Although I have written for some very large audiences (most notably The Wall Street Journal's), I don't expect to reach very many readers with this effort. No matter. If you have found your way here and haven't already moved on, it's likely that you at least share some of my interests in racing sailboats and woodworking. And that, of course, means you must be very special. :-)
The purpose of this blog will be to document the rebuilding of a more than 60-year-old Interclub dinghy. This class of sailboats, still actively raced today, was originally sponsored by Cornelius Shields, a prominent investment banker (Bache Halsey Stuart Shields) who once appeared on the cover of Time.
The magazine lionized him not for his financial wizardry but rather his skill as a yachtsman and proponent of one-design sailboat racing. The lines of the Interclub were drawn in 1945 by the country's most prestigious naval architectural firm: Sparkman & Stephens. The first models were constructed of a mahogany-faced plywood by the Zephyr Boat Co. of New York. Shields owned two of the first ten boats made, #3 and #7. Later, another celebrated sailor, George O'Day, began constructing the hulls in fiberglass. About 800 have been built to date, and because they have been treasured and cared for by some of the world's most-skilled sailors, most still survive.
The 11' 6" boat was designed for the craziest sailors of all: winter frostbiters. These are very addle-brained folks who gather every Sunday throughout the winter to sail these small ships past small icebergs, propelled by bitter and shifty winds under frequent threat of a very cold bath. (A snowstorm does not bring a halt to racing; only a lack of wind, or too much of it, brings the these celebrations of shivering to a halt.) Frostbiters sail with their hats pulled low and grins on their faces. I know because I happen to be one of them.
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