In Seattle we have known for some time that Neil Young’s 101’ Baltic topsail schooner W.N. Ragland was for sale. She is moored out on Bainbridge Island in the Sound, awaiting her next assignment. I enjoyed this profile of her in the latest issue of Yachting, in which her unique aesthetic is described, aptly, as “Haight-Ashbury-hippie-pad-meets-Swiss-Family-Robinson-treehouse.”
Although, I am actually more interested in Young’s other classic, Meteor, which is now up in Port Townsend. Meteor was designed and built in Seattle by Jensen Boat Co in 1938. It is a kind of a wild boat, very streamlined and styled like something out of Metropolis. The boat is often described as having been “ahead of her time,” but thats not actually true in most ways. Lots of runabouts were designed with that streamlined, double-ended look in the 20s and 30s, probably inspired by Gold Cup speed boats of the 1920s like Baby Bootlegger. The credit for that style really goes to George Crouch, who designed Bootlegger and similar boats. Unfortunately, I don’t think Jensen really looked at Bootlegger’s lines; if they did they would have realized that the point in the stern was actually just to carry the rudder post aft of the planing surface, and that there was a step that the stern rode on. Meteor was originally designed with a double-ended planing surface, which didn’t exactly work out. Those “wings” were added to correct the design defect.
Still, it is a stylish boat, and I like that. So is Ragland, and I especially appreciate yachtsmen with such diverse tastes. Way to go, Neil.
An article I wrote has come out in the new issue (220) of WoodenBoat magazine, on newsstands now, or at your doorstep. In which I research, work on, and race a class of powerboats from 1910. The “Number Boats,” first one-design racing class for motor boats, native to the Thousand Islands of New York State. Good stuff, I think. WoodenBoat has been an authoritative source for information on classic watercraft since the 1970s, and I’m glad to have been included.
(I was in WB once before, actually, in an article on my father Everett, where I can be seen in a baby sling on his back as he works on an Adirondack Guideboat in issue 65. But this time I got paid.)
Not a subscriber? You can read the article (and others, I suppose) for free if you download the WoodenBoat App for iPhone or iPad. Or if you would just like to skim the topic, see these four previous posts.
One of my hats these days is that of a Project Manager for Northwest Seaport. I am overseeing the distribution of artifacts salvaged from the 1897 schooner Wawona, which was cut up in the spring of 2009.
I issued a Request for Proposals and a Press Release a couple weeks ago. Should have posted it here then, but I didn’t want to scoop the press. Anyhow, check out the above article, and the project page, where you can view the RFP and a gallery of photographs. And, if you want a piece, let me know.
The term “cigarette boat” is a pretty common lingo for go-fast boats, particularly the deep-vee types. It derives from a string of Don Aronow’s successful offshore racers that were all called Cigarette in the 1960s-70s. It became one of the many brands that Aronow created and then sold, like Formula, Donzi, and Magnum.
But where’d he get it? I recently came across a reference to a story I have heard before, that Aronow named that first boat after a famous rum-runner called Cigarette which was owned by some gangster from New York. I found one reference that pointed to Vannie Higgins, of New Jersey, as that gangster. During Prohibition, booze was often brought down the Hudson, after having been smuggled through upstate from Canada. Naturally, a speed war was waged between the Police and the gangsters, and the whole boat racing circuit was affected. It is a romantic connection, because Aronow is strongly suspected of having designed and built speedboats for Caribbean drug runners, as well as for the Coast Guard. (Not long after that second contract was filled, he was shot to death for unknown reasons.)
Now, here’s where I get speculative. Racer Gar Wood from Algonac, Michigan is rumoured to have played the same game, building boats for both sides (though he lived well into senility). There is no doubt, at least, that boats from his factories were used for the purpose. The 900-hp Gar Junior cruisers and the 33’ Baby Gar speedboats were particularly popular for running back and forth to Canada on the Great Lakes. In 1923 Gar designed the fastest cruiser of its size ever built for New York businessman and boat racer L. Gordon Hammersley. It was 70 feet long, had five 450-hp Wood-Liberty V-12 engines driving three screws and did 50 mph. On its delivery run it set a new speed record from Detroit to Buffalo. And it was called Cigarette.
Just sayin’.
Top image is Don Aronow’s original Cigarette in 1969, from Nautical Quarterly #13.
Below is from Rudder Magazine, August 1923. Photo by Morris Rosenfeld.
I drove a boat in an exhibition race of historic launches from 1910 this summer in the Thousand Islands. The event was covered by North Country Public Radio, the local NPR affiliate, and the story just came out.
The boats are “Number Boats,” the first one-design racing class for motorboats conceived by and built for the members of the Thousand Islands Yacht Club in 1909-10. For a bit more, see this previous post and this website.
