With this post, OffCenterHarbor begins what we hope will be a long series by Roger Taylor where he’ll be describing his experiences sailing good boats. Here is how he kicks off what he calls UNDERWAY: LOGS OF A BOAT NUT:
“In The New Yorker for January 13, 2020, I noticed that John McPhee has been inspired by Thornton Wilder to devise a writing project that would “extend his life,” something that “would take him at least a dozen years” to complete. Wilder had been 66; McPhee is now 88. Wilder was going to read and catalogue 431 plays by Lope de Vega, an obscure 17th Century Spaniard; McPhee has started ‘to describe in capsule form the many writing projects that I have conceived and seriously planned across the years, but have never written.’
Well, I have all the log books covering the boats I’ve sailed. So, what I’m going to do to extend my own 88 years is describe and show them to you with plans and photos, and tell you where we went, how the vessel handled, and what happened along the way. There is plenty of life-extending material! I figure that maybe 75 boat trips I’ve made (from a life-list approaching 500) are worth the telling.”
You may have read about a genius of a yacht designer named W.Starling Burgess. During two summers I
Let me share the wealth by telling you about her.
An ancestor of BARNSWALLOW was Elihu Root’s DORMOUSE, a 20-foot-waterline sloop that Burgess designed as an experiment to se if a keel boat with moderate draft could be so shaped that she would sail well to windward. She could and did, and so when Paul Hammond went back to Burgess, after previously having had him design the famous staysail schooner NINA, to design him a coastwise cruising boat small enough so that he could sail her by himself or with his wife, they decided on a 30-foot-waterline sloop with the same general proportions as DORMOUSE.
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Stephen Jay says:
Great Article, thanks. I grew up in Cold Spring Harbor on the north shore of Long Island. The Pages had Barnswallow, my god parents had a share in Arabella, and my family had one of the Rhodes 32 foot cutters, named Iona; never knew that Burgess was involved in their design, I have raced Atlantics in CSH for 35 years and never made the connection. It’s not surprising that besides the Atlantic, those were three of my favorite boats to sail.
Rich Morrow says:
Thanks Roger – what a lovely read and, as always, what an inspiration “handsome, able and seakindly” can be. Please keep at it my friend. Rich Morrow, Herring Cove, NS.
Leonard Sinowitz says:
My Brother and I had for 20 years Winthrup Warners cutter Mary Loring. She was designed by him in 1947 and had built for him and his family by Paul Luke in Maine in 1947. Winthrup kept her for 13 years. We kept her and sailed her for 20 years, she was 39 feet and 10 inches and was such a easy sailed cutter we sailed her often single handed and she was so well behaved. What a pleasure in all kinds of weather.
This story just read brought back good memories. I miss her very much.
Darren Tracy says:
Nice article Roger. I expect to read many, many more articles over many, many, more years.
Sailed with you once on the Lois McClure from Port Washington, Long Island to Albany.
Andy Oldman says:
Hi Roger great to see you are still writing and this is a wonderful article. Yes I would never take that boat out to real sea with such a companionway. Have boarded a couple big ones down the open hatch . Your 7,5 knot trip to Swans reminds me of the night we had to quickly escape Sable Island “anchorage “ in the “Patience B”as a strong NW came in. Double reefed all around we also averaged 7.5 reaching for a hundred miles in 25-30knots to St Peter’s Canal ,Cape Breton on a bright moonlit and starry night . It’s a thrill one never forgets .(1997).
We just moved houses and I have all your books in a special place in my marine section .
I’d love to hear about your French canal cruises.
Best regards.and long life to you ! Andy O.
Scot Copeland says:
Loved this: “Working to windward with a fair tide is better than discovering you have enough money to pay your income tax.”
David Tew says:
I look forward to your description of adventures aboard your Water Lily canal cruiser! Meanwhile, Uffa Fox, in his design review of BARNSWALLOW mentions that together Paul Hammond, his master boatbuilder and members of his crew from NINA and LANDFALL built BARNSWALLOW in a barn on his property over a three year period. He also mentions that Burgess drew hollowed lines at the forward ends of BARNSWALLOW’s waterlines based on some tank tests he’d completed for Commodore Vanderbilt.
Shawn Perry says:
Thank you for a great article Roger. It is interesting to follow the progeny of Dormouse through Barnswallow, Jingleshell, Rhodes Cutter, Arabella, etc…Interestingly, between Dormouse and Barnswallow, Burgess had drawn a smaller version of Barnswallow for Elihu Root Jr. with a 26’8″ waterline that was never built. Elihu Root Jr. had some interesting ideas in regards to boats. Again, great article.
Jeffrey Evans says:
That was immensely enjoyable. Thank you!
Jeff
Concord, NH
Bob Wallace says:
Wow, Roger- Great piece… I still have my clippings from your National Fisherman articles from the 1970’s. After your MONUMENTAL works on LFH this latest will be a surprise bonus. I look forward to more. Many thanks for all your great writings. . All the best/ Bob Wallace/Pocasset, Mass