It is circa 1956 and the "Ancient Mariner" (hereafter referred to as the "A.M.") is in his thirties racing a kit-built wooden Thistle. The location is Seabrook Sailing Club on Galveston Bay (near Houston). His sailing career started in 1938 in Fish Class gaff rigged keel boats and proceeded through Lightnings, Penguins, Moths, F.J.’s, Flying Dutchmen and finally to the best of them all, 505’s.
First, a little background for those of you not yet born at the time. George O’Day, Hall of Fame sailor and a man obviously interested in performance craft, obtained one of the John Westell designed 505’s from England in time for Yachting magazine’s noted "One of a Kind Series". The event took place every four years. The basis of this effort was to encourage and test new designs to compare them with those popular at the time. Since Portsmouth Handicapping was not yet developed, a different system was used. In any case, the 505 won decisively with a top hand by the name of Eric Olsen at the helm.
Walter Bowden of San Antonio, Texas, was a very early 505 owner – a great man in size and ability. Much of Walter’s sailing had been in Snipes and a home-built Rhodes Bantam. Walter became one of the very first to own a 505 in the U.S.. This boat was purchased through George O’Day and was built by Fairey Marine of England. These boats were all wood except for the spars. The mast was aluminum up to the hounds, with wood as the top section. The boom was all metal, as I recall.
Walter Bowden campaigned his boat wherever handicap racing was available, and he soon became the scourge of the Texas Coast. There was nothing that could touch the 505 in performance at that time. Even when he occasionally failed to win boat for boat, his excellent rating was unbeatable. Finally, it became obvious to all others concerned that the only way to Beat Mr. Bowden was with other 505’s. This idea took hold, and Walter found himself in a defacto dealership position. Soon he was selling his boat to a friend and buying a new one for himself. Since all boats were varnished wood built by Fairey Marine, they were all identical. New 505 owners were often asked where they had purchased the boat. The answer was always "its Walter’s old boat." Finally, one Bill Sheppard ordered a new 505 and named it "NOTWOB" which stood for "Not Walters Old Boat!"
Enter at this juncture a 20 year old fireball who owned a couple of Fairey Marine 505’s by the name of Ralph Dorchester. If he was financially strapped, he was a top hand for whom many vied for his services. If he was flush, he was your most formidable competitor. If he could have kept a boat as long as a year at a time, he surely would have won the big one, at least once.
The "A.M." would beg of you a little forbearance with regard to "Two Over Easy". This concerns a boat built from John Westell’s plans starting with a Maximar molded plywood shell from England. The builder was a friend of Walter Bowden in San Antonio. The builder was very strange in that some of the workmanship was of excellent quality, while other workmanship was of considerably less. It was difficult to rationalize that the same person did the work. Case in point: the surface of the side tanks followed the upward curve of the transom inboard to the degree that it produced a negative angle to sit on when the boat was level. Also, the original owner had built an outrigger for more stable day sailing. The mast was well constructed, but burdened by diamond rigging. The boom was a plank with a fiberglass splice. Sails were an abortion.
In order to move on, it is fair to say that following a capsize in a squall that damaged several boats, the "A.M" had this relic totally rebuilt and refitted. With superb results and excellent trapeze work from Ralph Dorchester, this boat won the 1959 North American Championship in Houston with 5 bullets. Did it measure, you wonder? The class was so small at that time that the issue was moot.
Speaking of the North American’s, the first was held in New Orleans at the Southern Yacht Club. The time had to be either 1956 or 1957. The American Section was just getting under way. Not more than eight or nine boats, including "Two Over Easy" (albeit in her original condition), competed. George O’Day wanted to have the boat sailed to its optimum. He didn’t trust the locals, so he sent the Thistle National Champion, Dennis Posey. Posey did prevail, although it wasn’t a blowout. Walter Bowden finished second and the rest also ran.
By the time Yachting Magazine sponsored the next "One of a Kind", likely in the spring of 1958, the 505 American Section was beginning to take shape. The group at Larchmont Yacht Club (New York) led the Northeast contingent. They consisted partially of Henry Schefter (three-time North American Champion), John Isbister, Henry Hornidge and John Marshall. All were top hands. They certainly educated those of us who attended the North American’s at Larchmont in 1960 – not that the eight foot tide and fluky winds had anything to do with it, of course. At any rate, they proved themselves later in other locations around the country.
The Southeast was headed up by a fine fellow by the name of Dr. William Schildecker of Daytona Beach, Florida. Bill was president of the American Section following Walter Bowden and was ably assisted by John Isbister of Larchmont as secretary. Another member of this Florida contingent was Bill Dehon, a dentist by trade, but a fighter pilot during World War II. Shot down by the Germans, he escaped with the aid of the French underground. Neat Guy!
By this time, the class was faced with a dilemma. It was still in its infancy, and by 1958 it was time to have a representative sail in Yachting’s "One of a Kind". The officers sensed that Mr. O’Day intended to protect his interests and sent a "hired gun" type to insure the best possible performance at this important event. Who could blame him? It was decided that a provision be placed in the by-laws requiring the representative to the "One of a Kind" Regatta to be an American Section class member. A second requirement was that he would also be north American Champ! Based on this, it was decided to hold the North Americans immediately preceding the "One of a Kind" at the same location – the Miami Yacht Club. It was a great event since all kinds of great people were present preparing for the "One of a Kind".
Although 505 turnout was still rather small, we did have one West Coast boat sailed by a Brit. The results were satisfactory since Walter Bowden was the winner and went on to represent the class in the "One of a Kind". Mr. O’Day’s "hired gun", an International 14 skipper, was able to do no better than a third. The class had come of age.
Incidentally, although Walter Bowden did well, he was defeated for top honors by the first catamaran to compete. This was a British Shearwater that opened up a whole new era.
The Larchmont boys had things going very nicely by 1960. They sponsored the North Americans that year. The "A.M." had sold "Two Over Easy" and replaced it with a brand new Lanaverre from France. The boat did not arrive until the day before leaving for Larchmont. It was slightly damaged during shipment, but there was nothing we couldn’t live with. It came with Elvestrom sails and good potential. We arrived in time to sail in the YRA Race. This is an event where many classes came from all around Long Island Sound to start in the middle. As the race progressed, it seemed that the farther around the course we got the fewer boats there were. When we finally finished, I asked the locals what had happened to all those boats at the start. The reply was that the 505’s were the only class to make the time limit!
Another interesting fact we later learned was that the series would not start until Tuesday. It was explained to us that because of the light winds combined with the power boat chop, conditions would not be suitable until then. Another factor that made the series interesting was the eight foot tide. The locals were very helpful in showing the visitors around the course for several days in a row. It was a fine series and one could tell that the easterners were here to stay.
As the class continued to grow, it became the prerogative of the North American Champion to select the site of the North Americans for the following year. This was a nice touch, but sometimes reality overhauled fantasy, and the series was held where it was feasibly possible. Fortunately, the 1961 series went back to Florida.
The sponsoring entity was the Coconut Grove Sailing Club at Miami. The series was favored with good weather and good management. With no westerners present, it was a keen rivalry between the Larchmont hands, the Floridians, and the Texans. Planing breezes dominated the course for the entire series, and the "A.M." was able to nose out his best friend / worst competitor, Ralph Dorchester, to win the series.
Due to the fact that we did better in areas where there was more wind and less tide, we knew just the place for the site of the 1962 North Americans – Corpus Christi, Texas! Corpus is a great place. Walter Bowden and Bill Schildecker, along with several others, had already been to Acapulco, Mexico for an Inter-American Series. Therefore, it was decided to include this event in the program at Corpus Christi. It was decided to hold the Inter-American Series first followed by the North Americans. Still no West Coast people. The picture is no longer clear as to who came out on top in the Inter-American Series, but it was definitely not the Mexicans.
To demonstrate how ridiculous it is to scheme one's way into a position of great advantage, note the following: select a venue for the North Americans that has very little tide and winds consistently between 15 and 20 knots, warm temperatures and close to home. It certainly looked good on paper – I had all the advantages! Along with the Yankees and Floridians came a huge high pressure system which camped all over Texas for some three days. The Yankees came in their non-air conditioned autos and nearly died from the heat. They were a tough bunch, however, and with the aid of several gallons of gin and tonic, they managed to survive.
The high pressure kept the wind velocity down to 2 to 8 miles per hour for most of the event, with temperatures in the mid and upper nineties! The Yankees suffered a lot, but they sailed well. Henry Schefter prevailed to win the North Americans. A sidelight to that was that Henry capsized in one of the few races with good breeze. He cut his hand on the trailing edge of his centerboard while righting, but went on to win anyway.
By 1962, the 505 was really on a roll in Europe. Both the British and the French had gotten into them big time. Paul Elvestrom had determined it to be the best without a doubt. The 505 had been considered for Olympic status earlier, but was rejected because the host country (Italy) didn’t have any at the time. This probably saved the class a lot of grief. One has only to look at the Flying Dutchman class to understand that.
At the time, it was customary to allow class champions to try out for the Olympics. Since our small sailing club also harbored a Flying Dutchman fleet, three of us received invitations to sail in the trials. The "A.M." was flattered to receive this invitation, so had to switch to the Flying Dutchman.
Never did like the things. Had sailed borrowed ones before. Too slow in stays, a dog in a drifter, spinnaker too small, lost sticks too easy, etc. At any rate, it was great fun to try and compete against great people like Buddy Melges and later, Ted Turner.
After a layoff from the 505 for many years, it was great to be back in touch with great people who sail the best boat of them all!