We’re all familiar with the fantasy – a long-forgotten barn slumbering away in the back acres of an old estate. You crack the doors open. Daylight streams in at slanted angles, pointing to a mounded tarp in the centre bay. There’s a sense of mystery, and you pull the canvas off. As the dust settles, the sweep of a boat’s shape appears – unseen for decades – still wearing her crisp paint and varnish
Donn Costanzo of Wooden Boatworks in Greenport, New York had such a dream come true when he discovered a flawlessly restored 1947 Sparkman & Stephens sloop. He found the boat in a very unlikely place – a barn only 30 miles east of New York City. Costanzo often talks about magic, no matter how many fine yachts he has encountered in his considerable career. This 26-footer (7.9m) has a remarkable story; one might say, a lot of magic.
The little yacht in the Long Island barn was commissioned as design number 773, intended to establish a racing class that could also serve as a fleet of comfortable daysailers at Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club in Oyster Bay, NY. The prototype was constructed by Thomas Knutson Shipbuilding in 1948 in Huntington Harbor, NY. As it turned out, design number 773 was to produce only one boat and she was named Judy after Arthur Knutson’s eldest child. With her easy diagonals, long waterline and light displacement, Judy was fast. Her spacious cockpit made her the comfortable dayboat they desired. Judy was everything the club hoped she’d be. However, her final price was more than expected, so Judy was declined and the racing fleet never materialised.
Denne historien er fra June 2020-utgaven av Classic Boat.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra June 2020-utgaven av Classic Boat.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
The Need For Speed
Saving lives at sea has always been bound to the speed of rescue, from the first rowing boats to the 60-knot, all-weather motorboats of today
ROW YOUR BOAT
There has been a steady rise in recreational rowing over the past few years, and the choice can be bewildering. What’s the right boat for you?
Traditional Tool
JOINER’S NAME STAMP
Classic misuse of a word
Real classic ownership involves rot, rust and reward
SCUD MISSILE
Herreshoff’s newly-restored Bar Harbor 31 Scud lit up the classic racing scene in the Med in 2020 with a double win at Cannes and Saint-Tropez
BOSUN'S BAG
PRACTICAL TIPS FOR THE TRADITIONAL BOATER
DOUG LEEN - Tugboat man
Vietnam vet, park ranger, dentist, small-craft conservator and tugboat skipper.... meet Ranger Doug!
CHANCE TO SAVE AN Albert Strange yawl
Chances at Albert Strange ownership don’t come up often, and Sheila II is the quintessential Strange – and one with a great history, too
AFFORDABLE CLASSIC Salcombe Yawls
A friend and I once decided that walking might make a change from sailing. So we set forth to walk from Branscombe to Bigbury, a 100-mile stretch of the south-west coastal path marked by knackering climbs and knee-wrenching descents.
Cardiff, Wales - Save The Elena Maria Barbara!
A rare, 18th-century schooner replica, restored to the tune of around £1 million, could be abandoned if a buyer is not found soon.