When you look out at the waters of Oyster Bay and see more and more sailboats gliding by, it becomes obvious that exciting things are happening out there. Sailing enthusiasts from the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, Sagamore Yacht Club, the Oyster Bay Marine Center, the WaterFront Center, Cold Spring Harbor Yacht Club and Oakcliff Sailing Center are putting their boats out on the water and taking advantage of the great recreational opportunities out there.
The newest item of interest is the arrival of the Fife 8 Meter sailboat Invader.
The Oakcliff Sailing Center is giving a nod to Scottish boat designer William Fife III and his design used for the 8 meter sailboat, Invader, a replica, the newest addition to their racing fleet of classic wooden boats owned by Hunt Lawrence.
Lawrence owns and races Clio, the personal sailboat of William Fife III and wanted a Fife 8 Meter of his design. The boat, built in the Greenport Wooden Boatworks for Lawrence, is a replication and not a reproduction of the 48-foot Fife 8 Meter sailboat since construction details have used some new replacement materials for Invader. She is a recreation of the 1932 Canada’s Cup Challenger Invader II.
Invader was launched on July 10 at the Wooden Boatworks in Greenport to much fanfare. A christening party followed in Oyster Bay with, of course, a barbecue on July 23.
The 8 meter racing ship design is based on a formula using the boat’s dimensions. The Fife has a long racing history and was an Olympic Class boat from 1908 to 1936.
Dawn Riley, Oakcliff executive director explained, “There is a resurgence of 8 Meter racing in Europe.”
Last month, the International 8 Metre races were held in Lake Geneva, Switzerland and the 2016 International 8 Metre Race will be held at the Royal Danish Yacht Club in Copenhagen to celebrate their 100th Anniversary. Donn Costanzo of Wooden Boatworks said he respects the genius of William Fife III and has worked on them in Europe.
Boat Building, Too
With wooden boat building going on in Building J on Oyster Bay’s western waterfront, some of the details of construction of Invader are becoming familiar to local residents, many of whom have donated wood to build the Christeen and now the Ida May. In the case of Invader, they went to New England Naval Timbers in Cornwall, CT, to find a 46-foot white oak at the Thomas Coles Museum in Catskill, according to an article in Sounding Magazine written by Pat Mundas, a retired merchant ship deck officer who lives in Greenport and arranges boat charters through East End Charters (www.eastendcharter.com).
Mundas explained that they cut the white oak’s 30-inch diameter, which milled down to 25- by two-foot keel stock. They needed 88 pieces of timber for the framing and had to steam-bend pieces of laminated cherry to the white oak frames. In Oyster Bay’s Building J, volunteer Bill Shepard has built a steam shed to bend wood to the needed shapes to create the Ida May hull. The Ida May will be an educational ship for children and adults, with the added benefit of being able to sail into the Long Island Sound for dinner trips when the ship is launched in about three years.
Lawrence plans on putting another Fife 8 Meter on the water, “next year allegedly,” said Avi Lessman, Invader’s first mate.
“Usually when Hunt makes a plan, he fulfills it. That will happen with the Defender,” said Riley. “When Hunt says he wants to do something, he does it and so next year Invader will have the Challenger as its sister ship.
First Hand Knowledge
“Invader is the most amazing boat I’ve ever seen,” said Lessman of Great Neck.
He is studying to become a high school English teacher. Sailing is his summer job, but his teaching skills were evident as he described the workings of Invader.
“It’s gorgeous. It sails really well. It has a lot of maneuvering capability to go really fast. It sinks into the water and smooths along effortlessly,” said Lessman. “Since it is wood, it is responsive. It flexes, it talks back to you not like fiberglass.”
They have already raced Invader locally. “It’s something we will continue to do since we are tweaking the boat, like adjusting the rig for turns. It’s like tuning a piano for balance.”
He explained, “We say tuning the rig… The wires hold up the mast and need to be balanced. The mast needs to be balanced between flexible and tension. The boat hums when it reaches a certain velocity. That is called ‘whole speed,’ it means everything is perfect and things are working.”
Ship builder Costanzo has said, “The boat builds the man; the man doesn’t build the boat.”
Of the quote, Lessman said, “Every boat has a certain character, a spirit. When you step on board you inherit/take on some of those characteristics.”
Invader Captain Peter Brauné added, “I think that is very true. You do inherit some of that age [of sailing design] when you step aboard. But Hunt’s commissioning of this boat does something worth mentioning. It employed five wooden boat builders today, in 2015, when people are building in high tech materials that do not have the characteristics wood has. The dedication of these boat builders is beyond comprehension. So what Hunt is enabling by commissioning this boat it tremendous. It is enabling people’s careers, and preserving ancient wooden boat building techniques and traditions, and it is giving the classic wooden boat world a piece of art that will not just sit in a museum. This is a piece of art that will be used for its original intent.”
What made this reporter so intrigued by Invader was a photograph of the boat at its launch, taken by Brauné at the Wooden Boatworks in Greenport. In the aerial photo, the boat looks long and slender and totally different from what boats look like today.
Brauné said, “It was absolutely critical that we have a view from the top. I mounted the camera on the rooftop to show the design style of the 1900s. It is different now.”
Brauné was involved in the creation of Christeen and was active with the WaterFront Center. His pleasure in sailing the 1900s-style boat is evident in talking with him.
Their passion is to work with Hunt to explore what they can do with the boat.
Dawn Riley added, “They are exploring their own limits. Hunt gave them free rein to do what they wanted to do with the ship.”
Oakcliff Sailing, a high-performance training center for sailors who have progressed beyond traditional coaching methods, will host the second annual MeadowWalk Art Show and Fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 19. Visit www.oakcliffsailing.org.
