Design 10 - Cherokee

Cherokee was the 6th of the 39 six-meter racing yachts designed by Sparkman & Stephens. She was built by Henry Nevins of City Island, New York and launched in 1930. Cherokee was considered one of the best of the S&S six-meters. She was built for Herman F. Whiton, who would become an avid six-meter champion and repeat customer for S&S.

In 2009 a replica was built by the Museum of Yachting in Newport, Rhode Island. Click here to see some images and learn more about it.

Here are the plans.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 37'-3"
LWL 23'-4"
Beam 6'-5"
Draft 5'-5"
Sail Area 455 sq ft

Design 1777 - Assegai II

This little R.O.R.C. sloop was built by the Berthon Boat Company of Lymington, England. She was constructed of wood and launched in 1965. She's a nice looking boat and very typical of this period with attached rudder and every effort made to reduce wetted surface. She looks rather slippery in these images.


Here are the plans.


Two sisters were built as well. Design #1777-C1, and named Aja was built by Bröderna Martinsson Varvs AB of Sweden. The third, design #1777-C2 and named Illiria was built by Cantiere Carlini of Italy. These boats were reconfigured with a different interior layout, separated rudder and traditional transom. Here are the revised plans.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 40'-10"
LWL 29'-0"
Beam 10'-8"
Draft 6'-7"
Displacement 19,580 lbs
Ballast 9,000 lbs
Sail Area 694 sq ft

Design 1852 - Matuta II

This beautiful canoe stern motorsailer was built of wood by the Krogerwerft Shipyard of Rendsburg, Germany. She was launched in 1966. She is heavily built and designed with cruising comfort in mind. Her shoal draft reflects her owner's desire to use her in Southern Waters.

As Chief Inspector, Rod Stephens performed most of the sea trials of S&S boats around the world. Here is a very rare sequence of images (double click for zoom) of Rod in Germany doing sea trials. Someone snapped him arriving by ferry, being picked up, onboard speaking with the yard workers (and probably the owner), and taking a trip to the masthead which was his habit.


You can always tell the German shipyards due to the naval vessels at the yards that were built alongside the yachts.

Here are the plans.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 60'-0"
LWL 49'-7"
Beam 15'-7"
Draft 4'-7"
Displacement 83,000 lbs
Ballast 17,500 lbs
Sail Area 1,387 sq ft

I Built it Myself! and Family Boatbuilding, more from Mystic and the WoodenBoat Festival

I Built it Myself!

Robert Pulsch of Port Monmouth NJ took top honors in the Concours self built category. Not hard to see why.

Roberta P is a gaff rigged catboat and an early BB Crowningsheild design.

Robert (on the left in the light green shirt and into his 80's) allows he spent about 2yrs. building her to plans obtained from Mystic Seaport.

He also admits to working on the boat right up to putting her on the trailer, a common theme with the homebuilt crowd.

Roberta P is 22'4 0n deck and 14'2 waterline. Beam is 7'9, she draws 4'6 with the board down and 1'6 with it up, carries 311 sq. ft. of sail and has a displacement of 2613. I'll hazard a guess that as of this writing, she's been baptized!

Gary Stephenson's Adirondack Guide Boat.

This was a 10yr. 1000hr. traditional build to a Dwight Grant design, using eastern white cedar planks and sawn frames, looks like white oak.

The construction method was new to me, Gary called it 'modified carvel', creating a smooth hull but employin a lap and gain as in lapstrake building, no caulking between planks. All copper fastened. Shown above are some handmade specialized tools Gary made for the build.

Sean Null is building these beautiful boards in Philadelphia, not far from me.

These boards are strip built over internal frames, so hollow. Technically a boat, an elegantly minimal one. Given Sean's proximity, you'll probably see more on this.

Here's a reportedly immaculate Goat Island Skiff which I missed, not so for Christophe Matson from whom I am borrowing this photo. Thanks Christophe! The boat was built by Paul, from CT. and finished with a bright interior and a 'jet black exterior'.

photo courtesy Christophe Matson

Family Boatbuilding

Under the big top, here's a Sassafras canoe from CLC.

There were several skin on frame kayaks being finished as well. I'm not sure what design or who led this group, can anyone enlighten me?

A Chesapeake Light Craft Sassafras Canoe

I counted 16, plus 1 still in the tent

Quite an impressive lineup.

Clint Chase came down with his Goat Island Skiff to lend support to Mik Storer and led the building of three
Echo Bay Dory Skiffs. One seen on the right. From Clint's blog: "We (myself, Christophe Matson, Eric Risch the designer of the EBDS, and Steven Bauer) had a wonderful time guiding three wonderful families through the construction of 3 beautiful Echo Bay Dory Skiffs this past Friday through Sunday." According to Clint, all three families launched on Sunday afternoon with nary a leak!

In the parking lot, next to my car, one of the kayaks being loaded for the trip home.



all photos copyright Thomas Armstrong unless noted otherwise

These two events, for me at least, represent the heart of the festival and what makes it great, real participation on an individual level by non professional boat lovers.
Interestingly, every I Built it Myself! exhibitor I spoke with said they had been working on their craft right up to the minute they left for Mystic. Devoted. Sadly, I did not speak with any of the family boatbuilders, but one can easily imagine and assume their pride and delight. More to follow, this is always a very full weekend.

Design 1891 - Iorana

Iorana was constructed of wood by Abeking & Rasmussen of Germany. She was launched in 1969. She's a beauty. It's too bad this is the only image we possess of her. This is a powerful boat. Just look at her ballast to displacement ratio, her deep draft and large amount of sail area.

Of note, here we have an early example of the installation of a Hundested controllable pitch propeller.

The following are some designer's remarks from Rod Stephens. Please double click for zoom.


Here are the plans.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 63'-2"
LWL 45'-5"
Beam 14'-10"
Draft 9'-3"
Displacement 67,772 lbs
Ballast 32,000 lbs (outside) 1,000 lbs (inside)
Sail Area 1,815 sq ft

Design 2028 - Jakaranda

This big yawl was designed to the I.O.R. Rule. She was built by Franz Maas of Breskens, Holland and launched in 1970. Her construction is interesting: stainless steel sub-frame encapsulated in foam and fiberglass. The hull and deck are cored with Airex foam. I wonder how this has held up over the years.

Here are the plans.


And an article from Yachting World magazine from 1970. Please double click for zoom.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 56'-10"
LWL 40'-0"
Beam 14'-5"
Draft 8'-4"
Displacement 37,150 lbs
Ballast 18,200 lbs
Sail Area 1,453 sq ft

Design 2492 - Lacoste 39

This preliminary design was prepared for Chantiers Yachting of France as the Lacoste 39. The year was 1985. The design was never fully developed beyond the sketches you see here. The work is by the hand of Evan K. Marshall who went on to establish his own design office in London.

It's a tall order: a raised pilothouse with flybridge in 39' overall.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 39'-0"
LWL 33'-9"
Beam 13'-0"
Draft 3'-0"