A look at the double handed boats in the WYC's past.
BY: JOHN COURTER
C-Lark
We had a maximum of 16 C-Larks at some point. We used to also have the area on the far side of the boat ramp to the first pedestrian ramp to store boats. The C-Larks were the double hand training fleet. They were a fat version of an I-14, much more stable with less sail area. It was a self rescuing boat, but the tanks were small and low in the boat, so when you righted the boat it came up half full of water. There were two small holes in the transom to drain the water. For a long time after righting it you had to be very careful with weight placement. If you moved too far forward, the water would rush to the bow, the bow would go underwater, and water would fill up the cockpit again. Any direction you let the water in the boat roll to would result filling the boat again. The boat would eventually drain completely dry without having suction bailers because the cockpit sole was above the water due to the tanks, except for a small well at the back where the drain holes were in the transom.
If you sat too far aft the back of the cockpit would always have water in it. The solution for most people was to keep plugs in the drain holes unless the boat capsized.The boat would plane, but the bow goes up in the air due to the amount of rocker.I'm sure that my views on how the boat planes had a lot to do with my level of experience at the time, but I thought the boat was very difficult to handle while on a plane. I remember sawing the tiller back and forth trying to keep the boat from capsizing and quite often not succeeding.
These boats were advertised as being able to take 4 people. At times there were 4 people on C-Larks with all their camping gear stowed in the bow to go on Snooze and Cruise.
The C-Lark had a fairly large sail area of 130 sq. ft. for a 14 foot boat. It weighed 275 lbs. I've been told that they originally came without mast partners. Apparently we bent enough masts that we built mast partners. It is believed that C-lark eventually added a partner to the boat. Another modification that we apparently caused to be added was a small triangular shaped tank under the side decks to try to slow turtling of the boat.
420
We acquired the 420s as the double hand teaching fleet when the Laser 2s died. We had both a Flying Junior and a 420 as demo boats. One reason I remember hearing for selecting the 420 was that it was slightly bigger.
420s were the popular inter-collegiate fleet at the time. Some east coast schools still use 420s, but most of the west coast now uses Flying Juniors. I find the 420s and Flying Juniors to be very similar. A sailing article from years ago comparing the FJ and 420 had the opinion from some college sailors that the Flying Junior was a better boat than the 420 because you could hardly get it to plane, thus keeping the racing tighter and better.
The 420 is 420 centimeters long, had 110 sq. ft. of sail area and weighed 260 lbs.
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Alpha One
The designer of the Alpha had us sail his prototypes, presumably with an eye to selling us a fleet eventually. Turns out we discovered the mast needed spreaders when we bent the mast, and the daggerboard well needed a LOT more reinforcement. We found a couple of other issues, all of which he fixed, but we were never happy enough with its sailing qualities to buy a fleet. Laurelhurst Beach club and Western Washington had fleets.
One day I was going out to try the club's new Alpha and noticed a girl that was about to go out on a Kite, I asked her if she would like to try out the club's new boat with me. She said yes to going out sailing and yes to marrying me two years later.
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Taser
This was a donation. It was a high performance, no spinnaker, no trapeze boat. It had a rotating mast like the Hobies and a fully battened main. It was 14' 10” long, weighed 150 lbs, and had 123 sq. ft of sail. It wasn't in the club for very long. I don't remember much about it, I'm not sure I even got to sail it. I believe that it was considered too fragile to keep.
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