The story of EC 12 #1 is also the history of the EC 12 itself. The story begins circa 1962 when childhood friend and adult sailing compadre, Charlie Morgan, asked Buddy to make three models based on his tank test plug for a 12-meter. Having done so, Buddy asked Charlie what he wanted to do with the mold and Charlie said keep and use it as he saw fit. Thus, the EC-12 was born!

The Pied Piper, hull #1, was built by Buddy in the early 1970's. Having been building and giving away the models since the early 1960's, there were probably over 150 hulls built prior to this one, which was by far Buddy's most prized hull. All of Buddy's models were truly "custom" and unique, either with the paint job and/or wood planked deck. Most of his models of that time had brass transoms, as did the Pied Piper in her original incarnation (she now has a mahogany transom).

Every model Buddy built had handcrafted wooden masts, brass fittings and molded ballast. The masts were 1" by 1/2" spruce planks that were hand planed using a small plane that he still uses today. The brass fittings were soldered at the kitchen table and the keels were made by digging a "mold" with a kitchen spoon in the dirt and pouring in molten lead. He used to melt the lead on the kitchen stove until one day water dripped in the pot and the lead exploded like hot grease (I've still got a small scare on my face to remember that day by).

Buddy only sailed the hull for a few years and after having won the ACCR's in 1976 in Richmond, Virginia, Buddy sold the hull to Henry Morris for $200. After years of prodding by the family, Buddy bought the hull back and it sat in his closet for over 25 years!!

When the restoration process was begun over 6 months ago, the transom had a hole in it and there wasn't any rigging at all. Although a new mahogny transom and a coat of paint quickly brought the mahogany vaneer sided hull back to its original form, finding the right rigging and two hurricanes postponed the project for several months. The goal was to restore the Pied Piper as close to her original condition as possible. That meant building a new wooden mast and finding brass turnbuckles that had not been available for some time.

Thankfully, Buddy had a spruce spar plank that must have been 30 years old. By using the hand plane that he had for ever, he quickly formed the plank into a new mast. The turnbuckles were another story, though. An exhaustive search of old friends and numerous hobby shops yielded no results. Just when it looked as though no one had functioning turnbuckles like the ones that were originally used, Buddy got back in touch with Henry Morris who thankfully had a full set. Finally, the restoration project was back on track.

There remained one final obstacle, the hatch. The original deck hatch was small and thus working inside with the servos and rigging was almost impossible. Yielding to common sense, the hatch was enlarged and the hull was complete.

Final restoration included a new set of sails and a sail servo from Toty Black (Buddy's brother). Now the Pied Piper was ready to sail again, this time by Buddy's son, Jim, and his grandson, Michael.

In true Morgan style, #1's re-launch was "just in time". Final preperations and modifications were completed the night before the Palm Beach Gardens EC 12 winter regatta this past weekend, February 12-13, 2005. There were over 30 boats registered with 3 past national champions and the fleet comodore present. Unfortunately, it was an inauspecious start. Being seeded in the "B" fleet and racing for the first time in 30 years, she lost her rig in the first race when the jib turnbuckle came loose. In the next heat, the rudder yoke came loose and she was again a DNF.

After those first few mishaps, everything was all down hill and each race was an improvement over the next as she completed every race she began the rest of the regatta. Although she had a rookie skipper, heavy dacron sails and an old wooden mast, she did all right in both heavy and light air. When properly trimmed and steered correctly, she was able to keep pace with most of the boats in the fleet. Speaking for myself, my father, Buddy Black, my mother, and I believe all in attendance, it was great to see the Pied Piper, EC12 #1, back on the water and sailing again.

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