RUDY TOOT
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RUDY TOOT This photo was taken in 1962 by Kunz. This is a Wickens
hull the age of which we could never find out. This was my first qualifying
race which is the reason for the X my official number became S-148. The
race was in Columbus, OH and I was 15 years old at the time. |
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RUDY TOOT. A photo taken during a practice run on Lake Erie.
According to Keith Brayer, who is building the reproduction of the Yankee
Doodle, my boat is one of four built by Fred Wickens in 1946-47.
I raced this boat until 1964 when it broke in half during the Presidents
Cup Regatta in Washington, DC and we scrapped it. |
RUDY TOOT TOO
A photo of the boat we built from our own design based on the lines
of the Ron Jones hulls. Once we got the bugs out, this boat was able go
through a turn at full throttle, and came within 2 tenths of a second of
the course record in Tonowanda, NY in 1967. It exploded and caught fire
in Celina, Ohio in 1967. |
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RUDY TOOT TOO was rebuilt with varnished decks and was raced
under Canadian registration CS-49.
I entered the army in 1968 and managed to get a few races in while
stationed in Harrisburg, PA in 1969. After the Army I continued racing
until 1972 when it became more difficult to work and travel to races and
sold the boat. I had 10 years of fun and to this day I still cannot express
the thrill it was to race in one of these machines.
©2003 Rudy Nielson |
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