This 1950s special interest short about sailing was made by the Castle Films company, a popular maker of 16mm films for the home movie market. It shows various sloops, sailboats, and racing sailboats. Australian racing dinghy’s are seen at about the 2 minute mark. Dinghy racing is the competitive sport of sailing dinghies. Dinghy racing has affected aspects of the modern dinghy, including hull design, sail materials and sailplan, and techniques such as planing and trapezing. The historic schooner Gertrude L.
Thebaud is seen during one of her last major races against the Bluenose at the 3 minute mark. Gertrude L. Thebaud was an American fishing and racing schooner built and launched in Essex, Massachusetts in 1930. A celebrated racing competitor of the Bluenose. The vessel was designed by Frank Paine and built by Arthur D. Story for Louis A. Thebaud, and named for his wife, Gertrude Thebaud. In their first meeting at Gloucester, Massachusetts, in October 1930, the Gertrude L. Thebaud bested the Bluenose 2-0 to win the Sir Thomas Lipton International Fishing Challenge Cup. However, in 1931, two races to none, and again in 1938, three races to two, the Bluenose would defeat the Gertrude L. Thebaud to remain the undefeated holder of the International Fisherman’s Trophy.
The film also shows sail racing / land yacht racing on the beach in Florida. The United States Coast Guard vessel Joseph Conrad is shown at the 5 minute mark. Joseph Conrad is an iron-hulled sailing ship, originally launched as Georg Stage in 1882 and used to train sailors in Denmark. After sailing around the world as a private yacht in 1934 she served as a training ship in the United States, and is now a museum ship at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut.
Coast Guard activités are shown at the 5:30 mark, with a replacement crew for a lighthouse being delivered by small boat and by crane (has to be seen to be believed!)
A windjammer race from Florida to Cuba is shown at the 6:30 mark.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
