She's a great sailing and comfortable boat, fundamentally well-made!
I bought a new Helms 30 from stock on-hand at Sail America in Annapolis in 1978. It was initially out of my price range, but Max Groves offered me a great deal with the understanding that I would race the boat and give it some visibility. Max bought boats from Jack Helms for cash, so Max had his own money tied up in his inventory. No doubt that influenced his decision to make me the deal. Max pointed me to Jack Helms to get answers to detailed questions about the boat. Max helped a lot with industry discounts for sails and hardware, and was a terrific asset for the first few years I raced the boat.Jack Helms was a decent fellow. He always did what he could to make me happy, but only after we had sorted out our particular technical disagreement d’jour. His wife was very gracious and provided us with upholstery fabric and help on a few occasions. Jack’s son was equally responsive. I was sorry to see the family business shut down.
revised 03-05-2008 by dbz.