EDSON B. SCHOCK 38 FT UNIVERSAL RULE R-CLASS SLOOP 1923/2010

During the Roaring Twenties, when the Universal Rule R-Class sloops were the thoroughbred racers of the US West Coast, ALOHA was the champion of San Diego in her early seasons. A century later, and very far from her original home waters, she has become well-known on the Mediterranean classic regatta circuit, not only for her looks - twice winning a prize for most elegant boat at the Saint-Tropez and Porquerolles regattas - but mostly for her performances. Restored in 2010 and regularly re-fitted since, ALOHA is a pure classic cruiser-racer: a winner under the CIM Rule with a convenient crew of four; a very pleasant day boat for up to six, or weekender for two.

2021 CHANTIER NAVAL SCOTTO, MARSEILLE, FRANCE
- Localised underbody refastening with A4 6 mm stainless steel screws
- Repair of the mast around the spreaders and jumper strut fittings
- Reinforcement of the spreader bar fittings.
- Replacement of the mast partners
- New mast seal collar and a set of chocks
- Repair to the deck beam/ shelf at mast
- Installed 3 x new oak knees on port side
- Repaired 3 x solid oak frames
- Painting entire hull with AWL CRAFT 2000 F5050

2016 CHANTIERS LOBRICHON & INFINITY LE BORGNE, MORBIHAN,
FRANCE
- Refurbishment of about 6 ft of wood keel and lower frames at mast step
- New mast step
- New engine mounts and shaft log
- Engine box with insulation
- Installation new inboard Nani N2.10 Diesel motor and gearbox

2009 – 2010 AT SIDNEY, BRITISH COLOMBIA, CANADA
- Vessel re-framed in white oak
- Original mahogany planking splined with western red cedar set in epoxy
- The new deck of lapped western red cedar, overlaid with bi-axial cloth and epoxy
- Hull faired and painted with 2-part urethane product by Ditsler
- The owners record 2,600 man hours spent in this process
- Considered reasonable given the scope of the project and the detail of finish achieved

EDSON B. SCHOCK 1871-1950

Born on the US East Coast, at Camden, New Jersey, Edson B. Schock apprenticed to A. Cary Smith in 1899 then quickly set out on his own, initially in New York. In 1910 the build supervision requirements of a large powerboat design took him west to Vancouver where he gained early experience in designing to the R-Class with the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club's 1914 (Seattle Yacht Club) Lipton Cup challenger TURENGA. Schock eventually settled in Los Angeles and became known for fast cruiser-racers, and successful R-Class boats at a time when this was the most important pure racing class on the West Coast.

ALOHA AND THE US WEST COAST R-CLASS
“The Wizard of Bristol”, Nathaniel G. Herreshoff, devised the Universal Rule in 1898, but it wasn’t until after the First World War that racing in the 20 feet Rating, or “R-Class” size band really gained momentum. A particularly strong fleet developed at Marblehead on the US Atlantic Coast, eventually on the Great Lakes, and on the West Coast at San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego - as well as at Vancouver, Canada.

The US West Coast fleet really took off from 1922 when two California Yacht Club syndicate boats were built to designs by Charles D. Mower and John G. Alden; the other major Californian yacht clubs then followed suit.

By ALOHA's first season, 1924, the West Coast R-Class fleets were both regatta and passage racing up and down the coast to meet each other, the principal events being the coveted inter-club Lipton Cups offered by both Seattle YC and San Diego YC, and the annual Southern California Yachting Association Regatta at alternating venues.

At San Diego Yacht Club, Commodore George S. Gay - New Zealand-born; San Diego resident; a retired Hawaiian sugar planter and farmer - took the lead by commissioning ALOHA's design from Edson B. Schock, just as in his 1923 Commodoreship he’d led SDYC to a clubhouse of their own after some years of itinerancy.

There is no evidence that ALOHA raced in 1923. So it may be that the 1923 date accepted for her in recent years is actually the design commission date and she was launched by San Diego Marine Construction in 1924. Certainly, 1924 newspaper reports describe her as a new boat that summer in which, with Billy Rogers at the helm, she became San Diego Champion, followed up in 1925 by taking The (Los Angeles) Times Cup to San Diego.

By 1928, the West Coast R-Class fleet had risen to 11 boats, designed by John Alden, Ted Geary, Charles Mower, Charles Nicholson, Nick Potter, Edson B. Schock, and Lester Stone. Writing at the end of the 1927 season, Shock reflected on west coast yacht racing in general and the R-Class in particular:

"Despite the lack of coastal waters and sheltered inlets the prevailing types of boats are very much the same as are being developed on the Atlantic coast. Particularly interesting is a fleet of R-class sloops, the finest array to be found in any section of the country, except perhaps at Marblehead or along the Great Lakes... The R-class sloop fleet [has] speed enough to win out over yachts of the same class built in the east and shipped out to the coast. They are built for open ocean races and always stage a dash to the summer regattas. They have to be well-built and well-rigged. A beat of 80-odd miles in a good stiff breeze and a heavy sea most of the way is no idle summer sail. These R's hold the record for finishing first among yachts, regardless of size."

ALOHA's second owner from c.1928 was jeweller George C. Jessop Sr. His family was and remains steeped in San Diego Yacht Club history and traditions. Jessop continued ALOHA's campaigns on the West Coast, perhaps into the 1929 season, and was San Diego Yacht Club Commodore in 1939.

After 1929 reports of ALOHA's activities are intermittent, but it is believed that from 1942 into the 1960s she remained at San Diego owned by Bert and Faith Israel who were also active participants, organisers and promoters of the local Penguin Dinghy fleet. When purchased in 2008 at Balboa, Southern California by Sidney North Saanich Yacht Club (Vancouver Island) members Alex Foley, Findlay Gibbons, and Gustav Klimach, their impression was that she had always been loved and used in a climate that was kind to her. Nevertheless, she was by then in need of an 80-years service.

ALOHA was trucked to Seattle and then towed afloat to Sidney for the start of the 2009-2010 restoration detailed above. The target: to compete in a series of races with the 1928 Charles Nicholson-designed R-Class LADY VAN - a legend of Vancouver/ Seattle R-Class and Lipton Cup racing until 1940 - being restored by a Royal Vancouver Yacht Club syndicate. The aim: to sail off with LADY VAN for the right to defend the 1907 Alexandra Cup match racing trophy on behalf of RVYC from a challenge by Seattle Yacht Club’s restored Ted Geary-designed 1926 R-Class PIRATE.

The deadlines were achieved and, as she has always done, LADY VAN won the sail-off and successfully knocked back Seattle YC’s finest twice, in 2010 against PIRATE, and in 2011 against the Charles Mower-designed 1926 R-Class ACE.

In 2012 ALOHA and LADY VAN were shipped to the Mediterranean to race in the classic regattas at Imperia, Nice, Cannes and Saint-Tropez. At the end of the season, LADY VAN returned to Canada and is now in a Vancouver museum. But ALOHA stayed, laid up in covered storage near Saint-Tropez for three years before being acquired by Francis Van de Velde, and James McElroy the current owner. Since 2016 she has participated every year in the classic regattas at Antibes, Cannes, Porquerolles and Saint-Tropez, winning her class at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez in both 2016 and 2017.

©2024 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.

- Carvel mahogany planking on bent white oak 1¼ in square frames
- Red cedar deck on oak beams with bi-axial cloth and epoxy overlay
- Mahogany solid stock finished coach roof
- Bronze and stainless steel screw fastenings
- Tiller directly connected to the rudder blade
- Inboard keel hung rudder
- 700 kg Lead keel
- Bronze strapping to the chain plates

From aft
- Bronze sternlight
- Bronze ensign staff socket
- Bronze fairleads each quarter
- Mahogany toe rails
- 4 x Bronze main sheet tackle padeyes
- Red cedar with bi axial cloth painted with white anti-skid topcoat
- Bronze mooring cleat on centreline
- 1 x Harken two speed bronze mainsail sheet winch with fitted fairleads
- Mahogany boom crutch sockets each side
- Mahogany cockpit surround with coamings rising to coach forward
- Mahogany self bailing cockpit
- 3 x Bronze padeyes outboard
- Bronze fore sheet block tracks running forward outboard each side
- Mahogany and bronze hinged tiller
- Fitted winch handle pockets stbd aft and port fwd
- Varnished mahogany lazarette hatch cover on cockpit well
- 2 x Harken two speed bronze runner trimming winches and cleats on pedestals
- Steering compass in cockpit well
- Engine gauges in fire bulkhead and controls stbd
- Chromed fuel filler in deck stbd
- 2 x Harken two speed bronze sheet winches and cleats
- Ash and bronze blocks
- Bilge pump on deck centreline
- Raised mahogany trunk cabin with sliding hatch
- 1 x Harken single speed bronze halyard winch on roof, starboard
- 2 x Bronze cleats each side on roof
- 4 x Bronze portlights in elevations each side
- Hatch fwd
- 2 x Pairs bronze fairleads each side on coach roof
- 2 x Portlights recessed in fwd elevation
- Mainmast
- 2 x Barient 10H single speed bronze halyard winches on mast
- Mahogany chocs for spinnaker pole on fore deck to port
- Bronze fore stay and tack mounting on centreline
- Bronze mooring fairleads and padeyes each side
- Bronze stanchion post
- Bronze fairlead at prow

GROUND TACKLE
- Danforth S-13 anchor and 150 ft galvanized chain

From aft
- Sliding hatch and companionway steps down over engine space to cabin
- White painted topside interior with rope loops and rails for line stowage outboard
- Varnished open slatted seating and stowage for canvas etc inboard
- Stowage for anchor
- Mast foot
- Stowage forward

SPARS
- Marconi rig
- Sitka spruce mast; 1 x set wood spreaders; bronze jumper strut
- All other mast fittings are in bronze
- Spruce boom with bronze fittings
- Spruce spinnaker pole with bronze fittings
Standing rigging
- Stainless steel wire ¼ in multi-strand standing rigging
Running rigging
- Mainsail halyard
- Jib halyard
- Spinnaker halyard
- Two set of spinnaker sheets
- Two sets of jib sheets
- Mainsail sheet
- Cascade system on the two running backstays
- Fine tuning for lower backstays

SAILS
- Main sail crosscut square weave Dacron 7.2 oz (UK 2010)
- Jib
- Genoa 1 light 160% square weave Dacron 4.8 oz (UK 2010)
- Genoa 2 light 160% square weave Dacron 4.8 oz, (UK 2010)
- Genoa 3 heavy 145% x-cut Dacron Dimension Polyant (Europsails
Evolution 2022)
- Spinnaker symmetric matrix cut, Arix 600 nylon (2010)
- Spinnaker symmetric matrix cut, Arix 600 nylon (2013)
- Gennaker Range AWA 60-90 nylon 0.90 oz classic cut (Zaoli 2018)

CANVASWORK
- Canvas main sail cover

MECHANICAL
- Nanni N2.10 10 hp Diesel @ 3000 RPM (2017)
- Twindisc TMC40PAC gearbox
- Flexofold folding, 2-bladed propeller
- VDO indicator, fuel shut-off lever, throttle lever

ELECTRICAL
- Engine alternator
- 12 V 108 Ah battery
- Solar panel with charge regulator

TANKAGE
- 42 L Plastic diesel tank

NAVIGATION
- Magnetic steering compass in cockpit floor
- Novasail NS360 Pro wireless digital tactical instrument

COMMUNICATIONS
- VHF handheld radio

- 6 x Life jackets
- Whale Supersub automatic 12 V electric bilge pump
- Manual bilge pump in cockpit
- EPIRB
- Sea-Safe 4 person liferaft
- ABC portable fire extinguisher