H. A. Calahan

[Alan D. Hyde]

Author of Learning to Sail, Learning to Race, Learning to Cruise and many other good books, and also the author of an amusing column back in the heyday of Yachting magazine.

Additionally of "Chilled Varnish" and "Calignum" fame.

Anyone else here remember him? I haven't yet found any bio. on the net... Surely he's not entirely forgotten, so quickly...

Alan

[ 08-06-2004, 03:52 PM: Message edited by: Alan D. Hyde ]

[Dan McCosh]

I remember the ads for his products, which were so compelling you had to try the stuff. He was the originator of the dissatisfied varnisher, in search of elusive perfection.

[Nicholas Carey]

Do you mean this Harry Callaghan?

http://www.rhoads.org/callaghan/harry.jpg (http://www.filmsite.org/dirt.html)

:D :D

[ 08-06-2004, 07:52 PM: Message edited by: Nicholas Carey ]

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

.
Harold Augustin Calahan. But he's not exactly what you might call recent Alan -- my copy of his Rigging is dated 1940.

And another write of his vintage who nobody ever seems to quote now either is Francis B Cooke.

But then how many people know even Eric Hiscock's books these days? :rolleyes:

Mike

[Ian McColgin]

Callahan presented what's now my copy of Yachtsman's Omnibus to Mother sometime long ago for her racing record of one summer well before WWII. I was raised treating it as The Word.

I don't think that anyone has improved on his analysis of boat position in shifting winds and I truely love his paeon to cruising that begins with to sorry pair by the Shinnacock Cannal. And all those ways to get into and out of trouble. . .

Remember his idea of cutting out tire treads and making butt and knee pads for your oilies? Did that. It worked. But it also left black smudges on the buff deck paint, much to Dad's irritation.

We used the varnish also. Kind of a nice spring ritual to have all those cans of varnish in the 'fridge and to take it out in an ice bucket like champaign.

[paladin]

darn Ian...I didn't think anyone "chittered" or chilled varnish anymore....(Me thinks you izz starting to tell your age)..... :D

[boatlover]

Wish I knew how to quote from a previous post, but .. I don't.

Up top, it was mentioned that Calahan wrote a column in the classic magazine "YACHTING" (US).

Which one of the two regular columns:

Under the Lee of the Longboat

or

The Gam

They were usually the first things I read each month. Well .. after looking at New Designs.

Regards,

Ed R

PS: And yes, I do know that is dating me.

[Frank E. Price]

Hey now. Don't go dismissin' the Hiscocks! Their stuff is irreplaceable, and part of missing them is also missing the publishing standards by which OxUPress originally put out The Bibles.

Frank

[Meerkat]

Or Don Street!

[Ian McColgin]

The Hiscocks were just getting their keel wet in the '30's and Street became Dean of the Carrabean in the later '50s. Both wrote wonderfully about off-shore sailing and deep water cruising, topics Callahan never touched. He was a genteel long shore sailor.

Let's see, Spun Yarn was really Alf Loomis.

I don't remember who wrote the gam. I thought Callahan ran under his natural name.

[nedL]

For years used his varnishes "Chilled" & "Chiltered". Nice stuff. sad day when they stopped making it (probably close to 30 years ago).

[ 08-09-2004, 02:04 PM: Message edited by: nedL ]

[Alan D. Hyde]

Ian, going back to what brought this all to my mind, didn't Calahan own the Cynosure?

Alan

P.S. Alf Loomis' boat (IIRC) was the Hotspur.

[ 08-09-2004, 02:20 PM: Message edited by: Alan D. Hyde ]

[Ian McColgin]

I don't know.

[chergui]

I have a copy of the brochure for his varnish and all his tips. I read it not that long ago as I was preparing to varnish for the first time. It was something my grandfather had held on to and was in a bunch of articles he cut out from various boating magazines over the years. I also have his book "Learning to Sail" and "Learning to Cruise". I was surprised to see this posting!

[Ian Wright]

Gone but not forgotten,,,,,,,, I collect HA's books and re-read them often. Hiscock's books are kept on Patience and in constant use. Cooks 'Tours' is read often, at least whenever I go to some new place.(to me).
Sailing books don't date, at least not much. Knight on sailing is as fresh now as it was 90 some years ago. Wind and water don't change.

IanW

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

.
Frank, I wouldn't dream of dismissing the Hiscocks. As Ian says, wind and water don't change, and what EH wrote about is just as valid today as it was a half-century ago.

My point was that a lot of today's sailors just don't seem to have heard of EH. Quite a few people I've spoken to at different times think the Pardeys spoke the first, last, and only word on cruising.

I myself happen not to have any of the Pardeys' books. But I do have all of Hiscock's, and I refer to them regularly.

Mike

[NormMessinger]

Thanks to Ian-on-the-Right's recommendations some years back I have both Calahan and Knight among my boat books. Knight was a heck of a story teller.

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

.
I seem to remember it was Knight who prompted my first-ever post on the Forum, Norm. My question was to do with a balance reef, and when I complained tongue-in-cheek that WoodenBoat didn't have a "sailing" forum I could post it on you told me gently that that was what the Misc Forum was for.

And you were right, dammit (as I've come to learn you usually are.) smile.gif

Mike

[nedL]

I picked up a copy of "Yachtsman's Omnibus" at a thrift store on Monday for a whole $.75 :D

[Ian Wright]

Check out Calahan's "Gadgets and Wrinkles" and "The Ship's Husband". Both full of good stuff.
Also FB Cooke's "Crusing Chats"
All good books and, for a common sense wooden boat type, almost all valid today.

IanW.