A sea of 900 Bull's Eyes

Barbara Veneri
Sea Notes

bveneri@hotmail.com

For 102 years, Cape Cod Shipbuilding in Wareham has been making boats that people all over southern New England and the world have been sailing -- Cape Cod Mercuries, Bull's Eyes and Herreshoffs, among others.
This year, the company reached a milestone as they finished the ninth Bull's Eye of 2001 in August. That boat also marked the 900th Bull's Eye the company has built in its 102-year history.
Named "Maude," Bull's Eye No. 900 will sail out of Stonington, Maine.

In Sippican Harbor in Marion, more than 50 Bull's Eyes compete in one-design fleet races every summer. The fiberglass Bull's Eye is a marconi-rigged sloop that has aluminum spars and oiled teak trim.
Designed by Captain Nathaniel Herreshoff in 1914, the boat measures 15 feet, eight inches, and weighs 1,350 pounds. Herreshoff's design is known as the H-12 ½ and was designed for the wind and waves of Buzzards Bay.
In 1947, E. L. Goodwin of Cape Cod Shipbuilding added a cuddy cabin and modified the spars to today's Cape Cod Bull's Eye.
In addition to the boats in Sippican Harbor, other Bull's Eye fleets along the East Coast -- including Miami and Key Largo, Fla.; Fishers Island, N.Y.; Cataumet, Marblehead, and Rockport in Massachusetts; and Manset and Southwest Harbors in Maine -- come together annually for the Bull's Eye Nationals, which were raced this year in Southwest Harbor.
Myron and Charles Gurney established Cape Cod Shipbuilding in 1899 in Wareham on the "Narrows." E.L. Goodwin bought the company in 1939 and the company began producing wooden tugboats for the armed forces during World War II. In 1947, after 50 years of making wooden boats, Cape Cod Shipbuilding pioneered fiberglass boat construction. The popular Cape Cod Mercury -- used in area school sailing programs for many years -- and the Bull's Eye were two of the first boat designs converted from wood to fiberglass.
In 1979, Gordon Goodwin took over as president of the company from his father, and Gordon's daughter Wendy Goodwin-Kelley became vice president in 1998.

It's boat show time again.

The Newport International Boat Show hoists its masts, raises its flags and revs its engines for the 31st year Sept. 13-16th at four show locations -- the Newport Yachting Center, Oldport Marine, Bannister's Wharf and the West Wind Marina.

Organizers have lined up several speakers for seminars at the show, including Stars & Stripes skipper Ken Read. Read plans to talk about the 2000 America's Cup challenge as well as show slides from the Louis Vuitton and America's Cup match races. Read's talk is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 13, at 4:30 p.m. in the classroom tent at the Newport Yachting Center.

Also scheduled to speak are staff members and competitors from the Around Alone race, the longest single-handed sailboat race in the world which travels 27,000 miles of the earth's roughest oceans and most remote locations.

The Around Alone seminar begins at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15, with an introduction from Richard Cooper, managing director of Clipper Ventures PLC.

He plans to cover the history of the race, some of its shining moments and the vision of the race for 2002, the Around Alone's 20th anniversary year.

Following Cooper's talk, a panel of past and present Around Alone competitors will answer questions from the audience.

Other topics in this year's seminar series include the following ...

Experiment in Survival: Our 56-Day Ocean Trek in a Rubber Raft; Changing Course: A Woman's Perspective on the Cruising Life; Boat Chartering in the World's Most Exotic Locations; The Reality of New England Hurricanes; and Outbound: Connecticut to Scotland Aboard the 33-Foot Clarity.

According to boat-show director Nancy Piffard, the show's tagline this year is "It's not just a boat show, it's a tradition."

"Over 72 percent of attendees come back year after year to see what's new and different," she said. "I think this year it will be the seminars and new boat debuts that will bring people in."

The NIBS is the first boat show of the fall season, and debuting this year is the Packet Craft 360 Express, the first power boat from Island Packet.

Beneteau is showing the Beneteau 36.7 for the first time in the U.S., and the Beneteau 393 is making its East Coast debut. German manufacturer Hanse is also showing boats for the first time at Newport.

Tickets cost $10 for one day, $20 for two days, $30 for three days plus a $1 handling fee if purchased in advance. They cost $15 for one day, $25 for two days or $35 for three days if purchased at the show. Children under 12 get in free if accompanied by an adult. Group rates are available, and the seminars are free with a show ticket. You can purchase tickets by calling 1-800-582-7846 or on-line at www.NewportBoatShow.com.

In last week's Sea Notes, we reported on the Beverly Yacht Club Junior Regatta, held Aug. 20-21 in and outside Sippican Harbor. However, we forgot to include the Club 420 Class, which, with more than 75 boats competing, comprised the largest class in the BYC junior event.

Here are the results:

1. Ben Sampson, Plymouth, 9 pts.; 2. Eric Savery, Chappaquoit, 18 pts.; 3. Hans Jensen, Duxbury Bay, 21 pts.; 4. Jeff Laine, BYC, 25 pts.; 5. Brian Goodwin, Vineyard Haven, 32 pts.; 6. D. J. Driscoll, Duxbury Bay, 37 pts.; 7. David Meleney, Vineyard Haven, 38 pts.; 8. Jamie Scarbrough, Scituate Harbor, 39 pts.; 9. Ben Komar, Plymouth, 42 pts.; 10. Andrew Bercouvici, Chappaquoit, 55 pts. 11. Peter Schwebac, Orleans, 58 pts.; 12. James Corner, Edgartown, 64 pts.; 13. Craig Fagan, Duxbury, 72 pts.; 14. Adam Oliveira, BYC, 77 pts.; 15. Tripp Potter, Vineyard Haven, 77 pts.; 16. Zack Kavanaugh, NBYC, 83 pts.; 17. Kit Will, Wianno, 87 pts.; 18. Thomas Leach, Scituate, 92 pts.; 19. Katie Smith, Chappaquoit, 97 pts.; 20. Emily Babbitt, NBYC, 107 pts.

The Mattapoisett Yacht Club last racing event of the season was the annual MYC Pursuit Race, sailed Saturday Aug. 25.

In the Pursuit Race, sailors competed in two classes, Cruising and Racing, on a course of 12.6 miles. Winds were light easterlies, moving around to the south and southwest later in the day. The race began at 11:30 a.m. and didn't wrap up until after 4 p.m. when racers gathered at the yacht club's boathouse on the grounds of the Mattapoisett Boat Yard for the Commodore's Clam Boil.

Finishing first in the Cruising class was Gryphon II, a Pearson Triton skippered by Sue McGowan, followed by Brian Lynch in Survivor, an O'Day Tempest and Gil Canastra in TireLess, an Islander 40, both of whom finished 12 minutes behind Gryphon II.

In the Racing class, Wesley Wood's Tomahawk, a Redwing 30, bested Paul Hyde's Velocity Made Good, a Ranger 22, by more than an hour.

Complete results of the 2001 MYC Pursuit Race are:

Cruising: 1. Gryphon II, McGowan, 02:51:00; 2. Survivor, Lynch, 03:03:00; 3. TireLess, Canastra, 03:03:00; 4. Makin' Progress, Stan Walsh, 03:10:00; 5. Revelation, Tom Muldoon, 03:31:00; 6. Triage, Sullivan, 03:48:00; 7. Antares, David Wordell, 04:12:00.
Racing: 1. Tomahawk, Wood, 02:53:00; 2. Velocity Made Good, Hyde, 04:20:00.

The Low Tide Yacht Club began its fourth summer racing series Thursday, Aug. 30, with a race of 5.86 mi. in New Bedford's outer harbor.

Results are:

Class 2: 1. Bogi, Bob Dixon, 01:09:09; 2. TireLess, Gil Canastra, 01:09:25; 3. Dragon, Dick Hitchcock, 01:09:49; 4. Invisible Cities, Ian Duff, 01:12:44; 5. Tequila Sunrise, Robert Luiz, 0:13:07; 6. Head Girl, Chris Fletcher, 01:19:39; DNF – Escape, Larry Smoski; DNC – Breezin', Darryl Murphy.
Class 3: 1. Prudence II, Ted Cioper, 01:17:00; 2. Pieces of Eight, Mark Thornhill, 01:18:45; 3. Equinox, David Garlington, 01:22:15; DNF – Ms. Hannah, Ray Davignon; DNC – Fiddlers Green, Jay Cafferty.

Barbara Veneri sails a 28 ft. Soverel yawl in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound. To reach her, send e-mail to: bveneri@hotmail.com, fax (508) 997-7491, or call the Standard-Times Sports Dept. at: 508-979-4460.

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