5.5 Inventory: details of a boat

Boat details (n°328)

USA-6

Essentials

Designer

Alfred Edward "Bill" Luders Jr. (USA)

Builder

Fay Brothers, Seabrook Shipyard, Clear Lake, TX (USA)

Material

Mahogany, carvel planked

1st certificate issued

01-01-1956

Original boat name

Sabre

Original country

USA

Original sail number

Current location

1963 World Championship - F.B. Howard : Pre Start
(credits : Howey Caufman)
Added by William Turner
on 2022-12-30

Photo Gallery (8)

Notes (5)

Sabre location (about 1970)

11-06-2019

by Preston Briggs

by Preston Briggs, 11-06-2019

I saw Sabre for sale in Seabrook in about 1970. My father and I talked briefly to a broker and were able to crawl around her a bit. I was too young to understand much about her condition. I believe she went to a local Sea Scout troop.

Sabre Location

10-05-2010

by William Turner

by William Turner, 10-05-2010

Frank Howard, my grandfather, bought Sabre from Ernest Fay and raced it for a few years. I found a couple of great photographs from the 64' Olympic Trials that I might post in the future.
Each of his boats (Corinthian, Soling, 5.5) had a different fate and I just wanted to know if anyone knows the current location of Sabre.

Luders hull numbers

15-02-2008

by Matti Muoniovaara

by Matti Muoniovaara, 15-02-2008

This boat is a Luders design #986. Totally there are 66 Luders 5.5 meter designs. Sabre US-6 is third Luders 5.5 design. The first ever design which Luders mentions was never built and it has no Luders hull number. The first Luders 5.5 hull number is 785. The last design is #1098 dates from 1981.

First 5.5 Luders design ever.

14-02-2008

by Sebastien Schmidt

by Sebastien Schmidt, 14-02-2008

Luders design # 1 of 39, 1956.

Designer's Comments

14-02-2008

by Sebastien Schmidt

by Sebastien Schmidt, 14-02-2008

The first interest I know of that this country showed in 5.5 Meter boats was at the time of the 1952 Olympics. We designed a 5.5 Meter for the late Walbridge Taft in 1950 and the plans were published in YACHTING, but this boat was never built due to Mr. Taft's poor health.
When Dr. Britton Chance bought a Swedish 5.5 and won the Olympics with her in 1952, it created considerable interest in the United States. Also, Dr. Chance himself stimulated interest in the 5.5s by promoting the class and delivering several informal talks on the subject, showing movies of the racing at Helsinki, Finland.
As interest increased quite a few foreign boats were bought by Americans for the elimination trials in 1956, to try for selection as the American representative in defense of the 5.5 Meter Championship Medal.
Of course, this brought up the possibility of building new bmtts to American designs, and quite a few people seemed interested, but in the end the only ones to come through was a Boston syndicate consisting of Ted Hood, John McNamara, et al with a boat called "Quixotic", designed by Ray Hunt.
Herman Whiton designed one for himself called the "Pathfinder" which we built for him, and we designed the "Sabre" and the "Flame" owned respectively by Ernest and Albert Fay. These boats were built by the Seabrook Yacht Yard, in Texas.
It was fint decided that we would embark on a model testing program, using a foreign design as a trial horse. Mr. Whiton and I produced several designs which we towed in the Stevens model tank. It is interesting to note that our first design in each case was pretty terrible, but the second ones looked like very promising boats. As a matter of fact, these two models turned into "Pathfinder" and "Sabre". It was many model tests later before we made any real improvements on the "Sabre" design. When the 5.5 Meter trials were conducted at Marion, Mass., in 1956 she did fairly well, but never developed her full potential until the following year when she really came into her own. After that she won many important victories. I think it is safe to say that "Sabre" is probably the most successful American 5.5 yet built, on an allround basis.
A. E. LUDERS, JR.
Stamford, Conn.
In YACHTING JUNE, 1963 p.64, 65 & 103

Document library (2)

Document

Size

By / When

Article in Yachting 1963
Provided by Matti Muoniovaara

14 Kb

Site
Administrator
30-06-2008

5.5 US 6 "Sabre" - Class document
Following the sale in the early 60's

900 Kb

Kaspar
Stubenrauch
14-02-2023

1963 World Championship - F.B. Howard : Pre Start
(credits : Howey Caufman)
Added by William Turner on 2022-12-30

Ownership history (3)

Sail#

Name

Owner

USA-6

"Sabre"

Ernest Fay (1956-?)

USA-6

"Sabre"

Frank Howard (1960-1964)

USA-6

"Sabre"

Howard-Arnold synd. (1964-?)

Results History (1)

Year

Rank

Race / Location

Skipper

Added by, on

Year : 1964

Rank : ?

Race : U.S. Olympic Trials /
Location : Newport(?)

Skipper : Frank Howard

Added by : William Turner, 10-05-2010

Links Library (1)

Seabrook Marina - today

27-02-2023

by Kaspar Stubenrauch

(The original Seabrook Shipyard)

Kaspar Stubenrauch, 27-02-2023