Early Days of Racing in Woods Hole
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Early Days of Racing in Woods Hole Browne Littell TI,e centennial of d,e Woods Hole Yacht Club spring-loaded pair of wooden arms let the stick drop prompted me to look back [0 the very early days of straight aft. local yachting in Woods Hole. Last year also marked Dude was built on the moulds of Coq" ina, Nathanael the centennial of The Enterprise; some of its earliest Herreshofrs own favorite daysailer. Dtule used issues describe the growing use of local waters (or r ec~ Coquina's steering method; instead of a tiller there rcation. Even ea rlier, before the WHYC or The Enter was a continuous rope nmning uuollgh blocks in the prise were founded, the [owns around Buzzards Bay transom lead ing to the back end of the mddcr. On the sponsored regattas wid, cash pri zes. The enrries were plan, there seems to be a larger nldder with a norm al largely catboats of working origin. head penciled in. Perhaps it was made for D"de or perhaps it was for Wiz, a sister boat made for A. C. The first Woods Hole Opcn Town Regatta was in Harrison in 1898. Eventually Herreshof( built five 1884. There were certainly catboats in that regatt.1, boats for A.C. Harrison and his brother, Frazier. Wiz bod, local and oursiders. There were probably numer· was 11498 on d,e Herreshoff list; #499 wa s the two OtiS sprirsa il s as well, judgi ng by the fact that the time America's Cup defender Co["mbia . These sp rit~ Woods Hole Spritsail Explorer was not rega rd ed as any sa il boats cosr $325, including two sails and two sizes sort of prototype when Crosby built her in 1885. In of hollow spars. TIlar is only a little more Ulan the January 1896, months ahead of the formal organiza reported cost of u"\ e Ex,)/orer. tion of the WHYC, H.E. Hibbard ordered cl,e sprirsail Dude fTom Nad,anael Herreshoff. She was to be d,e In July 1896, The Enterprise reported, "TIle Fourth passed off very qUietly in this place. No serious a cci~ first Class A boat, a modern racing boat rather dwn dents being reporred up to dare. The only excitement the traditional Woods Hole Sprirsail fishing boac The of the day was two boat races 0(( Penzance in tl"\c after~ logo on the cover of this journal is of a working sprir, noon. Mr. S. Cahoon in his own boat The Politician sa il, built to endure bad weather and rough seas. In succeeded in winning first prize in the special race and contrast, Hcrreshofrs plans show d13( Dilde was of Mr. Walter E. Nickerson, in a boat built and owned very light construction. A flush lap, or shiplap, by Norton and Grinnell, was awarded the prize in the method of joining her planks was used because they second. The sea was very smooth and the wind vel)' were too thin to be caulked. It was like making a sca rf light and the lime made was very slow. Luge crowds along the whole length of [he planks, painting the gathered ar different places along the course and con edges wicll va rnish and fastening them together with siderable exci rement prevailed at the finish of both clenched tacks. Instead of du~ high coarning of the races as the difference in time was vel)' slight." fi shing spritsail, only waterways, looking like little side decks, kept the water out when the boat heeled. "S. Cahoon" was 5:lIn Cahoon, a notable skipper who Instead of a heavy cast mem l mast partner or gate, a al so becanle famou s as the proprietor of Cahoon's 19 ,.'.... , , .- . - .- .- -- ' H I I---~ • • .1- - - ~ ~ ~.ft'./;'r,,:, , "j.. ~......-.;t 't:.r...-.#If. .x-..a;4 ~/f ""'"' . ~. - r .. · .... ~ I, ...... I'-'- '-I>- 1 Jr- .. 4..- ~ . ~/J.· ....... f- ~ ~,:.,.~ ,. ~ "-'.L- f·~..,,:.,t. ""'~if " *"-' ~ I '---_ .J j - .IeAU" ,-. 1', ----._ ,.,.... u_.. Dude was built fro m these constr\.lc[ion plans in 1896 and her sister WiZ in 1898. Courtesy Haffenreffer.l-lcrresho (( Collection, Hart NauDcaVMlT Museum. Fish Market in W oods Hole. Sa m Cahoon did not 'fh" En<e$is< noted, "A yacht dub is being S"uted in join me WHYC when it was formed, perhaps because this place, an organization meeting will be held shortly." at the time A.C. Harriso n employed him as a When the club bega n its raCing, there were three boatman. Presumably Norton and G rinnell asked a classes: catboats, spritsail s and knockabouts. The guest skipper to race their boat because they were knockabouts were not related to the Cape Cod carpenters, not fi shermen who would know all the Knocka boms of today but were a mixed class of vagaries of the local winds and currents. In July 1896, bowspritless boats similar LO the Herreshoff Buzza rd s 20 Bay 15 footers. Most were keel-centerboarders. The The next extant record of the WHYC is an 1898 year~ picture on the inside back cover of the Winter 1992 book at the MystiC Seaport Museum that had SprilSail, Vol. 6 No. I, is probably of one of them. One belonged to the Woods Hole artist Franklin u,wis was Vireo, owned by Gerrit and Waldo Forbes, Gifford, later a Commodore of the WHYC. n le year grandsons of Ralph Waldo Emerson. ViTeo was built book includes clubhouse rules, the rul es for the 21' by Herreshoff in 1895 for their father, W.H. Forbes, a and 25' classes, the racing rules and tide rabies. Rule Civil War hero who was present at me surrender at XX divides the spritsails inm Class A, modem racing Appomattox and who died in 1897. A trophy was given type, and Class B, Woods Hole fi shing type. Neither for knockaboucs in 1897. The En<erprise predicted, type could have more than one sa il, mainstay, baLten "Sam Cahoon is to bring a knockabout from Lawley's, or club. The hoist could not exceed cllC length of the Boston mis week and he is expected to be heard from boat. That length was not stated, but was probably not in the next race for this prize." more than I3 1/2'. nle boat had to carry at least 300 Ibs of ballast Also in 1897, A.M. Ferris offered d,e trophy he had on display in State Senamr wscombe's office for a The three Herreshoff Class A boats had no bal"st three~race series to be sa iled one after the other by lady installed. Nevertheless The En<erprise reported thar the skippers in spritsails. A man might hold the sheet and Dude "sank like a rock" in about forty feet of water act as ball ast. The day of the race the wind was when two srudenrs carryi ng too much sail for the "exceed ing brisk" which held me enLTies down to strong tidal current in Woods Hole capsized her. The seven. \We don't get that many out for a Ladies race paper noted that the Herreshoff racer had been the today.) In the first race a collision disqualified dle first winner of several prizes. She was not wrecked and was two boats, allowing K. T., sailed by Mrs. Jameson, to raised from th e bonom to race aga in . Her owner's win. "The second and third races were both won by grandson said dlat Dude was sold (0 a sailor in the In It sailed by Miss Priscill a Harding, a dainty Quisserr in the 1920s. Just what the ground rules were Mi ss of eleven years whose skill and judgment in for me two classes of spritsail boats is a puzzle. Some bringing her boat in a winner caused many of the old times a Class A boat, usually D"de, sa iled with C la ss salts to gaze in wonder." B. someti mes winning, sometimes not. Perhaps she was using a smaller sa il as a handicap. Severa l trice There was a penchant at that time for cash prizes and results give corrected times. In 1898, race results show special silver cups. In 1898, A.C. Harrison gave three five boats in Class A and ten in Class B widl the Class purses for a spritsa il race open to both classes. It was A boats winning. won by Wil, the new Herreshoff boat described ear lier, which belonged to the Harrisons. The breeze was Prince Crowell said d13t d,ere were two Poruand boars very strong and several boats dropped out. The report in Class A in addition to the Herreshoffs. His Mary said mat Wit beat Dude by over five minures and that E. is mentioned in the results of the calboat cla ss. "dearly demonsLTated her superior saili ng qualities." The writer apparencly did not know that they were The term "corrected time" is used again in the report sister boats and there was no difference in clleir sailing that Eddy Swift's SP'.1 won a "pretty contest" over Com qualities. I think Lhat the difference was Sam Cahoon. mcxlore Ferris' new Emma built by Charles Eldred. Years later Sam Cahoon had a Cape Cod Knockabout Spy was designed and built by Eddy Swi ft and is now called Whil wid, the H. on display at the WHHC Small Boar Museum. Fred 21 {~~~~................... , " , . .j : , ~ ~ ~ t . ~ ~ ~ ":.. ~". ~ j If", ~O¥JI'.L/ ' ~ . - ,,/;,4' r____. I.1:."'-1. ~--.,.., . ~_A~~4,. ~ . .d' , . ___ nt.... .r.Id,..JFnN;~j __ ~' _ ___~_ n:-.