VOLUME II / ISSUE 2 MARCH/APRIL 2004 On the Cover... Sea Trials of a Doug Zurn Boating by Design .............................. 3 design Explorer 65 off Miami, Florida. The Flying Higgins ................................... 6 Log of “The Scorpion” 1899 .................. 10 Officers Building Wooden Boats .......................... 14 Commodore Andrew Hanks ............. 476-7328 [email protected] U.S.S. Wolverine .................................................... 5 Vice Commodore Richard Vicary ...... 456-6813 [email protected] Closing Day at PDYC .......................................... 8 Rear Commodore James Means ... 833-4358 [email protected] 2002 Trans Erie Race ......................................... 12 Fleet Captain John Murosky ......... 456-7797 [email protected] Spring Launch ..................................................... 13 Directors This First Mates Log ......................................... 15 P/C Peter Traphagen .................... 838-1225 The “Uncommon” Union .................................... 18 [email protected] CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS David Arthurs .............................. 455-3935 [email protected] Nick Van Horn ............................. 838-6640 [email protected] James Edgett ............................. 835-1120 [email protected] David Penman ............................ 474-1648 From the Bridge [email protected] Fleet Captain John Murosky Edward Schuler ........................... 434-4724 [email protected] Richard Nagle .............................. 474-2934 [email protected] Greetings fellow members. Your bridge has Vice Commodore Richard Vicary is working asked me to bring you up to speed on some diligently on the cost analysis for the pool to Log Staff of what’s on our plates. present to the membership. We understand The North breakwall in front of the Club- there are mixed feelings for this project, but John Ashby.................................... 455-2757 house is still on target for completion before we ask you to at least be open minded during [email protected] opening day ceremonies. our investigation process. Irene Boyles ................................. 899-6606 We are looking at enhancing the appearance Your input is important to us so please feel [email protected] of our main gate with a custom metal gate. free to drop a note in our mailboxes, email us Hopefully much of the materials and labor or give us a call with your ideas. Jan Stachelek................................ 459-6991 will be provided by donations from members. In closing, I would like to share with you [email protected] Rear Commodore Jim Means is looking into some words that just plain made me feel some possible renovations in the grill room good about boating: Sandy Will ................................... 833-0303 such as traffic flow, safety, access to the deck “Some ships sail with the wind, some ships [email protected] via the grill room, new equipment for han- use power to go, some ships are old, some Sue Parry.................................... 838-7740 dling of glasses and an additional computer ships are new, some ships are white, some workstation. They are also investigating the ships are blue, but the only kind of ship that [email protected] level of service and various ways to increase cannot sink is .....a friendship!” Judy Emling ................................ 833-3293 member satisfaction. [email protected] Directory Doc Bressler ................................ 833-1497 [email protected] Club House ......................... 453-4931 Club House Fax .................. 453-6182 Fuel Dock/Guard House..... 456-9914 Canoe House ...................... 453-6368 Alex Webster ............................... 323-3954 [email protected] EYC Web: www.erieyachtclub.org E-mail: [email protected] Mike Orelski ................................ 899-7762 Created, Designed & Published by J.G. Ashby Advertising, Inc. [email protected] BBoatingoating byby DDesignesign ...then...then andand nownow by Doug Zurn Marine Island 46 It doesn’t seem that long ago I was mess- Thirty years later I own my own design firm. tion and put it into a form that serves the indi- ing about the Yacht Club basin in an 8’ Dyer While sailing clearly had a strong influence viduals function. Our most recognized design Midget. PeDug was her name (the brothers; on me in my youth, powerboats are now the to date would be the Shelter Island Runabout, Peter and Doug) and I remember her fondly topic of conversation for most of my waking originally commissioned by musician Billy because she could do everything. She sailed hours. I still race on a weekly basis and we Joel. Joel, and builder Peter Needham of well, rowed well and with the little Evinrude still dabble in sail but the U.S. market is so Coecles Harbor were interested in producing we had, she powered well. When they built limited it is difficult to do anything that does- a limited run (probably 10 boats at best we her they left out the white pigment in the gel- n’t price you out of the market. Catalina, thought) commuter boat. They had prepared coat on the bottom. This was to let light Hunter, and J-boats are hard to compete a six page specification, complete with through when she was stowed atop the cabin against and the more expensive ones usually sketches (rudimentary at best), and issued house hatch on Kahili I (the sisters; Karen, end up offshore in Europe, Asia or New them to twelve different firms, ours being one Heidi & Lisa). But what was really cool about Zealand. We’ll keep dabbling though. of them. From these sketches I developed a the clear bottom is you could see the water The way I usually describe our services to bid package that included some hand drawn rushing by, as she would power up under sail. perspective clients, or even curious foe, is color profiles, an arrangement plan, a Could this have some bearing on why I do that we are simply liaisons. Every client we detailed specification, tooling estimates, and what I do today? Perhaps. have had has had something in mind before The house in which we lived in the 1960’s he or she called us. We extract that informa- continued on page 4 was perched just above the Yacht Club From my room on the third floor I watched all the activity at the Club as seasons came and went. I remember brunches at the old club- house. Our path down the back was an expressway in the morning and afternoons as my brother and sisters went to and from activ- ities at the Club. I have many fond memories. In the early seventies my father, Frank Zurn, commissioned Jim McCurdy of McCurdy and Rhodes, NA, to design him a new boat to be built of aluminum. I was nearly ten at the time Kahili II was launched in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. During her construction I had a couple of opportunities to visit the yard with my parents and their friends in tow. What a fantastic time I had climbing about the boat as she came to life. About the same time, drawings of Kahili II were framed and hung in my room. I studied the intricacies of each of these drawings; they fascinated me. Doug Zurn at the helm of his Explorer 65 Design Sandpiper off the coast of Maine. 3 Photo Courtesy of ZYD Photo Courtesy of ZYD Photo Courtesy of Billy Black (l to r) You can almost feel the comfort and class of the Bridge Deck and beautiful Main Boating by Design Saloon of the Zurn Yacht Design Explorer 65. The ZYD Vanguard 24 Center Console, at her (continued from page 3) Miami Boat Show Debut. a speed estimate. I eventually won the job. area we will not compromise is safety. You modern technology. The boats look great and The boat was very successful in all respects. get caught in a squall, you had better be cer- run flat, fast, soft and dry. It hit all the numbers on performance and tain your boat can not only handle it, but give Working with me in Marblehead is Craig exceeded all our expectations on numbers you a sense of security and get you home Gorton, a veteran boat driver, charter skipper, sold with 36 sold to date. The magic of this safe. The thirty-eight footer grew to forty- boat builder (at TPI Composites), and a cur- boat is that it was really a wolf in sheep’s eight and is called the Maine Island 46. She rent Westlawn student and my wife, Kerry clothing: it is pretty, low, and looks slow, but will be built by Lyman-Morris Boat Building in it goes like hell. We wanted 48 knots, we got Thomaston, Maine and will be offered as a 48 knots. She floated right on her lines, ran limited production/semi-custom boat. straight and level. I was really pleased. These boats have all led to other commis- I’ll occasionally design a boat on specula- sions: the Marlow Explorer series of long tion. I’ll spend forty-sixty hours drawing up a range motor yachts for Marlow Marine; the set of hull lines, profiles and arrangements. I Shelter Island 50, a 56 knot express cruiser; might even do a color rendering. This is pre- the Vanguard 24 runabout and center con- cisely how I got the SI Runabout commission. sole; the mJm 34z for Bob Johnstone’s new Peter Needham had seen a profile of a boat I had drawn on speculation. The boat was the Harbour Island 37 and it was on dis- Grace - a mJm® 34z® cruising off Newport, RI. Photo Courtesy of K. Ryman A ZYD Gloucester 20 in the Chesepeke. Photo Courtesy of P. Needham powerboat company, which was just introduced this summer; and the A fleet of ZYD Shelter Island Runabouts at Gloucester 20, a center console fisher- Coecles Harbor marine in Shelter Island, NY. man, also introduced this summer. I keep drawing sailboats and sending play at Able Marine’s booth at the Maine Boat them around but what comes back is Builder’s Show. I had once worked for Able commissions for powerboats. That’s Photo Courtesy of Billy Black and they were happy to hang my drawing on ok and understandable because the their wall, as long as they could build the boat.