Development of the Ball Bearing Traveler & '67 America’s Cup Boat Intrepid

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Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation

TECH TALK: The revolution in racing sailboat materials and hardware from 1956 to 1976

<h3>TECH TALK: The Development of the Ball Bearing Traveler and the 1967 America’s Cup Boat Intrepid</h3>The revolution in racing sailboat materials and hardware from 1956 to 1976Presented by Alan PalevskyThe period from 1956 to 1976 introduced huge changes in racing sailboats. There was the transition in hulls from wood to fiberglass, in spars from wood to aluminum, in lines from manila to Dacron, and in sails from cotton to Dacron (main and jib) and Nylon (spinnaker). There were also major upgrades in the running rigging with the introduction of cam cleats, ball bearing travelers, light weight blocks, light weight shackles, and the ratchet block. Put today’s sailor in a boat from 1956 and it would all seem quite foreign and antiquated. Put that same sailor in a state-of-the-art boat from 1976 and except for the lack of electronics it would all feel quite familiar.As a teenager, from 1964 to 1969, Alan Palevsky worked in a small machine shop that at the time was the leader in ball bearing travelers and light weight blocks. The shop won the contract to build much of the running rigging for 12-Meter Intrepid, the 1967 America’s Cup defender. Little did Alan realize at the time that the hardware he worked on was the harbinger of major changes in hardware across all of sailing. The talk will cover some of his memories of working in that era and some of the details of the hardware design and fabrication techniques, and the new materials put into service.The owner and brains of the operation was Edmund Laviano. He was a local sailor with an inventive mind who had gotten into designing and fabricating small boat hardware in the early 1960’s.This is more Mr. Laviano’s story than Mr. Palevsky’s. Tech Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the <a href="http://www.lowellinstitute.org/" title="http://www.lowellinstitute.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Lowell Institute</a>.

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Development of the Ball Bearing Traveler & '67 America’s Cup Boat Intrepid

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Development of the Ball Bearing Traveler & '67 America’s Cup Boat Intrepid

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