List of Flicka Blogs

Re: Bruce Bingham's 70th Birthday Party

Question: can Bruce confirm this story? Did he sell the plug for the mold to Nor'star Marine, and then receive the first bare hull out of the mold, in lieu of designer fees? Did he have the hull sitting upside down in Costa Mesa and then selling it to Steve Ward, about 1974?
If this sounds correct about the origins, then I am the proud current owner of hull number 1. After the sale to Steve W, the hull was uprighted, placed on a trailer, taken to Northern CA, and over a period of years built up according to modified plans. Steve Ward's building job was top notch, and the finished job was launched in Santa Barbara around 1982. I am about the 5th owner (having purchased in 2001). I will be happy to provide pictures of the upgrades that have been done since '01 (including an Yanmar 1-GM installation "from scratch".
Back to question in line one above: is this account basically correct about the first hull from Nor'star?

Re: Bruce Bingham's 70th Birthday Party

I have a Nor'star Flica # nsb200070776. I believe it is the one that was featured in the original sales brochure. It fell through the cracks and I was lucky enough to grab it. The previous owner was very upset with the boat because the plywood, and some of the mahogany, is of poor quality and the boat was on the verge of being unusable. I added some temporary strength and gave it sea trials in the Gulf of the Farallones. The sea state was confused, with swells much higher than the boat being met by a massive outgoing tide creating sea mounts that doubled the size of the swell. This was topped off by 20 knots of wind. A perfect day for what I had in mind. No sails, a 10 hp Honda for propulsion, I was testing the hull. The outboard bracket broke and the Honda went under water. Since Honda forgot to include a snorkel that was the end of propulsion. Flica, (no name came with her) paused for a moment, as if to sniff , and adjusted her aspect in a perfect manor to meet the seas keeping me dry and comfortable. My love and admiration for the boat and Mr. Bingham's design skills went off the charts. I am 72 and wish Mr. Bingham a very happy 70. There is a lot of fun left in us. I am just starting the serious restoration.

Re: Bruce Bingham's 70th Birthday Party

Happy Birthday wishes to Bruce on his 70th. I worked with Bruce in the early 70's and assisted him in drawing the full-sized lofted renderings for his series of ferro-cement boat designs, as well as typing much of the manuscript for his book: Ferro-cement: Design, Techniques, and Application. I'm glad to see that some of these designs achieved such success.

Re: Bruce Bingham's 70th Birthday Party

Sorry Bruce,,i was sailing between Halifax and St.Maarten when your birthday went under the radar,,,,,i dont know if the glass of Whiskey
would have stayed upright in 48kt winds and 18ft sea's. The little Lady sailed gallantly until i tired 36 hours into it and decided to drop every
thing and take a coffee break with a little sleep....
If it was not for the lousy ply used in the manufacture of this great little boat,i would be 100% happy with her.As it is,every time i turn
around or lift a cushion another layer of veneer peels off.
She will be coming out of the water soon and i guess i've got to replace every bit of ply on her,,,wasted sailing time.
Happy birthday for next year and the other 20 to come.

Re: Bruce Bingham's 70th Birthday Party

Built an all wood flicka from cratch in the 80's and sailed it across the pacific. Kids in their youth! Fred Bingham his dad helped me with some changes . Gaff rigged her. Still my favorite boat . Happy birthday Bruce!

Re: Bruce Bingham's 70th Birthday Party

I worked with Steve Ward,Lynn.and Jeff at Westerly Marine in Newport Beach in 1974-75 I remember one of the first Northstar Flica we wroked on. It had to be the first or second out of the mold. It was black had a ferryman single cylinger motor. Fantastic lines an engineering wonder. To this day very few people can beieve that this was a blue water boat.

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