Winter Harbor 21

A Winter Harbor 21 (also known as a Winter Harbor Knockabout) is a 31′0″ x 7′3″ one-design racing sloop designed and built by Burgess & Packard, of Marblehead, Massachusetts, in 1907.^[1]

In 1906, Fredrick O. Spedden and George Dallas Dixon Jr., members of Maine's Winter Harbor Yacht Club commissioned Starling Burgess and his partner, Alpheus A. Packard to create a one-design racing sloop for the club.^[2] Their firm, Burgess & Packard, produced the Winter Harbor 21, a knockabout. Seven boats were built by Burgess & Packard and launched in 1907. Two more boats were built by George Lawley & Son^[3] in 1920 and 1924, bringing the total fleet to 9.

During World War II and the 1950s, the fleet was gradually sold and dispersed until only El Fitz and one other knockabout remained active at the Winter Harbor Yacht Club.^[4]

In 1979, Alan Goldstein, commodore of the Winter Harbor Yacht Club, decided while sailing on one of the two remaining boats that he wanted one of his own. It took him two years of diligent searching before he discovered the boat Cloverly in poor condition rotting in a barn. After extensive rebuilding there were three Winter Harbor 21s racing once more in Winter Harbor. It took ten more years before the remaining six sloops had been found, restored and returned to Winter Harbor.^[5]

It's thought that the Winter Harbor 21s are the oldest intact one-design racing sailboat fleet in the United States.^[6]

• Name – Year Built – color – owner
• Mystery – 1907 – pink – Dexter Coffin family
• Whippet – 1907 – white – Samuel Heffner Family – restored by Benjamin River Marine, Brooklyn, Maine^[3]
• Cloverly – 1907 – maroon – Dan Gans
• Riddle – 1907 – green – Chas Wiggins
• Water Witch – 1907 – yellow – Dexter Coffin Family – restored by Redd's Pond Boatworks and Marblehead Trading Company, Marblehead, Massachusetts^[7]
• Rambler II – 1907 – gray – Ben Irons
• Sphinx – 1907 – red-orange – Alex Mishkin
• Sole – 1922 – blue – Edith Dixon
• El Fitz – 1924 – varnish – Hilary Dixon Miller^[8]

1. ^ "Winter Harbor 21 | Bray Prints". Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2011-02-17.
2. ^ "Maine news, sports, politics and obituaries — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine". new.bangordailynews.com. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
3. ^ ^{a b} Spectre, P.H.; Abercrombie, J.M. (1996). Frame, Stem, and Keel Repair. WoodenBoat Publications. p. 75. ISBN 9780937822425. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
4. ^ Mendlowitz, B.; Bray, M. (1992). The Book of Wooden Boats. Vol. 1. Norton. p. 37. ISBN 9780393034172. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
5. ^ David Smith. "Ships in Bottles, Winter Harbor 21 Cloverly". Archived from the original on 2003-04-10. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
6. ^ "Issue 95 Table of Contents | Maine Boats Homes & Harbors". maineboats.com. 12 June 2007. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
7. ^ "Redd's Pond Boatworks: Wooden Boat Builders, Marblehead, MA". Archived from the original on 2000-09-02. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
8. ^ "Winter Harbor Knockabouts Update II". Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2015-05-14.

• Victoria Reiter Goldstein, "The Fortunate Fleet: A century of Sailing in Winter Harbor Knockabouts".