The Fairey Marine International 14 in North America - 1952 to the 1960's - Part 2

Don McVittie, with wife Red as crew, top dog in the Seattle fleet in the late 1950's, in his Fairey MkVII

Early 1950's - After George O'Day imported the initial batch of Fairey MkI's in 1951, George didn't import many of the successive Marks, the II's, III's, or IV's over the next few years. Class records show a smattering of MkII's, III's and IV's. (I count seven, several of these may have been imported directly by their owners.) It was with the formation of the Chesapeake fleet in 1953 and the decision by the Rochester fleet to move on from the one-design Alarm hull, that jump started demand for new 14's. Starting in 1955, George O'Day would bring in approximately ten a year of the MarkV, VI, VII, and the VIII. These four Marks make up the bulk of the Fairey 14's that raced in North America.

Stuart Walker related his first encounter with the Fairey's. He showed up to the Buzzard Bay Bowl with his first 14, a USOD Alarm and, on seeing the fleet gathered on the lawn, before racing commenced, turned to his wife, Francis, and said, "Winning this regatta will be easy, look how sleek our 14 is compared to these blunter 14's." Stuart was to return home, suitably chastened, after the blunter Fairey's disappeared into the distance, racing in another gear down the planing reaches.

Stuart Walker, of the Chesapeake fleet, sailing his Fairey MkV, Joyeuse. Note the transom sheeting which was standard on the 1950's 14's. Joyesuse had a one-of-a-kind mini-step running full length, 1/2 way up the topsides. 

1956 - “George O’Day says that he has nine Mark VI’s left, two of which will probably be ordered to the Chesapeake shortly.” (Feb OTP)

Graham Hayward of the Royal St. Lawrence YC sailing his Fairey Mk VII. 

1957 - Montreal gets three new Fairey 14’s.  Transplanted Englishman Graeme Hayward, and Dave Johnson are the two top Montreal helms who get the MkVII's.

John Hsu, in his recollections, said the Fairey's were very expensive in Canada because of the import tax; which is odd given that Canada was part of the Commonwealth. One should mention the parochialism of the Canadian fleets. Each fleet seemed to be doing it's own thing in designs and hulls. (The Toronto fleets would stick with the Bourke design through the 1950's and then develop the Buller in the 1960's.) It wouldn't be until the PSI Kirby III appeared in 1968 that Canada would coalesce around one designer.

1957 - George O’Day and Marscot Plastics started molding some fiberglass Fairey Mk VII hulls for two classes, the International 14 and the new one-design Gannet (a decked over lower power 14). The first 30 Gannet’s would go to the Naval Academy for sail-training.

The International 14, with it's slightly heavier hull weight, low surface area, and round bilged hull form proved to be an excellent candidate for a competitive racing hull built in early fiberglass construction. Slightly later, Canadian Roger Hewson would build a one-off fiberglass 14 to his design and Bruce Kirby first design, the MkI , would come out only in fiberglass.

1958 - George O’Day buys Marscot Plastics from Palmer Scott. From then on, George O'Day would become the leading fiberglass manufacturer of sailing dinghies in North America.

1958 - 1958 marks the apogee of the Fairey 14’s in North America. George O’Day wins the Nationals at Alamitos Bay in a Fairey Mk VIII, Bacalao. Graeme Hayward wins CDA (Canadian Nationals) in a Fairey Mk VII (Dave Johnson second in another Fairey Mk VII). Dave Johnson wins the Buzzards Bowl.

1958 - The Newport Beach fleet gets six Marscot-O’Day shells. Leigh Brite and Ken Eldred work on putting the first two together and race in the 1958 Nationals. Leigh Brite and Eldred construction included the first reported use of epoxy resin in 14's, in this case used to bond fittings.

1959 - Roger Welsh bought George O’Day’s 1958 Nationals winning Fairey MkVIII in 1959. With US 603, Roger dominated Southern California Racing and was still winning with this hull in 1965.

1959 - Schock Marine of Southern California pulled a mold from a Fairey MkVII to produce some modified Fairey MkVII hulls beginning in 1960. Designated the Schock design, the bow was made finer and the transom wider.

In 1959 or 1960 - Ben Greene of Bakersfield California fleet pulls a mold off a Fairey MkVIII and produces six or seven Fairey MkVIII fiberglass shells to finish off. Not sure how many were finished. (OTP 62(.

The Fairey Marine International-14 in North America - Part 1 - 1949 to 1951

The interior of a Fairey MkI. Note the lack of buoyancy with the short side tanks and small bow tank. The English were very concerned post-war about the open character of the International 14 and rewarding seamanship in a breeze. A capsize put you out of the race.

This post was prompted by an online article on Fairey Marine, written by English dinghy historian, David Henshall. Fairey Marine, an English company known as Fairey Aviation during World War II, would pivot post war and produce a vast array of dinghies, built using the hot-molded autoclave method, most of them designed by Uffa Fox. They built International 14's, starting in 1949, and continued to bring out new Marks through the 1950's (approximately a new Mark every year), and these Fairey 14's were a major player in the history of the International 14 in North America. (As an aside, I started my 14 career crewing on a Fairey MkV, as a skinny teenager, before the trapezes came in.)

Fairey Marine 14 International 14 - Original Design

The Fairey 14 started life as an Uffa Fox ‘Martlet’ design which Stewart Morris had won the 1947, 1948, and the 1949 POW’s (K 507). However starting with the MkI from the Martlet mold, the Fairey dinghy brain trust  would continuously modify this design through 10 marks, with the Fairey MkX coming out around 1960.  The history is very hazy on who was responsible  for the modifications, but it is agreed that Charles Currey was the primary designer, and possibly Alan Vines and Alan Burnard also had some input. Even though the Fairey Marine International 14 is commonly attributed to Uffa Fox, if we want to be historically accurate, at some point, maybe starting with the Fairey MKIII, with the design sufficiently removed from the original, we should attribute the later Marks to Charles Currey.

1949 - Fairey Marine sends a Works Team to Barnstorm North America

Charles Currey and Tony Warrilow racing "Sunrise", a Fairey MkI, in Bermuda, the last leg of their 1949 North American tour (From Tom Vaughn's International 14 historical tome)

In what is probably the first known factory works team in the history of sailboat racing, Charles Currey with crew Tony Warrilow, in the original Fairey MkI, Sunrise, made a North American International 14 racing tour in the summer of 1949 (Montreal for the Canadian Championship, Essex, Connecticut for the Connecticut Cup, and Bermuda). Charles Currey won in all three regattas. (Not an overall win for the CDA but he did win the long distance race, the Viscount de Tunis Alexander cup.) His crew, Tony Warrilow, was described as a 'Tarzan' and the Fairey MkI was potent when power-reaching, going up against the older Douglas and McLeod Uffa Alarm  and the 1947 and 1949 Bourke's that made up the early post WWII fleet in North America. (This is pure speculation on my part but I wouldn't be surprised that government sponsorship was involved in this tour. The English government was very eager to get their war-ravaged economy back on it's feet, particularly looking to jump start exports to North America.)

1951 - George O'Day starts his famous boatbuilding company by importing Fairey Marine dinghies.

It would take two years but the Fairey Marine finally got their U.S. importer when George O’Day started his company, George O’Day and Associates, by importing Fairey Marine hot-molded dinghies, specifically the International 14, the Firefly, and the Jollyboat. Initially around ten Fairey MkI 14’s were purchased around the Boston area and a loosely connected New England fleet formed. George O'Day was to become a top competitor in the International 14's in the 1950's. (And would win the 1960 Olympic Gold Medal in the 5.5 class at the Naples Olympics.)

From these humble beginnings, as an importer of English hot-molded dinghies, George O'Day and Associates would morph into the largest fiberglass small boat manufacturer in the U.S. during 1960's.

"During this period it [George O'Day and Associates] was purportedly the largest builder of sailboats in the U.S. It employed 350 people, had 450 dealers, grossed $15 million a year, and sold more than 70,000 boats in all."[George O'Day by Dan Spurr, Good Old Boat, May 2002]

Stuart Walker's Analysis of the Designs of the 1950's

International 14's rounding a mark in Annapolis; mid 1950's. US 580 is Walt Lawson of Annapolis, K583 is the famous Windsprite, which made it over to the U.S., US 596 is Cmdr Bob Empey of Annapolis, and US 578 is Stuart Walker.

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I reprint Stuart Walker’s International 14 design analysis covering the most popular designs of the 1950's, written in "On The Plane", January 1959

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No Int. 14 has been outclassed in the last 20 years...Given proper conditions any one of the presently raced designs may have its day.

US One-Design

This design by Sandy Douglas was taken from Uffa Fox’s 1935 Alarm. In light air the low wetted surface and fine lines are almost unbeatable. It is capable of beating the best of the new boats upwind in moderate conditions.

Charles Bourke - pre 1950

These narrow 14's are still leading at the windward mark under almost any conditions. Usually best sailed by heavyweights.

Charles Bourke - 1951, 1953, 1958

The usual top boats in North American regattas, outstanding upwind, particularly in a breeze, but excellent planers as well. They take heavy crews and because they are so often sailed by top helmsmen they are difficult to evaluate objectively.

Fairey MkI through MkIX

These are probably the best all round 14’s. Although they have been improved gradually over the past 10 years, they rarely (except in planing) seem distinctly superior. However, with crews of all weights, upwind and downwind, in light and heavy airs, they always stay with the best. For consistency in series scoring they are hard to beat.

Austin Farrar

Since the original Windsprite (editor's note: Windsprite, sailed by Bruce Banks and Keith Shackleton had won four POW's in the 1950's) days of 1950, these boats have been considered the world’s best 14’s to windward in a breeze. Two design improvements since the original have apparently improved the off-wind ability as well. They are generally considered heavy weather boats; fine deep forefoots and broad flat after sections.

Ian Proctor

Two designs by this outstanding British designer are now in active competition. They are certainly excellent boats to windward (1st 1957 Buzzards Bay Bowl) and the new design is extremely fast planing as well.

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Editors Note:

As he wrote this Stuart had made up his mind for his new I-14 hull. He may have already had it in hand as he wrote this article for he would introduce her in 1959. It would be a Farrar design, Salute, which he would skipper to a POW win.

Ladies Aids

I mentioned in the post about the 1969 Kingston CORK regatta, the use of "ladies aids" in the pre-trapeze era; hiking aids that were essentially aluminum tubes you hung out from when hiking out. They seemed most popular with Stuart Walker and Sinjin Martin of the Annapolis fleet. I started crewing with Sinjin Martin as a teenager and remember hiking for all I was worth, hanging from one of those tubes, in the mid-60's.

I asked Sinjin about who invented them. He wasn't sure but he did say they were around at the very beginning of the Annapolis fleet, the mid 1950's. Back then they were steel conduit, attached to a track on the gunwhales, with a wire running from the conduit tube down to the centerline. The later versions were aluminum tube slotted into a slightly larger aluminum tube.

A photo of Stuart and Sinjin, full-on, hanging from the "Ladies Aids". This was the 1967 POW at Cowes.

Bekens of Cowes

Apologies for the non-PC term "Ladies Aids" but this was the 1950's and 1960's. The guy crews used them as much or more than the lady crews.

Long Beach "Worlds" - 1950

In July, 1950, the Californians hosted a "Worlds" at Long Beach, though technically we would consider it a North Americans since the attendees were all Americans, with the exception of the two Canadians making up the foreign contingent. This was the third of three consecutive years of major North American regattas, the previous two being; 1948 in Rochester N.Y., and 1949 in Montreal, Canada. These regattas would solidify the post WWII International 14 presence in North America, with strong fleets developing on both coasts and Canada (though, ironically, by 1950, the original Rochester Y.C. fleet was struggling and would not remain a viable fleet for too much longer).

The regatta would feature two series; a three race One-Design series, since the California fleet was now a one-design around the Douglass and McLeod hot-molded Alarm shape, and a three race Open Fleet series, which accommodated the development International 14 of the Canadians. (and the East Coast was moving toward an Open Fleet as well.) The USOD 14's raced in the Open Fleet (they were still International 14's) but it is unclear what the Canadians did while the One-Design series was held.

Bill Lapworth was the overall winner when the results of both series were added together (getting his name on the Founders Trophy) but Dick Stephens of Stockton would win the Open Fleet series. I was able to get the results of the Open Series off the Web which I post below (the hull numbers I have added as best I can).

To view this file, click on the pop-out icon on the top right of the window. This will put it on another tab on your browser.



I have posted this photo before on the CBIFDA blog and which I can now identify as taken at the 1950 Long Beach "Worlds" regatta.

Seattle Fleet Numbers from 1950 to 1963

View below in PDF format. It is best to put the file in another tab on your browser for viewing. Click on the pop-out icon (box with an arrow pointing to the right) on the top right of the PDF box to put the PDF file in another tab.

Fairey Marine Early International 14 Interiror

After readers comments and some pondering, I've concluded that I was incorrect in my first post. This is not a Douglass and McLeod interior, but, is instead, the interior to one of the early Fairey Marine (English) hot molded Uffa Fox 14's that were imported into the U.S. I've put the incorrect first post in quotes after the picture.

Incorrect first post:

"Not surprising that the Douglass and McLeod One-Design (hot molded Uffa Alarm hull shape) has an interior that looks very close to the Douglass and McLeod Thistle, since Sandy Douglass transferred most of the post WW II International 14 technology into the Thistle. The mast thwart, the small side tanks bracketing the centerboard thwart can still be seen in the modern day Thistle. (This following statement is wrong!) Here is a picture of a Douglass and McLeod One-Design interior, exact date of the photo unknown but I put it in the mid 1950's."

A video of how did they hot molded International 14's

This fascinating video shows Fairey Marine workers hot molding a Firefly in England. The technique is identical to the process used in the post WW II International 14 production of the Douglass and McCleod US One-Designs, the Davidson Alarms, all the Fairey Mk's, and the post war Bourke designs (National Research Council and Plycrafts).

I can't embed this video but click on this link here to view.

1958 USIFA Roster

One of the first things Stuart Walker did when he started the class newsletter 'On The Plane' in 1958 was compile a class roster. Good thing he did, as his roster is the best historical snapshot we have at who owned what 14 in 1958. I've redone the roster as a PDF file.

Pictures from the Peter Gale article

Here are two pictures that accompanied the Peter Gale article about the history of the International 14 in Southern California (again from the May 1992 issue of Planing On). Both pictures are of the molded-plywood, One-Design 'Alarm' shape. Pictures from the 1950's. (Again, click inside the picture to start a slideshow.)

Southern Californian One-Designs off the Long Beach waterfront.

I'm not sure if Sue Ficker is - or is not - related to Bill Ficker, skipper of Intrepid in the 1970's America's Cup.

Picture of Bruce Kirby sailing his MK 1 International 14

Bruce Kirby sent along a photo of him sailing his Mk 1 'Torch' design.

Bruce Kirby, On Designing his Mk 1

In a series of emails and a phone conversation, Bruce Kirby related the story behind his first sailboat design, his International 14 Mk 1:

• In 1957, his friend, Roger Hewson, built a one-off fiberglass International 14 “Imagination” to his own design. (Roger, being an engineer with a degree from McGill, also built his own mast and sails). Before he designed and built his design, Roger and Bruce took the lines off Roger’s 1951 Bourke and Graeme Hayward’s Fairey Marine Mk 7 (Uffa Fox) . Roger developed a crude device to take sections from the hull made of pieces of ¼” ply, about 4” long by 1 ½” wide. These pieces were chained together with short bolts and butterfly nuts and the whole length was draped over the hull,and the nuts were tightened down. The now curved jointed plywood piece with the section shape was taken off the hull and the section shape was drawn on a sheet of plywood, then the lines were scaled down and transferred to paper.
• Roger’s 14 design “Imagination” ran hot and cold. Roger kept recutting his sails. Bruce feels that the Roger’s hull was pretty good; there was just so many different ideas being tried out at the same time that it was difficult to pin down the problems.
• Bruce came back from 1958 World Championship Team Races and POW in Cowes determined to design a faster hull upwind in a breeze. The Canadians were quick in the light stuff (they did win the Team Race that year) but were badly outclassed by the Kiwis (Geoff Smale and Ralph Roberts sailing his modified Windsprite “Atua Hau”) in any breeze over 10 knots.
• Bruce designed the Mk 1 over the winter of 1958-1959. The Mk 1 was built in Lachine, near Montreal by Bob Harris (Bob, an Aussie, was a close friend who designed and built catamarans nearby). Before the first one was finished (Bruce’s own 14), three others had ordered Mk I hulls. One was George Cook, Royal Navy Undersea Demolition Frog Man in World Wat II and also a dinghy designer for a few years after the war, a fine sailor and old friend of Bruce's. Bruce can't recollect the other two, though one was from Pointe Claire Yacht Club near Montreal. Bruce Kirby’s Mk 1 was actually launched in early summer of 1959 and won it’s first race. When Roger Hewson saw the Mk 1 in the flesh he said his ‘Imagination’ design was the thin one and Bruce’s Mk 1 was the fat one. In the Mk 1, Bruce fined up the underwater sections in the bow but still flared the gunwhale shape full up forward to prevent nosediving downwind.
• Compared to the Uffa designs at that time, Bruce feels the Mk 1 was definitely faster upwind and downwind in a breeze but was slower in borderline planing conditions (too much wetted surface in the wider aft sections). Graeme Hayward, sailing his Uffa design was particularly fast off the wind.
• Two of the Kirby Mk 1’s, Bruce’s and Ward McKim’s, were on the Canadian team in 1961 that won the World 14 team racing championships held at Toronto.

More 14 History For Sale; 1955

It's not just recently that the Kiwi's, in sailing competitions, have been coming out of left field and waxing everybody. The America's Cup, in modern times, is the prime example of Kiwi skill and ingenuity, but they did it in International 14's back in 1958. With no local fleet to speak of, Kiwi's Geoff Smale and Ralph Roberts showed up in England with a locally built version of the Farrar Windsprite design, and then proceeded to win the POW cup with devastating heavy air speed. Geoff cut his own sails and also decided the English were wrong and had moved the whole rig 8 inches back on his International 14.

Amazingly, just in the last week, the sistership to Geoff Smale's "Atua Hau" (Maori "Te Atua Hau-Ora: God of Nature) has shown up on the Internet for sale. Unfortunately, offered in New Zealand or I'm sure someone in the Northern Hemisphere would jump on this offering.

Pictures I lifted from the ad (the sail number K 646 is correct, according to Tom Vaughn's 14 history bible, numbers K 641 through K 646 were assigned to New Zealand):

International 14 team from long ago get back together

Dr. Stuart Walker and his old International 14 crew, St. John Martin, got back together this Jan 1 2012, racing Stuart's Soling in the Severn Sailing Association's Ice Bowl.

Earwigoagin has the story over here.

Youtube Slideshow on Classic 14's from North America

Lots of Fox One-Designs. Early shots of Severn Sailing Association when it was first formed in Round Bay, Severn River.