STRANGER 1913
In 1919, the RCYC bought the P-boats Stranger, Bernice, Italia and Nutmeg on the Atlantic seaboard for resale to Club Members. All but Nutmeg (Herreshoff) were designed by George Owen. These four joined Patricia and Cara Mia and the class prospered, particularly through the 1920's as the speedy P-boats proved more than a match for the large yachts of the First Division. The P-boat two-piece sail plan averaged 1000 square feet less than the older cutters and could be handled with greater ease by a racing crew of six.
Stranger was a big P-boat and her career victories were many:
Prince of Wales Cup: 1924
Queens Cup: 1931, 1935
Edward, Prince of Wales Cup: 1930
Lansdowne Cup: 1937
McGaw Cup: 1925, 1937
Freeman Cup: 1923, 1926
George Alexander was Stranger's first owner in 1919 and sold her to H.C. Strange in the early twenties. W.F.N. Windeyer owned her during the thirties and she appears on the fleet list under R.M. Thomas in 1937. In time she passed out of the Club and embarked on an ill-advised extended cruise on salt water. In trouble one night in heavy weather, she tried to enter the harbour off Elizabeth City, New Jersey, struck the breakwater and quickly broke up.
L.O.A. 55 ft. 9 in.
L.W.L. 35 ft.
Beam 10 ft. 8 in.
Draught 7 ft. 3 in.
ACADIA 1926
Following Nayada's successes in 1923 and 1924, the two first class R-boats, Acadia and Eleanor, were designed and built in Canada to seek the George Cup and the Richardson Trophy. With fine patriotism, Commodore George H. Gooderham commissioned W. J. Roue, designer of the Bluenose, to prepare drawings for Acadia and she was built in Baddeck, Nova Scotia by F.W. (Casey) Baldwin, an associate of Alexander Graham Bell, long-time RCYC Member and racing sailor. In the light airs of early summer, Acadia took 18 of 21 races from Eleanor, but her one first and two seconds were not quite good enough to wrest the George Cup from the American defender, Kathea II, which gained two firsts and a second – but the Cup was forfeited as Kathea was found in contravention of the scantling rules. RCYC claimed the prize and returned it to the George Cup trustees for contest another year.
The controversy arose because the scantling rules of the Yacht Racing Union of the Great Lakes required heavier construction than did the rules in use on the east coast. Kathea II (ex Dandelion) had come to Lake Ontario from Marblehead and construction differences were such that she had 9,000 pounds of lead ballast while Acadia had only 6,600. The matter was not resolved and the implications were long-term as no more R-boats were built in Canada for international racing. Their place was taken by the 6-Metres and 8-Metres, built to the International Rule.
Now into their 60th years, the arch-rivals are both very much alive. Kathea II sails out of Sodus Bay, N.Y., and Acadia is a member of the strong fleet of R-boats in National Yacht Club, Toronto.
L.O.A. 39 ft. 6 in.
L.W.L. 25 ft.
Beam 7 ft. 3 in.
Draught 5 ft. 9 in.
LITTLE NELL 1904
The turn of the century was the heyday of the 16-footers which were light unballasted centreboarders, often as long as 24 or 25 feet overall. By 1904, their popularity had waned and they were succeeded by a class of ballasted sloops, also 16 feet on the waterline.
These were good and able little yachts, Little Nell being a fine example. She was designed by W.H. Hand Jr., of New Bedford, Mass., and while owned by George Gooderham won 27 firsts of 29 starts including her division championships in 1905 and 1906.
In 1907, she represented the RCYC in the first-ever race for the George Cup sailed off Glen Island, near Picton on the Bay of Quinte, but was outclassed by her larger, newer rivals. Possibly she was sold and renamed on the Bay of Quinte because she does not appear again on the RCYC fleet lists.
L.O.A. 28 ft.
L.W.L. 16 ft.
Beam 6 ft. 4 in.
Draught 4 ft.
WHITE WINGS 1938
A fully rigged model and a half-model of White Wings may be seen in the Model Room.
This second White Wings proved no less of a star than the first. Percy Grant had owned the P-boat Italia and ordered his new yacht to be built in Toronto by J.J. Taylor and Sons to a design by John G. Alden of Boston. At the time, the Lippincott (eventually CCA) Rule was emerging in the U.S. but Lake Ontario adopted the English RORC Rule and the influence was evident in White Wings' long, graceful and fine counter.
Time proved her to be a winner regardless of measurement rules. She won the Freeman Cup in 1939 under the RORC system, then repeated the win in 1947. Years later, in 1959, when Lake Ontario was finally in step with the rest of North America, White Wings won her third Freeman Cup, sailing under the CCA Rule. Then, when 27 years old, she added a fourth in 1965.
Further laurels were many and included the Boswell Trophy in 1939, Duggan Cup in 1947, the Edward, Prince of Wales in 1946, and in 1940 the Prince of Wales Cup.
Her racing skippers throughout were the owner's sons, first W.J. (Bill) Grant, and later R.D. (Bob) Grant, former International 14 Foot Dinghy sailor and skipper of the 8-Metre Invader II. When Bob Grant served as Commodore of the RCYC in 1967 and 1968, his proud flagship was White Wings.
In 1968, White Wings was sold to Peter Allen and she remained in the RCYC fleet until acquired by an American owner in 1977. She has been maintained in pristine condition and is frequently seen today, sailing the waters of Long Island Sound as she nears her fiftieth birthday. (Beneficiary of a thorough restoration, White Wings was in 2012 sailing in the Mediterranean classic-yachts fleet.)
L.O.A. 50 ft.
L.W.L. 33 ft. 3 in.
Beam 11 ft. 8 in.
Draught 7 ft.
BERNICE 1916
The RCYC fleet of P-boats provided fine racing through the 1920's and into the 1930's. Bernice was one of four* which, by resolution of a special meeting of Members, was purchased by the Club for $10,000 total price on the Atlantic seaboard in early 1919. Promptly resold to Club Members, they joined their sister P-boats Patricia and Cara Mia and the older 30-footers Zoraya and Crusader to form a splendid new Second Division.
Like so many others of the fine sailing yachts of the day, Bernice was designed by Prof. George Owen of M.I.T., formerly of Hamilton. Her debut was dramatic as Norman Gooderham sailed her to victory in the Prince of Wales Cup Race, 1919, and received the trophy from Edward Prince of Wales, grandson of the original donor. Bernice added the Queens Cup that year and in 1921, and the Edward Prince of Wales Cup in 1920, 1923, and 1925.
During the 1930's Bernice was re-rigged as a ketch, which made her a fast and handy cruiser. In 1939, she was bought by four members of the Gardenia syndicate following the demise of that great yacht. Cruising in company with Iolanthe, she tried in vain to rescue Major Walter Windeyer when he was lost overboard from Iolanthe's foredeck entering the mouth of the Niagara River in 1941.
In time, Bernice passed out of the RCYC fleet but, entering her 71st summer, she continues in good condition, still sailing her home waters of Lake Ontario. (Beautifully restored in New England, she is now in Europe.)
L.O.A. 55 ft.
L.W.L. 36 ft.
Beam 10 ft.
Draught 7 ft.
*The others were Stranger, Italia and Nutmeg III.