Greg,Walt and George,
The site is great! Feeling a bit guilty about not getting involved sooner. My sister Nancy finally inspired me. I'll do my best to give you the Bob Patterson Story. For those of you who remember me, I'm not known for short stories, so I apologize in advance. My dad, Carl Patterson coached gymnastics at Temple, which gave him the summers to be in Sea Isle. Actually, he never missed a Summer from two years old until the war. We have pictures of him racing Comets in Sea Isle City before WW2, with my mom, Bert as crew...so it's in our blood. Mom and dad ran the summer day camp/sailing program at YCSIC. Brother Tom is two years older, sister Nancy eight years younger. I'll let Tom do his own story so I won't steal his material I crewed with my dad starting at 6 when Tom was eight and started sailing moths. My first Moth was 2690, a Connecticut design , I think the 2nd built by my dad, during the summer of 1958. First raced in the Labor Day regatta. Dad decided the only way to get our club competetive was to get more kids racing, so he built boats, encouraged kids to build boats, and taught Tom and I to build boats.His Comet racing stopped when he and mom became the "pit crew" for the Sea Isle "team". Next came 2204, a Cates design with exrtra wide decks so when I "flipped"..(.nobody capsized...we flipped!), anyway I was in the water a lot so the wide decks kept me afloat. Started traveling to other South Jersey regattas when I was ten. Big fleets back then! Fun! I was so skinny I nearly always took a crew for ballast, "just in case". Then things got really interesting. Chip Menz from Wildwood saw a boat in France built by John Shelly. Al menz arranged for us to import a boat for Chip, Bob Urbani loaned some money, and Carl Patterson got the plans from Shelly to build our own boats, and the ABC Sailboat Company was born. I drew the short straw and got the first attempt, # 2690, built BEFORE we got Chip's boat to answer some construction questions."Oh, so that's what it's suppposed to look like". Tom's boat looked better, and Chip's McCutcheon was beautiful. We arrived at Stone Harbor's Spring regatta which they sailed out in a big "sound" a long distance from the cliub. It was very windy, and I was without a crew, so Dad's Al and Carl figured Chip and Tom were our only hope. I made it to the course...Tom and Chip had breakdowns and had to be towed back. It was amazin!. I had just gotten in the boat for the first time and at the weather mark I was third behind Bill Schill and Pete Contes in their ultra rigged Cates'. Then, I found out what boat speed was...I passed between them both on the first reach. We were all planing; I was just planing much faster. One was a bit to weather, and a little ahead...One was a bit to leward, so I just sailed between them..tactics? fagetaboutit! Went on to win the race..a complete shock. Swamped in the afternoon..Oh well. But the Shelly era was born. She was fast enough to win the Junior Internationals in Cape may when I was 15, so looks aren't everything. We built 2720 in 1966, another Shelly with much prettier lines. I won a lot of races and a few championships in her in the mid sixties; NJ States, North Americans, 2nd iun Nationals to Lee Creekmore. She was one of the "Thing" series. Funny, but I can't remember which one. Claude Barth of Switzerland had "Wild Thing", which Blair Fletcher bought and took to Cannes in 1968. I was there with 2720. It was definitely a Duflot kind of week except for one very windy day when only 12 of 50 got around the course. I finished. Graham Lillingston, an Aussie from Perth won that race in a scow , but it was Marie Claude Farou's week! I can't believe I've forgotten the name of my boat! We built "Sure Thing", "Anything", "Nothing", "Something", and even "Sticky Green Thing", a boat built in a rush in poor paint drying conditions, I think for Bruce Menz. Anyway, I'm rambling.
My dad died unexpectedly in the Spring of '68 of heart complications from Rheumatic fever he contracted as an infant. So healthy he fooled the doctors, I sailed in France that summer, so my boat was in passage for much of the summer. I borrowed some boats and did build a Shelly/Duflo combo named Lemon/Lime just in time for the '69 worlds in Ocean City. I misjudged the mast position by about 4 inches, so she didn't shine, but it was great to see Benoit Duflot, Jacque Lignier, and Claude Barth again from the previous summer. Like many, I went to Lasers. Still have one. Got into a little handicap racing a in a 32 Beneteau, but it's not the same. My son followed me as instructor at our club on the Chesapeake in Chestertown, raced lasers and Hobie 16's. My daughter sails some, but not a racer. But, of all the things I've given my kids, teaching them to sail was the best.
Just re-read this and realized I left out many things, and possibly included too many extraneous things. They were wonderful times. I was lucky to be an instructor at my own club for many years, and even have fond memories of my year teaching in Ocean City. Jack Lefort, Chappy Hopkins, Danny Hilferty, where are you guys??? And where are the girls? Joan Hilferty, Debbie McKeegan (she was in Cannes), Carol Zimmerman, The Seton's, Candy Shepard, Joan Filsinger, ....And all you other Sea Isle, Avalon, Stone Harbor, Wildwood, Cape May, Margate, Cooper River, etc guys and girls. And thank you Bill Boyle for the nice words. I remember when you were building yur boat in our "shop", where mosquitoes were king! By the way, it was a "53 Ford wagon, turquoise.
I'm definitely getting a boat and racing this summer! I'd love to find a Shelly, even one built by Blair (had a nice phone conversation with him last year), but preferably a McCutcheon or better yet a Patterson. Or, if all else fails, we'll have to get out the plans, go to Harbor Suppply in Baltimore (do they still have 4x12/ 3&4mm okoume mahogany?) and get started. Bill Boyle, want to start a project?
That's good enough for now,
Bobby Patterson