Yachting History

By Gail M. Martin In the early 1920s, John Alden and assistant, Samuel Crocker, created the Indian class one-design sailboat. Indians were centerboard open cockpit sloops, 21 feet long and 16.75 feet at the waterline. They carried a mainsail, jib (over 220 sq ft) and spinnaker, and were crewed by two or three plus a skipper. Indians were popular in New England with racing fleets active into the 1970s.   \         Alden and…

By Gail M. Martin Editor’s note: You’ll find the first part of Gail’s article at windcheckmagazine.com/article/the-allure-of-the-candy-class/     The 13 ½-foot Candy class sailboats, first introduced in 1922, were popular sailing and racing boats for Narragansett Bay sailors until the 1970s. Designed by T. Elton Wood in 1921, the much-loved Marconi-rigged, easy-to-sail catboats’ popularity grew rapidly through the 1920s and so did their numbers. By 1930, there were twenty boats in the fleet, and over the next…

  Thomas A. Toolin (1914 -1991) was a champion swimmer (Paramount Swimming Club 1931 – ‘39) as well as one-design sailor (1957 onwards). A cabinetmaker by trade, his first boat was an Indian class sailboat that needed rebuilding. He participated in NBYA regattas with that first boat, Hobomoco, and won a Class T championship. Later he went on to win Narragansett Bay Indian class championships with co-owner Charlie La Roue in Matoka. He was also chairman of…

By Tom Darling, Conversations with Classic Boats   Who has ever heard of the Barrs; Captain John Barr and his half-brother Charlie (often spelled Charley)? Captain John steered some of the most famous offshore yachts in Britain and America. Younger brother Charlie, in league with Nat Herreshoff, took the helm of a succession of America’s Cup defenders in the Gilded Age culminating with the mighty Reliance in 1903. In this issue, we’re presenting original research gathered from…

By Gail M. Martin   Roger Francis Winiarski learned to love sailing at an early age. His parents relocated to Tiverton, RI from Fall River, MA in 1953, a couple years before the Tiverton Yacht Club moved into its new building a few steps from his parents’ house. He could probably see the colorful Candy Class sailboats sailing around the Tiverton Basin from his yard! He learned to sail by going with other kids after his first…

By Gail M. Martin   In the early 1920s, sailing and racing began in earnest for one-design classes. Among them was a small Marconi rigged catboat called the Candy class. The designer, T. Elton Wood, had children of his own, and his daughter Virginia was already an accomplished sailor at 14 years old. However, he envisioned other young people would also be attracted to this sport, so he designed a small, sturdy 13-foot boat with a hard…

By Anton Huggler Here is the story of where my boat bumming life all began, on a fateful April weekend in 1971. Jenny Wren…Her name has a very special place in my heart, as she gave me one of the most memorable pieces of my life. She was a creaky old lady, about 40 feet long, gentle, forgiving and she safely carried me on an unforgettable journey; my first on the open ocean. Born and raised in…

By Roger Vaughan Editor’s note: Cutting a wide swath through the male-dominated sports of auto and ocean racing in the 1960s and ‘70s, Patsy Kenedy Bolling acted like one of the boys and was accepted, making lifelong friends with drivers like Sir Stirling Moss and Dan Gurney as well as countless sailors, perhaps most notably one R. E. Turner III. In the words of author Roger Vaughan, she “would challenge you, beat you, drink you under the…

By Anton Huggler Editor’s note: A story by R.J. Rubadeau in our September 2024 edition, “On Becoming a Captain” (windcheckmagazine.com/article/on-becoming-a-captain/), recounting a transpacific yacht delivery from Sydney to San Diego, brought back memories for Anton Huggler, who served as first mate for a transatlantic delivery on the same yacht, one of the legendary Ondines.   1976, end of September, Saint Tropez, France Ondine was readied for an Atlantic crossing back to the U.S. after racing and cruising…

By Brian M. Stinson Editor’s note: With the Ida Lewis Distance Race presented by Bluenose Yacht Sales starting August 16, we wonder how many participating sailors – particularly those in the Youth Challenge division – are familiar with the namesake of both the race and its host yacht club. Much has been written about “the Heroine of Lime Rock,” though not always unembellished. Newport historian Brian Stinson sets the record straight.   In the fall of 1858,…