2011 is our boats official 50th season on the water.

[Tom Young]

949Y was christened in the Great Lakes, Chicago I believe, in 1961. She spent some winters as a charter in the Bahamas with the new owner and completed at least 1 Bermuda race. (unconfirmed rumor of 2). Then onto New England with the second owners. She spent over 35 years in their care, mostly moored in Hingham Mass. We're only the 3rd owner of the boat now in our 11th season.

Could be a few of us on this board with this important date coming up. We owners of Alden Challengers attempted a 50th last year(the first Challengers came out in 1960, building plans date to 1958) and unfortunately, didn't have enough interest to put anything together.

Makes me wonder if some sort of Plastic Classic group recognition get together could be possible? Possibly the early part of this decade? It is a remarkable period in boat design/building history with boat designs many own on this website.

Not only were these boats not forgotten, as well as being in use today, they still have the power to influence boat design as the classic CCA look ebbs ad flows through new boat design.

An ad during the 1960 Boat show below talks of this new strange material "fibre glass". Even suggesting that more boats of this new material may evolve....



Perhaps this milestone for a 50 year old boats that wrung in a new era of sailing is only important to the few owners? Too difficult to define as a change in construction and design of sailboats?

Could be, but I'll be having a little celebration onboard with the our boats 50th season.

[Duncan]

949Y was christened in the Great Lakes, Chicago I believe, in 1961.
She spent some winters as a charter in the Bahamas with the new owner and completed at least 1 Bermuda race. (unconfirmed rumor of 2). Then onto New England with the second owners.
She spent over 35 years in their care, mostly moored in Hingham Mass.
We're only the 3rd owner of the boat now in our 11th season.

Congratulations! Her pedigree, long life and dedicated ownership make your boat a treasure.
....

Not only were these boats not forgotten, as well as being in use today,
they still have the power to influence boat design as the classic CCA look
ebbs ad flows through new boat design.

It's hard to imagine people getting romanced by the early glories of "fibre glass" as a material,
but I think the designs are a different story.
Rightly or wrongly, my list includes your Challenger, the Bermuda 40, and the Rhodes Reliant
as boats that grace a harbour in ways later boats can't.
And Concordia yawls, of course, and some of Ted Hood's Bristols, and perhaps an Alberg 37 yawl.

So, there are plastic classics, but I think their beauty is in their designs and their longevity.
Thank you for keeping yours up so nicely, and setting a great example for the rest of us!

[Tom Young]

Thank you Duncan. I count your CD27 as a part of the classic design that continued and continues today in some designs. We owned and loved our CD28 of 13 years which faithfully took us up and down the east coast and to the Bahamas twice. It was a great boat. But the CD27 to my eye, is CD's classic. It was one of the few CDs that had the right proportions and scale of design elements that Carl Alburg added to the Cape Dory era.

[boatsnh]

Hi Tom,
When you mentioned that your boat had been kept in Hingham, a little light in the back of the brain went "blink". As a kid (1960's & 1970's) we sailed a Cal 25 we kept on a mooring in the "inner" Hingham harbor. At that time the largest boat moored in that "inner" harbor was about 30 feet....

To get out to Quincy Bay & Boston harbor we had to follow a meandering channel that went by Ragged, Sara & Langly islands and on past the Hingham Yacht club. All the Yacht Club "big" boats were moored in this channel as it went between the islands - it was reasonably protected; My brothers & I would look at these "big" boats (most were 30-45 feet long), and "OOhh & AAhhh at the size, brightwork and "extra masts" of the yawl & ketch rigs. My dad's reaction was "they saw the same coastline we saw...and you dance with the girl you brought to the dance"...Cal made a great boat.

I bet in the years sailing out of Hingham we passed your boat a hundred times.....and it looked pretty darn good every time!

It's a funny thing - owning a boat......One brother owns a Cal 39, one a Cal 28 & my wife & I have a classic Dickerson Ketch that was built when I was in High School - 1973......I guess some things make an impression.....
Mike

[Richincident]

What a great thread! Congratulations on the 50th!

My boat spent last year in the inner harbor in Hingham. The same meandering channel is still there, and it definitely limits the size of the boat you can moor there. You MAY NOT cut that channel--even THE INCIDENT, board up at 3' or so, will hit an object or find mud if I am not careful on all the turns. This year a 100' schooner came slowly into the harbor--she was the largest vessel to visit there in 100 years!

The big boats are moored even further out now, so I go by quite an assortment of beauties. However my (now 44 year old) Soverel has fans even among the gorgeous giants and racers. I

I moored for two years outside of the harbor, but the storms in October made me decide I wanted her a bit safer. We are among some lovely Cape Dories, several wooden boats, including one classic catboat that is 64 years old. THANKS and one more happy birthday to your gorgeous Challenger!