1951--FD designed and developed by Conrad Gulcher and U. van Essen to replace the obsolete 12 sq. metre Sharpie for international and olympic two-man centerboard competition.  While largely the "brain-child" of Gulcher, the concepts of size, shape, and class organization were worked out by taking into consideration the ideas and wishes of leading skippers throughout Europe.

1952--First IYRU Trials at Loosdrecht, Holland, to test the new FD against likely competitors for official sanction.  Winning of a trophy was less important than overall wholesomeness and all around practicality.

1953--Second IYRU Trials at LaBaule, France.  Having won the Loosdrecht Trials against a large field of modern dinghies up to 22 feet long (and achieving praise from none other than Sandy Douglass who was there with his Thistle: "She was the star of the show"), there came a wave of opposition, chiefly from the British, on the grounds that the FD might be a fine boat for inland lakes but would prove unseaworthy in salt water.  The leading English designers, furthermore, wanted a chance to test their newest designs (not ready in time for Loosdrecht).  At LaBoule, the only boat that proved a real rival to the FD was the Coronet, which was a sort of king-sized 5-0-5.  However, the FD, having already gotten a year's start in organization, and having proved to be generally a wholesome boat, it was decided to give her the blessing of the IYRU on an unrestricted basis.

1954--First US fleet at Cowan Lake, Ohio.  Four new boats were imported from Holland: US 2, 3, 4 & 5, by Jim Van Voast, Charlie McCullough, George Hills and the partnership of Jim Rust & Jake Landen, respectively.  US 1 was, I think, the first original boat which sailed at Loosdrecht in the Trials, purchased by Chuck Totto of Madison, Wisconsin, and sailed on Lake Mendota. (There is some question whether it was US 1 or US 77 that was the Dutch prototype, Ed.) US 6 was built from a kit purchased by Paul Rimoldi of Miami from Bylsma & Son, Grand Rapids, Michigan, the first commercial importers.  US 7 through about 20 were imported by Bylsma as kits and sold as is or finished off to people around the Chicago-to-Ann Arbor area.  However, none of these were raced to any extent.  Claude Cullinane of Houston, Texas also imported a new boat with the aid of Fred Struben about this some time.

1954--One-of-a-Kind Regatta at Riverside, Conn. won by Eric Olsen in a borrowed 5-0-5.  Van Voast 8th in the FD.

1954--Van Voast joins Mobaco for the purpose of organizing a mass importation of stock boats from Holland.  Mobaco exhibits at N.Y. and Chicago boat shows.

1955--Harry Sindle switches from Lightning and Thistle classes and becomes Mobaco's major dealer.  He sells about twenty boats to the clubs around Barnegat Bay and starts the first organized racing.

1955--First "Nationals" at Lavallette,N.J.,won by Harry Sindle.  At the first National meeting, Sindle was elected Class President; acting Secretary Van Voast elected Secretary-Treasurer, and the Annual Regatta to be known as North American Championship in order to encourage the Canadians who had an infant national fleet of some five boats then.  At the end of the 1955 season, there were approximately fifty to sixty boats in the U.S.A. scattered throughout twenty four states, and some organized racing.  Many of the boats has been purchased as day sailers and primarily for their extremely good looks and low price.

1956--Mobaco wanes and a rash of independent importers springs up. First fiberglass hull built in Stuart, by Herman Decker, later to be finished off in wood by Harry Cates of Miami.  Dubdam fiberglass factory in Holland burns down, delaying by one year the importation of this popular new model.  Sindle wins North Americans again, at Lavellette, with George Watkins and Jim Van Voast in second place.  Fleets now established on the finger lakes in New York and in Florida.  Van Voast, with many different team-mates all of whom were getting their first ride in the FD, won a great many regattas, largely Free-For-Alls against E-scows, Ravens, Suicides, Highlanders & Thistles in his barnstorming publicity campaign on the Florida racing circuit.  Possibly the most important "win" was the 38-mile free-for-all on the St. Johns River, in which V.V. defeated a large field including Gene O'Connor's Rebel-22 (equipped with 5' sliding seat). (About this same time Claude Cullinane was doing much of this same thing in the Texas area, Dave Fladlien in the Los Angeles area, and Jim McNutt in the New York area, and Sindle on the Jersey coast. Ed.)
 

1957--Frank Levinson and Francis Seavy join the class and Frank becomes a dealer for Van Voast.  Jack Powell and Clyde Coutant win the Royal Gobboon Race from St. Pete to Sarasota, another 36-mile Free-for-All.  Sindle wins the North Americans at Spray Beach, N.J., and his third straight.  By this time, the yacht clubs in Florida are beginning to give FD an official start, although usually down from the traditional speed leaders such as Star, Suicide, Raven and even Lightning.

1958--Heike Blok of The Hague, Holland, wins the 3rd Midwinter Championship at Tampa--Jack Fordyce, Falls Church, Virginia, always near the top, took second, Watkins--Van Voast third.  Sindle capsized due to a broken toe strap and George O' Day swamped while Levinson-Seavy broke their cast aluminum centerboard.  Pat and Jack Duane switched from the Moth class and came in 6th in their premiere at the St. Michaels, Md., North Americans, 'monotonously' won for the fourth time by Guess Who???

1959--Harry Sindle largely redeems the FD from its poor showing in 1954 at the One-of-a-Kind in Miami by comfortably beating everybody in the 5-0-5, Jolly, Thistle, Highlander category.  However, his showing was dimmed in the overall by the catamaran scow contest, won by Eric Olsen in the Tiger cat.  Olsen, acting as Geveke's sales agent, finished rather disappointingly for the ALPA FD at the fifth North Americans in Nantucket, this time won by the Duanes, with Levinson-Seavy second and Sindle dropped to third place.  By this time, the Florida yacht clubs have conceded that the FD deserves first start inasmuch as the better sailors were consistently sailing through Ravens and Stars, even though starting some 10 or 15 minutes after them.

1960--Olympic trials at Clearwater won by Sindle, Duanes tecond, Levinson third, Schoonmaker fourth, Bludworth fifth and Seavy sixth. Inasmuch as my official duties with the class ended with this regatta and since the rest is fairly current history, this is as good a point as any to end the chronology.

Jim Van Voost; June, 1962.
(Next issue - Part II: The Early FD)