1959 New York Canoe Club International Challenge Cup

Bill Kempner and Alan Emus were selected for the British Team.

Ian Proctor described the canoe project for Bill Kempner (the canoe used for the 1959 NYCC Cup challenge) as:-

"Bill was a dedicated and expert canoe sailor. He made his objectives quite clear, he wanted a boat in which he could win back the New York Canoe Club Trophy from the Americans. He was confident he had the skills, he wanted the instrument that would best respond to those skills. Four successive wins for my designs in the National 12 and Merlin-Rocket championship, much reinforced by the fact that we probably had the best small boat building firm in the country at that time, if not the world, to put this boat together- Jack Chippendale.

"This Mark II hull, though fairly powerful for it's beam, was 4 inches narrower than 'Pronto's'. The bow waterlines, in particular were much slimmer and there was less rocker forward. To compensate for loss of displacement forward, the stern sections were flattened a little. Obviously, this moved the centre of buoyancy aft and the sliding seat had to be moved aft too to put the weight in the right place.

"A curved, ladder slide and the helmsman's expertise made absolutely unnecessary any thought of high freeboard amidships to keep him and the deck out of the water (midships freeboard was 2.1/4 inches less). Tiller and mainsheet systems were improved. The basic construction remained similar.

The two boat team of Bill Kempner in 'Folly 'and Alan Emus in 'Shrike' successfully challenged for the New York Canoe Club Trophy in September 1959. 'Folly' won both races over a 3 mile course, the first by 4 mins 30 secs and the second by 1 min 15 secs. The Proctor mark II was essentially a development of the 'Spindrift' design of Uffa Fox."

From Andrew Eastwood's History of Canoe Sailing in Britain.