Fresh Scot

The Flying Scot is an old-fashioned-looking small sailboat that resembles, to a kindly eye, a bathtub toy.  When I was a young and less sympathetic sailor, I judged them a little by their adorable lines. 

Luckily, I've had the chance to live and learn. When one of our best sailing friends bought a Scot (and sailed very competitively with not just one but three children, Uncle Mark!), it became clear: if we wanted to race against our best local competition, we needed a Scot.  ​

This was seventeen years and seven North American Championships ago (good gravy!)—and experience has lent understanding: it turns out that the Scot is a remarkably civilized vessel, requiring less brawn and more brain than some other classes we know, with races giving an enjoyable balance of fierce competition and kindness.

Sweet trophy.

We got a nice deal on our first Scot, a used boat that came to us from New Jersey.  The Mighty Majestic (Hull #4925) earned us a couple of North American Championships (NACs), before we horse-traded with Harry Carpenter at Flying Scot Inc. for the nearly-new #5982, Speckled Butterbean, which he had campaigned (minus the name) for a season or so.

Look at those vintage Gill jackets! Look at the dark hair on my favorite skipper. Photo credit: Dad Taylor circa 2009.

A few NACs after that, we traded the Bean for #6133, The Scuppernong, which Harry delivered to Tampa. ​

And this year, we made a deal with Tyler Andrews at Flying Scot Inc, trading The Scuppernong for a brand-new boat made by the next generation at Flying Scot, Inc. #6305, The Molly Whomper hit the water for the first time this weekend in Jacksonville. ​

After putting his preferred bits and bobs on the new boat, my favorite skipper, a fan of useful shortcuts, decided to skip the part where one fiddles around with new shrouds as they stretch and weather in. He figured he'd just slap the new mast and old shrouds into the new boat.

Anyone who has worked on a boat knows that boats are manufactured with a lot of hand-crafting—which makes it a challenge to keep each as alike as a widget coming off the conveyer belt.   

For one-design boat classes, variation like that can spell dogs-and-cats-living-together-crossing-the-streams-level badness for the class.

So it was a pure joy when the mast went up, the shrouds went in, and huzzah! everything fit. Zero fiddling. 

It's a testament to Tyler and all the folks at Flying Scot Inc. that the one-design portion of the class is holding true.

How did the maiden voyage go? We had a great weekend at the Rudder Club of Jacksonville. Jon Hamilton and Donna Mohr are wonderful hosts, and the breeze gods/goddesses smiled on the fleet. ​

Goofing around on the inaugural sail.

The Rudder Club gave us five races (the district regatta in full) by 4 pm on Saturday. The Molly Whomper sailed to her first victory (and a few celebratory splashes of beer), and we are pleased as punch.

Knock wood we should be able to keep enjoying this sport and these tubby little sloops for a good long while. 

Christening! The Molly Whomper! Photo credit Dave Hemick.