In the July 1904 issue of The Rudder magazine, there’s an amusing firsthand account by L.A. Dixon of the optimistic purchase of a very early gasoline-powered auto-boat somewhere on the coast of Maine.
Sample Articles From WoodenBoat Magazine
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Italy’s oar-powered catamarans, called pattinos, first appeared as workboats. After World War II, they became popular with beachgoing tourists. “The pattino,” writes the author, “creates a delicious sense of calm and quiet.” -
Although the vast majority of lobsterboats now built in Maine are fiberglass-hulled, there are still fishermen who appreciate the feel of a wooden boat under their boots. And there are builders who appreciate working with oak timbers and cedar planks. -
A good fun boat,” very popular with younger sailors, the Starling Burgess-designed, Abeking & Rasmussen-built Atlantic Class received an added boost when parachute spinnakers were introduced in the mid-1930s. -
In August 2013, Peter Kass began building our lobsterboat, RESOLUTE. -
Because of careful attention for six decades by Dr. George Gilbert, her only previous owner, the 1954 Newbert & Wallace lobster yacht ALBATROSS only needed deck, cabin top, and cockpit sole resheathing when she came to a new owner last year. -
After a thorough restoration at Darling’s Boatworks in Charlotte, Vermont, MADDY SUE’s home port is on Lake Champlain, but she returned to Maine waters for a time in the summer of 2013. Built by Chester Clement on Mount Desert Island in 1932 for lobstering and fishing, she was influential in the development of the type of pleasure boats much loved by the island’s summer population. -
In 1924, the Norwegian wine merchant and yachtsman Alfred W.G. Larsen commissioned Johan Anker to design and build an 8-Meter-class yacht that he hoped would be fast enough to beat the best of the British boats racing on the Solent. Anker responded by drawing a beautifully proportioned long and slender sloop to be named VARG, the Norwegian word for wolf. -
VERA LEE—née FANCY STUFF—is one of a handful of Bunker and Ellis–built wide-body lobsterboats. She was transformed into a luxury powerboat. Built in 1974, FANCY STUFF was restored and re-outfitted by Jarvis Newman and Ed Gray at their boatshop on Great Cranberry Island, Maine. -
Ireland’s Water Wag–class dinghy pioneered the concept of one-design racing in 1887, and remains popular today. The Water Wag class began as a double-ended, or “Scotch-sterned” boat; by 1898, holes in the class rules led to the design of a transom-sterned replacement.