50's Ocean Racing in S.Cal.

[SF Woody Sailor]

This is in no way an answer to your question, but since you brought up the Rhodes 33 I though I would post a picture of my Dad’s. He won the boat from Johnny Matarangas in a domino game at the Stag Cruise at Tinsley in the early 50’s. At the time it was named “Dream”. It had been nicknamed “Wet Dream” by the fleet so naturally my Dad renamed it “Reveille” as the wake-up call from the dream.

I thought it was pretty cool that in those days they did North-South races where the NorCal fleet of Rhodes 33’s would go to SoCal and vice versa. Does anyone know if they used borrowed boats or trucked them? Also pretty cool that you could win a hot-shit racing boat in a domino game.

He kept Reveille until he had the Lapworth 36 built in 1965.

 

[SF Woody Sailor]

A couple of Rhodes 33s on the hard with a Bird in the foreground. I assume at Hank Easom's yard in Sausalito in the early 60's. And Dad's Rhodes 33 in the slip.

 

[sailglobal]

or Malley (?), if you knew him back then,,,,,

 

[Black Jack]

Which L-36? My Dad had L-36 #71 built in 1965 in Costa Mesa, and she has sailed out of the same berth at San Francisco Yacht Club ever since. We are putting a new Ballenger rig in her this month along with North 3di inventory etc. as she still races very actively and successfully. 

View attachment 440516

Every time I see Leda I smile. I love her flair, spirit and admire the crew. Each time I see her, I wonder why i did not buy Chairman Bob's L36 Evening Star. 

 

[sleddog]

Cecil Rossi 

Cecil is the very best of shipmates, someone you want aboard when the going gets tough.  He was on STORMVOGEL in the '65 Transpac, finishing second just minutes behind TICONDEROGA.  And just last month Cecil skippered his Farr 57 HO'KOLOHE to second to finish and first in Division 8 in the 2021 Transpac.

Cecil was instrumental in getting the 79' ketch MIR across the Diamond Head finish in the '69 Transpac after they lost their mainmast a moment after this picture was being taken.  Cecil and crew turned to and finished MIR sailing backwards across the line with the mizzen aback.  Epic.

 

[sleddog]

This is in no way an answer to your question, but since you brought up the Rhodes 33 I though I would post a picture of my Dad’s. He won the boat from Johnny Matarangas in a domino game at the Stag Cruise at Tinsley in the early 50’s. At the time it was named “Dream”. It had been nicknamed “Wet Dream” by the fleet so naturally my Dad renamed it “Reveille” as the wake-up call from the dream.

I thought it was pretty cool that in those days they did North-South races where the NorCal fleet of Rhodes 33’s would go to SoCal and vice versa. Does anyone know if they used borrowed boats or trucked them? Also pretty cool that you could win a hot-shit racing boat in a domino game.

He kept Reveille until he had the Lapworth 36 built in 1965.

David,

     If that is not a sterling set of cotton sails on REVELLIE, I don't what is.   The boat looks a lot like a 6 meter, eh? Though I can not vouch for accuracy, there were 3 or 4 Rhodes on the Bay in the early 50's. Bob White had SATISFACTION.  1941 Star Class Worlds Champ George Fleitz came up from LA and sailed SATISFACTION a few times.  In  1949, Jake Wosser and SFYC were challenged by Fleitz for the Perpetual Challenge Cup.  Fleitz trailered his Rhodes HANAHULI up and with a bilge of wet sandbags, soundly beat Jake and took the trophy home.

The following year, 1950, SFYC challenged LAYC for the Cup.  SFYC had Joe McAleese skippering DREAM.  Joe was an outstanding skipper but George Fleitz and crew prevailed with the racing on a course inside and outside LA Harbor.

In 1951, St. Francis unsuccessfully challenged for the Cup with Dean Morrison's St. Francis III  Bob White skippering.  The Cup was then passed back and forth between LAYC and SDYC until Denny Jordon took a tricked out IC, with a huge light air rig, down to SDYC and brought the Cup back to SF Bay.

                     

 

[SF Woody Sailor]

David,

     If that is not a sterling set of cotton sails on REVELLIE, I don't what is.   The boat looks a lot like a 6 meter, eh? Though I can not vouch for accuracy, there were 3 or 4 Rhodes on the Bay in the early 50's. Bob White had SATISFACTION.  1941 Star Class Worlds Champ George Fleitz came up from LA and sailed SATISFACTION a few times.  In  1949, Jake Wosser and SFYC were challenged by Fleitz for the Perpetual Challenge Cup.  Fleitz trailered his Rhodes HANAHULI up and with a bilge of wet sandbags, soundly beat Jake and took the trophy home.

The following year, 1950, SFYC challenged LAYC for the Cup.  SFYC had Joe McAleese skippering DREAM.  Joe was an outstanding skipper but George Fleitz and crew prevailed with the racing on a course inside and outside LA Harbor.

In 1951, St. Francis unsuccessfully challenged for the Cup with Dean Morrison's St. Francis III  Bob White skippering.  The Cup was then passed back and forth between LAYC and SDYC until Denny Jordon took a tricked out IC, with a huge light air rig, down to SDYC and brought the Cup back to SF Bay.

Your knowledge is a priceless treasure.

Yes, those sails on Reveille are quite beautiful aren’t they? They probably didn’t last very long that way, and wow that is a lot of panels. But beautiful.

So one thing at a time. Here is the 1962 Yachting Year Book Rhodes 33 page. 9 are listed.

 

[SF Woody Sailor]

David,

The boat looks a lot like a 6 meter, eh?

Yes, it does look a lot like a 6 meter. Actually, the first boat my Dad bought when he moved here after the War was a 5 Meter. He had grown up sailing Stars on Long Island Sound (crewing for Artie Knapp) so a meter boat seemed like a good idea. If you have ever sailed on SF Bay you will understand that this was a spectacularly bad idea. I wish I knew how to make the photos upright.

 

[SF Woody Sailor]

For no reason whatsoever here is a picture of some Rhodes 33's going up the Cityfront. However, look at those sails! Dozens and dozens of panels.

 

[Black Jack]

The Buccaneers and Hurricanes were very popular aux racers in the bay.

 

[SF Woody Sailor]

The Buccaneers were very popular the aux racers in the bay.

 

[SF Woody Sailor]

The Buccaneers and Hurricanes were very popular aux racers in the bay.

And Buccaneers (1962).

If someone can tell me how to rotate these 90 degrees to the right I would like that.

 

[Black Jack]

i think 

And Buccaneers (1962).

If someone can tell me how to rotate these 90 degrees to the right I would like that.

View attachment 456941

i think you have to rotate it in the edit function if you took a photo of it with the ipad or phone.

I loved sailing my Nichols Buccaneer.  The guy I sold her indicated he was going to cut her up because she was inconveneint for him. Sad because it was a great bay boat. With it's phrf rating sailed well she was a weapon. Faster than the Spaulding boats.

Here she is sailing with Ron's Pursuit.

 

[sleddog]

 Originally called "Coast Rhodes," the boats of this one-design class were built by South Coast Boatworks in upper Newport Bay pre-WW II. #1, REBEL, was launched in 1939 at South Coast, and 41 of them were built over the years. As a kid, I used to do foredeck on #41, MADNESS, owned by Bud Edgar and Gavin Herbert.

Rhodes 33's were designed to sail out to and around the S.Cal Islands, and had bunks and a rudimentary galley below.  Rhodes were cool boats, lead mines really, with frac rigs, 386 sq. feet of sail area, sheet winches that had under deck handles, and an interior that you could cruise to Catalina. They usually raced with a crew of four. Over the years, Rhodes 33's plowed a furrow short tacking the Newport Peninsula ocean beach, then out to "C"buoy on the afternoon westerlies.

In 1947, my father on #20, RUTH, was accidentally caught "inside" off 7th Street, and the boat went end over end onto the beach. She was pulled off by the South Coast tug, promptly filled and was towed on the bottom into the Harbor. There, RUTH was craned to the surface, pumped out, and returned to South Coast for a new mast and 20 sistered ribs, and only missed one weekend of racing.

Rhodes 33's in the 1950's were raced by some of the best and most colorful skippers in S.CA. Hook Beardslee, the perennial champ, raced SEABEE, #8, Strat Enright had the yellow WITCH, #33, Bill Taylor raced MISTRESS, Hal Thorne had MANANA, Bob Collins was in JOSEPHINE VI, John Pearcy raced #6 WHIM, Jim Shepard had #10 ARGOSY, Glen Brockman skippered VERDI, Tommy Thomas owned NIMBUS. And when George Fleitz showed up with HANAHULI, all bets were off and the water smoked as he and Beardslee duked it out.

But the grand old man of the class and its fiercest supporter was Connie Wurdemann on his red MIDSHIP. Connie raced well into his 80's, and was out there every weekend until the Rhodes faded, to be replaced by the Etchells 22's.

For more on the Rhodes 33's as authored by other Rhodes owners, would suggest back tracking to this Forum, starting Dec. 28th, 2008.

Good memories of a really good boat.  You never saw a Rhodes reefed or with a non-overlapping jib.

PS:  In S. Cal in the '50's the Rhodes and PC's (Kettenburg 32's) often would race boat for boat in the same class and there would be 15-20 on the line. There was little to choose between them speedwise.  The PC's had a meter boat hull shape also.

Sweet.

 

[SF Woody Sailor]

Wow.

 

[Milly Biller]

I wasn't there when this dramatic black and white film was shot at the Newport Harbor Entrance...Quite the weather event. The wishbone ketch coming in under sail, STELLA MARIS, was later owned by Dennis Conner's grandparents... Why all the boats attempting to enter port in such dangerous conditions? It was Sunday afternoon and they were mostly all returning from Catalina, 28 miles to the west. Gotta get the kids back for the start of school on Monday morning. Did I mention the biggest boat in Newport Harbor,the 138 foot M/V PARAGON, was sunk in the Harbor Entrance that evening? Doggies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZl6-xYtZZg

Quite a video ! The guy who ran offshore had it right !

 

[sleddog]

David,

    The green Bird boat, hauled next to your father's Rhodes 33 REVEILLE, is PUFFIN, built at Stones in 1928.  If you look closely, you can see the "I" and "N" of the last 2 letters in her name at the transom.  A good friend who grew up in the Sausalito area also pointed out the boat yard is not Spauldings, but Madden and Lewis Boatyard, which burned down in March, 1960. This friend also sailed on your father's 5 meter, YOU TOO, which was berthed at SFYC, and the only 5 meter on the Bay.  He concurred it was a very wet boat and the electric bilge pump had to run all the time.  The 5 meter was a forerunner of the 5.5 meter class that came out in 1949, and tried to be a smaller and cheaper 6 meter.  Thanks for your great photos!

 

[SF Woody Sailor]

David,

    The green Bird boat, hauled next to your father's Rhodes 33 REVEILLE, is PUFFIN, built at Stones in 1928.  If you look closely, you can see the "I" and "N" of the last 2 letters in her name at the transom.  A good friend who grew up in the Sausalito area also pointed out the boat yard is not Spauldings, but Madden and Lewis Boatyard, which burned down in March, 1960. This friend also sailed on your father's 5 meter, YOU TOO, which was berthed at SFYC, and the only 5 meter on the Bay.  He concurred it was a very wet boat and the electric bilge pump had to run all the time.  The 5 meter was a forerunner of the 5.5 meter class that came out in 1949, and tried to be a smaller and cheaper 6 meter.  Thanks for your great photos!

Puffin! Of course. She was season champion in 1961.

I wish we could somehow bottle your knowledge... I am certain that you are correct about Madden & Lewis. Unfortunately, it was before I was born.

 

[tizak]

Sailed with Alex Weiskopf on Buccaneer #5 Rogue. He later bought L-36 #2 Holiday. Helped bring Holiday up to S.F. from Newport and raced on her a few times. Most memorable was a Farallon Islands race when the mast came down. We were probably 8 or 9 miles outside the Gate in probably 30 kts or so. Once we cleared the mess it was a very rolly ride back to St. Francis under power.

Rumor is that the Rhodes designed Windward Class (only 13 built) was a later development of the Rhodes 33 that included a few more amenities. Family owned #13 which was last in Hawaii to my knowledge:

 

[sleddog]

Sailed with Alex Weiskopf. He later bought L-36 #2 Holiday. Helped bring Holiday up to S.F. from Newport and raced on her a few times. Most memorable was a Farallon Islands race when the mast came down. We were probably 8 or 9 miles outside the Gate in probably 30 kts or so. Once we cleared the mess it was a very rolly ride back to St. Francis under power.

HOLIDAY was our first family boat and, in 1954, the first L/36 launched.  (See May 5th post on this thread.)  If anyone knows current whereabouts of HOLIDAY, would love to know.  As for the name, our father was fond of saying, "nothing goes faster."