Sail Number: NY2
Vessel Type: Fractional sloop
LOA: 45′4″ / 13.81m – LOD: 45′4″ / 13.81m – LWL: 32’0″ / 9.75m – Beam: 10′7″ / 3.22m – Draft: 6’6″ / 1.98m – Displacement: 25,000 – Ballast: 11,000 – Sail Area: 990 ft² / 91.97 m² – Original Owner: Charles F. Havemeyer – Current Owner: Tyson M. Streeter – Current name: Apache – Year Launched: May 9, 1936 – Designed by: Sparkman & Stephens (No.125) – Built by: Henry B. Nevins – Hull Material: Oak frames (1 5/8″ on 8″ centers), heavy Philippine mahogany planking,
Historical:
In 1935, when the New York Yacht Club was looking for boats to replace the “Thirties” created by Herreshoff, their requirements included blue water seaworthiness in addition to grace and quickness. Olin Stephens submitted the winning design, and during the winter and spring of 1936, Henry B Nevins built 20 hulls in City Island, New York. The design called for oak frames (1 5/8″ on 8″ centers), heavy Philippine mahogany planking, and a low, solid deck house, all without sacrificing speed or beauty. Originally priced at $11,000, the New York 32’s have stood the test of time, with about two-thirds of the original fleet still sailing.
Charles F Havemeyer was the first owner of NY32 #2. She was named Apache, as was his Loki yawl later. The first Apache in the family was the large steam yacht owned by his wife’s father according to Charles’ daughter, Carley (per com 4/04, 3/07). This was a “198-foot bark-rigged yacht” owned by Edmond Randolph that made the 1905 trans-Atlantic Race (Parkinson, 1969). In almost all of the articles in newspapers or sailing magazines or club histories, ‘Charles F.’ is referred to as “Bubbles”. His daughter said he was known as “Bubbles” from birth, although others have suggested that the nickname came from an appreciation of champagne. Havemeyer became a NYYC member in March 1929 and in 1941 was the Club fleet captain and later a Trustee. He was also a long time member of the SCYC, CSHBC, CCA and NAYRU. A member of both the New York Yacht Club One-Design 32-ft Class selection committee and then the class committee, Havemeyer was instrumental in the launching of this new class. Carley said her family were very good friends with the Shethar’s and the Nichol’s families.
At the time of his death at age 62 (NYT obituary, December 17, 1960), he was described as a “sportsman and senior partner in the brokerage firm of Homans & Co.” which he had joined in 1922. He graduated from Harvard in 1921, after a leave to join the US Marines in World War I. Havemeyer was among the youngest first owners of the NY32s. After serving in WW I, he returned to Harvard and played on the varsity football team. In a tribute found in The Log of Mystic Seaport (v. 17, #3, 1965), John Parkinson Jr. wrote that “this great sailor, athlete, and true sportsman had a most interesting career, particularly afloat.” Havemeyer played center on Harvard’s winning football teams in 1919 and 1920. This included the first Rose Bowl game where Harvard defeated Oregon by score of 7-6. Both sources described him as an excellent golfer and court tennis player. Parkinson described Havemeyer’s career afloat beginning
” as a boy during summer vacations in Islesboro, Maine. During the 1920 decade he was either helmsman or crew member aboard the yachts Sheila, Heron, Redhead, and Frieda, in the great international 6meter class, competing in races against the British and Scandinavians, both at home and abroad. In 1930 he was a member of the afterguard aboard the America’s Cup defender Enterprise which defeated Sir Thomas Lipton’s Shamrock V. ”
For the 1934 America’s Cup races, Havemeyer was the NYYC observer aboard Endeavor and Olin Stephens raced aboard Rainbow with Harold Vanderbilt while Henry S Morgan served on the race committee (Stone and Taylor, 1958). Yachting in its “In the World of Yachting” column featured Havemeyer in June 1928, identifying him as a “clever helmsman” in the 6-metre class. Brooks Brothers for 1934 showed Havemeyer chartering the 6-metre Jill. During World War II he was a commander of both a PC and a destroyer escort in the Atlantic and Pacific (Parkinson, 1960, CCA). In 1958 Havemeyer served on the NYYC America’s Cup selection committee with among others, NY32 owners Henry S Morgan and Luke Lockwood (Parkinson, 1975, NYYC history).
The first two of this twenty boat class, #1 Valencia and #2 Apache, were launched Saturday May 9, 1936. William H. Taylor described this event in the Sunday, May 10th, New York Herald Tribune under the following headline with photographs of the boats after launching–
“Shethar’s Valencia and Havemeyer’s Apache, First of N.Y.Y.C. Onedesigners, Launched — New Craft Ride Water Steadily at City Island– Lois Shethar, 11, and Priscilla Havemeyer, 10, Act as Christeners of Yachts”
The second pair, #3 Swell and #4 Geisha, were launched May 22nd. All four of them were surveyed on June 1st.
The opening race for this new one-design class was part of the two-day Decoration Day (May 30-31) series sponsored by the Seawanahaka Corinthian Yacht Club (SCYC) for the NY32, 6 meter and S classes. Four of the new class of 32-footers competed for a trophy offered by NYYC Vice Commodore E. Townsend Irvin, a former SCYC commodore. The report of the first day’s racing by John Rendel (NY Times) is the first glimpse of how they competed with each other as well as in relation to the other classes. Rendel described the start — “All the Thirty-twos were a bit gun shy at the start, with Swell crossing first, followed by Valencia and then Geisha. Valencia went about on port tack on crossing, but soon ran into difficulties and quit. Swell reached the weather mark first, far ahead of Geisha, and was never threatened.” It was unfortunate that although Valencia started, according to the news item, she lost a halyard and motored back. Apache starting 15 minutes late after some confusion over the starting signals sailed around the thirteen and a half mile course to finish a little over 14 minutes later than Geisha . The article continued with following observations.
“…. One thing that the race demonstrated is that the Thirty-Two’s are decidedly on the tender side, at least as they stand at present. The wind, blowing northwest by west, never was over fifteen knots, but on the weather leg they were sailing with their rails buried all the way.
Another point that was evident was that they could not go to windward with the Sixes. The latter started five minutes after the larger boats, but before the 3 1/2 – mile weather leg was completed Indian Scout had caught Swell and five others had passed the second Thirty-Two, L. Lee Stanton’s Geisha. Reaching, however, the New York Y.C. craft were the faster.
However, it is still to early to make an definite diagnosis of the abilities of these smart looking boats. They need tuning up for one thing and their owners undoubtedly will do a great deal of experimenting with ballast before they are entirely right.”
Swell sailed the course in two hours seventeen minutes and forty-three seconds, while the first six meter, Indian Scout, sailed it in two hours nineteen minutes and eight seconds. The summaries show George Nichols (another first owner, #18 in the 32 class) with six meter Swallow finishing just over thirteen minutes after Whiton’s first place finish.
The report to the NY Times (June 1, 1936) on the second and final days’ racing was by John Brennan. All four raced and finished with Valencia taking the day’s honors. Apache was about 60 seconds behind her followed by Swell and then Geisha, about a minute behind. Almost 16 minutes separated the first and last finishers. The series and special trophy went to Swell (6 points) with Apache second (5 points), Geisha and Valencia tied with 4 points each.
Four of the new class – Apache, Geisha, Esmeralda (#5) and Spindrift (#6) – joined the Newport to Bermuda race this first year. Monday, June 22nd saw the start of the Bermuda Race with 45 starters, by all reports, the largest fleet so far. The start for the first time was at Brenton’s Reef Light Ship off Newport, RI. in light winds. Parkinson (1960) used the adjective “horrendous” to describe the race, Alan Gray’s Rudder (August 1936) headline called it “four days of hard going” and Alfred Loomis in Yachting (August 1936) called it “an uphill slam to Bermuda, largest fleet on record meets rough going”. The fleet ran into an early summer gale with head winds for most of the race, all either reefing, setting storm sails and/or spending time hoved-to over the 635 mile course. Among the smallest boats in the fleet were four of the NY32s — Apache, Spindrift, Esmeralda, and Geisha — and two of the Paine 36s — Actaea and Gypsy — all racing in Class B. Kirawan , a cutter, won Class B with sloops Actaea second and Apache third. The cutter Starlight was fifth and the sloops Spindrift finishing seventh, Esmeralda eleventh and Geisha twelfth of the fifteen finishers. Stormy Weather won Class A with Brillant second and Edlu third. Loomis presumed …’that such men as Bubbles and Porter Buck and “Bob” Meyer in Apache’s crew may have had something to do with her winning the special cup offered for the “Thirty-Two’s”..” This special trophy was put up by CCA Commodore George Roosevelt for the 32s racing to Bermuda. Porter Buck was among the Dorade crew for the 1932 Bermuda race and Havemeyer race in 1934 aboard Vamarie (Loomis, 1936, Ocean Racing). Although Havemeyer only raced his NY32 #2 in the 1936 Bermuda Race, where she finished third in class B winning the special trophy for the NY32s put up by George Roosevelt, he raced in nine Bermuda races (Parkinson, 1960).
As viewed from aboard Apache, a copy of the portion’s of Apache ‘s 1936 log book dealing with the Bermuda Race were kindly provided by Carley. It is a log book “arranged for yachtsmen by George W. Mixter, New York, 1936” according to the cover. On Thursday, June 18, 1936, Apache left Cold Spring Harbor Beach Club at 9:20 for Newport. The winds during the day were southeast and it rained hard in the morning. She was reefed at first but then continued in heavy winds under jib. In the early afternoon off New Haven they set trysail, started the motor and got through a 45 mph squall. By late afternoon they had turned off the engine and were under jib and trysail. For Apache, the trip to Newport for the start seems now as a predictor of the race conditions ahead.
Monday, June 22nd was the start in very light northeast winds. Apache “started weather end of line” at 12:10. At 12:42 is the notation “to windward of fleet but so far leeward boats have done better.” The wind increased to about 12 by 3pm and come around to the southwest when relative positions of several boats were entered —
“Starlight dead ahead, Pearce about 1/4 & Stanton 1/2 mile ahead, sea smooth temperature 68” (this would be Peirce #6 Spindrift and Stanton #4 Geisha). At 4 the notes read “Starlight 1/2 mi to leeward & directly abeam, Pearce still 1/4 mi ahead, Stanton abeam & I mi to leeward, the Jew now to leeward but well ahead.” A 5pm they noted ‘Pearce’ is a quarter mile ahead and they are holding a bit high of the fleet. Given a note “Bubbles gets good fix”, the owner is also the navigator for this race. By 6pm the wind is down to 8 but still southwest and ‘Pearce’ is to weather an eighth mile directly abeam. An hour later and 41 miles into the race “we go thru Pearce’s lee. He bears away on us and succeeds in going thru our wind.” This is followed at 8pm “ Spindrift close on starboard beam. Starlight ahead & to leeward. Fine clear night.” During the next hour Apache succeeds in keeping Spindrift well astern. At 10pm “Two Payne boats abeam to weather. Wind dying” is entered. At 2am June 23rd , 82 miles into the race with wind southwest is “still very light, Sea smooth as glass.”. By 3am they had traveled another five miles and with daylight coming they could see many boats on all sides. “Starlight & 2 Payne boats to weather and abeam also the Jew. Practically flat clam.” From about four to eight that morning the fleet was becalmed with the boats being turned around by the sea according to the entries. Starlight, Gypsy and Actaea all mentioned abeam and Spindrift a mile astern. At 8am the wind is noted as southeast at about 6 and “Starlight got big jump when wind came in”. They were about 94 miles from Newport. There is a fix noted for 10:45 am — L32˚ 42N, Lo69˚ 44W. The wind was ESE and 13. By 1pm the wind was 20 and they doused the Genoa and put up the working jib. At 2pm they took two reefs and noted “boat much easier”. They were 140 miles out. There are not any notes except time and miles until 6pm with “SE 30”. At 8pm they took in mainsail and winds are noted as 35-40. This was “ditto” with squalls at 9pm when they were “making good with working jib alone.” Toward midnight Apache was making 4.5 knots on the Kenyon with the wind abeam in heavy rain and wind squalls. Wednesday early morning the notes say “steering all night SW to SSW under trisail. Wind has been strong SE is now SW” at 30-40. At 5am they were 249 miles from the start and sailing under jib and trisail. And at 9am the only note is “trysail & storm jib”. The next note other than time and compass course is “at 2:30 tok down storm jib & set working jib. Now steering SSE. Had been going since 2 o’clock SE x S.” The wind was still southwest but no speed is given, but since at 6pm the notes read “4:30 took in jib & set storm jib. Hard rain squalls. Got Radio Bearing of Bermuda S by E” , it was probably very strong. At 7pm is written “Rain squalls & beautiful rainbow.” The wind must have lessened because at 8pm they put up double reefed mainsail with the working jib. But by 11pm they had switched the working jib for the storm jib. Thursday morning at five is note of winds southwest 25 and that they passed a large black schooner with double reefed mainsail. At 9:30 they took in the mainsail and put up the trysail. The next many hours have only an occasional note as to whether they have double reefed mainsail and what jib. They switch from working to storm and back again. By early afternoon of Saturday, they note “shook out double reef in mainsail. Wind moderate. Sky overcast. Kenyon reads 7 3/8 – up 5/8”. They record their finish as 6:11, but by Bermuda time it was 7:11 pm. That was for the third in Class B.
Apache raced in the final regatta of Larchmont Race Week, July 25. That day was of the class start was won by Clotho. Rampage led her off the wind, but Clotho passed her on the windward leg finishing two minutes and fifty seconds ahead. The weather this last day was sunny with a “splendid breeze.” (Robbins, NYT 7/26/36). The summaries for the day included ten 32-footers finishing with Clotho first (4:58:06), followed by Rampage (5:00:56), Valencia (5:01:04), Swell (5:01:15), Wynfred
(5:04:04), Revonoc (5:05:21), II (5:05:51), Esmeralda (5:07:30), Folly (5:08:54) and Apache (5:13:57). Clotho covered the course in two hours and eight minutes while it took Apache almost three hours.
Rosenfeld captured nine of the NY32s racing at Larchmont in a two picture sequence from start on July 25th. The one shown with the section for #6 of the class is the second of a series, which shows eight more spread out and easily seen, but looses what appeared to be Apache to the far left without a spinnaker set, but noticeable with her dark mainsail. Perhaps lack of a spinnaker at the start affected her finish that day.
Apache, sailed by her owner, finished two and three-quarter minutes ahead of Clotho in their next meeting. This was the fourteenth event of the YRA of LIS championship series hosted by the Stamford Yacht Club on August 1st (NYTimes August 2, 1936). There were seven 32s racing among the 113 boat fleet that day. The course was eleven and a half miles with a beat across the Sound to an Oak Neck Buoy and return. There was scarcely any breeze at the start, but a nice southwester of about seven knots came in to insure there were finishers for the race. The order of finish for the 32-footers was Apache, Clotho, Valencia, Swell, Wynfred, Notus II and Rampage II , where almost eight and a half minutes separated the first and last finisher. There were three NY30s racing. Alera was first, followed by Variant with Oriole last, but only 45 seconds separated her from Alera. The NY32s and NY30s sailed the same length course where the first NY32 finished it in two hours and twenty-five minutes to the two hours and thirty-five minutes for the first NY30.
The NYYC fleet gathered off New London, CT, August 12th for the Club’s Annual Cruise (Robbins, NYT August 13, 1936) with the masts of the J boats towering over all others. The first racing run was to Newport over the distance of thirty-seven and a half miles set for the next day. Apache was not among her sisters for this run, but was racing on the second run August 15th from Newport to Edgartown where she finished seventh. There were no racing activities Sunday August 16th in Edgartown. On the 17th the fleet made its third run from Edgartown to Mattapoisett, a distance of 28.6 miles. There was a westerly wind of about 18 mph at the start which was south-west and increased to about 24 mph at the finish. Nine of the 32s competed on this run with Valencia again first and six minutes ahead of second place Swell. Apache was third, eight and a half minutes after the leader.
Valencia’s time for the run was four hours and forty-seven minutes. Revonoc was fourth followed by Sapphire, Notus II, Mehitabel, Rampage II and Geisha, making the run in just over six hours. In the 36-footer class, Actaea did not finish and first went to White Lady , covering the run in four hours and fifty minutes and three minutes ahead of Gypsy.
The 85th Annual Regatta was held in Buzzards Bay on August 18th with 46 yachts participating. Ten of the 32-footers competed in this 21 mile race over a triangular course in their own class and the three 36-footers raced in their own class starting five minutes later. Starting five minutes later was the NY30 Oriole in a mixed class with 10meters. The weather was clear and winds northeast at the start about 12 mph shifting to east-northeast by the finish. Apache finished the course in three hours and forty minutes
to Oriole’s three hours and fifty-three minutes and Actaea’s three hours and fifty-four minutes and sixteen seconds. Revonoc was about four minutes behind Apache and about a minute and a half ahead of Swell. Fourth in the class was Clotho followed by Notus II, Rampage II, Valencia, Sapphire, Mehitabel and Geisha. On corrected time as well as lapse time the order of finish in the 36-foot class were Acteae, Gypsy and White Lady.
The final run of the cruise from Mattapoisett to Newport was August 19 in a 20 plus mph southwest wind. Valencia again took the honors finishing the 33 mile run five hours and thirty-eight minutes after starting. Revonoc finished 50 seconds after her and fifteen seconds ahead of Apache. Following were Notus II , Clotho, Sapphire, Rampage II, Geisha and almost eight minutes later Swell.
Once back in Newport. The races for the King’s Cup and the new Navy Members’ Cup for the Thirty-two foot class were sailed on August 20th. The new class raced a fourteen mile course starting in light south-easterly winds and finishing in winds of fourteen miles per hour from east-south-east. Valencia made a clean sweep winning by a minute six seconds ahead of Apache and taking the Navy Cup home. Rampage II was twenty-nine seconds after Apache followed by Clotho, Sapphire and Swell . The class made the run in three hours and ten minutes for the first and three hours and almost seventeen minutes for the last to finish. Yankee won the King’s Cup.
The Rudder in October (1936) summarized the NYYC cruise for their readers in an article by William H Taylor entitled “Colorful fleet sails in NYYC cruise.” There were more starters that in past years with 61 all together in both Universal and Cruising rated classes. To quote in part :
“Jack Shethar’s thirty-two footer Valencia, sailed by Shethar and Olin Stephens, was the most consistent winner in the whole cruising division. In seven starts she won five first places, including two special trophies, the George A. Cormack and the Navy Members Cups, and she took two of the four port-to-port corrected time prizes for all cruising sloops and yawls, the other two going to Spencer Berger’s big yawl Mandoo II. Valencia was beaten only twice in her own class, once on Astor Cup day by Ralph Manny’s Swell and again in the annual regatta on Buzzards Bay, when C.F. Havemeyer’s Apache won the class. The thirty-two-footers also had the satisfaction of beating the Marblehead thirty-six-footers quite regularly on time allowance.”
Although built as a racer/cruiser, the only cruise activity related from the class’ first season was that associated with the various yacht club cruises and their racing runs. Among the collections at Mystic Seaport is Log 818. This is Apache’s log for 1937 1939, which was a gift of Mrs. Havemeyer after her husband’s death. This contains entries from several races and several cruises both south to the Chesapeake and north to Nova Scotia. Apache’s log begins on Thursday, April 15, 1937 with leaving City Island, a stop at the NYYC landing and then off for the Chesapeake. The weather was cold from a northwest storm that required three reefs in the mainsail, but soon became warmer.
April 18th is entitled “Annapolis to Chester River” and on the 29th she anchored in Queenstown Harbor, “19.5 miles to Annapolis…reminds me of Bucks Hr, Me”. On the 30th they met up with Diana for dinner. May 3rd was “Cambridge – Choptank” and the 7th was “Solomons Island”. Here Apache again met “Lang” and Diana. Apache started back to NYC May 12th “underway 7AM after listening in on the Cornation in London.” She was at the NYYC landing at 10:30 May 14th and back to Cold Spring Harbor by 14:30. A check of Lloyd’s Register shows Diana was the S&S designed auxiliary ketch built by Davis & Son, Solomons Island, MD in 1936 of 60’6″ overall and 57’6″ on the waterline. Her owner was Langhorne Gibson of NYC and her homeport was Iselsboro, ME. It appears that this was a pleasure cruise to see the Chesapeake area and meet friends.
Later the Apache Log comes with the information that on May 31st her owner and perhaps others aboard “swam off Llyod’s Neck” and then she left from Cold Spring Harbor for Newport that afternoon. On June 2ndApache sailed around watching Ranger and Yankee. On the 4th she motored to Bristol since there was no wind and saw Endeavor II . She then traveled back to Block Island Sound. There she passed Rainbow and Ranger — “Ranger leading 1 minute 45 seconds”. Apache then motored 16 hours down LIS with no wind. She arrived back with “1 gal gas left in tank”. On Sunday June 6th she was watching the 6-meters. According to the NYYC history (Parkinson, 1975) June 2nd was the first preliminary racing among the contenders to defend against Endeavor II during the America’s Cup races scheduled for July 31st. Those racing for that privilege, and would be winner of a Commodore George Nichols Cup, were Yankee, Rainbow and Ranger. The winner would be Ranger , named for the eighteen-gun warship commanded by John Paul Jones during the Revolutionary War. She was designed by Starling Burgess with Olin Stephens collaborating. As Parkinson (1975, Vol. 2, p 342-343) tells it :
“….The choice of these men by Vanderbilt was clever, for he realized that accomplished veteran Burgess was “no longer a young man” and he was one of the first to recognize the genius of young Stephens whom he wanted in his afterguard together with his brother, Rod, and their offshore shipmate, Arthur Knapp. ..”
The NYYC Annual Cruise began from New London August 17th after the Cup races and both Endeavors joined the other J boats in the group racing in Buzzards Bay. The Race Committee reported that there were 61 yachts on the first run. The committee boat was Wilhelmina, the same as in 1936. This run from New London to Newport (NYYC RC report, 1937) had ten of the 32-footers racing in the clear west to southwest winds of 8-15 mph. Apache was first to finish, covering the course of 37.5 miles in six hours and nine minutes. She was followed by Rampage II, Notus II, Valencia, Sapphire, Dolphin, Folly, Ragamuffin, Larikin and Swell. The ten NY32s finished within the space of almost four minutes and not quite minutes separated the first three finishers. In the second run from Newport to Mattapoisett, a distance of 32 miles. This time Sapphire was first to finish among the ten in the class racing, while Apache brought up the rear.
The third run was from Mattapoisett to Edgartown, a distance of 43.8 miles. Here Apache was third among the eight racing in their class.
According to the CCA (1960) there was a combined rendezvous of the fleets from the Boston and New York Stations at Block Island on June 26. This was just prior to the Harvard-Yale rowing races in New London. “After the Harvard-Yale races, Bubbles Havemeyer won the race back from Marblehead around Cape Cod with his New York 32 Apache, and Malcolm Greenough was second with his Paine 36 White Lady.” There is nothing more in CCA history about any of the 32s for 1937. Apache ‘s Log mentions that for the AYC annual race to New London, she had a new mainsail and Genoa. There is also mention of a “good start”, “wind very light all day” and “won in class of Bermuda Rule”.
A news article from the NY Times of June 30, 1937 reported in its headline that “Lambert Trophy Taken by Apache”. The Gerard Barnes Lambert Trophy was awarded for the first time in this third annual New London to Marblehead ocean race sponsored by Eastern Yacht Club. The race was 171 miles in fog, rain and light winds. Fourteen of the twent-five yachts starting withdrew. Apache ‘s finish was a “distinct surprise here, as she held off the finishing challenge of the larger Paine-designed 36-footer White Lady, owned by Malcolm Greenough of Marblehead. Apache finished shortly after 9 P.M. last night, having established a comfortable lead by skirting the Cape Cod shore while the rest of the fleet struggled with tides in Pollock Rip and prayed for wind, but her victory did not become certain until after midnight since..”
It was thought another boat might have won on corrected time. The first boat to finish was Valiant but she was not eligible for the Lambert Trophy. According to Apache’s Log the crew for this race was W.P. Buck, George Tiffany, Arthur Weeks, J Hollowell and “CFH”, as the owner always noted himself. Apache was “becalmed off Fisher’s Island abeam of Block Island and windward of fleet… fog.. no wind at night … anchored…. Gerald Lambert Perpetual Trophy won… Valiant only boat to beat Apache ..” There is also a note that Valiant was a Universal Rule converted ‘M’ boat. On June 27th is written : “A very hard slow race but a fine reception at E.Y.C. and pleasant results all around.”
In 1938 Apache was chartered by Wolcott Blair (Brooks Brothers), a NYYC member since 1930. Apparently Blair did not race that season, since she does not appear in any of the twenty-seven LI Sound area or NYYC race results for that season.
In 1939, Apache showed two seconds and one third among the fifteen LIS and NYYC races. According to her log, she cruised to St John’s and New Brunswick with visits to Dark Harbor, on Islesboro, and Castine, ME. The sail from Dark Harbor to Castine on August 21st was to visit the Beverly Duers, friends from Oyster Bay. Apache returned to Dark Harbor the next day. His daughter, Carley, recalled the 1939 cruise as “wonderful” (per com 4/04). She remembered the paid hand aboard their NY32 as the “nicest man from Nova Scotia” who came for the summer’s racing and cruising. He was Ethan Nickerson, or Nick, the paid professional aboard.
The last entry in Apache’s log is for October 12, 1939. The wind was light and day overcast and she was motoring for Plum Gut at 8:30. By “9:30 Jib & mainsail, lgt W” and she reached Plum Gut at 10:30. She reached Essex just after one in the afternoon and Middletown by quarter after six that night after a “Fine run up the River. No wind.” It would seem that Apache was hauled in Middletown, CT, that fall. Carley suspects selling the Apache was largely due to her father’s joining the Navy and reporting for active duty in 1940.
For the 1939 season, Havemeyer had ordered sails from Ratsey. In March it was a mainsail, jib and blue genoa (Mystic, Coll 236, v 120) and in May a new genoa (v157). In 1940, the next owner ordered a mainsail (v138) with the note “BT Wks” after “Fisher NY32”.
In 1940 Brooks Brothers showed Apache owned by Mrs. Charles T Fisher of Detroit, MI With this move, Apache was the second of the class to move to the Great Lakes. The first to move there was #6 in 1938, becoming French Boy, while #5 had moved from LIS to Rochester in 1937 to become Vitesse II. The two sisters (#2 & 6) would become avid competitors later in Mackinac Races as well as local races on Lake St Clair, but their first encounter was the 1940 Put-in-Bay regatta. Apache raced in both the Chicago Mackinac (described as a “drifter”) and the Port Huron, or Bayview, Mackinac races in July 1940. According to the September Yachting she was fifth in both in her class. In the “South Shore of Lake Erie” column by John Robinson in September issue there was more description of the Put-in-Bay regatta sponsored by the Inter-Lake YRA. There were good steady breezes for this early August racing. Saturday was the three overnight feeder races to Put-in-Bay from Cleveland, Detroit and Toledo. Falcon II was first to finish, but fourth corrected, the Cleveland feeder race and Apache won the Detroit feeder. In the “Detroit River and Lake Erie News” column by Walter Brennan reported that “Fisher of Grosse Point Yacht Club was the outstanding figure at Put-inBay” in the 47th annual regatta. Apache won the 70mile race around the islands — she was both first to finish and first on corrected time. Apache also had three firsts in the championship series in a fleet of 31 boats. The weather was reported as “ideal” for the 22 classes and almost 200 boats racing.
In the 1941 Lloyd’s Register, Apache is shown with Thomas K Fisher as her owner. Charles T Fisher bought the NY32 for his son, Thomas K Fisher, wrote Charles’ grandson (Tom, em 12/06). Charles and his brother Frederick had formed the Fisher Body Company in 1908 in Detroit, to make “horseless carriage” bodies, or cars. According to a history of the company (web site, Fisher & Co. 2002), their other five brother’s joined the company. By 1913 the company had the capacity to produce 100,000 cars a year for Ford, Cadillac, Studebaker and others. In 1916 it became Fisher Body Corporation with the ability to build 370,000 cars per year. In 1926 the corporation became fully owned by General Motors. During both World Wars, Fisher Body produced airplanes and tanks. The Fisher brothers resigned from General Motors in 1944.
Fisher’s son, Tom, wrote (em 12/06, 3/07) that his grandfather, Charles, was a powerboat owner with a house on the Detroit River where his children learned to sail. His father’s first “racing” boat was a 6-meter that his grandfather bought him as an early teenager. Her name was Challenge. Fisher raced her and then Apache with much success. Apache became known by a red Indian head sewn onto her mainsail. “It was actually taken from the Pontiac motor car emblem.” Apache ‘s owner served in the US Coast Guard during the war. He ran a fleet of sub chasers between the Florida Keys and Cuba. Tom said his father bought a Cal 40, in which he did well in Great Lakes racing, about twenty-five years after the NY32 was sold. He served on the board of the Grosse Point YC, but did not wish to be a commodore. After that he owned Gypsy, a Frank Paine 52-footer named as all of Paine’s boats. This was a double ended design, not the Paine 36 (50’ loa) which raced against Apache in the 1936 Bermuda Race and was a competitor for the NYYC one-design class of 1936. Later Fisher felt, his son wrote, that the sport of sailing was getting too professional, and designed a fifty foot waterline boat with basic accommodations and a masthead rig which he thought would beat a 12-meter. He envisioned the America’s Cup races moving to such a yacht. “He designed such a boat with C&C, a successful Canadian design team a the time. I recall while we were observing the tank testing of the design that hanging above the tank was a NY 32 hull form that they still were using for bench marking purposes.” Fisher said his father did not build the boat, but C&C later produced it as the C&C 61 after buying the design back. Later Fisher was a NAYRU judge at national and international regattas. Tom had a chance to sail aboard Apache with Skip Gmeiner on Little Traverse Bay in light air. Skip said something then that Tom wrote “remains with me today. You can go anywhere in the world, he said, and if you can find a sailing club you can find great people who you will enjoy being with and getting to know. It was something I just felt but had never heard so simply and accurately expressed. …. No one who loves sailing can fail to appreciate the classic lines of the NY32.”
On the Lakes, Apache and her owner Tommy Fisher were doing well in the auxiliary classes. She won the Mills Trophy for the race from Toledo to Detroit River Light to Put-in-Bay and back (Yachting, August) according to the “South Shore of Lake Erie” column. In the “Lake Michigan News” column of October Rudder, skipper Fisher and his crew — Carl Meurer, Ward Kemp, Wilfred Gmeiner, Ernie Grates and George Van (yachting editor of the Detriot Times) — won two of the races in Q-class sloops in the 5th annual Otto Barthel Trophy series held off Chicago from August 21 -23. According to the October Rudder, the Chicago Daily News Regatta on August 24th was the first race Apache entered since the Port Huron -Mackinac in July. Apache finished second in the cruising class with her 21 year old owner Tom Fisher. She now had a new mast to replace original which had snapped off at the deck just before the Chicago- Mackinac Race. In September’s Yachting, Walter Brennan reported —
“A Lone Wolf Sails to Mackinac” — that Kitty Hawk sailed her own course to win the 250 mile Port Huron Mackinac Race. She sailed toward the Canadian shore while the rest of the fleet stayed on the Michigan side. Apache was third in the Racing-Cruising B division (elapsed time of 61 hrs, 21 min & 31 sec). There were 27 starters in five divisions. No NY32s were among those racing in the Chicago Mackinac Race. Details of Apache’s mast loss and replacement have been supplied by Skip Gmeiner, whose father was among her crew and bought her before the next season, as follows: “Apache was sailing to Chicago in a storm …. The spar broke at under the first spreader and at the deck while on port tack. All the sails were salvaged and they motored on to Chicago. When Nevins built 20 boats, he built 21 spars …” Apache’s new mast was the 21st that Nevins built and is stamped with that number at the base.
Apache was sold by Mrs. Fisher to Wilfred Gmeiner, who was a crew member aboard her in 1940 and1941. Gmeiner, like Havemeyer, was almost always referred to in the news and sailing articles by his nickname “Toot” rather than his given name. Gmeiner’s son Skip, at the DYC Memorial for his father (July 2001, DVD), said that an aunt was the first to call him “Toot” when he was young and it stuck. Gmeiner had joined Detroit YC in 1935 to sail on the club’s catboats. He was commodore in 1965 and his son, Skip, was commodore in 1990. Toot was later a member of the Bayview YC and Storm Trysail Club. Apache is still part of the Gmeiner family and at the DYC.
Apache continued her successful racing career with Toot and his sons, Skip and Doug. In the 1942 August Rudder, Davy Jones reported on the 18th Port Huron Mackinac Race held in July. Apache was first to finish and first in Class B. Wilfred “Toot” Gmeiner “bought this trim cutter from Tommy Fisher this year..”. Unfortunately, this column disappeared from Rudder at the end of 1942, perhaps a result of Pearl Harbor and US entry into WWII. Similar comments about Apache were made in Yachting by George Van in his Detroit Jottings column. Here he included more details of the 18th annual race in which there were 19 yachts in the fleet. “It was the kind of ride to have your best girl along” Van stated. The winds were light with no rain or seas. Yachting’s October issue in the Detroit River and Lake Erie News column by Walter X Brennan mentions the Bayview YC night race in September — a 62 mile run that started at 6pm in light winds. Apache won the Racing -Cruising Class.
The May 1943 Yachting Detroit Jottings by George E Van covered the crew shortage issue. It seemed that some of the old boys who had not been “out of the cockpit for years to play on the pointed part” are in great demand.” ” ‘Toot’ Gmeiner, for instance, who cleaned up last summer with Apache a New York 32 was looking for someone to replace Norbert Taylor who is somewhere out on the blue. His approach is typical. He needed a light canvas man. “Look it'” he’d say, “you can have your choice of lee bunks, there’ll always be beer in the ice box, I’ll have you a private jug for your very own and you won’t have to come on deck when we’re on the wind.” Little wonder wrote Van that such “old timers’ …. are puffed out like parachutes with their own importance.”
As usual, the September issue brought news of the Mackinac Races. There were no NY32s listed as racing in the Chicago – Mackinac Race. George Van wrote about “The Detroit -Mackinac Race” for Yachting The race had sixteen starters in three classes and he was aboard Apache in the Racing -Cruising Division with eight others. There was a “lively west wind” at the start on July 17th which faded off Gratiot Beach, 60 miles and 10 hours after. “Dawn found the leaders reaching across Saginaw Bay at a seven- to eight-knot clip…. The 90-mile leg from Harbor Beach to Thunder Bay Island was one of those things a sailor dreams about. Meals came regularly and skippers and crews were happy because all of us among the leaders were in the running as the boats romped along under a cloudless sky in a blue sea.” Staying offshore by Thunder Bay Island kept wind in the sails. Apache lost some here as she tried for the shorter distance, but lost the breeze with 100 miles to the finish. Getting “around the corner” at Presque Isle, 65 miles from Mackinac Island was a “trying job … for all the others astern. … The wind headed us as we went across Hammond’s Bay and just below Forty-Mile Point Apache tacked offshore and headed for Spectacle Reef Light.. … Several miles off Spectacle, the wind hauled and for an hour we rambled along towards the finish 30 miles away. At dawn we were slatting around without steerage way. … a nice breeze came dancing out of the southwest, sending us along on a spinnaker run to the finish…. at 10:04 Monday morning.” Vitesse (#5) finished third at 11:01am taking second on corrected time. Between the two NY32s was Shamrock, an 8-meter, finishing at about 10:10am. The NY30 Minx finished the race sixth. Apache’ s crew members were owner Gmeiner, Frank Kursten, Fred Blackwood, Fred Blackwood, Jr, Vic Taylor, Ted Coggin, Bill Wagner and George Van.
The 1944 August issue of Yachting carried a pictorial article of the Invasion fleet on D-Day. During the war, the long distance races along the east coast were suspended, but those in the Great Lakes continued. The US Coast Guard in the Detroit region assigned numbers – 36” black on the bow – for identification. Apache raced and won the Port Huron Mackinac races with Toot Gmeiner in 1942, 1943 and 1945. In 1944, it was Vitesse and her owner Welling that won the Port Huron Mackinac, but Apache was right behind her. Apache that year won the DYC Sweepstakes. George Van described ‘the DYC Sweeps’ as “the biggest inter-club regatta of the season, the one with the greatest tradition hereabouts,…” (DYC Main Sheet, August, 1959).
September’s 1945 issue of Yachting brought the Mackinac Race results. There were no 32s in the Chicago -Mackinac Race, but four started the Port Huron-Mackinac Race –Apache, Vitesse, Soubrette and Tigress. According to Robinson in his June South Shore of Lake Erie column, this was the first time a boat from Mentor Harbor competed in this race. From his berth aboard Blitzen, George Van reported the race which started calmly on July 14th but turned nasty with torn sails, many seasick and all but six dropping out before the finish. He wrote:
“Only four, Blitzen, Manitou, Apache and Last Straw, out of a record entry of 40 stayed out to slog their way through the nor’easter to finish at Mackinac Island. The other two recorded finishers, Shamrock and Hostess II, anchored in Harbor Beach’s Harbor of Refuge, 60 miles from the start, sewed sails and then came on when the weather had moderated. Blitzen, behaving like a gal home from college on spring vacation, loved it all the way and swept everything. She was more than 12 hours ahead of the next yacht, Manitou, a 64-foot yawl. Apache was third in, won in Class B, or racing-cruising, and took second in the fleet of cruising boats. Last Straw was the only other cruising entry to stay in the race. Racing class honors went to the Eight-Metre Shamrock, the only finisher in her division.”
Apache completed the distance in sixty-two hours and ten seconds. She was perhaps only racer to carry her mainsail all the way and she “didn’t even break a batten which lends credence to the estimate that the wind was in the 30s Saturday night.” Vitesse didn’t finish because she went aground about 35 miles from the start at Foster. At the time she was sailing with her main down and only a working jib. Last Straw, a Herreshoff Fishers Island 31’ class, and Apache met often in the area races.
In November (Yachting , the news from Detroit jotted down by George Van included that the Grosse Point ‘Blue Nose’ regatta had a big turn out. Blitzen was the first to finish, but Apache won on corrected time. A group including Apache’s owner “Toot” Gmeiner, Dr Carlisle Wilson (Solenta) and Howard Baxter (Q-boater from Grand Rapids) went to NY to sail Harlow Davock’s Away (#19, x Dolphin) to Miami. They reported that the last 100 miles to Norfolk, 
first stop, was made in twelve hours under storm sails. Davock was planning to do the Miami-Nassau race. Four of the 32s raced in the 1946, 1947 and 1948 Mackinac Race but were not the winners. Although Apache had won the Cresent Sail YC annual regatta on Lake St Clair for the seven years prior, she did not win in 1948.
At Detroit YC (Detroit Jottings, October Yachting 1948) the Gizmo series was held in weather more suited to ice boating when most sailors had put boats away for season, reported George Van. Two races were enough for the contestants that included Tigress (#4), having traveled 150 miles to attend. She won, becoming “King Gizmo for 1948”. The Detriot NY32s Apache, Vitesse and Soubrette all raced. Later Falcon would join in these races. Skip Gmeiner (em 2/07) recalled about six of these races among the NY32s. The trophy and name was given by his mother. The races were held at the Grosse Pointe YC, where Soubrette (#10) was the sponsor. The courses were about five miles each and the series was planned for Saturday and Sunday at the end of the season. It was a round robin event with crews, taking their own spinnakers, moved from boat to boat. There was a minimum of five races, but they tried for twice that many. This was the only ‘class’ racing in the Detroit Regional Yacht racing Association (DRYA) where the championship was based on Saturday races from Memorial Day through third weekend of September, but not including the Mills or either Mackinac Races. Skip explained that if a yacht raced every one of these DRYA races, she could throw out the two worst ones for a season point total. “The NY-32s would usually dominate the class. There was no need for our own class because we could get more points by beating other boats.” The last class race for the NY32s was the NYYC cruise in 1948.
Other race highlights from Yachting featuring Apache and her sisters, three of the NY32s took the top four finishes in the DYC opening regatta with Apache first, Falcon second and Vitesse fourth (July, 1956). In 1957’s Gizmo race (December issue) a triple tie resulted between “Frank White’s Tigress, Toot Gmeiner’s Apache and Clare Jacobs’ Falcon. Tigress, however, won all three starts in the Round Robin and White was awarded the Gizmo.” In 1958 (October) Apache won the Edison BC race by finishing four seconds ahead of Falcon.
In 1959 Apache won the Port Huron Mackinac again, this time beating Last Straw. Her crew as reported in Yachting (September) included Eddie Wunsch, Jack Boyle, Billy Miller, Al Thomas, Ed Scanlon, Doug and Skip Gmeiner as well as Toot for a clean sweep. George Van’s “Apache and Last Straw take it all in Port HuronMackinac Race” (DYC Main Sheet, August 1959) described the race in calm to light winds “the way the two DYC craft had at each other all of the 235 miles up to Mackinac Island that drew the plaudits from the rest of the record-breaking fleet of 85 starters.” Heavy weather is Apache’s breeze, but for this race the wind was maybe 18mph and only for about 10 hours of the 44 hours elapse time. Van continued “… above Middle Island, seventy-five miles from Mackinac Island, both Straw and Apache sneaked inside along the shore and went out in front again.” Dyna, 58-foot yawl, had caught up, but she stayed off shore. During the night the two had nosed by one another along the Michigan shore. Apache moved off shore leaving Straw inshore for a time until she moved back to cover.
“That was the story. Apache barely had steerage way as she came about. But she did pick up the shore breeze, a bit ahead of Straw, and slid across the finish line fourteen minutes and six seconds in front of her rival. … Apache covered the 235 miles with an elapsed time of 44 hours, 12 minutes and 12 seconds. Apache had to allow Straw a bit more than seven minutes in the handicapping but had that mush more to spare. Apache and Straw were the only boats in the race to finishing with corrected time under 40 hours.”
In the 1963 Port Huron Mackinac Apache won class A and was second in the fleet. Falcon was second in class A and Vitesse third that year. In 1964 there were six NY32s in the Port Huron Mackinac Race, but none won. They were Falcon, Dauntless III (#15), Vitesse, Tigress, Apache and Gentian (#18). In 1966 there were seven (Ballina, #16, joined them) of the 32s racing but again none won. In 1966 the Detroit Jottings (August) pages told of Apache finishing eleven minutes ahead of the Cal 40, Winsome, in a race in Lake St Clair in a 20 mph breeze.
In 1963 Apache left fresh water and went south to Ft Lauderdale for the winter racing. Tigress also came down from Detroit for the 1964 racing. The NY32’s first appearance in the SORC races was in 1947 when Away and Ragamuffin (#7) were in some of the races and Toot Gmeiner was among the crew of Away. Yachting ( March) reported that in the 1964 Miami to Palm Beach SORC opener, Apache finished third in Class A just after Tigress. In the St Petersburg -Ft Launderdale race in moderate to light winds Apache finished nineteenth and Tigress fifteenth overall. In the Miami to Cat Cay race of 71 miles, the two NY32s apparently had a race of their own in which Apache beat Tigress. Skip related (email 02/04) that they departed Detroit first of September and sailed to Buffalo where they took the mast out and motored with it on deck through the barge canal to Kingston, NY. With the mast back in place, the motored to NYC. Toot with his sons, Skip and Doug, and various crew made it to Fort Lauderdale in 32 days. Apache raced all the SORC races. They sailed from Fort Lauderdale to NYC in seven days that May and arrived back at the DYC in 26 days. Along return through the barge canal, Apache stopped briefly to visit with a sister, Whisper III (#1) in Newark, NY with Lake Ontario sailing. In the September 1964 Yachting, on the ‘Detroit Jottings’ pages, George Van reported that Apache had a slight lead in six regattas in Lake St Clair over Dauntless III.
They were followed by four other NY32s, namely Vitesse II, Falcon II, Tigress and Gentian. Apache raced in both the Port Huron and Chicago Mackinac Races, but placed tenth and fifth in class, respectively. This was probably the year with six there, that they were weighed at the Bayview YC on the elevator scale that had been instaled in the late 1950s. The boats had anchors aboard, but the fuel and water tanks were empty according to Skip Gmeiner (email), owner of Apache.
In the fall of 2006, Skip Gmeiner was Ted Everingham’s guest on his WMTV5 program “Log of the Great Lakes”. This was the year Apache and her sisters turned seventy. Skip described his father, Toot, as a racing sailor who had a record of forty Mackinac Races in the same boat. That boat was Apache. Toot was only thirty when Mrs Fisher persuaded him to buy Apache . Skip explained that Mrs Fisher was worried with her son’s grades slipping, he would not graduate from college and get a good job. Toot said he couldn’t afford the 32, but she said he could on her terms — to pay what he could when he could. Skip joked on the TV segment that they had just made the final payment. The sum agreed upon was $9000 and Apache moved to well 65 at the DYC. By the late 1960s, Apache belonged to Skip and his brother Doug – as Skip tells of the transaction, they bought her in 1967 for $10 and Doug had to borrow $5 from him. She is still part of the Gmeiner family. Toot’s last Mackinac Race aboard Apache was in 1986, her fiftieth year, in a special classic division that included Sapphire (#15), Yar and Hope (Q-boat). Apache was first to finish, but Yar was first on corrected time. It was Skip’s son Stephen’s first Mackinac Race. As Skip explained, on the TV program, you “never own a 32, your just in charge of maintenance.”. He also mentioned the Castine 70th celebration for the class with Olin Stephens attending. He thanked Olin for designing a boat “that always brings you home.” Skip said he had met Rod several times when he was testing DWKS at General Motors, but had not met Olin until the celebration for the class’ 70th year.
Doug Gmeiner said in the Sailing article “The New York 32, on and on” (Hutchins, Nov. 1987) that he liked to think that the Detroit fleet of seven 32s in the 1960s had something to do with Apache . “They were trying to find a way to beat APACHE.” She won overall in the Pot Huron (Bayview) Mackinac Races of 1943, 1959 and 1963 “plus 16 of 17 Detroit River Yachting Association championships.” …. “On APACHE, Doug Gmeiner said, “The helm is very well balanced. I sailed on Tartan 46 once and I never could get my seas legs. The 32 goes through the waves without falling to one side or the other of the wave.” “She could punch through seas.” Stephens said of MUSTANG.”
Apache has had very few changes over all the years since her launching. Skip mentioned (TV Log) that her engine was replaced in 1952. She now has roller furling, a pressurized water system, new refrigerator and stove is natural gas instead of alcohol. In November 2004, Skip said that Apache was out of the water to find a leak that appeared to be in aft area. This was the first time she had been out for the winter since 1943. The leak turned out to be via keel boats under the engine where the wooden plugs had gone. Apache, like many of the Detroit area wooden boats, usually spent the winter in the water, coming out in the spring for bottom paint and inspections. NY32 #2 has the 1000 pound additional lead ballast blocks from 1939 as well as the third, 500+ pound, aft-most block added to Mustang and a few others in the 1950s. Skip said that there are also internal lead pieces up forward where the crew’s toilet had been.
In the fall of 1963, the Gmeiner’s launched an effort to find all of the NY32s and their owners. Skip began his letter to Tom Closs about this project with the news that the NY32s finished first, second and third in that year’s Port Huron Mackinac Race. “These great old gals are still winning races after 27 years.” In the letter Skip, after introducing himself saying he had been sailing on Apache since 1941(age 3), asked what Closs thought of a NY32 club. Skip suggested that the person who had owned one the longest should be commodore. He wrote that he would like to be secretary and they would not need a treasurer “because there is no money involved.” Skip asked for any information Closs might have and wrote that he knew one had been destroyed, but that he didn’t know the number or how. The list Skip enclosed included seventeen of the class with five (#1, 3, 7, 9 and 19) showing no owner information. The three not listed were #8, 10 and 14. The boat Skip listed for Closs was Fun . Closs wrote back in December to say he would be “very interested in joining forces with your interesting New York 32 association…” Closs was surprised to learn one had been destroyed. He provided information on #1, 3, 9, 11, 12, 19 and 20. At that time Closs was trying to sell Raider (#12) as he wrote Skip in closing. The idea took and became “The New York 32 Owner’s Club” with O’Donnell Iselin (first and still then owner of #14, Ibis II) commodore and Skip Gmeiner secretary. Rod Stephens (#17, Mustang) would be the technical advisor.
In May 1964, the secretary of the NY32 Owner’s Club wrote a ‘welcome home’ letter to Wilfred Gmeiner. Skip wanted to know “approximately how many miles Apache has covered since starting the ’63 sailing season. Yachting Magazine calls Ondine the sailingest sailboat of modern times and we believe that Apache should be the sailingest “32” of the modern times.” Skip enclosed the first “Did You Know” letter and asked that the enclosed form be filled out and returned. The “Did You Know” note included the news that Apache and Tigress were the only two boats in the SORC that year with tillers. “….that the only boat with a 7/8 rig in the S.O.R.C. was a NY 32 ? Apache, and she also was the only boat with double head stays.” Other news was that Tigress and Falcon II had roller furling and that Vitesse II had converted her starboard water tank to carry “thirty-eight gallons of gasoline to increase her cruising range” in fresh water. In April 1964 the Owner’s Club secretary wrote to Hank Boschen (see #19) to ask the same form be filled out and returned. They had met when Apache stopped at the World’s Fair on her return trip from Ft Lauderdale.
By the late 1960s all of the surviving nineteen sisters were part of the Owner’s Club. The one destroyed had been #8. Gmeiner had put together the information he had collected from the owners into two summary tables. Of the nineteen only four (#2, 6, 16 & 18) still retained the double head stay and original rig (i.e., not the Mustang
rig design that happened with Rod owning #17). Three were yawl rigged and one of these still retained the double head stay. In November 1970, there was a “Did You Know:” letter which proclaimed that the New York 32 Owner’s Club was “in full swing again” suggesting a hiatus. The last item was that “this column needs information from all” of the owners. One item was that Vitesse was sold to Racine and her former Detroit owner, Taylor, was helping aboard NY32 #1. The news of Falcon ‘s fire, the purchase by her owner of NY32 #15 and Falcon’s new owner, Bennett, had “really fixed her up” had been another item. Apache finished second in her class in the Port Huron Mackinac Race. There were extra sail plans available for any owners planning to change their rig under the new IOR rule. Tigress, although still with a masthead rig, had a new aluminum spar with internal halyards. Apache’s spar was weighed with and without her rigging. The owner’s were to guess the weights, which were not given. Near the end of the “Did You Know” was the news that there was a “new light canvas man” for Apache — Stephen Gmeiner was born that month. Stephen probably had to wait until spring to have his first sail aboard Apache . Skip explained (TV Log) that each child and grandchild takes their first Apache sail in the stateroom drawer. In the fall of 2006 it was Charlie. The Gmeiners.com web site has many photos of Apache and her family over the years. Her owner’s flag is a red G-major.
Skip and Stephen with their families were in Castine for the NY32 70th celebration in August 2006. They sailed aboard Sapphire (#15) with her former owner Penny Breck and new owner Jeffery Combs and his family.
In December 2018, Apache left her home in Detroit YC after 76 years with the Gmeiner family. She traveled to MA for sailing again in waters she had left in late 1939. Her new owners are Ty and Suzanne Streeter and her homeport is changing to Cohasset.
Ty wrote (12/18) that this was his “big leap into sailboat ownership. I have owned smaller powerboats, and have only been a wooden boat loyalist and mere fanatic until now. I grew up in Guilford, CT, sailing mostly Lasers, 420s and Sonars before doing a lot of PHRF on a C&C 33…” He has been an Off Soundings member for almost twenty years and raced to Halifax, Bermuda, around Block Island and the Vineyard. He and his family definitely will be taking Apache day sailing and cruising back in New England waters. “We are new to the Boston area, and I haven’t done any sailing around here, but there appears to be a lot of racing in the area–in the harbor and on up toward Marblehead. Iwill definitely be racing.” He says the “classics are appealing, especially
ERR and feeder races.” So, this sister will probably find she will be sailing again on Penobcot Bay.
Resources
Mystic Collectionns Mystic Seaport: Rosenfeld photos are housed at Mystic Seapoprt —
Levick photos: Mariners’ Museum
The Gmeiners.com website: Many photos of Apache sailing, with family and work they have done over the years
Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):
Owner: – (1936-1938) Charles F. Havemeyer
Owner: – (1938-1940) Tommy Fisher, Grosse Pointe Yacht Club
Owner: – (1940-2018) Toot Gmeiner and Family, Detroit Yacht Club. War Service Coast Guard (1942) 38 R 502. Won the Bayview Mackinac Boat Race five times (1941, 1943, 1945, 1959, 1961)
Owner: – (2018-present) Tyson M. Streeter