A lot has changed since this video was produced back at the dawn of the classic yacht renaissance some 30 years ago. Since then, many more deserving old yachts have been restored to ever-higher standards and are sailing once again. The required boatbuilding skills, thought then to be dying, have flourished as well.
Unfortunately, Full Sea’s work on IBIS didn’t endure, and she’s awating another and more complete restoration at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard—the same yard that restored IBIS’s sister,
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Dwight Jacobson says:
The retired sanitation worker Willie Wolf, likely bought Ibis from my Father Ed Jacobson who owned the boat for a couple of years around 1953/54 while it was on the hard in Mamaroneck NY. My Dad an IBM employee bought the boat from an IBM associate who couldn’t afford the yard payments, and my Dad got it for what was owed the boat yard.Willie refers to finding the boat painted in battleship grey and white. That was my Dad’s work. He bought Navy surplus paint in 5 gallon buckets and slapped it on. I have pictures of my Grandfather on the deck on a weekend visit to see what my Dad was up to. Dad made a repair to the hull, having no boat building skills, likely just to get it floated. At this point I remember him telling me that he couldn’t afford to re-ballast the boat, and that’s when Mr. Wolf enters the picture.
Claas van der Linde says:
Great memories, Mr. Jacobson! Thank you for sharing! Incidentally, Ibis was finished today, 113 years ago! On January 8, 1905 the Herreshoffs took her overland from the East Construction Shop, where she had been built, to nearby Walkers Cove, where she would wait until May 8 for her launching. Today she sits at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard, waiting for someone to finance yet another restoration. But she will live!
Ahoi Mench says:
I’m getting old I guess and the old fashioned honesty exemplified by Walter Cronkite and Halsey Herreshoff and others on this film is very moving. Thank you. My own boat, Pia, a Danish built 30 sq. meter Klasse Spidsgatter will be 80 years old in 2018, a fine example of craftsmanship anyone would do well to emulate.
Joy Phillips says:
Thank you Maynard for sharing. Wonderful history and footage. Regards Joy
Kaci Cronkhite says:
For all the innovation, core values never change. Love this!
Brian Mosher says:
Great video, brings back a lot of memories from my childhood days in Halifax, NS. There the Linnet NY30, sailed from the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron. She was very sharp, long overhangs which is almost completely opposite to todays hulls. But she was also beautiful, and it did my heart good to see that she is currently being restored!
Thank you for a great story, past masters fro Nat H right through to Walter C.
Duncan Macfarlane says:
Cara Mia is currently undergoing a restoration at Gannon and Benjamin on Marthas Vineyard. New deck structure, stem, forefoot, transom, sheer planks, and a house revamp. Also happy to say she is back to her original gaff rig.
john schwarzenbach says:
Good work is again being done. One just need to show an interest and it can be found and within reach of many. Getting on the water in a wood boat is the beginning. There are boat builders making a trade for 40 and more years, with as much enthusiasm as when they began. I nominate Bruce McKenzie as one of them, now of MD. formerly Philadelphia, Baltimore, the Caribbean, Maine and more. A man practicing an ancient art.