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Clark was one of 3 guys from Southport, CT who, in the late summer/early fall of 1960 bought 3 bare hulls from Marscot/O'Day and finished off the boats themselves in their backyards. This was a deal put together by Bob Larson of US Yachts - who also lived in Southport. Clark's boat was hull #14 (#13?) and came with a fiberglass deck. He built a wood cockpit, house and the interior. He had an off center opening cut through the transom for an outboard - at one time he had an 18hp motor. The other boats were Phil Zerega's # 12 Teal, which later became your webmaster's Marionette, and Dick McCauley's #11, Windsong.
They wanted an affordable offshore boat that they could race and cruise with their families. It took a year to to finish the boats. They helped each other with the planning and the work.
Clark has not been able to find any pictures of Peridot - Peridot is a semi precious gem stone . He had the boat for 35 years and in 1995 gave the boat to a couple who lived near the Thimble Islands in Long Island Sound. We are still working on this.
Clark said that he remembers a Dolphin Nationals (in the late 60's?) hosted at Pequot YC in Southport with between 50-60 boats!! He said that Dolphins raced as a one design fleet at Pequot and that Bob Larson had put up a nice bowl as an annual trophy.
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May 1, 2010. Looking for some hand written notes I had from the early days about Windsong, Hull #11, I came across an interesting email from Clark - excerpts of which are below
The project started with friends who were starting their lives and families. We all wanted small cruising sailboats. The group was 6-9 people who often met at my house. Most were engineers. McCauley and I were MIT class of 1948 in Mech. Engineering. Phil was a well educated and talented Industrial Designer from the R.I. School of Design, I think. We had a friend (Poor memory – call him “C”) who was building a Cutlass of strip planked wood. She was 24’ LOA and at that point upside down with a near-finished hull. We had permission to use this as a plug to make a MFG mold and then pull hulls. We could have done it!
But then I thought that there were builders with molds who might like to make $ soon by selling raw hulls. Much talk and I found Bob Larsen and his interest in George O’Day. When it was time to put money up only 3 of the group were still in. We borrowed “C’s” trailer, made three trips to Fall River and put a boat hull in our three yards, all in Fairfield CT. I also got the one piece deck/house/foot well piece.
We had the paper outline of all the internal wood parts for bulkheads, etc. to be made of 5/8” plywood. We three talked a lot and purchased as a group under my Fairfield Sailing Supplies letterhead at full yard discounts. For one year we were an active yard - in 3 places! Few other yards made three boats at one time.
None of us liked a dirty engine between the two big quarter berths. We all added a sealed bulkhead just aft of the foot well and put an outboard within the hull. Mine was off center, port side, and big enough for an 18 HP Johnson. I started with a 10 HP, went to an 18, and then to a 6 HP. On the starboard side was room for gas tanks, oil, and other gear that could get wet from rain leaking past a simple hatch. I cut a notch up the transom so the motor could tilt up. Phil could not accept this and had a center motor and only a hole in the bottom. When sailing the bottom holes were plugged by the piece we cut out.
We purchased the three masts from (?) - it was one of the first orders for a Connecticut company (Dwyer?) that became big in that business. They were new at it when they got our order. The 31’ mast (a guess) was made from a 32’ extrusion they ordered. They cut off a foot to get it right. As it happened the extrusions they got were oversized by about a foot and thus we got masts a foot too long. I kept it and Phil and Dick had it corrected. Years later, when I got my second set of sails, I added area and got the boom down where it was planned. 2. At the head of the mast were two large sheaves (about 8” in diameter) in the mast at a slight angle so the jib and main halyard pull was on center. There is a well accepted custom that the main halyard end comes to the starboard side and jib to the port. They got it wrong on all three! I lived with it and the other two had it fixed. GOOD to have the extra foot of mast!
We used a friend’s flat bed trailer to carry the boat and its wood cradle to a launching ramp at Southport. Some “I” beams, blocks, and small jacks got the boats on the trailer. We all had town moorings at the entrance to Southport Harbor. I had a Thistle before the Dolphin - we used it as a picnic boat. Both daughters were sailing with us often before they were a year old in a basket in the bow of the open boat! The Dolphin was a BIG improvement!
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