An introduction to your host!

Anonymous · Jun 22, 2004

Hi David, so glad to see this board. We own Alden Challenger

917-Y. CHRISTMAS is a 1961 Challenger which we have done alot of restoration work to. A wonderful boat we keep in Camden Maine and sail the coast out of our home Rockport just a mile away.

Thanks again and looking forward to seeing some of the small family that these boats own. Just 50 some built I believe. I have met several here on the coast of Maine as well as two last summer cruising to Nantucket.

Thanks for putting this board together. BTW, I stumbled on your site through Google-found a message on another site which listed yours.

Thanks again and look forward to exchanging some mail. Your photos are amazing and have answered some questions for me. Your Challenger will go back together I have no doubt. I have some answers for some of your questions as well.

Tom Young Rockport Maine

Anonymous · Jun 22, 2004

Alden 949H

My father was part owner of John Alden and we ha the first Challenger 949A. She was named Windsong aand spent the summers in Biddeford Pool and Penobscot Bay.
I just purchased 949H and she is currently at Rumerys Boat Yard where we are doing some wiring and trying to figure out whats working and whats not.
Love to hear from any owners
Bill Aanderson
Bill@sailingblackpearl.com

Anonymous · Jun 22, 2004

You are correct Bill, our boat is 949-Y, wrong design #

The first Challenger! Whatever happened to her? There are 5 Challengers in Penobscot Bay I know well. I met 2 more this past summer while we sailed to Nantucket. I have also mailed a few owners over the last few years, this website may eventually bring us together.

Thanks again David.

Black Pearl · Jun 23, 2004

Tom
I think David owns 949A which was the first one. I know of 949UU which is located in Cape Porpoise, Maine.

I wonder which challenger Triston Jone took to the Red Sea and up the Amazon

Bill

TomY · Jun 25, 2004

Hi David, the hull letter is the number

I believe Alden always used the letters of the alphabet. A is hull #1, B is hull #2 etc. I think the omitted the letter i and maybe L but I am not postive on that.

This makes your Challenger hull# 25(or 24). The list then went around again except hull # 26 would be 949-AA, The came 949-BB etc. Hopefully someone can confirm this or correct it.

My Challenger was finished in Denamark as well(same yard, Molich I believe) so this means as our boats may have been built back to back(949-Y and 949-Z)
Alden should be able to give you some history. My was built and shipped to the Great Lakes for the first owner. It then did a stint in the charter trade in the Bahamas(short) and was then purchased by the owner prior to me who owned it for 35 years. Alden keeps pretty good track of this stuff.

Capt. Elaine · Jun 27, 2004

Looking forward to a new forum....

We are restoring/outfitting an Endeavor 37... and hope to get tips and knowledge from this forum. Wishing you luck on your journey.

TomY · Jun 28, 2004

Hi Elaine, nice to see someone from the CWBB site

Hey, how about these mug shots David has set up? That would be fun on the CWBB.

Capt. Elaine · Jun 28, 2004

Hi Tom, thanks for posting the link on CWBB....

I don't think the CWBB forum software provides for the mug shots... but it is nice to see the face with the post I agree. :lol:

TomY · Jul 19, 2004

Puzzling builders plaque on this boat

This weekend I happen to be looking at the builders plaque on the companionway slide. It looks original, very aged, nickel plated bronze maybe, nailed with small bronze finish nails. Sure enough, my boat is designated Alden Design 917-Y. No wonder I was confused about the design # 949.

A quick response from Alden didn't clear up a thing. Niels Helleberg had no idea why that design number was on the boat. More puzzling to Alden though is why it had never been detected or questioned. Alden did confirm the building date, 1961 and the # which is letter Y, making the boat the 23rd hull built.

These old boats hold a few mysteries, this is an odd one.

TomY · Jul 19, 2004

Apparently so David.

The builders plaque would likely go on at the yard that finishes the boat, the cabin interior etc, built to the plans supplied by Alden. That would mean the plaque was installed by the Molich yard in Denmark I guess.

I have a history of Alden designs but they end years before the Challenger was built(after John Aldens death presumably), even 917 was later than this book.

Could just be a fluke and installed later but I can't imagine that happening. I would bet it was a mistake at the building yard. Maybe time will explain this. Anyone know what design 917 is? There may well be a 917 out there somewhere built later with a 949 plate. Maybe Bill with his connection through his dad may have an idea.

Black Pearl · Jul 22, 2004

Hull Numbers

The hulls were identified with the design number 949 then letters of the alphabet to designate the hull number. My father had the first hull so 949A
I have number 8 or 949H. There were some hulls built for the European market and I am not sure how they were numbered but I think the same. There were about 50 boats built.
The design number 917 sounds familiar but I will have to do some research. It is not a challenger number as far as I know

This winter looks like a new cockpit also.

Bill

TomY · Jul 23, 2004

Tristan Jones and the Alden Challenger Barbara

I quickly thumbed through a biography of Tristan Jones. I think the books title is,Tristan Jones, Wayward sailor. Sure enough, alot of info about sailing Barbara, an Alden Challenger accross the Atlantic and points from there on. I will get the book as I would like to read it. One photo shows Barbara hanging from a crane somehwere in Europe.

One part I scimmed talked of a tough time handling the boat downwind in a blow I believe, after alot of stores were put in the vee berth. This makes sense, Challengers have fine bows at the water, nearly hollow, with alot of flare above. They go down quickly but the flare, a delayed assist , is powereful if alittle wet. The bow is quite uniqe and should be kept as light as possible I think. My boat sinks alot on her lines if I fill the forward water tank, needless to say I don't unless I am about to start a long coastal passage.

The fine bow pays dividends at other times(windward in a chop) to make up for this I think, but that's a statement from an owner. A Wayward owner.

Whit · Nov 3, 2004

After reading about the various hull numbers, I am curious about mine. I was told by the surveyor that I had hull #35 and that she had been built by A. Le Commte Co. Inc in Jutphass, Holland in 1960. This does not jive with the previous posts.
I was also curious to read of a forward water tank which I don’t have.

TomY · Nov 4, 2004

LeCompte finished some of the Challengers Whit.

Alden had Hallmatic of England lay up the fiberglass hulls and decks(they also cheated with the mild steel backing plates-they knew better, even then). These hulls were then shipped to several boat builders. I think Molich in Denmark did most of them. LeCompte did quite a few I believe. Then I think a builder in NYC did at least one, one was even finished in Thomaston Maine.

There are subtle differences in the finish and of course custom items as well. My boat had the forward water tank, looks like it was built in at the builders. I notice alot of differences in things like the deck boxes, many came without but all look to be different. There are small differences in the shape of the "double D" ports as well I believe.
The interiors have different cabinetry and finish.

Alden numbered them with letters and I guess your boat is 949-LL (alphabeticly omitting "I", after Z(24) all letters are doubles) but I may be wrong. Alden of Boston may be able to trace your boat back to its origins. E-mail them at the Alden Design web site(google)

Alden supplied the working drawings and they took it from there. There are NOT that many builders of fiberglass boats that have the skills to do that today. This was more than just finishing a boat. These craftsmen took the raw materials and built the cabins, cockpits etc. according to the blue prints. These would be custom boats today as they were when they were built, no two will be alike.

Whit · Nov 4, 2004

Hull Number

I scrounged around in some of the boxes of gear that came with the boat and found a plauqe from LeCompte that has "Hull # 35" and the date 1960 stamped on it. I also found one with the Alden designation of 949 BB. Now I'm really confused and guess I will have to go to Alden for the answer.
By the way Tom, I saw the pic of your interior, very nice!

TomY · Jan 23, 2011

Ancient history but some info on 917-Y

I stumbled on the Alden Design # 917 on the web. My boats builders plate with Alden Design # 917-Y was always a curiosity. Alden design had no clue about it when I contacted Neils years ago(and he thought it strange it was never mentioned).

917 was the Alden Malabar senior, a sloop built in a time that overlapped Challenger construction. Also, the Malabar Senior was built by LeComte in Holland as were some of the Challengers. Still doesn't explain why mine is wrong, but some possibilities.

http://www.bobhudson.com/malabar/

Baker Wood · Feb 8, 2011

Re: New Guy...

Hello: My Name is Baker, I was raised in Miami and by far my favorite childhood memories are of time spent aboard TYO my
fathers Challenger. From my reading here, I gather her hull # to be 949 EE circa 1960. My father owned her from early 1970s to sometime in the mid 1980s. I am unable to recall the name of the person she was sold to but I seem to recall talk of her
name being changed and perhaps her home port changing to the New York area. A Mr Mouwer (sp) of Lansing, MI took delivery of TYO and cruised her on the Great Lakes and several trips to winter in Miami. That's how we came to own her, with out fail, after every family sail on our first boat an Islander 29, we always went for a stroll out the pier to take in the
graceful lines of TYO. Mr. Mouwer and my father became fast friends and when time came to sell her and retire he called us.
I would very much like to know what has become of TYO. (949 EE) I am inspired to find my copy of The Proper Yacht and I
know I have some hull plans around here someplace...Regards; BW

An introduction to your host!

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