It is Ozzi Shenk’s Painting of Unicorn when she was owned by Peter & Pat Edwards. It was used as a poster for the 2014 Rendezvous held at the RCYC. The 26 with number 13 is named Paws these days. She was not listed in the 2005 Registry. Ozzi may have got his number wrong and was trying to represent Sid Dakin’s Duck Soup if she is a 26 with hull #14. Commodore MacGowan’s Ingleside was #15.
John Newell
Mascouche 26C1
Toronto
Thanks, John.
It’s a nice piece of work. Very evocative.
Ernie A. in Toronto
OK, I better ‘fess up. I didn’t know the painting was used for 2014 Rendezvous. I was between Nonsuches at the time. The painting was commissioned by the Edwards. Unicorn was indeed #21. The other Nonsuch shown is my first Nonsuch 30, Makara, #19. I taught with Peter and told him I had ordered a new boat, in fact the only new boat I have had in 50+ years. He was interested in a Nonsuch and I guess I inspired him to order one a few weeks after I did.
The year we got the boats, 1979, we went to the North Channel of Lake Huron. Interestingly, I went there last summer with Nonsuch. The painting is meant to show us going to (or more likely returning from) Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. We went for the Nonsuch rendezvous there in 1983?. The structure in the background is the Brenton Reef Light Tower, south of Newport RI, which was taken out of service in 1992. Not sure how many Canadian boats went to the rendezvous but we were not the only two. We had our 3-year old onboard so Pat and my wife stayed on our boat while Peter and I raced Unicorn. Surprisingly, we managed 4th out of (I think) 52 N30s competing.
Pat Edwards said the only thing wrong with the painting is that it shows Unicorn leading. She said Peter learned it was best to follow in the North Channel when we split tacks beating up a bay and they hit part of the Canadian Shield while going 6+ knots (this was long before chart plotters, all you had was a chart and, if you were fancy, an RDF of some sort). You might like to know that the damage was minimal. The bottom 6” of the keel looked like someone hit it was a giant hammer (I dove on it check). The keel pushed up, briefly distorting the shape of the boat so the half bulkhead in front of the galley separated from the galley unit - there were about five screws whose heads tore through the bulkhead. With the exception of putting in teak plugs we fixed the damage in an hour or so.
Summer 2024 gives those in New England and the Chesapeake the opportunity to head to Lake Ontario for the next rendezvous.
Duh … I guess it’s not Lake Ontario, eh !!!
Ernie A. in Toronto (not Long Island)
Bruce; nice story, thank you.
JohnS NS26C 046 Cat’s Whiskers, Bath ON