Daydreamer
SAILOR
Isis
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New Boat 4 Sled
- Thread starter sleddog
- Start date
Isis
Thank you Daydreamer for the photo of ISIS at anchor at Hanalei! In my absence, Jackie will front you the shave ice flavor of your choice at Hanalei Village! Alternatively, there is shaved ice nearby here to CBC's front dock.
Unbeknownst to many, ISIS, built by C&B of cold moulded cedar strips in 1979, created an undercurrent of concern in the Santa Cuz ULDB boat building community: could a wood boat be built locally lighter than the fiberglas sleds being designed and built by Bill Lee, the Moore Bros., Alsbergs, George Olson?
Gary Mull thought so, and ISIS was the result. Santa Cruz concern broke out into controversy and verbal challenges were issued. The upshot was Gary Mull and the Alameda Mafia challenged the Santa Cruz boat building community to an ice hockey match. Mull and friends skated regularly. The Santa Cruz contingent not so much. I do know Walter Oliveri, an All-American football player and Moore 24 sailor at 250 pounds showed up on skates. There were injuries. People went to the hospital. The final score was indecisive.
ISIS raced the first Pacific Cup Race in 1980 from Ballena Bay YC to Nawiliwili, Kauai. Boats were late to the start, stuck in the mud of the South Bay. The fleet sailed away from the start line off Bakers Beach and into a all consuming high pressure. On ISIS it was so glassy for several days we went swimming, collecting nearby glass balls..
ISIS never left Hawaii. She was sold to Robbie B, who has her to this day. Good memories. ISIS still looks good with her typical Gary Mull bow and vertical stern. I spread a lot of glue on that boat 43 years ago.
Doggies.
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LIVELY LADY is a strip plank Mull 30 built in 1967 by American Marine in Hong Kong. Same company that built Grand Banks. LIVELY LADY is a different design to ISIS, which does not have a transom hung rudder. ISIS design came from G MULL's office 12 years after LIVELY LADY and is likely much lighter. ISIS was cold moulded of 3 skins of 1/4" yellow cedar. We used a lot of staples to build her hull. All the staples were pulled after the epoxy cured.
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Oceanslogic
Member
What an interesting history on ISIS! Such a nice looking boat. Thanks for sharing Sleddog!
Another 30 footer that comes to mind would be the Frog 30 "Prince Charming"...Any background info from Mr. Spruit regarding that cool yellow boat?
Any ideas where the Burns 30 Skidoo ended up?
Wow Sled- what a story ! Thanks for sharing it !
Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
Howard Spruit
New member
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Oceanslogic
Member
Wow...Thanks for the info Howard! Those snippets of history are always so interesting. Overall...How did Prince match up with Pacific High and the Olson 30's once they were on the scene? It sounds like Prince matched up quite well with the SC27's 
Here's a picture of Prince for those not familiar with the design.
Here's a picture of Prince for those not familiar with the design.
solosailor
New member
That "Van de Stadt" was Starbuck, singlehanded Transpac vet. When I bought her in '98?? I contacted the VDS design office to purchase hull/line drawing of the boat. I ended up buying the entire run of drawings for the build. The guy that responded to me at the office told me the Black Soo was being designed when he first started working there, very cool.
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Solosailor: If you know of anyone, there is "largely complete AZURRA 31 of carbon fiber, with carbon mast tube, sprit, custom pulpit and stanchions" for sale in Port Townsend by its professional builder. The future owner of this "rocket ship" has been forced to give up his dream due to health issues.
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solosailor
New member
Dan, Jim, & Jack have been in touch since they started working on the raw hull a couple years back now after she sat at Alameda Marina for a decade. Been exchanging information, pics, ideas, etc. Sorry to hear that the build stopped.... someone is going to be very fortunate to get her. Most of the interior build was complete last pics I saw.
Howard Spruit
New member
Wow...Thanks for the info Howard! Those snippets of history are always so interesting. Overall...How did Prince match up with Pacific High and the Olson 30's once they were on the scene? It sounds like Prince matched up quite well with the SC27's
View attachment 8589
Here's a picture of Prince for those not familiar with the design.
Pac High was always boat for boat faster than both the O30s and Prince. Between Prince and the 030s gear handling and crew quality were often the deciding factors. Terry won more than his fair of races for 20+ years with Prince. The O30s and Pac HI had to give Prince PHRF handicap time.
MAGICdreamer
Member
If I remember correctly - and that is not a given - sailmaker, Don Goring was involved with a MORC hotrod name STARBUCK back in the late 60's/early 70's. Is Prince this the speedy craft?
Standing on a corner
in Davenport, California,
And such a fine sight to see.
It's a boat, My Lord, on a flatbed Ford,
Slowing down to take a look at me.
My admiration for the 67 year old Black Soo design, STARBUCK, runs deep. As researched extensively in mid-October 2012, page 20 on this thread, STARBUCK, a 30' E.G. Van de Standt, hardchine design, built of plywood, planed circles around the local SF Bay racing fleet beginning in the late 60's.
STARBUCK's "sportboat" design ultimately won 7 SSS Season Championships, as well as the Long Pac and SHTP. STARBUCK was also inspiration for George Olson's GRENDEL, the forerunner of the Moore 24, as well as near sister MIRAGE, PRINCE CHARMING in Santa Cruz, and the now legendary 62' INFIDEL (RAGTIME) built in New Zealand in 1965. STARBUCK is the red hull in the photos above.
What few remember, or will forget, is STARBUCK's spectacular closure of Highway 1 to traffic, as well as Half Moon Bay's 3 man police force scratching their heads on how best to clear their roadway.
It was the summer of 1968, or maybe '69. There may have been drugs involved. George Olson had been repairing Don Goring's new STARBUCK in Santa Cruz. It was time to deliver STARBUCK back to San Francisco. George borrowed Bill Lee's tow vehicle, a doorless, blue, Mustang convertible. STARBUCK was loaded on a rusty Cal-25 trailer, used for miscellaneous boat deliveries back in the day of early Santa Cruz boat building.
George, with STARBUCK in tow, got somewhere south of Half Moon Bay, on a narrow section of Highway 1, when a trailer tire blew, an axle broke, or both. It was never quite determined, as the trailer became detached from the car, crumpled, and disappeared over the cliff, leaving STARBUCK laying on her side across both lanes of Highway 1.
By the time police arrived, George had already sprung into action. In the trunk of the Mustang, from his tool box, George retrieved a large socket wrench, climbed inside STARBUCK's cabin, and began loosening nuts on the keel bolts. The cops arrived, surveyed the scene, and gave George 15 minutes to get the boat off the road before it too would be rudely pushed to the side. Fortunately again, there was a large flatbed wrecking truck in consort with the police.
With the keel bolts free, George recruited not only the men in blue, but about two dozen bystanders. Without the keel, they picked STARBUCK up, and loaded her black hull onto the flatbed truck. Next, the wrecker's winch was secured to the iron keel, and that too was pulled aboard the flatbed.
In seemingly no time at all (more like an hour), STARBUCK was headed south, back to George's shop in Santa Cruz, this time to repair a bad case of road rash.
We may lose and we may win.
But we'll never be here again.
So open up, I'm climbin' in,
Take it easy........
STARBUCK in her original configuration sans sugar scoop
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Like many harbors and marinas, Santa Cruz attempts to discourage nuisance wildlife like anchovies, pigeons, herons, seagulls, rats, and sealions. Most of these attempts have met with failure, like seagulls perching atop plastic owls, and the short lived and illegal practice of the Harbor Patrol tagging sealions with paintballs.
The latest attempt is using plastic coyotes on docks and boats. These realistic decoys are meant to discourage geese. Their effect on sealions has been minimal at best.
In the background is a SC-50 with a good example of using slackened and padded lifelines as hiking aids. Call me old fashioned, but this practice used offshore is dangerous. The owner of this very SC-50 was pitched from the cockpit through the lifelines at dusk while running down a breezy Santa Barbara Channel. His body was not recovered until the following day.
The latest attempt is using plastic coyotes on docks and boats. These realistic decoys are meant to discourage geese. Their effect on sealions has been minimal at best.
In the background is a SC-50 with a good example of using slackened and padded lifelines as hiking aids. Call me old fashioned, but this practice used offshore is dangerous. The owner of this very SC-50 was pitched from the cockpit through the lifelines at dusk while running down a breezy Santa Barbara Channel. His body was not recovered until the following day.
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Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
Good One! Thanks, Jackie! GWENDOLYN, with Tod and Synthia and PORK CHOP EXPRESS are approaching Oahu on their successful crossing of the Kauai Channel yesterday enroute to de-rig, haul to trailer, and deliver to Matson. Hope the Awards at Lihue Sailing Club was fun. SIREN is a now a new resident of Nawiliwili? Good on Brendan for his donation.
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