Chinook 34 Sailboat – Cinnamon

I had a nice chat with Wade Cornwell, the last surviving member of the original group of five that built the Chinook 34 sailboats and later started Yacht Constructors and the Cascade Yachts line. Wade is 94 now and he said his sailing days are behind him, but he was more then happy to talk about the old Chinooks. I called him out of the blue after I found his number still listed. I was a little apprehensive to call him as I wasn’t sure how he would take being called for information about one of his old boats from a business that he has long since retired from. I started the conversation with “you don’t know me, but I bought an old Chinook”. He immediately ask me which number it was, then started asking me questions about the boat and I could tell he was sincerely interested.

The main reason I called him was to see what he could tell me about trim and ballast on the Chinook sailboats. I wanted to see what his opinion was about how tender the Chinooks were. Wade agreed that they are a tender boat, although he said that if the rail is in the water the boat is not going fast, they like 10 to 15 degrees of heel to bring the waterline length up. He asked what type of keel she has. I told him Cinnamon is not a “center board” type, but has a fixed lead torpedo type ballast bolted on the bottom and fiber glassed over to make a full keel. He said that was a good thing. The centerboard boats with internal ballast are even more tender and that external ballast was better. He said their original idea of a centerboard for a shoal draft boat for the Columbia River didn’t really work out. At 3′ 10″ with the centerboard up it was still to deep to just step off the boat to push it off a sandbar. I was happy to get this assurance from Wade since I wasn’t sure which was better and was thinking maybe the centerboard might make the boat more stable.

I ask Wade what his opinion was on the seaworthiness of the Chinooks. At first he didn’t seem to understand what I was trying to get at with my question. He ask me how the standing rigging was and if the turnbuckles were rusty. When I assured him that the standing rigging had all just been replaced this summer and was all new shiny stainless steel. He said “oh, then you are ok”. I tried to get a little more to the heart of the matter so I ask what he thought of the Chinook’s sea handling abilities and if they were safe to take offshore. Wade’s reply was in the early days there was a little fleet of them at the Rose City Yacht Club and they had made many trips up the coast to Puget Sound and around the San Juan Islands. He said he knew of Chinooks that had sailed to Hawaii and back. Still trying to probe deeper, I ask him if he ever got wet or had water in the cockpit. He said no didn’t sail that way, that other then a little splash he never got wet.

I got a lot of interesting perspective on the boats from Wade. When I mentioned the heavy mahogany framework in the Chinooks he was quick to point out that in the beginning they really were armatures and they didn’t know what they were doing so they way overbuilt the boats. As time went on and they grew more confident in the use of fiberglass they switched over to lighter more modern designs.

Wade was very proud of the Cascade 29, which was the last boat he owned before he gave up sailing. He said there are Cascade 29s all around the world. I told him I liked the Cascade 42 “high side” hull and had been looking at one before I found Cinnamon. He said that was a funny story. They had designed the mold for the Cascade 42 with the extensions for the extra foot of freeboard, but had discouraged people from going that way because of the extra weight and windage. Finally a customer insisted on having the high sides. After people saw that hull Cascade never build another Cascade 42 without the high sides. Wade volunteered that the Cascade 36 is the best Ocean boat for a couple to shorthand. He said the 42’s are too big and you need a crew of four or five and everything gets more expensive because it’s bigger. He was also very proud that this years overall winner in the 2008 Pacific Cup race from San Francisco to Hawaii was won by a Cascade 36.

I told Wade that everyone who sees Cinnamon always comments on what a pretty boat she is. Wade said yes, that is why we choose the design. We wanted to build a pretty boat. So, there you have it, straight from the horses mouth. Five amateur yachtsmen spend two years studying the plans from the best naval architects of the time and in the end their decision was based on “she’s a pretty boat”.