How to do a boat history (test for attaching photos)

To illustrate how a search is done lets find out about the Lightning in the video clip below. Its Lightning #289. We see three people, a man and two younger women. Dad & daughters? The boat? Looking closely we find features found on the Skaneateles boats. The seats are dead ringers for SBCo. The motor mount looks like SBCo.. The boat is being sailed in a large body of water with much larger sailboats. The rig is 1940 style.

So with this info lets look in to the Class boat files. The entry for #289 lists two owners but no builder the first owner is listed 'no fleet' but sailing on Lake Quasapaug in Middlebury Conn. Googling that we find a 296 acre lake. Too small for the video clip. Something is not right here.

Being a Skaneateles we go to the SBCo Building Log transcribed from the hand written entries for us by Dave Miller at the Skaneateles Historical Society ( work supported by the ILCA Huntsman History Fund). We find SBCo. serial number 6259 was a Lightning with racing number 289 sold to "Scott Yard" with buyer listed a "Trenary".  Note the racing numbers are not always consecutive. Suspecting Scott Yard is a dealer we look around the log and find others listed as going to them so we have a dealer and buyer but no location.

Now to the Class yearbooks , this is the most time consuming part.  In the 1941 yearbook #289 shows up as belonging to James M. Trenary sailing with fleet #7 at Riverside YC on Long Island Sound. Thats water big enough to match the video clip. But in '41 no address are listed in the YB.  In the '44 (we do not have copies of '42,'43) we hit paydirt. "Tip" Trenary ( sailing #289 ' Tam') is now Class Sec/Tres. with a business address of 45 Wall St..  Googling that we find in 1944 the US Trust of NY. Googling that we find that he worked there until retiring as Ex. V P in 1960. In 1945 he becomes Lightning Class President. In 1946 he sells #289 and buys #1600. Again the Boat Files fails to list him as an owner ?????   Following Trenary he stays with fleet #7 eventually buying #5670 till '58 and then is listed as no boat, Life Member. In '62 YB he disappears??  Nothing Googles up on him except for some bank stuff. Now to the magazines circa '60 - '62. Going to Google Books searching Trenary- Rudder, Yachting ,etc. We get a hit with Motorboating Feb 1962 pp 106 and sadly find an obit for him dying of a heart attack a 58 years of age.. We find he has four daughters and most interestingly find that Trenary was Chairman of the US Olympic Yachting Committee. He raised the money to send our team to the Naples Olympic Games. Once again we see Lightning sailors leading the sport of sail racing.  

Here is a photo from the '45 YB.  Note the hairline, gotta be the fellow in the video clip

Courtesy, Skaneateles Historical Society

As to #289 she would pass through seven other owners. All were on Long Island Sound until going to the first mentioned lake in 1958 at that point she passes from our records until 1999 when she turns up in Maine (Boat Files). Googling up his name we find a musician still performing there. Bet the old girl is in his back yard.