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2) Mayas — A popular MORC racer before the Quarter Tonners came along. 3) Frisco Flyers,— later renamed Pacific Clippers. 4) Cox 22s — designed by Oakland sailmaker Cliff Cox, who was first to mold sails with glued seams. He should have stuck to designing sails. 5) Seahorse Yawls — 26-footers. 6) Carinitas — 20-footers that, like the Seahorse Yawls, were ugly plywood monsters. 7) Mermaids — a cute little design. 8) Friendship sloops. 9) Holidays — Like the Friendship sloops, this was a YRA class that could never get enough built for one-design status. Michael Figour > Tiburon v V ft HWHO NEEDS A STOVE FOR A lO.OOO-MILE PASSAGE? Any list of one-designs — or at least sisterships — built expressly for San Francisco Bay should include the S&S 33 Spirit and her sisters. Around 1960, shipping magnate George Kiskadden, Spirit's instigator, had Sparkman & Stephens design a 'move up' boat specifically for Bird sailors who had started families. Kiskadden figured that Spirits original long and deep cockpit could serve as a playpen for toddlers. When Spirit proved adept at beating much larger thoroughbreds upwind offshore, the original intent of Spirit evaporated, and George and a band of stellar local sailors sailed the boat over much of the globe, passing varsity gogetters to weather. Norm Duvall of Mendocino County has outrageous tales of delivering Spirit to races in England and Europe. He took the boat on her own bottom from San Francisco to England — cooking on a hibachi on the cabin sole! Folks looking for more information can read my story on the Spirit in the Sept. / Oct. WoodenBoat magazine, issue #156., Hank Eason, who built some sisterships, knows more. Brooks Townes Weaverville, North Carolina ft ft 232 SCOWS BUILT FOR SAN FRANCISCO BAY Among the more famous sailing craft designed specifically for San Francisco Bay was the scow schooner or square-toed packet. Inspired by square-toed packets in England and elsewhere, the San Francisco scow seems to have been a purely local design. Bay Area sailors all know the Alma., which is perhaps the last remaining of some 232 scows built on and for the Bay. Roger Olmsted chronicled these Bay workhorses in his beautifully illustrated book Scow Schooners of San Francisco Bay (Cupertino, CA: California History Center, 1988). It is still available for only $14.95 through the California History Center http://www.calhistory.org/pubs.html. James Williams Jazz pianist, sailor, historian Spindrift, Cal 39 II (#105) 1980 Dog Days, Islander Bahama 28 (#9) 1981 Los Altos ft ft MERMAIDS ARE CUTE How about the Mermaids — like my own Mischief— which were built in Denmark in the '60s for the Bay? Tom Woodruff Mischief, Mermaid
Northern California Page 78 •
• March, 2005
