Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-08-23
Little Boat Originated
In D. {. Is Gaining
National Favor
Potomac Contests Seen
As BuiId-up for Title
Competition in Al
By MALCOLM LAMBORNE, Jr.

BY MALCOLM LAMBORNE, Jr.
Americas smartest, fastest-grow-
Ing dinghy class-the single-can-
vased penguin-will stage it's first
open regatta in any waters next
month on the Potomac River at
Alexandria, it was announced here
today.
The event is expected to be
forerunner of class championships
next year. perhaps to be held here or
in some East Coast sailing center,
where the little boat fast is CATCH
ing on.
Scheduled for September II and
10, the races will give added i'm
petus to the sailing events of the
Presidents Cup regatta which open
September IA.
On the basis of a sizeable out
of-town entry list, the penguins
promise to attract one of the largest
fields in the local regatta that
week end. Between 20 and IS
dinghies, class officials here hold,
will be on hand for the nearby
races
The program, which will be held
at Alexandria Old Dominion Boat
Club, calls for two races the first
day and three the second. And
then. with a Saturday morning
respite, the fleet will move on to
Washington for an afternoon open
er of the regatta and two events
Sunday.
Penguin a Local Product.
Locally reared and bred is the
penguin. which gets its name from
the pert little Antarctic bird car
ried on each boats sail as class
emblem.
The boat is a result of group OF
Washington and Arlington sailors
desiring an inexpensive and easily
built dinghy that would have all the
good sailing qualities of larger boat.
Appealing to Phil Rhodes, New York
boat designer, whose work has in
cluded some of the fastest ocean
racers, the group brought the pen
Quin into being.
Local dinghy enthusiasts went to
work winter before last and by sum-
mer approximately 10 of the ll12-
footers were sailing here.
Early this summer a national
yachting publication published the
boats lines and the response was
astounding. In addition to Wash
ington, organized fleets are active at
Seattle, Wash, where 80 of the boats
are in action; at ManhaSset Bay.
Long Island, the home of frostblte
dinghy racing. and on Sheepshead
Bay, Long Island.
Boats now are under construction
in. Is States, Hawaii, Alaska and
the Canal Zone. One hundred and
seventy penguins, according to Glass
President Bill Heintz of Arlington,
have been built or are being built
at these places.
The Seattle fleet has brought the
first off-season racing to Puget
Sound where winter temperatures
are ideal for frosbiting.
Organize on Big Scale.
With the class taking on ma
tional aspect, its leaders have found
1t necessary to organize on larger
scale then ever dreamed of. The
first national meeting, therefore, will
be held the evening following the
opening days races.
The boats adaptability to col
legiate yachting is seen with dis
closure that Princeton University is
considering a fleet Of penguins for
its sailing undergraduates One of
the boats now is in use by Briggs
Cunningham, who carried it aboard
the well-known 12-meter sloop Nyala
on the recent New York Yacht Club
cruise.
In addition to action on a new
national constitution, the Septem-
Der II meeting will see election of
officers. Up for reelection are
Heintz, president; Paul Tomalin,
former commodore of Potomac River
Sailing Association, executive vice
president; Ralph A. Youngs OF Alex
andria, secretary treasurer, and
Rufus G.. Smith, New York City,
and Charles G. Frisbie, Seattle,
members of the Executive Com
mittee.
George bankers of Washington is
national measurer for the class and
has aided in drawing up detailed
lines and construction information
enabling the amateur to build a
satisfactory penguin.
Tomalin will be chairman of the
September regatta's Race Com
mittee.