Lawrence W. CheekThe classic transom-sterned skiff that became known as the Sid Skiff, here with cobuilder Zach Simonson-Bond at the oars, first came to Ray Speck’s attention while he was living on a houseboat in Sausalito, California. The boat is as much as joy to look at as it is to row.
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I bought a set of plans from Ray last year and plan on building one for myself this winter. Rowing only , as I like that exercise and slow exploring experience.
What a delightful skiff. If not from Mr Speck, where can one obtain the plans ? The horseshoe stern thwart alone is enough to make me want to build this gem – the other features are a real bonus – in an age when so many designers expect us to sit on the bottom boards and ‘squirm around’ when we tack , which can be tough on older knees ! A great choice by Small Boats !
James Burnett-Hitchcock
I knew Sid as the nicest harbormaster in the Sausalito Yacht Harbor back in the days when the boardwalk had Monk-designed Pacific Trawlers lined up. There was the Tides bookstore and next door was a real marine supply shop with mostly galvanized fittings and cool things like marlinspike knives. Some of the roads in town were still dirt and there were no parking meters. Bridgeway had the odor of linseed oil due to the real artist studios in town.
Sid was unique. We talked sometimes for hours after he would come down to the Bay Lady my brother owned to check up on me after midnight. Having a berth in the harbor then was as difficult as it ever was, but my brother Jerome sealed our relationship with the Madden family still existing today.
I think a copy of a larger version of The Sid sat under the Bookstore/Brokerage building for many years.
I miss those days, and seeing the pictures in this story are almost heartbreaking of what once was and how it is today.
Hi All,
I was on deck aboard my 20-ton gaff cutter C.A. MARCY alongside Lefty’s Pier at Gate Three in Sausalito in the early 1970s. Ray Speck rowed up along side in a beautiful 14′ lapstrake cedar Whitehall that he’d just finished. He asked me if I’d like to take it for a row. I jumped at the chance. I didn’t want a Whitehall but I thought that his workmanship was great! When I got back in a few minutes, I asked if he had an opening in his building schedule. He said that he did. I told him that I had been waiting to get set up myself or to find someone who could build me a copy of a boat called JANIE. He told me that the JANIE was sitting in his shop about to get an overhaul. JANIE was, of course, Sid Foster’s skiff, in the care of Scott Dimond after Sid had passed away. Six weeks later MARCY had a safety boat named SID. I still have the SID covered, on a trailer. For 25 years she enjoyed life afloat in saltwater with a daily saltwater rinse-down and pump out. I made up a boomless sprit rig, quick to set up and take down. She has thumb cleats on each quarter knee which turn the main sheet into the middle of the boat for tending. I have a trick mainsheet which gives a choice of single or two parts depending on the breeze. It’s done this way, there is a small Harken block seized to the clew of the sail. The end of the 7/16″ three-strand Dacron mainsheet is formed into a loop with a crown knot for a stopper at its juncture. For two parts the loop is hoocked on the quarter knee thumb cleat and the sheet leads up to the block at the clew and back down around the thumb cleat over the loop and to hand in the center of the boat. For single part, the loop is released from the thumb cleat and the crown knot acts as a stopper at the clew block. Voila, single part! Lateral plane is provided by a shifting leeboard that hooks over the gunwale at the thwart and is maintained upright by a line stoppered in a hole in the center thwart. This line goes through a hole in the top of the leeboard and comes back on itself with a rolling hitch. I have to say that even with shifting the mainsheet from side to side at the stern and shifting the leeboard to the new lee side I’ve never missed stays.
Cheers,
Lauren Williams
Hello All,
The comment about unavailable plans (above) has been overtaken by events. I received a set several days ago from Ray. He told me he printed another batch.
Regards,
Paul Eberhardt