#7, THE PHANTOM FLEET ( test for fleet history/newspaper clipping))

In the first yearbook, 1940,  fleet #7 would be the largest fleet in the new Lightning Class. For thirty two years the Fleet would report in the yearbooks increasing number of boats, in 1971 they reported 34 boats in the fleet. Then the next year Fleet 7 does not report and disappears from our records... An entire fleet of 30+ boats gone in one year! What happened? A search of everything turns up nothing "Lightning" at Riverside YC...

From the 1941 Lightning Class Yearbook

The Riverside YC in Greenwich Conn on the north side of Long Island Sound was founded in 1888 and the first clubhouse was built. The Clubhouse of today was built in 1929 and looks pretty much like it did when the second Lightning Class Championship (NA's) was sailed in 1940. Eighteen boats are listed pretty much in consecutive order, a fleet purchase? Checking the Class boat Files of the 18 only 7 of the owners names match up as first entry... Suspecting Skaneateles I checked Dave Miller's SBCo.  Building Log and there they were, all in a row, names and boat numbers matching up. Sooooo... beware of the 1- 5000 ILCA Boat Files. And who is out there selling whole fleets of Lightnings in our first year?

From the 1941 Lightning Class Yearbook

Fleet #7 Would give us some of our early officers and our 1944 Champion, Theodore Maher. In 1945 the Nationals would return to Riverside and the Class would hire the famed marine photographer Morris Rosenfeld to shoot the races. Many of these were were used in the '46  yearbook. All now reside in the Rosenfeld Collection at Mystic Seaport.

From the 1941 Lighting Class Yearbook

But Fleet 7, were did they go? 1972?

Going to the newspaper search engine Newspapers. Com we try several searches and one hits in the Bridgeport Conn. March 16 1975 with a piece describing the precipitous decline in the old one design classes on Long Island Sound. My guess is the entire fleet moved to the Soling in one year.

In future posts we will explore what happened to racing small centerboard boats in the the Untied States.