ISMA News - Association Suisse 6mJI

ISMA News International 6mJI Association Bulletin 1/2007 7
Challenge
In 1934, Cornelius Shields and his brother Paul commissioned
A.E. „Bill“ Luders Jr. to build a 6 meter
„Challenge“ to defend the Seawanhaka Cup against
Norna IV, a yacht owned by Prince Olav of Norway.
Norna IV was sailed by Magnus Kornow, who was an
Olympic Gold Medalist. Challenge started out losing
two races but won the last three out of five races, successfully
defending the cup. That same year Shields
sailed Challenge to defend the British-American Cup,
the Bermuda Cup, and other match races in Europe and
Scandinavia. Challenge was then sold to the Fisher family
(of General Motors) and moved to the Great Lakes
where she continued to sail in various club races until
the start of WWII. After that her history is lost, except
that at some point someone attempted to remake her
into a cruiser. They cut out a large portion of her deck
and added a cabin and another large portion of her deck
was removed to enlarge the cockpit. A small gasoline
engine was crudely wedged into her bilge. Challenge
sat idle for 20 years on a cradle in Youngstown, NY
before being purchased by Steve Layton from Ankea,
Iowa. Steve removed th additions (cabin, motor, etc...)
and a foot of dried muck from her bilge. Surprisingly,
her backbone was still very strong. A knee injury prevented
Steve from
finishing the project. Kat Fennell and I purchased her
in 2005 and trailered her to Deer Harbor on Orcas Island
Washington still in the cradle she has been in for
now 25 years. Repairs began in 2006 at Deer Harbor
Boatworks with help from Kat’s nephew Jake Fennell
and neighbor Howard Barbour. Many frames had been
sistered and double sistered so we removed all sistered
frames and ended up replacing about 60 steam bent oak
frames. Challenge had been refastened so most planks
had three fastening holes and where the frames had
been sistered six and nine fastening holes. We replaced
8 to 10 planks a side in the way of the chainplates along
with the entire sheer plank and of course the odd plank
here and there. The sheer clamp had water damage and
had cracked where the genoa track had exerted the
most pull so a new piece was scarfed in on each side.
Five thru hull holes were plugged. At one point the
stem had met a very hard object and had been repaired
with a block of fir so the block was removed and repaired
with a three foot laminated stem. Only two original
deck beams remain aft. A new plywood deck and
a single cockpit was installed rather than the original
three hole cockpit to make it easier to sail short handed
in the Islands. The mast and boom needed little repair
and were varnished in keeping with the original finish.
The original three spreader and jumper strut rig was
installed along with minimum sailing hardware prior
to launch in the fall of 2006. Challenge is now sailing
until hauling out this winter at Deer Harbor Boatworks
for final trim, paint, and sailing hardware to be ready
for the 2007 sailing season.
Owners: Michael Durland and Kat Fennell,
owner/operators Deer Harbor Boatworks
Michael Durland