Classic IOR Wylie 31 ‘Moonshadow’ in Need of Rescue

If you have a warm spot in your heart for the elegant lines and sweet sailing characteristics of a pedigreed, classic, 1970s-era racing sloop, there’s one you should look at before it’s too late. Commodore Tompkins, owner of the well-traveled, fast-cruising sloop Flashgirl, has put the word out to Latitude, Scuttlebutt Sailing News, and anyone who shares these sentiments, hoping we can all help find someone who appreciates the opportunity to save the successful Wylie 31 Moonshadow.

Commodore shares the story:

I noticed in the most recent issue of Scuttlebutt that someone (maybe Italians?) was soliciting information regarding early-day outstanding IOR yachts and what has become of them. This signal is to draw Craig Leweck’s attention, and now yours, to a 31-footer by Tom Wylie, campaigned with spectacular success for one season about 50 years ago. (1974, in fact, was her first start!) Subsequently, she was sold and has enjoyed a number of other owners since.

Wylie drew a masthead sloop, which was constructed in Alameda, CA. The owner got cold feet and withdrew from the project while the boat was still incomplete.

Wylie arranged a loan and bought the boat. He, his associate/partner Dave Wahle, and friends finished the yacht in time to enter her in the Danforth Series in Northern California and the Whitney Series in the South. It seemed that, with one exception toward the end of each series, both race schedules could be met, “only” requiring that the boat be sailed between venues during the intervening weekdays. This was a hugely successful cooperative effort.

Thus, the boat, named Moonshadow, would race offshore in the Gulf of the Farallones, then sail to Southern California, arriving in time to provision and shift to racing sails. After each Whitney Series event, the process was reversed.

I believe there were seven events in the Whitney Series, with a similar number in the Danforth Series, all in the ocean.

At the end of the season, a decision had to be made as to which series the boat would contest: Moonshadow was winning both series. They elected to race up north, in the “Home Series.” The result was that Moonshadow won the Danforth Series and placed a mere second in the Whitney, having to count a Did Not Start in the latter.

I have not retained the score sheets of those series, but Moonshadow and crew dominated each one, especially when there was a hatful of wind.

Sadly, these exploits and their implications have not been recognized or noted, except by a very few individuals. Wylie Design Group has not capitalized on these accomplishments as they might have done: no advertising budget, but also a desire to move on and ahead, having made a point. I think it worth noting that the Moonshadow design was early in Wylie’s career and that it equals accomplishments such as Olin Stephens’ and Dick Carter’s, with their very splashy exploits.

Recently, I asked Tom to what he attributed such success. He answered that he had succeeded in fitting the boat to the rule and that the boat had excellent steering qualities, upwind and down. (This means that the boat, when steered skillfully, would respond to every wind and wave shift and carry sail when some were losing control.) Clearly, the boat was campaigned by really good personnel.

I am writing to inform you and anyone else who might be interested in Moonshadow. She clearly exemplifies superior design and construction.

Presently Moonshadow is lying in a berth in Marina Village, Alameda. She is in near-derelict condition. Her current owner says he has paid his last month’s rent, and if he cannot find a “taker” (someone with energy and resources to restore the boat) the boat will go to the breaker’s yard.

Today, this is a small boat with a dazzling record of which almost no one is aware. Restoring the boat would cost a relative pittance (compared to many other restorations, say for instance, Santana, Bolero, or any of the vessels restored at Rutherford’s), history might be preserved, and someone would have at their disposal a very good and well-behaved daysailer.

I think it all begins with a survey, which I have been told is a $1000 issue. Maybe someone in your readership will be interested in such an opportunity.

Enjoy and pass it on!

Warwick Tompkins, Flashgirl.

There’s a powerful testimonial in our October 1987 story on Dave Wahle where it stated, “During the ’70’s, there were several boats in Dave’s life. In addition to Improbable, he raced the Big Boat Series on Bill Clute’s Chiquita, Tom Wylie’s second design, Hawkeye, Bill Lee’s 40-ft ultralight Panache, and Moonshadow, another Wylie creation. The later was perhaps Dave’s favorite, indicated by the fact that it is the only yacht along with Merlin to have earned a picture on the wall in his house. Originally intended for Dick Heckman, the 31-footer ended up being owned by Dave, Tom and Caroline Groen. They sailed her successfully for a season and then sold, figuring their net earnings per hour was a whopping $.254.”