THE RETURN OF THE REX

Wednesday, November 3, 2010 • Vol. 117, No. 25
The reTurn of The rex
Paul Ring builds perfect scale model of luxury yacht that once sailed the waters of Mobile Bay
a ride aboard her, were becoming scarce.
“All we had to draw
from were five fuzzy photographs and the personal
memories of Bob Bung,”
Zadnichek said. Bung is
Wadewitz’s grandson, and
Today, the model will be
unveiled in the barroom
where it was conceived,
after the normal monthly
membership meeting at
the FYC.
“I had to get creative at
times,” Ring said of the
just as you would a real
vessel, by laying a keel
first. “We had a small
cutout to work off of, but it
It’s a tale as old as ale.
evolved as I went along,”
Two experienced mariners
he said.
are shooting the breeze
Ring used the cutout to
over some drinks at the
draw
the lines of the
bar one day when
model and then
one of them turns
added bulkheads
to the other and isand the deck. Besues a challenge.
cause he could not
This is where it
secure details of the
gets interesting. InRex’s cabin, he clevstead of the old, “do
erly hid it behind a
you wanna take
set of curtains, but
this outside?,” one
the wheelhouse and
of the sailors, Louis
deck are historically
Zadnichek, asked
accurate.
the other, Paul
“This was the
Ring, to test his
largest
and most
craftsmanship and
luxurious
yacht on
build a scale model
Mobile
Bay
during
of the Rex, a 49.5it’s
time,”
Zadnichek
foot motor yacht
said. “It was also
that once plied the
unusual in that it
waters of Mobile
had a diesel engine.”
Bay.
Gabriel Tynes/ Staff Photo
No records exist
Ring, whose
Paul
Ring,
former
commodore
of
the
Fairhope
Yacht
Club,
stands
next
of
what
happened to
handiwork is scatto
his
12:1
scale
model
of
the
Rex,
the
former
yacht
of
Otto
Wadewitz,
a
the
Rex
after Wadetered around the
witz
sold
it in the
co-founder
of
FYC.
The
model
will
be
permanently
displayed
in
the
FYC
Fairhope Yacht
late
1940s,
but Ring
Club where he and barroom.
and Zadnichek specZadnichek are
one
of
the
few
people
still
it
was converted into
model,
which
uses
real
ulate
members, had recently
living
who
had
ever
seen
a
fishing
trawler and
teak,
mahogany
and
plycompleted a small model
the
Rex.
Along
with
his
eventually
rotted away.
wood,
just
as
the
original
of his own sailboat.
childhood
friend
Jackie
“It’s
unlikely
that it’s
vessel
would
have.
HowBut the Rex, which beBonnell,
they
were
able
to
still
around
anywhere,”
ever,
the
bullhorn
is
made
longed to FYC co-founder
guide Ring in the modelRing said. “But that’s why
of golf tees and the portOtto Wadewitz in the
making
process.
holes
came
from
the
we have this.” The public
decade-or-so around World
More than one year
plumbing department of a may view the model after
War II, had not been seen
later
and
after
an
estihardware store. “I think
the regular meeting of the
in more than 60 years.
mated
3,050
working
it's
about
as
faithful
a
repFYC membership tonight
Photographs of it remain,
hours,
Ring
had
finished
resentation
as
you
can
at 6:30 p.m. It will be perbut even people who had
the
model
–
a
perfect
12:1
get.”
manently
displayed in the
seen the boat in person, or
scale
built
from
scratch.
Ring
built
the
model
bar.
were lucky enough to take
By GaBriel Tynes
Courier editor
[email protected]
Starboard
Port
Stern detail
Stern
Wheelhouse
Louis Zadnichek (left) and Paul Ring with the Rex permanently displayed in the FYC bar.