Hi all, I'm now half-owner (with Nancy vanGinkel) of Vulcan, Ensign #634. We bought her from Bob Anschuetz (prior owner of about 40 years) when he retired from racing last fall. We continue to race her on Lake Erie with Fleet 29 out of Edgewater Yacht Club.
I thought some of you might be interested in my iteration of the "Ensign Bimini" that uses PVC pipes, a tarp, and the boom. I used someone's suggestion here on the forum to use a couple shorter PVC pieces and screw them together in the center. It's still a bit long for our dock box, but way easier to store than the longer poles. I used 1/2" PVC, but might opt for a bit larger diameter if I did it again.
One of the things we inherited with her was an old spinnaker of distinctive design, that came with Vulcan from the prior owner; the owner had named #634 "Permanent Wave," honoring their hair salon. It was never used while I crewed with Bob over the past 20+ years, but it does have a couple regatta stamps on the tapes, most recently the 1982 Region V Regatta at Edgewater Yacht Club in Cleveland, and Ensign Nationals in 1975. I thought there was another stamp on the tapes, but I don't see it now.
I was able to remove the tapes from the edges, and then cut the sail down (keeping the hull number above the barber pole!) and reattached the tapes to cover the edges, including the tack corners with the regatta stamps. The material is very odd stuff, almost a rubberized ripstop fabric. It has a lot of tiny pin holes irregularly throughout the kite, almost like tiny cinder burns, and I was afraid it would tear in those places, but doesn't seem to unravel as much as a current kite might. The first time we put it up, we had very high winds at the dock, and it seemed like we might take off, but she held firm.
I like having this historical touch, using an old kite. If you've been around long enough, you might remember the black kite with the barber pole down the center!
Fair Winds, Pat Metzler (CLICK on the image link to see the finished product!)