Pink Lady JS-5

by Rick Tool

My father, Bernard (Barney) J. Tool Jr. built, owned, and raced two Jersey Speed Skiffs in the 1950's. The boats were named Pink Lady and Pink Lady Too. My grandfather Bernard (Pop) J. Tool Sr. and my father were both boat builders by trade. Both worked for a time at Mathis Yacht in Camden, N.J. which became John Trumpy & Sons. During World War II my dad worked in the Philadelphia Navy Yard in the small boat shop and also as a loftsman in the Mold Loft. After the war he and my grandfather struck out on their own, building boats in the Delran/ Bordentown NJ area. It was while delivering a newly completed sloop to the Navesink River that Dad first saw Skiffs racing and got the bug. Sometime thereafter he found Skiff plans in, I believe, Popular Mechanics. Both boats were eventually built on the same molds developed from these plans. By the time I came along in 1953 Dad was in the home building business on Long Beach Island. Houses were much more profitable and with a growing family to support he sacrificed his first love of boat building.

The Pink Lady was built of solid white cedar on oak & was planked & framed in my grandfather's basement in Delran. Dad then finished the boat in our garage on Long Beach Island. I am not certain when this boat first raced but she was High Point Winner in 1956 and 57 and was National Champ in 1957 as well as holding the 5 mile record at 39.75 mph and the 1 mile record at 44.39 mph. This boat carried the number JS 5 until earning the JS 1 number. Dad recalls splitting the cedar bottom open the very first time he raced it and thereafter the bottom was overlaid with plywood.

   The second boat, Pink Lady Too, was built of mahogany plywood on the same molds as the first. The plywood was structurally better able to take the pounding that these boats endured. Pink Lady Too raced as JS 5.  Both boats were painted with white bottoms, light pink topsides and black sheer strakes done in a scallop in the style of the Ford Victoria of that era. The decks were pink with a black band around the gunwales and down the center. The first boat had white cockpits and black boot topping while the second one had varnished mahogany cockpits and no boot topping. Both had varnished mahogany transoms. They were both painted and lettered by our neighbor Fred Held who was a real artist. Dad believes both were powered by 283 Chevrolet engines but for some reason I thought the first boat had non-Chevrolet power. Both boats turned very well-to the point of Dad considering a coaming around the aft cockpit on the port side to keep some of the water out. I clearly recall Dad taking Mom and me for a ride after a race and seeing my Mom clawing at the starboard deck to hold on when Dad laid the boat on her side-I think the marks were still on the deck the day she (the boat) was sold!

While I don't remember anything about the building of the first boat, I do recall taking the trips to my grandfather's for the building of the second one. I was called upon to hold the buck from time to time during the riveting of the planking. If a rivet did not head up properly it didn't go to waste- the misshapen head was filed off and the rivet was driven out. If it was too short to use elsewhere it was put in a cigar box along with others and it was these rivets that were given to me to practice with, fastening scraps together and then submitted to Pop for approval .I still have the small ball peen hammer that was mine to use for this task.   If I seemed a little bored or was being a pain in the ass Pop would dump cigar boxes of fasteners on the bench & mix them up for me to sort. I also recall playing in the forepeak as a child and distinctly remember a St. Christopher medal fastened to the apron.

   My grandfather raced in the second seat with Dad until he was in his 60's, at which point he suffered from back problems. Dad had a hard time finding crew to ride with him and so moved on to 280 class hydroplanes. Pink Lady Too was sold and Dad designed and built a hydro in our basement. This boat was named Cherokee and I believe was numbered E 180. I remember Dad flipped it on her maiden run. The boat was very "kitey" and after one season the boat was back in our basement to have the sponsons cut down. This cured the problems and thereafter Cherokee did very well, eventually doing over 102 mph which, if I recall correctly, was less then a second shy of a world record.

  Dad eventually got out of racing and is alive and well today at 89 years old and spends his time making models of all sorts of boats.

Rick Tool

June, 2005

Webmaster note:  This boat is currently being restored by Allen Brady - click here to see the status.