* Slomoshun
* * Slo-mo IV & V two of the greatest
Hydroplanes
The new Slo-mo-shun IV
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Who Really Designed Dick Carroll At first glance the 50+ year old Slo-mo-shun IV appears to be a simple craft especially when viewed through the eyes of us living in the 21st century. But in 1948 she was revolutionary...and even 50 years later her accomplishments haven’t been improved upon that significantly. She is an incredible machine Every detail of the which, from the design of the hull shape to the choice of a single screw made a difference in the performance of the boat . And since the boat is far from the simple craft your first impression might lead you to believe, there are thousands of details that required design and construction decisions. Decisions that required long years of training, lots of hands on experience and a huge data base about boat design , and the time to develop and apply them. It is my opinion that Ted O Jones did not have the necessary experience or knowledge base to design, develop or build the Slo-mo-shun IV or V. On top of that Ted didn’t have enough time available to him, as he was working a full time job at Boeing, to dedicate anywhere near the amount of time needed to work out the design requirements of Slo-mo IV. Regarding Ted’s time constraints: As an example I offer his inability to complete the design and construction of the much smaller Slomo III early in 1948, a boat very similar to one he had already supposedly built called the Avenger. The vast majority of the work on Slo-mo III had to be finished by the Jensens. Now if Ted didn’t have the time and was stymied by some of the design problems presented in the Slo-mo III, why should I believe he would have the time or ability to resolve the many new design problems and construction problems which were encountered in the IV: Regarding Ted’s design and construction experience: We have researched every issue of the PI and Seattle Times and Pacific Motor Boating magazine. We have inquired of many of his friends and listened to his family; So far we have come up with about 7 boats built over a 20 year period. And only two of the 7 , the Fireball and the Avenger, both knockoffs of Ventnor style 225s, would qualify as competitive race boats, the remaining 5 are smaller inboard or outboard runabouts. Now 7 boats over almost 20 years doesn’t exactly add up to a portfolio overflowing with experience in any of the areas needed to develop a boat of the quality of the Slo-mo IV.
The only designers I have ever seen exhibit this type of behavior are beginners, new designers who have the beginnings of something, but they don’t have the knowledge or experience to take it to the next level. "I know Ted had an "idea", but it’s also my opinion he didn’t know how to develop it any further so the drawing stayed the same...until he was fortunate enough to meet Anchor Jensen, a 30 year old master shipwright and intuitive genius. Over the same 20 years that Ted built 7 boats as a hobby, Anchor was immersed in a sea of people whose entire lives revolved around boats and solving problems related to boats. I’m not talking assembly line redundancy here, I’m talking , over a thousand boats, all types and sizes of boats. The company wasn’t called Jensen Motor Boat Company, because the name had a nice ring to it. Motor Boats were what they specialized in. That’s why Anchor at the age of 8 or 9 could take apart a small outboard and completely rebuild it, even if he had to do it under the piano in the living room of their small family apartment. That’s why Anchor was porting engines for 505 class raceboats at the age of 11. And it wasn’t only boat engines or mechanics. Morris Kane who founded the Perfect Circle Piston company and whose products were used in many famous Indy 500 race cars had his boat built by Tony Jensen and moored at Jensens boatyard. Morris and Tony Jensen taught Anchor and his brother George everything they needed to know about car engines. So that if the family car broke down while Anchor was driving to the Gas Works Plant to pick up clinkers (Now Gasworks Park) Anchor at the age of 12 could probably get out and fix it and drive on back to the boatyard . So anchor was more then well versed in every aspect of engines, gears, instrumentation whether it was in a boat or any other moving object. No one served a tougher apprenticeship in boat building then Anchor and his brother George. You were the owners son and Tony Jensen was one of the best around. And he had zero tolerance for screw-ups. Tony expected the same level of work out of Anchor and George that he got from his best workers. You did the job over and over until you got it right. Tony was a good teacher but a hard task master. Anchor also learned lifetime lessons from employees like George Neuss just one of the excellent shipwrights working at JMC. By the time Anchor was 15 he could probably tell you every type of wood they used and why and where to use it or where to get the best product and price when it came time to find something. You wanted something welded or forged he could get it done or do it himself. You were having a problem with rigging he would either fix it or create something entirely new and better. You needed a new rudder, and its a custom job...no big deal...he’ll design, build a form and have it cast in no time. You need a five blade prop, oh yeah sure. Give me a few weeks he’ll make you one. By the time Anchor he was 18 he had worked with some of the best naval architects in the world. He had reviewed hundreds and hundreds of boat plans from Heresoff , Geary, Seaborn, Monk, Rowlands, Strickland, Hugg, Hand, Hanson, Crocker, etc.etc.. At the age of 19 he was already assistant manager of Jensens. Besides all those nationally recognized naval architects (Monk is Grandfathered in) Anchors brother George became a nationally recognized industrial designer. But all his life from the time he was 6 or so, George drew boats. If you want to see how a boat designer behaves look at George Jensen’s notebooks. In one pad he has over a hundred designs. And Anchor had to share a room with George...so even after working on boats all day and reviewing boat plans all day, Anchor still had to watch and listen to George talk about his boats and boat designs every night before he fell asleep. There was no escape from boats and Anchor never wanted one. At the age of 24 he enlisted in the navy, graduated with honors, tops in his class of basic engineering at Great Lakes Naval Training center and went to war on the battleship Iowa as a fireman ( Equals engine room jack of all trades) he finished his tour of duty on the Belleau Wood and prepared her and the bombers for the attack on Japan. With an early introduction to Allison engines on the fighter escorts. In early 1946 Tony Jensen became ill and requested that Anchor be released early because he needed him to run the Boatyard, which was building and repairing Navy, Coast Guard &Army boats between 30 and 83 feet. Anchor’s tour of duty was cut short by a couple of months, and at the age of 26 was putting in 14 hour days at the yard working with and supervising the JMC staff in getting as many military craft back on duty as quickly as possible. So if you want to compare Teds resume of 7 boats in twenty years against Anchor Jensen’s 30 thousand or so hours of practical experience in everything from, wood sciences, mechanics, design ,boat construction and racing, sailing crew and boatyard management and on an on , It’s my opinion that Ted was like a high school baseball player, who got a chance to play with the New York Yankees in the World Series. He thinks he’s pretty good until he gets to the ballpark , but in the Jensens big league ballpark he was worse then a rookie he was a nuisance , but the Jensens had a deal with Stan Sayres to let him play and they lived up to their end of the bargain. Anchor voluntarily poured every ounce of his 30 years of solid experience into the design of Slo-mo IV and was damn proud of it. Ted got real lucky, and then proceeded to claim everything was his idea. Odd thing though, I can’t find a shred of documentation to back up his claims. There are 2 things that really irritate me about this entire saga...One is that Ted was so blatant in his never ending campaign to demean Stan Sayres and belittle the contributions of Anchor Jensen and the Slo-mo Crew while attempting to claim the entire legacy of the Slo-mo-shun IV for himself... And two that Anchor never made an overt effort to set the story straight. It took me two and half years to dig and dig just to learn a little of what he contributed to this boat. I know that there is a vast quantity left inside him but he will never let anyone get that close and even worse, I don’t know enough to appreciate the wonderful subtleties of the symphony he is trying to explain to me, it’s maddening. And If you look at every boat over the next 10 to 15 years ( all those Ted Jones boats) Isn’t it amazing how much they all resemble the Slo-mo IV...., the Hawaii Kai, was completely redesigned and rebuilt by Anchor Jensen , the JMC staff and the Slo-mo IV Crew taking almost 2000 lbs out of her and modifying almost everything in her- she became national champion that year. And Ole Bardahl had the Miss Bardahl originally built by Ron Jones , completely rebuilt at Jensens the very same year , where it took over 2700 hrs of work get it right. The one thing I give Ted credit for is that he knew a good thing when he saw it and he saw a lot of great things happen at Jensens...which he used to his advantage the rest of his career. That and knowing enough to find good builders like Les Staudacher, great crew chiefs like Jack Ramsey and terrific drivers like Bill Muncey...So when you think of Ted Jones- REMEMBER Anchor Jensen showed him how, his crews kept his boats competitive and his drivers made him a winner. NO-One does it by themselves-It takes a team
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