Stuart Marine Corp.

This gallery does not contain any pictures! To add pictures, click on the gallery title (or icon), and select "upload new pictures" from within the gallery.

From Robie Pierce on 7/22/1999: R-19 Low Down - This true archival stuff. I contacted my friend Leo Telsmanic yesterday. Leo is now a healthy 84 yrs. Leo was P. Scott's superintendent for years. Subsequently the same at Marscott Plastics. "Marscott " came from the contraction of Mrs.& Scott, Palmer's wife. According to Leo, the R-19 did come from the design of the Rhodes Hurricane, a class on the Chesapeake, circa 1950. US Plywood of Cookyville, MD cold molded the hull with 8 ply of fir and mahogany plywood. The boats arrived in New Bedford, MA, with no transoms installed. This method of stacking allowed US Plywood to ship 6 boats at once. Scott put the transom in, plus cockpit & deck. Boat had 176 sq. ft. of sail. Leo remembered designing the cuddy cabin and making the first six out of wood. The first wood order went to the Edgartown YC. P. Scott designed the keel and attachment. I was mistaken to say that the SMYRA's were CB. First ones were keel versions. Subsequent SYMRA's & R-19s were CB, with 100 pound iron boards. So, the original 8 boat SYMRA fleet, of wood were keel boats. Approx. 1959 the SYMRA was used as a plug for the now R-19. Interestingly, a custom SYMRA was built for an individual with an enclosed cabin and four bunks. The precursor to the Mariner.

This gallery does not contain any pictures! To add pictures, click on the gallery title (or icon), and select "upload new pictures" from within the gallery.

From Alan Sandoval on 7/4/2004: When I was a teenager in the 60's I worked at a boat rental in Newport Beach, California. We had O'Day Day Sailers and Rhodes 19 keel model. I was the resident sailing instructor and an avid sailor. I simply sailed every time I had the chance. I didn't really care for the Day Sailers, I was used to keel boats and the Day Sailer was a little tender for me, however I did like to take them out when the wind was really raging and actually got one onto a plane once. I loved the Rhodes, it simply felt really "solid" under me. I was in charge of everything there, maintenance, tuning, rigging the boats in the morning, keeping them clean, and running the rental office, which meant qualifying potential renters. As far as qualifying potential renters, the emphasis was on getting as many boats rented as possible. We had two standard questions, and I had final say on whether or not someone who walked up to the window was qualified. It was kind of strange, me a teenage kid, asking obviously well-off people if they really had basic skills in sailing. I turned away more than a few and some were none too happy with my decision. The questions were so basic as to comical: 1. What is a jibe? 2. What do you do when the wind gusts and you are in danger of capsizing? You wouldn't believe how many people who claimed to be "sailors" blew both of those questions. If they couldn't answer both of them to my satisfaction they got sent to the rental place down the sidewalk. Fast forward to my time in the Navy. In 1970 I got posted to a land base in Danang, Vietnam. Danang is the major seaport in the northern part of South Vietnam. There were lots of Navy personell posted there. I got assigned to a "special" unit there, special meaning "secret." This unit was 'special' to the point that we had privlidges other units did not. We had a private base, private beach, and certain recreational opportunities not available to other military units. For example, we had two skii boats and a sailboat, an old wodden Lightning. It was so decrepit I didn't even attempt to sail it. One day one of the officers told me to tow the Lightning back to the Army base (the Army controlled all recreational assets 'in country.') Not a loss for me, I didn't want to sail that boat. I dropped off the Lightning, and as I was pulling away from the dock they told me to stop! "You have to tow the new boat back to your base." I had NO idea what they were talking about. I'd only been told to take the Lightning back to the Army. When I returned to the dock they hooked up a brand new, and I mean BRAND NEW Rhodes 19 to my tow boat. The rigging was still in protective shipping plastic. The Army had just given a brand new Rhodes 19 to an enlisted man in the US Navy. The boat I loved the most when I was a civilian, had been placed in my hands in a war zone. If I told you I simply docked it and never paid any attention to it I'd be lying. I rigged it, I tuned it, and I sailed it every chance I got. I taught lots of people how to sail, and that Rhodes 19 was seen all over Danang harbor. It was astounding to me that the military dropped a Rhodes 19 in my lap, in the middle of a war zone. I went to war, I didn't like it, did they give me a Rhodes 19 to make up for it? Who'll ever know, just an interesting story I guess. Alan's tour pictures: http://www.ussparkcounty.com/photogallery/Sandoval/index.html

I thought you would get a kick out of seeing some pictures of the Der Sea Adler II. The other photo is of my sister and older brother and I (in the white shirt) after being presented with the Shoreham trophy, during our Wet Pants Sailing Assoc. annual dinner.

Last spring my friend convinced me to get my hands on an old Rhodes 19 in San Francisco. I had never sailed before. When someone offers you a boat for free, you have to wonder, but we went ahead with it. I got to the pier and almost left when I saw the boat. All the decks were cracked through, there were two holes in the hull and the keel bolts were so rusted, we did not know if they would hold the keel on for the sail over to Berkeley. The registration is incomplete, but we know it was built in 1965. After 5 weeks of work, new epoxy paint to match the original color, new ribs, keel bolts, floor boards, coaming boards, bottom paint, rigging and we were ready for our return to Pier 39 in San Francisco. Ever since then it has been one of the most active boats at the pier and has braved the Bay and Pacific Ocean on days when the wind was gusting around 40 knots.

Pictures of my sailboat, "Windward", an O'Day Rhodes 19 class #856.