Tom Toolin snaps a photo on the Indian class boat Matoka with sons Richard (peeking around the jib) and Robert (in the cockpit).
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 the race committee at Tiverton Yacht Club and on the measurement committee for the Candy Boat Association. He acquired and rebuilt a Candy for his sons Robert and Richard (Cracker Jack #26) and lent a hand in rebuilding the Martin family boat (Tar Baby #13). Previous to those efforts, he built a fleet of model sailboats for young sailors to race.
As an amateur photographer, Tom amassed a large slide collection of both Candy class and Indian class sailboats. He served as secretary and president of the Narragansett Bay Indian Class Association and was also a member of the of the Massachusetts Bay Indian Class Association. In the late 1940s, he and other Indian owners frequently trailered their boats up to Boston to participate in various regattas. He was adamant in preserving the history of the Paramount Swimming Club (its quarters were destroyed in the 1938 hurricane) and also in documenting the Narragansett Bay Indian class fleet. He was a ‘citizen historian’ well ahead of his time.
His skills and energy live on in his collection of Candy boat slides/photos and his recorded reminiscences of the Paramount Swimming Club. He carried the motto of the swim club, ‘Service and Sport,’ for his entire life. ■
