Messages

Pic 6

Pic 5

Pic 4

Pic 3

Pic 2

More pictures of Slick Chick being rescued & going into storage.

I am pleased to say that Slick Chick is now back in my ownership again, after a gap of 42 years.
Here is a picture of her being posted into storage by Paul Turner's tractor.
We shall review our options over her restoration. Her bow and centreboard case are reasonable but the stern planks are decidedly soggy. She will need new decks too. At least we have the original mast, centreboard & rudder.

Good to see the pictures of Bicycle Clips in such good condition. Certainly the best 12 I ever owned. I regretted parting with her soon after selling her.
Originally I ordered a boat to my own design from Nigel Waller. Fortunately he talked me out of proceeding with it and I was able to have one of the first batch of Baggy's he built in 1981. I had to wait until the middle of the summer. It was getting uncomfortably close to Norfolk & Burton week and I kept chasing him. Nigel lived just round the corner from me so eventually he suggested we meet up on the Friday evening before driving over to the works in Shardlow to collect the boat. I should have spotted the stalling tactics as he kept giving me glasses of wine, postponing our departure. We got there about 10 at night. To my dismay I found that the epoxy was still tacky! We had to carry the boat out on fingertips! Fortunately the weather was hot so the epoxy and paint went off very fast. By rubbing down & painting before and after a day's work, Sarah & I managed to have her ready to sail by the next weekend. We were missing the all important pivoting daggerboard case and foils. When I rang Nigel to enquire where they were there was a distinct cough. However they did appear that evening, carried by Mad Derek sitting in the back of the A35 and glistening with fresh wet epoxy!
That first sail at Trent Valley was a revelation. The first time we got on a reach the boat just planed away from the others and I knew we had a special boat.
The following week we went to Norfolk week and managed to win some of the sea races, despite being largely untuned. Sailing down waves with the daggerboard was a superb feeling. The boat was so responsive and easy to drive.
We had our best Burton week that year, having an epic Burton cup race with Phil Morrison and finishing 2nd. Graham Bailey was just that bit quicker and Punkarella was a well sorted boat by then. Our rig sagged badly to windward but downwind we just flew. In the following years we improved her performance despite having to remove the daggerboard. However we had much more competition as more Baggy's appeared in the fleet. We still finished 3rd in our last Burton week with her in 1986.
I still have her original pivoting daggerboard case somewhere in the attic. Gerard Waller did artwork for the original name on each side. She originally had a shallow stern tank as well as buoyancy bags. Steve Norbury undertook a radical weight reduction program on her and I was quite envious of the success he had. However I was older and heavier by then so I am sure I would have been unable to match his performance. I have enjoyed seeing her from time to time and hearing about her new owners. She must be close to the record for having the most owners in her life.

I was with Jo Richards at Nottingham University. N2820 Anticipation was built outdoors after exams on a slab of concrete halfway up the hill in front of Hugh Stewart hall. No one knows why it is there but it is conveniently level and the right size to set up frames. Subversion was built after Jo & I left university. Contrary to popular belief, Jo did get his degree (Joint honours in Geography and Biology I believe) but I am certain he never made use of it apart from reading a map to find out where he was sailing next. Jo did build a Moth in his room and was taken to task by the housekeeper who objected to the woodshavings and sawdust she had to clean up.
Jo built a boat for me (N2939 Paws) in the summer of 1976 in my parents garage. While we were building her we put Subversion round the back, out of sight. Jo worked tremendously hard & fast so we completed the hull & decks in 8 days. Our postman had been monitoring progress each morning and was extremely impressed. On the last day Jo was going to a regatta so we shut the garage and brought Subversion round to the front. Of course the postman thought it was the same boat and was astounded that we had managed to paint, varnish and rig it in one day! We hadn't the heart to disabuse him!
Jo sailed Subversion at Falmoth Burton week that year, crewed by Bill Short, a Moth sailor. Bill was a practical boater and he found the side decks rather uncomfortable. One morning Jo arrived to find that Bill had stapled an old wetsuit over the side decks, doing wonders for the boat's aesthetics. Bill was ill on Burton cup day so Viv Whitehead stepped in to crew Jo. They had an epic battle with John Royce & Steve Culliford. As far as I recall Jo didn't intentionally stop up the last beat. As an impecunious recent student, he did fit his boats out on a budget so gear failures were common. In reality Subversion was not a fast downwind boat and the seas at Falmouth were quite steep that day. I suspect Subversion's fine bow would have driven under quite a few waves on that last beat. It would be good to hear Jo's memories of that day.
If you compare the front half of Subversion with a Pipedream you may be struck by the similarity. Rob Peebles certainly had a copy of Subversion's plans and the designs exhibit similar charecteristics. Subversion's stern is much more waisted however. Ironically this anticipates Dead Cat Bounce. Have you tried a foiled rudder, Jonathen? Jo also designed a boat called IOU for his cousin, Mike Wigmore. This had a very pronounced bustle in the stern and V sections. Unlike Mike Jackson's later Final Chapter the concept rarely worked. Many of us enjoyed a free ride on the enormous stern wave Mike produced in any breeze. Mike and Guy Curly went on to finish 2nd at the Tynemouth Burton week in 1979 sailing a Steet Legal.
I am pleased you appreciate Subversion because, like many of Jo's designs, she was quite radical in her day. I remember crewing Jo in her, racing on the river on a Thursday evening. Sitting so close to the water and watching her fine bow carving through flat water impressed me greatly. I still enjoy watching Punkawallah doing the same.

Sadly Punkawallah was seriously damaged racing at Trent Valley's open meeting in May. She is currently awaiting repair while I haggle with a recalcitrant insurance company who cannot understand that if you own a boat for 26 years you want it repaired, not written off. However she has had a great life, living in my garage most of the time but making guest outings for special occasions. She is still competitive if conditions are right for her. My daughter Catherine & I managed to win the club regatta slow fleet at Notts County last year. At the class 75th anniversary she finished all the blowy races before finishing 4th in the pursuit race after an epic battle to hold off Punkarella sailed by Graham Bailey.
Apart from the damaged bits she still looks the same as the picture above with the orginal "Starsky & Hutch" stripe and name.

Slick Chick was my first 12. We purchased her in 1968 for £140. I was 14 and raced her at Trent Valley with my mother crewing at first. John Royce owned her from new and sailed her with great success in the Midlands during the 60's. She was a tippy boat but fast in light airs, especially with our light weight. The first race my mother and I did was a running start in little wind on the river. We managed to go past all the other boats racing which included notables such as John, Alan Brunton, Clive Robinson and even Paul Turner. When we reached the top mark in the lead we had no idea which way to go round. Even when we were told Port it didn't help as I was unsure whether that meant the port side of the boat or the mark itself! Needless to say we resumed our rightful place at the rear of the fleet on the beat down the river.
John Royce performed epic feets with her in blowy weather. Peter Copley's books have pictures of her. One was taken of John & Rosie tearing down the river, both sitting right back with an enormous wake coming off her transom. I was told that John won the Trent Valley open meeting in her when it was so windy that everyone else dropped their mainsails at the windward mark. I wonder if the picture was taken on that occasion. John bought a Mr Jones when he finally sold her after 8 years. The person he sold her to (in London) wrote to him later that summer saying the boat was too much for him. By chance we were making enquiries about 12's for sale at Trent Valley and were directed to see John. He told us about Slick Chick and everyone said "you have to have that boat" Somehow we persuaded my father of this and bought the boat unseen. John drove down the motorway early on the August bank holiday morning to collect her and bought her to the club. We raced in the RNLI pennant event and won it despite my feeble crewing. The jib was sheeted straight to the foredeck and was only tight enough when the knot in the clew was at the fairlead. There was no way I could hold it that tight! Needless to say we fitted cleats!
She had laminated, narrow side decks which were fitted in the early sixties. The original Wyche & Coppock decks of the time were flat and uncomfortable. Apparently at the end of one season John & Rosie held a party to take the decks off. Everyone was given a hammer and gathered round the boat. At the signal the old decks were smashed out of her, ready for the new ones. These were much narrower inboard which increased her effective width for sitting out (and also let the water in easier).
A measure of how well she performed was Harry Dalby's copy of her (Hurricane, N24??) built at the same time as China Doll. Harry made his boat wider but the underwater shape was the same (and just as tippy!)
After 3 years I sold her back to John for Rosie to sail (which happened rarely). Jessica Wilmshurst bought her later and eventually sold her out of the club.
I always assumed she had broken up a long time ago, so the pictures on Ebay are a real surprise. As Richard comments they bring back happy memories as well as sadness seeing her so derelict now. I fear she is past restoration but maybe we can find room for her in the garden. RIP