy is undergoing a winter re-fit including a removable bowsprit so she will fit a 30’ slip at my small local marina. Looking forward to a springtime re-launching. #124 Callipygous, a Bruno & Stillman hull, has been purchased by John Ferrone of Port Isabel, Texas. The homeport will be South Padre Island, Texas. The sloop was purchased sight unseen from Richard Sharabura of Toronto. The sloop was on the list of sloops whose status was unknown. #118 Wenona has been purchased by Eric Turner who sailed her from Texas to her new homeport of Key West, Florida. #54 Echo has been sold by the Major family (who recently purchased #44 Sazerac) to George Hagerty of Stoughton, MA. The sloop will be moored in Hingham harbor. Steven Erskine of Wiscasset, ME writes “I have always loved Friendships, and am now about 85% complete on building my sloop Elysium LOA 26’. Hopefully I will launch late summer 2015.” Spring 2015 Race Committee News During our recent long winter, there has been much debate concerning the method that the Society has been employ- ing for developing the handicaps used for scoring our races at Rockland. As a result of several working-meetings since last October, of your Race Committee with at least one representative of the Executive Committee, the extended debate was brought to the attention of the full FSS Executive Committee during the recent spring meeting. Following careful consideration of the information provided during the meeting, your Executive Committee voted unanimously to return to using just the Hamlin Rating system with minor adjustments that will fine-tune the ratings of the winning sloops, so as to improve award opportuni- ties for other participating sloops. It is the firm opinion of both the Executive Committee and the Race Committee that a return to the Hamlin system will be preferred by our highly valued skippers and crew. Thus, we will give it a try and evaluate the results at the conclusion of the 2015 Rockland Homecoming Regatta. Please remember to register for the Rockland Regatta if you plan on attending, even if only for a day or two. ********** A word on Handicap Ratings – – – If you are a relatively new owner or if there has been a modification to your sloop’s hull or sail plan, you must communicate same with Dick Salter, the Society’s official handicapper. Dick can readily be reached at 978/526-1004. Sloops arriving at Rockland without the required rating will be assigned one that could very well be inadvertently inaccurate, placing an unfair burden on the sloop – – – and the skipper – – – which is something we strongly want to avoid. To make it easier on all sloop owners, we have shelved the 5-year requirement for handicap renewals. In return, we only ask that each sloop be assigned a valid handicap rating that has been provided by Dick Salter. – 7 – Membership Report Carole Wojcik, membership secretary, has received the following notes from members:

The FSS Newsletter will occasionally feature a sloop for sale and the story / history behind the vessel. This issue features #261 Bluenose, located in Maryland. Bluenose for Sale (The following article was excerpted from a letter to Bill Whitney from Charly Holmes, the widow of Bluenose designer and builder David J. Holmes III. Bluenose is the only Ferro cement Friendship known) Bluenose was conceived, designed and built by David from 1971 to 1974, while serving in the Air Force in the Washington, DC area, with volunteer help from his Air Force buddies (I was not on the scene until 1979). David taught himself to sail and knew just how he wanted her to look. At this point, he had never seen a real, in-the-water Friendship, but one beautiful little boat lived in his mind and came into being, one refinement at a time — funds permitting. Once out of the Air Force, David hired out on any sailing vessel that would have him. He studied and taught himself navigation, ship handling, sail control and all things to do with sailing. He asked thousands of questions of sailors who knew how, and became a mate and then a captain on many deliveries, after which he would come home to Bluenose to practice. A time came when David decided he had to part with Bluenose, and he sold her to a “wanna be” sailor, who sunk her. He retrieved her, and sold her to an Air Force pilot who wasn’t a sailor but who had a flying pupil named Charly (that was me!). One Saturday this pilot called me, wishing to show me something he had ‘just picked up in Annapolis’. I went along with some degree of suspicion, only to be introduced to the sweetest but most neglected little sailboat one could imagine. The pilot was going to Hawaii for 6 months and was hoping that I, who knew little about boats, would oversee the restoration. I was game, and started making interminable lists, starting, of course, with where and how to install a head. The builder, David, was contacted to confer with. Shortly after this, I came by the boat one day, knocked on the hull, and the feet and long legs of the tall Texan unfolded from within (me to self: How did all that fit into this little boat?). The misery on his face said he hated seeing his creation in this state; it grieved him much…. Discussions ensued; “Can I…?” “I don’t think it would fit…” “Maybe another plan…” “I’d be happy to help…”. And that is how I fell in love with Bluenose–that I still have to finish restoring—and also how I fell in love with her builder, the love of my life, and now beyond my restoring. Particulars: LOD: 20’ Beam: 7’2” Hull: Ferro cement Sails by Nathaniel Wilson Hardware is mostly bronze Contact: Charly Holmes PO Box 93, Galesville, MD 20765 (410) 562-1516 2015 Schedule of Events Red Brook Harbor Rendezvous Monday, June 29 Scituate Harbor Rendezvous Tuesday, June 30 Cape Ann Rendezvous Wednesday, July 1 Bayville/Linekin Bay Rendezvous Saturday & Sunday, July 4 & 5 Southwest Harbor Saturday, July 11 Pulpit Harbor Rendezvous Tuesday, July 14 55th Annual Homecoming Rendezvous and Races at Rockland Thursday, Friday and Saturday, July 16-18 Special events at Museum of Sail, Power & Steam, south Rockland waterfront, Friday, July 17: Parade of Sail: ~5 pm after the race Live Music and Picnic: ~6 pm under the Museum tent (bring your own food and drinks) Connecticut/Rhode Island Friendship Sloop Coastal Cruise 1st or 2nd week in September, TBA ************************ Several other summer events in the New England area celebrating traditional sailing craft are listed below. Where indicated, Friendship sloops are invited to participate. Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days June 21-27 Friendship sloops welcome to participate Marblehead Classic Yacht Regatta August 8 & 9 33rd Annual Antique and Classic Boat Festival August 22 & 23, Salem, MA Friendship sloops welcome to participate Gloucester Schooner Festival Friday-Sunday, September 4-6 – 8 –

Why Your Membership Matters As many of you know, the Friendship Sloop Society is a completely membership-supported organization, whose mission is “to encourage the building and sailing of Friendship sloops; to provide a medium for owners and friends to meet and enjoy each other around a common interest, and to promote the history and tradition of the Friendship sloop”. Without you, our dear and dedicated members, and without your passion for Friendship sloops, and without your annual membership dues, the Friendship Sloop Society would absolutely cease to exist. The sloops, of course, would still be scattered around the globe, but there would be no central body sending out the Yearbook or the Newsletters, or maintaining the website, or organizing the yearly summer Homecoming to which all are welcome. There would be no centralized forum for discussions, fewer avenues for new sloop owners to gain knowledge and experience, no listing of sloops for sale, no comprehensive registry of sloops, owners and builders, no way to find and stay connected to each other. The decades and the efforts that have gone into keeping the history and tradition of these incredible boats alive would amount to a wasted endeavor. We would become a nation of isolated and disconnected Friendship sloop owners who dearly love our boats, but have fewer ways to share our joy and passion in ownership, our sailing adventures, our challenges. “What’s in it for me?” you might well ask. Well, of course, along with your membership comes the Yearbook, several Newsletters, invitations to annual events, and a decal or two, but these are almost incidental. It is what your membership contributes to the sailing world and to maritime history that is so much more critical. It is because of YOU, our loyal and generous members, that the Friendship sloop, with its iconic lines, its history spanning three centuries, its working heritage, its exquisite grace and reliability, is still so prominent and impor- tant in the world of traditional sail. Please, stay with us. Support your Friendship Sloop Society, and each other, by renewing your membership. Your annual FSS dues may well be the best $35 you spend this year! – 9 – #227 Celebration #90 Salatia and #187 Peregrine

Friendship Sloop Society 347 Lincoln Street Norwell, MA 02061 Address Correction Service Requested