Yankee R Class Boat

[YankeeR16]

Hello to all Forum
My name is Franco Solinas, I live in Genoa (Italy), in my spare time I work on ship modeling.
Currently I am finishing a model of Yankee Boat Class R,
 Designed in 1924 by Lewis Francis Herreshoff, this boat that I bought drawings and photographs at the Mystic Seaport Museum.
 I appeal to you to ask if you know what has happened to this boat, I know it was built in Boston, shipyards Britt Bros
 in 1925 for Mr.. CAWelch, and I think it was in his possession until the year 1936 it was purchased by Edward W. Schnabel Jr. and moved to Chicago ILL
On the web, I downloaded the charts of some races of the season, and also the classification of Sir Thomas Lipton Cup, where this boat shows, almost always among the top three, until 1952,
 from this year onwards, Yankee R does not know anything.
I tried to contact the Yacht Club of Chicago, but got no response, then looking on Facebook, I found Schnabel EW III, and I tried to ask the boat which I assume belonged to his grandfather, unfortunately, I have not heard, I think has other interests, and do not want to talk about his ancester's boat.
I hope you can give me some information on this boat,
  I'd like to know if it was scrapped, and in which year it happened.
 Thanks in advance for any information you can give me,
 Sincerely
 Franco Solinas

P.S:
 Please excuse my bad English,
 but not knowing your language, I am forced to use an electronic translator

[Adam]

The guy to ask on all things R-Class is Scott Rohrer (scottr@rhins.com).... http://www.r-boat.org/

I believe she was broken up some time ago - 1960's maybe - I though he mentioned around the same time as Cotton Blossom? But e-mail Scott from the link above.

[YankeeR16]

Hi Adam,
 I imagined that I would have redirected your answer, Mr. Rohrer ..........
 but unfortunately I had already asked him about this boat, but he told me to have lost sight of,
 He is aware of the demolition of the "Live Yankee around the sixties, but no news of Yankee R.
 Here is his response:
   Hello Mr. Solinas,
Apologies, I have lost track of Yankee. I know that Live Yankee was cut up at Rocky River, OH in the early Nineteen-Sixties. 
My interest lies mostly in R-boats that raced on the Pacific Coast.  Sorry, Yankee never got out here although Pirate beat her at Larchmont Race Week in  1929.
I’d like to see a photo of your model some time.  Yankee was an important R-boat
Best Wishes,
Scott Rohrer, Seattle

At this point, I no longer had hope of knowing how it ended Yankee R. ........
 Thank you anyway for the answer
 Yours sincerely
 Franco Solinas

[Paradigm]

Dear Mr. Solinas,

I am delighted to hear that you are building a model of the R Class sloop Yankee.  As you found out, the boat was moved to Chicago and was owned there by Eddie Schnabel.  The boat raced successfully at the Chicago Yacht Club well through the 1960s.  Then it was sold and I do not know the subsequent history.  There also is a full model of the boat in the model room at one of the yacht clubs in Marblehead, perhaps the Corinthian Yacht Club.

It may interest you to know that Mr. Schnabel persuaded my father to bring the Live Yankee from Seattle to Chicago in 1946.  Her rig had been simplified considerably since 1927 and she no longer had the forestay arrangement that you see on the Mystic Seaport plans.  Live Yankee was sold to an owner in Cleveland in the 1950's.  After one or two planks were found to have dry rot, the boat was broken up.  Ironically, that was the only place where dry rot was found, so the boat could easily have been repaired.

I come occasionally to Genoa to help at the Gaslini Institute, so please contact me if you have further questions.

[Archer]

I am one of the owners of a fibreglass R that came out of the mould of Frank Paine designed Gypsy (1927) in the early 1990's. I have been involved in racing here in Toronto for some time. We now have 4 R's in Toronto and are doing our best to promote the R's and possibly grow the fleet on lake ontario as we do it. With this in mind I've put together a very basic website that over time will help us track down boats like Yankee. If anyone has any information about any R's please fill out the form on my website and over time we should have a very detailed central database.

The website is RClass.ca

[YankeeR16]

Hi Just now I read your replies, thank you for the valuable information about Yankee R, the fact that the boat has been sold in the sixties, I hope that it is still alive, with a different name.
 While in the model has been completed,
 I apologize for the delay, and take this opportunity to wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year  to all.
 Franco

[RetroRock]

Hello Franco,

I just saw your post after trying to find information on the R-Boat Yankee.
I believe I may have spotted R-Boat Yankee and mistook her to be a Q back in the mid to late 1970's in Chicago.
A couple of brothers I know had a 1927 Sea Bird Yawl I worked and sailed on back then in an old boat yard named Eubanks Marine on the South Side of Chicago at 135th & Ashland Ave. along the Little Calumet River.
She was looking tired and worn but still maintained her beautiful lines and I wondered if anyone was ever going to save her.
2 things that stood out on her, other than her name "Yankee" on the stern, 1) She had a Boardwalk Boom similar to some J's.  First I'd ever seen and it was painted white. 2) Just below the waterline about 8" down on her starboard side bow was installed a port light if you want to call it...A small, possibly 3"-4" glass, bronze non-opening port hole, which to this day I can't understand. Whether to allow for light to enter the sail storage or some other use, it's kept me wondering all these years.
After my buddies sold their Sea Bird in the late 70's, I never went back to the yard to see her again.  Eubanks Yard was the last stop for many old wooden boats who's owners didn't want to keep up with storage payments and let the yard have them to cover costs.
By the 80's I was hearing the old boats were being burned for their brass and I fear this may have been her fate as well.
Hope this helps, as originally back then I was told she was a Q, but now thinking possibly your R.
Best of luck in preserving her history!  - Jim
     

[RetroRock]

Follow-up to my previous post...
What we called a Boardwalk Boom was/is called a Park Avenue Boom.
I found a pic of an early versions that were identical as I saw on Yankee. 
See Attached - Hope the pic came thru...

[Charles Barclay]

Thanks for the post.  Quite unusual to have such a boom on smaller Universal rule boats. 

The athwart-ship tracks were to adjust the camber of the main, the wide boom was believed to create a "plate effect" to increase pressure on the lower part of the sail.