Recent heat and hazardous smoky conditions outside prompted me to go through some old photos. Here are a couple images that may interest you, too.
My brother and I set up a booth for the Austrian FD Class at a big boat show in Vienna, and this is where those photos were taken. The photo of the full double bottom boat is a Leonhard Mader; one of the first models with full double bottom. The cockpit was open all the way to the transom where a narrow beam held up the rudder. What struck me is the simplicity of the controls back then. We already had lowers, but the extreme raking had not been fully developed; we were still sailing with the small spinnaker. Also note how the helmsman’s hiking straps are crossing, probably because the helmsman has long legs.
The second photo shows a Hans Mader all wooden boat from the same period but less advanced, with a half double bottom. This one has a curved traveller track. The controls are set up in a similar way and very simple. I suppose this boat had the spinnaker sack on the port side, which is unusual.
Ovidiu Adam reports that he is happy to be able to sail the Flying Dutchman on Baseline Lake with my colleagues and friends from the Michigan Sailing Club. The venue offers wonderful conditions for both casual sailing and racing, allowing a couple of FDs to sail, race, and shine in the middle of a mixed fleet. We are now expecting a 3rd boat to join the party.
Ken Frankel has been sailing on Lake Washington with crews Kim McDonald and Ondrej Lehecka. Ken has also been doing some very trick work on his mast. Check out the block that Ken made to repair his carbon mast.
The backing plate was CNC’d machined. It properly reacts to the forces from the genoa halyard that are trying to pull the sheave forward out of the mast, as well as downward along the mast. Rivets seem to be the standard approach, and this results in very concentrated loads that a carbon mast doesn’t deal with very well. In the pictured setup, the machine screws serve only to keep the sheave from falling into the mast; the screws themselves have no significant load. The metal plate distributes the forces over comparatively large areas, reducing the pressures dramatically. This is much friendlier to a carbon structure.
Ken has a whole CNC machine shop equipped to make aerospace parts. Ken would welcome other FD sailors who have projects for their boat to come to his shop to use the facility to fabricate their own specialty items.
Here is a short note to start off your week. Henry Weinhardt and family have been sailing USA 838 on Lake Simcoe for 15 years. The boat and the sailing venue look fantastic! Henry reports that the boat is in great condition and that he loves the boat. Henry, thank you for the short note.
During my 5-week visit of Austria and despite restrictions from the Corona virus, the opportunity arose for your US Class Secretary/Treasurer to compete in the Austrian Championships together with a new young sailor who recently bought a used 1985 Mader FD. There was a steep learning curve for Gregor to learn everything from how to set sails to trapezing. We also had a number of equipment failures, but we were able to finish all seven races except for one. Here is a quick summary of the Championships.
Because of Corona and a bad weather forecast, probably none of the 23 teams from six nations (from Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Croatia, Great Britain, and Austria) expected such good races on the water and such a relaxed get-together on land.
The Austrian Championships started on Thursday evening, with a lot of rain and traditionally fine burgers and beer, all in strict compliance with Corona rules. At the time, nobody counted on sailing on Friday.
After the usual North wind suddenly appeared on Friday afternoon, three sporting races could be completed in 10 to 15 knots of wind.
GER-87 with Hans-Peter Schwarz and Roland Kirst sat confidently at the top of the ranking. AUT-39 with Martin Pfund and Christoph Zingerle positioned themselves with good results for the title of national champion.
On Saturday, the very accomplished race committee sent the FD fleet, including the six UFO-class boats, which also competed for their champions, onto the water despite the thunderstorm clouds on the entire horizon. And immediately both classes had to endure a heavy downpour, which was followed by bright sun and calm winds.
Some boats took advantage of the long waiting time for a trip to Pertisau on the other side of the lake for refreshing ice cream. The North wind set in late in the afternoon, allowing just enough time for a fourth race to make the FD Championships complete. Last year’s winners GER-222 Felix Albert and Lukas Merz won this race, followed by GER-87. In the evening, the traditional party in front of the boathouse was not detracted by Corona: there was great music, fancy drinks, and people even waltzed on the grass.
On Sunday morning it cleared up and the expected southerly wind set in and lasted until late afternoon.
Three exciting and challenging light wind races were sailed, of which GER-222 won and thus secured the overall victory, followed by GER-87 in second place.
Third in the overall ranking went to the Swiss Stephan Fels and Ulf Hügel with SUI-1.
Austrian champions were AUT-15 Gerhard and Rainer Ulrich, who on Sunday caught up with last year’s champions Jacob Holzinger and Paul Srienz with the same number of points but secured the championship title due to their better placement in the last run. Third in the championship standings were AUT-39 Pfund and Zingerle, who on Sunday could not match the successes they had on the first day.
It was a wonderful championship – thanks to the confident race management on the water and the experienced team on land around Paul Hullehaar, Martin Pfund and Christoph as well as Philipp Zingerle. Thank you so much! We are already looking forward to next year, then hopefully without Corona. You can find the overall result here.
Marc Strittmatter AUT-8, translated into English by Gerhard Panuschka, who also competed with a new Austrian FD sailor
Gerhard and I have postponed the National and North American Championships until next year due to risks associated with COVID-19. The Nationals were scheduled for August 7-9 at the San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC) in conjunction with the Olympic Classes Regatta. The North Americans were scheduled for October 9-11 at the American Yacht Club (AYC) in conjunction with the High Performance Regatta. The good news is that both SDYC and AYC have agreed to host our Nationals and North Americans next year in similar time frames. The National Championships will return to the East Coast in 2022. Our decision follows a similar decision by our International Class to postpone the Flying Dutchman Worlds. The Worlds had originally been scheduled for this September in Altea, Spain, but will now take place in 2021.
The Flying Dutchman is a beautiful boat. Although our championships are postponed until next year, I hope that you are able to get out sailing on your own to enjoy the very best that sailing has to offer. You can enjoy the Flying Dutchman vicariously by reading online old Flying Dutchman Trapezes (Trapeze) and Flying Dutchman Bulletins (Bulletin). You can also check out or contribute to Flying Dutchman news articles (FD News). Now is a great time to work on your boat. You can buy and sell FD equipment here: FD Classifieds. Peter Carr’s USA Flying Dutchman Facebook page is also available for your pleasure here: FD Facebook Group. If you would like to join the FD Google Group, please contact me. There is no better boat than the FD. We look forward to seeing you out on the water soon!
Best regards, Doug.
Douglas Dommermuth
US Flying Dutchman Class President FD President
The new date for the Worlds is not set yet, but it will most likely take place in September 2021 in Altea, Spain. I have heard there is wonderful sailing there in September.
This is not the only regatta impacted by the virus; I am sure a lot of local clubs had to cancel or postpone events. Doug will make a separate post on the impacts to the US FD race calendar.
Gerhard Panuschka US Flying Dutchman Class Secretary/Treasurer
2019 North American Championships, Flying Dutchman Class September 20 -22, Richmond Yacht Club
This year’s championships took place on the West Coast at Richmond Yacht Club in the San Francisco Bay Area, concurrently with the annual Totally Dinghy event.
The Competitors: Five boats competed in the races:
• Buzz Ballenger with Evan Diola on USA 1453 • Doug Dommermuth with Michael Manning on USA 153 • Zhenya Kirueshkin-Stepanoff with Chris Wrenn on USA 1 • Mike Meszaros with Gerhard Panuschka on USA 88 • Gordon Doller with Michael Spranger on USA 1454
Flying Dutchman Bulletin Number 170 is now available on the international website. An archive of Flying Dutchman Bulletins is available here: FD Bulletin. An archive of Flying Dutchman Trapeze Newsletters is available here: FD Trapeze. Our archives are slightly incomplete. If you have old Bulletins or Trapezes that would complete our archives, please contact: Webmaster.
The Flying Dutchman Nationals were hosted by the Willow Bank Yacht Club on Lake Cazenovia on July 19-21, 2019. Nine Flying Dutchman competed in the 2019 National Championship/Cuspidor Regatta. Brothers Chris and Jeff Wrenn from Santa Cruz, CA were crowned 2019 National Champions after three days and 12 races of good winds and competitive racing. Following closely behind were Larry Schmitz and Jack Caires from San Diego, CA, and Doug Dommeruth and Michael Manning also of San Diego. The top WBYC finishers were Carl Boller and Jeff Barbero in fifth place. WBYC sailors Tom Lewis and Andy Mistur finished seventh. Canadian sailors Derrick and Cynthia Hiltz followed in eighth place and newcomers to the Cazenovia FD fleet the Brown family sailing a vintage wooden Mader finished in ninth place. Junior sailors John Henry and Willem Light-Olson finished sixth and won the Flying Dutchman Class Association Junior National Trophy.
