Well, not exactly a barn find, but a request to retrieve an old stern steerer and to find a good home for it.
In the rafters for at least 40 years....
Thanks to HRIYC member Maggie McNamara who connected the Club to a former colleague of hers. The family was looking to get the family ice boat out of their garage. Maggie put them in touch with Bob Wills & the Ice Yacht Preservation Trust about donating the boat to the Trust. The family just wanted it to be fixed up and maintained and sailed. We agreed and recently pulled together a team to remove it and find a new home. Aeolus will be restored and hopefully ready to sail soon.
History:
Aeolus was built circa 1981. She's a "new" traditional stern steerer. The late Jim Neilson built her to plans sketched up by non other than Ray Ruge.
Jim and family lived on the Hudson River in Port Ewen, often sailing out of the Hidden Harbor yacht Club, just south of the Roundout Creek in Kingston. There was a contingent of ice yachters in the late 70s and early 80s sailing on that west side of the Hudson.
Ray Ruge at the helm of
Ariel, off Hidden Harbor, 1981.
(image from the Ray Ruge collection at the HRMM) Ray acquired Archie Rogers prized yacht
Ariel from Port Ewen resident Warren Spinneweber. As I understand, he traded an Arrow for the historic stern Steerer. As I also surmise, several Yachts from the Rogers estate went to Port Ewen after the
auction of ice yachts from the Rogers estate Crumwold, that took place in May of 1942.
Ariel &
Cyclone ended up in the Port Ewen area and are still sailed to this day.
These two pictures must be from the same time period as above shots. I made images from photos of a woman I met in Port Ewen who had some old sails. The sails didn't pan out but she shared these pictures. I can't identify the boats for sure.
oh yeah, the barn find....
40 years of debris, dust, raccoon droppings....
Backbone carefully lowered around a, shall we say, quite full garage...
dry wall, and did we mention raccoons??
Plank & Spars
Plank & backbone loaded on Bob's truck.
Offloading at Schooner Capt Sam's shipping container, to be set up and polished soon!
We seem to have all the pieces, including sails.
Aeolus appears in the 1982 registry of iceboats of the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club.
Length: 27' plank: 14'7" sail area: 240 sq ft. gaff rigged
Dimensions are very similar to Aurora, a boat Ray Ruge had found and brought into the club years earlier. I had heard Aeolus' design was based on Aurora. Curiously Jim's widow noted she didn't know it as Aeolus - they just called it "The Iceboat." As far as I know she was never sailed on Tivoli Bay or Barrytown, where much of the HRIYC fleet sailed in the 80s & 90s.
Aurora. Capt Frank at the helm. Astor Point 2014. Aurora is a bit longer and also has 240 sq ft of sail. Henry Bossett photo
Ray Ruge with Jim Neilsen, Hidden Harbor 1981. Ray's putting on his creepers on Ariel's plank. Bob Clark's Tyro in the background. Below, Tyro sailing south of the Rondout Lighthouse, 1985.
These 2 pictures from John Clark's ice boating scrapbooks. I'm hoping to find a picture of Aeolus rigged and sailing on the ice.
