"A Train" now up at Saratoga Lake Sailing Club

John Power of Connecticut, and head sailing instructor of Saratoga Lake Sailing Club, along with the news about his pickup of a Kirby III, also sends news that Bob Reeves' ex-Kirby IV, A Train, is now residing at Saratoga Lake Sailing Club. Saratoga Lake Sailing Club is embracing it's International 14 heritage and has picked up US 855 for use by their more talented juniors. Jim Biles of Annapolis, the owner of A Train for the last 30 years graciously donated the 14 to the sailing club. These are photos from 2018 of A Train sailing under a suit of more modern sails that had been kicking around the club.

KC-287: Restored and Then Destroyed

 Back in 2013, I received an email from a 16 year old Canadian who was restoring a 1960's International 14. That seemed somewhat odd. You don't often come across a teenager restoring a vintage racing dinghy... it's just not something that teenagers are into. She said it was a Grampian which indicated it would be a Buller II design. When I restarted up on this blog in September 2020, I sent out an email to some of the old contacts who mentioned they were restoring International 14's and I received one back from Nicole Armstrong-Smith, the teenager who was now a young adult.

"I did end up fully restoring the I14 – I’ve attached a .zip of photos to this email. It was a great high school project to do with my dad. I sold the boat in 2017 to another gentleman with a house on the lake in Port Dover, ON, Canada. Just a few weeks ago I saw a Kijiji advertisement with pictures of the boat saying he’s selling the masts, booms (I had 2 sets), sails, etc. because the boat hit the rocks and apparently there was nothing left of it. I shed a tear or two reading it..."

As you can see with the before and after photos, Nicole and her Dad did a superb job on bringing this Buller II back to pristine condition. What a shame that KC-287 no longer exists!

The Buller II had steps in the hull, both in forward and aft sections.

KC-287 in a new coat of red paint.

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Fred Buller was a renowned Canadian aeronautical engineer who was active in designing International 14's during the early 1960's. He added a lot to the history of the International 14 class and is worthy of a separate post later on.

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Update December, 2020: More details on KC287 from Canadian International 14 historian Rob Mazza:

"[KC] 287 was John Robertson's boat that he sailed in the 1967 team racing in England. He never liked the boat because he felt it had a hollow in it's run, which made it difficult to get on a plane! He sold the boat to the Grundland brothers at Queen City Yacht Club... It really is a shame that this great piece of 14 history was lost, especially having been so lovingly restored."

John Robertson racing KC287 in the 1967 POW, England

John Power; Stories from Saratoga

John Power sends me this interesting sea (actually lake) story filled with Int. 14 (and Firefly) lore from Saratoga Lake;

I actually have had just a little experience sailing 14s, I am perhaps one generation too late. But I have always been keenly interested in the older boats (the modern 14s which while impressive in their own right, are a bit too pricey and high tech for me)

When I was younger, I learned how to sail at Regatta Point Community Sailing in Worcester, Ma (a sister school to the famed Community Boating in Boston) The fellow that taught me to sail was a great guy named Allan Fearn. Al actually won the Firefly National Championships one year on Saratoga Lake, beating none other than Stuart Walker. The story among the old time Firefly/Jet14/I14 crowd at the club is that the chapter in Walker's Tactics book relating to wind around land masses on inland lakes is about the big hill on the east side of Saratoga Lake, and comes from this regatta specifically. I don't know that it is 100% true, but its a cool story and could be very probable.

Anyhow, I was a pretty large kid when I was a teen. Most of the kids at the lake were buying their own Lasers and Force Fives...AL talked me into buying an old Fairey Marine FIREFLY #2828 and thats how I got hooked. (Incidentally, 2828 was built in 1963 and I was built in 1965!) During college I did not sail much, but I had seen my first Thistle.....I have now owned 4, until recently, graduating, or perhaps stepping down to a J28 Cruiser. At my first Thistle Nationals in 89, I met Bill and we got talking about old 14s and he ended up owning my old Firefly. A few years later, I was laid off from my teaching job in CT and ended up teaching for a while up near Saratoga, meeting the old 14 crowd etc. So that is my connection and keen interest in these cool old boats.

About 10 years ago, there were a few of the old 14 fleet that wanted to start a classic 14 group on the lake. At that time John Carcich had mailed (pre email!) the folks at Saratoga to see if anyone wanted 970.(I almost bought 970 then, but I knew the boat meant a lot to Bill since he had raced against it and John Carcich when he was younger, so I passed on buying it and he bought if from Carcich). Later Bill came across and rescued the D&M while at a thistle regatta in FL. Unfortunately one of the jump starters of the classic 14 fleet shortly became ill with Alzheimer's and the movement fizzled. Bill has been making noises about selling his boats for several years and I think he is now at the point he might sell them.

There are a few 14s left up in the area and I think they could be persuaded to sail a few times each season...I would be very interested in that, and perhaps going to a classic regatta or two should I be able to find a seaworthy boat. The only 14s that i have sailed was an old Fairy MK6 and plastic PSI Proctor 7 i think? Both were single trap boats with big genoas and chutes -GREAT FUN in some breeze!

There is a fellow named JOHN BOOTH who has 3 boats at the moment, the two I sailed and a Proctor Hull that I think won the P.O W cup, the boats name is ARIADNE - Bill would know the exact details about this boat, and could fill you in on the history. I m sure there are a few other boats lurking in the area, there used to be a couple fiberglass ones that sailed on the lake on occasion.

YouTube Head Scratcher?

John Power from Saratoga Lake sent a nice email (several actually). I'll devote another post to his 14 stories. John did give me a link to a YouTube video of a bare, varnished 14 hull and asked;

"Wondered if you had seen this? The locals up at Saratoga think this is one that was built by JOHN SCARANO (google Scarno boats and check out the scarano 21 and 22)"

Indeed the video does show a very pretty International 14 hull, a Classic but with modern lines.........



Well John, talk about six degrees of separation. There are probably five or so people who know what hull this is and I'm one of them.... all the parties involved are very good friends of mine. (As you probably guessed by now, this isn't a Scarano design.)

This is a Bob Ames Mk2 hull (Bob is the designer of the Vanguard 15). Three were built by Ovington Boatbuilders in Northern England in the mid 80's; two were double bottom glass hulls, and one was wood with a cold molded bottom and ply sides. The wood one was a bare shell, owned by Bill Moss, who proceeded to install a seat tank layout, even though the class in the mid-80's had gone double trapeze with assymetric spinnakers. Bill, being a bachelor, did all the boatbuilding in his living room and it took a while. When he had completed the hull, Bill realized he now had a 14 that was not competitive, so the 14 remained as a living room centerpiece for many years. Bill eventually sold the 14 hull and all the parts to a fellow in Vermont. Bob, Bill, and I had dinner with the fellow when he arrived to take the hull North. No idea if this hull ever got completed to a sailing stage.

How do I absolutely know this is the Bill Moss Ames 2? Bill built the tripod out of phenolic tube, the only 14 that I know had a phenolic tube tripod instead of aluminum.