Dave Hodges’ ‘Timber Wolf’ Continues the Legacy

Researching our archives for a story, we came across a mention of Dave Hodges’ Farr 38 Timber Wolf in the August 1980 edition, when Timber Wolf was racing in the Transpac against the likes of Merlin. Then owned by Larry Harvey, Timber Wolf won Division 3. She was fast then, and in the hands of Dave Hodges, is fast now.

We sent the story link to Dave, who replied with the above photo by Erik Simonson from the 2022 Doublehanded Farallones (April 11 this year), adding, “John, thanks for the flashback. I was 19 and that was my first race to Hawaii that year. I went on the Wilderness 30 Foreplay with the late Roger Wales, Cliff Stagg and Stevie Baumhoff. I hung out with Richard for a couple of days. We went over to Hanalei Bay to spend time with the singlehanders. On the Fourth of July, I went out for a daysail with Amy Boyer on her Wilderness 21. She is a very cool person. Good times! When Timber Wolf came up for sale 28 years ago, I jumped on it. She is an amazing boat.”

Dave followed up with the shot above of Timber Wolf sailing later that summer in the 1980 Pan Am Clipper Cup in Hawaii. That’s when boats sailed dead downwind with the colorful, almost-forgotten bloopers that were the counterpart of today’s asymmetrical kites on a sprit. This was one of the millions of shots taken by photographer Phil Uhl and now available in his yacht racing galleries. His work also appears in the stunning recent book Windward Passage.

There are a lot of new boats racing since Timber Wolf was new in 1980, but she’s still racing, looking good, and often leading the pack when out on the course.