CELIA

CELIA

Model: Chesapeake 40

Design #: 894

Year: 1950

Builder: John Trumpy Shipyard

Celia is a Sparkman & Stephens designed sloop built in 1950 at the John Trumpy Shipyard in Annapolis, Maryland. She was meant to be the first in a fleet of one-design racers for Chesapeake Bay, but alas she was the only boat built to her design. John Trumpy kept her as his own personal sailboat in Annapolis, where she sailed as “Sea Call IV”.

In 1952 Mr. Trumpy sold her to Richard Rachals, who renamed her Lyra and sailed her out of the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club on Long Island. Mr. Rachals raced her successfully in the 1954 Bermuda Race. His son Richard, being 14 at the time, helped with the return trip, which he describes as "interesting"... the presumption being that it was quite the heavy weather trip,  which the boat stood up to well. After a number of years, Mr. Rachals sold her to Johnson Stoddard, who also kept her on Long Island Sound and sailed her as Staral.

In 1969 Arnie and Betty Wight bought her and moved her to New Hampshire, where they renamed her Melita and cruised her extensively on the Maine coast. Finally, Betty sold her to Don Saunders who kept the name Melita and sailed her out of Castine, Maine until 2016.

I bought Melita in June of 2022 after she had been in storage at Front Street Shipyard for six years. Renaming her Celia, we moved her to Artisan Boatworks in Rockport, Maine, where she received a complete "makeover". We restored her to the original S&S design, which involved rebuilding the cockpit and cabin house. She was also re-powered, re-bolted below the waterline, given a new suit of sails, and repainted from stem to stern. 

Celia is racing in the CYOC Classic Class and sailed as a single or short-handed daysailer/weekender. Now back on her old mooring, Celia adds well to the other vintage S&S sloops that dot Castine Harbor. 

MERMAID

MERMAID

Model: 46-Foot Custom Ketch

Design #: 1230

Year: 1957

Builder: Paul E. Luke & Sons, E. Boothbay, Maine, USA

Now in the possession of only her third owner in nearly 70 years (Joshua Goldberg of New York and Cape Cod who feels privileged to have become her steward), MERMAID is a well-known 46-foot Sparkman & Stephens custom ketch commissioned by Austin Goodyear and built by Paul E. Luke & Sons of E. Boothbay, Maine., USA.

MERMAID was custom designed for Goodyear, who worked closely with the Stephens’ brothers on her design and build (we still have the extensive correspondence between them), adding numerous features for long range sailing, including berths for seven in a two-cabin layout, two heads (one hidden in the fore-cabin), a mid-century wood burning stove (for heating the interior), a built-to-order Luke ‘Heritage’ alcohol cooking stove, and a custom dropleaf gimbaled dining table. She is comfortably sailed single-handed with jib & jigger.

MERMAID has been a proven performer on the classic yacht racing in New England (and as far north as Nova Scotia) having competed in races north to Halifax and south to Nantucket’s famed Opera House Cup. Her notable finishes include: the 2009 Sail Nantucket (1st in class) — the 2011 Marblehead-to-Halifax Ocean Race (1st in division) — the 2017 Camden Classics Cup (1st in Classics) — the 2022 Eggemoggin Reach Regatta (1st in Classic C) — the 2022 CYOA Classic Yacht Challenge Series (1st in Maine District) — the 2023 Camden Classics Cup (1st in Classics) — and the 2024 Camden Classics Cup (2nd in Classics).

Seal Cove Boatyard (of Harborside (Brooksville), Maine, USA) has lovingly maintained MERMAID in Bristol condition for over 40 years.

MARIONETTE

MARIONETTE

Model: Dolphin 24

Year: 1960

Design: #1497

Builder: Marscot Plastics / O’Day

Photo by Benjamin Mendlowitz taken August 28, 2014 on Eggemoggin Reach, Maine. Marionette was in 'delivery mode' crewed by daughter Nicole Breault and her husband Bruce Stone.

MARIONETTE is owned by Ron Breault, Old Lyme, Connecticut - she is hull #012 and was built in in 1960.

““I have just had a phone conversation with George O’Day, who is very anxious to get going on two new boats to be built of Fiberglass, which he would like to have built according to our designs. The smaller boat he has in mind would be a Junior Ocean Racer...”
”

— Olin Stephens - December 8, 1958

Olin Stephens

George O'Day

So begins the story of the Dolphin 24. Sixty plus years ago Olin Stephens dictated an internal memo, copies to – Bill Shaw, Drake Sparkman, Rod Stephens) and Gil Wyland, (Sparkman & Stephens' chief engineer.) That memo describes a phone conversation he had with George O'Day. I call this memo the Dolphin 24 Birth Certificate. I found it as a tissue carbon copy in the back of the Dolphin 24 technical file at S&S’s offices on 5th Avenue in New York.

My Dolphin, Marionette (shown above in her slip at Niantic Bay YC, in Niantic, Connecticut) is Hull #12 built in 1960 by Marscot Plastics for George O'Day and Associates, Inc (O’Day Corporation) in Fall River, Massachusetts. Her particular hybrid construction typifies the period - a guy with good hands on know how but no boat building experience, bought a bare fiberglass hull, used a borrowed trailer to truck her to his backyard in Southport, Connecticut, and there under a tarp, over the next several months, built a quality wood boat on that hull.

In the mid and late 1950s, the new Midget Ocean Racing Club (MORC) was giving racing skippers of modest means not only their own rule under which their smaller boats could race, but the opportunity to tinker, revise, re-engineer and reinvent their ‘one design’ boats to make them faster, and still take their families out to the islands off the New England coast in safety.

And after nearly 60 years Dolphin 24s can still win races as this 2008 trophy at left attests! Marionette was 1st both days in her class, and had the best corrected time in the entire 132 boat fleet in the Around Block Island Race. And, she won again in 2010! And in 2012!! And in 2015!!!

Marionette has also thrice won (2011, 2016 and 2018) the S&S Association Global Challenge Trophy (at left) for the best performance by an S&S designed yacht. In 2009, she finished 2nd to the legendary Dorade.

A big part of my life with Marionette was the decision to start a website about the Dolphin 24. I wanted to describe, and with the help of others, find out more about how Dolphins played their small but important role in the days of sailboat design transition from wood to fiberglass. In the process I wanted to find out how my Dolphin made its unique way through a 50 year maze to end up in my barn with a new life.

Sparkman & Stephens Association Challenge Cup

Dolphins move around in pods so Marionette wanted to have other Dolphins join with her and share their experiences describing how they got their new lives. We wanted to help lost Dolphins find their way to new lives through the restoration and renovation efforts of their owners.

To help get this project off the ground, on February 6, 2007, I interviewed Olin Stephens (98 years young at the time!) at his home in Hanover, New Hampshire. This was a life experience for me.

Olin, on the sofa in his Hanover, NH living room filled with mementos and awards received during his long life of achievement, surrounded by numerous piles of technical literature and current projects. Here he is accepting my wife’s world famous homemade strawberry jam as an appreciation gift for this unforgettable experience he gave me.

The small silver ‘pot” in the center, inscribed to the ‘all amateur crew” of Dorade on winning the 1931 TransAtlantic Race. Olin was 23, winning by over 2 days elapsed time against mostly larger boats, in a boat he designed and skippered, with his father and brother in the crew. This put Olin and his firm on the track to becoming the outstanding marine architects of the last century.

At the gracious invitation of Harry Morgan and Bruce Johnson, I spent several hours on March 6, 2007 going through Sparkman & Stephens' old Dolphin 24 files in New York City. Unfortunately, much had been destroyed years before in an errant mission to streamline their filing system. Among the various internal correspondence I found a quote that will warm any Dolphin owner’s heart. This from the man who, at 21, founded the leading marine architectural firm of the last century:

“..we have always thought of the Dolphin as one of our best designs…”

— Olin Stephens to James (Sham) Hunt, Sales Mgr, O’Day Corporation, May 12, 1965

Photo taken from the 'Rock the Block" video, Marionette winning the pin at the start of Race 2, 2016 Off Soundings Spring Series, Block Island

voyaging with marionette

In July, 2020 Ron published a book about his 25 years with Marionette - Voyaging with Marionette. Link below to his US publisher's online bookstore

marinermedia

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"Why the Book"

An article by Ron published in The S&S Association 2020 Yearbook

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The full story and more information can be found below:

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MiSCHKA

MiSCHKA (ex SEEADLER, ex HELUA)

Model: 72’ Aluminium Ketch (Motor Sailer)

Year: 1966

Design: #1806

Builder: Burger Boat Company, hull 182C

MiSCHKA 72’ MotorSailer - 1966

“MiSCHKA (ex HELUA) is built of aluminum by the Burger Boat Company of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, hull number 182C. She was launched in 1966. She's a big boat, especially for 1966 and one can sense the start of the modern luxury yacht and associated equipment we expect today: complete air conditioning throughout, pressure water system including freshwater wash-down on deck, washer-dryer and extensive electronics for navigation. Galley equipment includes electric stove, garbage disposal and commercial refrigerator. The electrical system is 110 volts provided by two generators.

The sophistication of her electrical system is not surprising considering her owner was Uncas A. Whitaker. Whitaker had a degree in electrical engineering from M.I.T. He was the founder of AMP Incorporated (Aircraft-Marine Products), the worlds largest maker of electrical devices and connectors at the time.

Auxiliary power is provided by a single G.M. 71 diesel generating 320 hp at 2,300 rpm. Cruising range under power is 1,300 nautical miles.” - Bruce Johnson, S&S BlogSpot

ReStoration

She was restored from bare metal in Fort Lauderdale between 2014 and 2016 and still carries her Barient 737 primaries.

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#1806 - SAIL PLAN & GENERAL ARRANGEMENT

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HISTORY

HELUA, home port Philadelphia.
Burger Hull Number: 182C, original build photos from the Burger yard in Wisconsin:

February 1967, photographs originally shared on the S&S BlogSpot.

HIRO MARU

HIRO MARU

Model: S&S 49

Year: 1971

Design: #1939 Custom One Off

Builder: Palmer Johnston

HIRO MARU - S&S 49

This 1971 custom aluminum one-off ‘HIRO MARU’ is owned and raced by Life long Sailor and US Regional Secretary Hiroshi Nakajima.

In 2019 Hiro with his all amateur Corinthian crew sailed to an incredible victory in the Transatlantic Race taking first in class for the 3200Nm Race. Previously ‘SCARAMOUCHE’ she won her class in the 1977 Trans Pac Race under then owner Bob Alexander of Seattle, Washington, USA as well as winning her class and 2nd overall in the 1972 SORC (Southern Ocean Racing Conference) in the USA for then original owner Chuck Kirsch.

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Winning major ocean races in both Pacific and Atlantic Oceans over a 47 year span. The only modernisation to the boat was a new carbon spar and racing sails last year by Hiro and a slightly deeper rudder under previous ownership. Otherwise the hull is still the original 1969 S&S design.

Find out about Hiro’s Transatlantic win here:

HIRO MARU - S&S 49

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