Model Yachting News • April 2023

Posted on April 30, 2023March 15, 2024 by Paul McBride

Written by Mark Whitehead
Editing & Proofreading Kathleen Whitehead
Photos by B. B. Wright, Paul McBride, Mark Whitehead, Ed Johnson, Kathleen Whitehead
Layout by Ken Gerber
Photo Captions by Paul McBride
Games by Dave Perry
e-mail: backbayskippers@gmail.com

In Memory of Tim Brand
1942 – 2023
Model Yachting Class of 2012

Born May 27, 1942 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Tim Brand received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Sciences from Purdue University and a Master of Science in Astronautics and Aeronautics from Stanford University. Graduating from Stanford, he was employed at AC Spark Plug in Milwaukee, but after six months, he had an offer from MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts to work on the Apollo Program at Draper Laboratory. Among many exciting projects, the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs became part of his resume while employed there for almost forty years.

Tim retired in June 2005 and moved to his new home on Half Moon Lake in Alton that he’d spent six years carefully planning and designing. With Ellen, his wife of almost sixty years, he welcomed their three children and nine grandchildren to gatherings at this beautiful spot. In addition to woodworking, Tim loved travel and the outdoors — hiking, golfing, kayaking, and radio-control sailing with the Back Bay Skippers an important part of his life.

Those wanting to donate in Tim’s name can do so to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Skippers Memorial

April Zoom Class

Twenty-one Skippers attended the final training session presented by Tim Wright on Zoom April 4. Focus for the class was on rounding the mark while maintaining speed and adhering to the rules of sailing. We now are ready to put our acquired knowledge to work on the water (?).

The Dock Goes In

On April 25, the dock was installed on Back Bay with a fantastic crew of fourteen Skippers. A large thank-you goes to Al Stevens for providing a trailer for transport and to Tim Wright’s kayak for positioning the buoys! Everything is ready for another season of sailing and camaraderie.

Thanks to a used cover donated by Denis Boisvert and lots of muscle from Tim Wright, John Russell, and Mark Whitehead, the rescue dinghy was launched on April 28 with its new outfit.

“Boston Chronicle” Visit

To kick off the season in style, we were visited by a film crew from Channel 5’s “Boston Chronicle” on April 26. Planning a segment on Wolfeboro, Sangita Chandra and Jennifer Platt-Ure stopped by Back Bay for model yacht sailing as part of their presentation. Filming the action and conducting interviews, the crew spent about two hours with us, and we look forward to the airing of their program.

Unnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn! Official Regatta Scoring

With an eclectic assortment of boat classes and skippers, our scorekeepers, Karen Enos and B. B. Wright, did their best to keep track of everyone. The mixture coming and going included Solings, US12s, one DF95, a Schooner, and, last but not least, a Chinese junk. Adding to the confusion was the occasional switcheroo of captains.

New Skippers

Joining us for the first time were Ted Monetta, Zeke Bly, and Steve Towne. Ted hails from Gonic and spent his career as a manufacturing engineer, building a new 3D Soling between ski days this past winter. Zeke, for many years a vocational arts teacher in Moultonboro and a true native of Wolfeboro, purchased a boat last year and is now ready for some serious sailing. Steve, on the other hand, inherited his dad’s Soling that sailed for many years in the waters of Portsmouth’s South Pond. (Steve’s dad, by the way, was a submarine pilot out of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard as well as a chief pilot in Newport, Rhode Island, qualified to steer ships into and out of ports.)

A great big welcome to Ted, Zeke, and Steve!

Here Are Those UN-Official Results

1 – Tim Wright 1.3
2 – Steve Leker 3.7
3 – Tom Barstow 3.9
4 – Ken Gerber 4.9
5 – Paul McBride 5.5
6 – Mark Whitehead & Steve Towne 5.8
7 – Jim Opie 6.0
8 – Skip Koehler 6.3 (A race winner)
8 – Zeke Bly 6.3 (first-time skipper)
9 – Ted Monetta 7.6 (first-time skipper)
10 – Denis Boisvert 8.0 (sailing his schooner)
11 – Al Stevens 9.0 (sailing hybrid Soling and DF95)

Time to Sign Up
Our sail-maker Anthony Quinn has been working diligently over the winter and has completed his assignment of twelve suits of Soling sails. Steve Leker completed the twelve boat stands required, and the fittings for the kits have been packaged and readied for the class by Mark Whitehead.

Because of so much interest in the sport, the Soling building class was doubled in size this year. Last year’s class filled almost immediately so we have tried to meet that demand. The class is open for registration now so sign up on the NH Boat Museum website. The class runs from July 10 through July 14.