17' Lowell Town Class Sloop (2020) - POMONA

The Lowell Town Class sloop was originally designed in 1932 in Amesbury, MA, as a safe children’s training boat with a strong weather helm. Today they are raced around New England by the National Town Class Association, founded in 1962 (https://townclass.net/ntca).

The Landing School undertook to build three of these boats in the 2019-2020 academic year but only one was completed due to COVID-19.

The builds were approved by Ralph Johnson of Newbury, MA—representative of designer Marcus Lowell’s family (www.pertlowell.com). Mr. Johnson generously traveled to Maine to personally give POMONA (hull # 1751) the family Town Class brand toward the end of her construction. Members of the Marblehead, MA, Town Class Association also gave input on the build, which was supervised by head instructor and master boatbuilder Rick Barkhuff of The Landing School wooden boat building program.

Two students and one program assistant completed the build between September 2019 and August 2020, with a three-month break due to COVID-19 (March-May). The two students–Nicholas Tonello and Kate Slocum–worked through the summer following their graduation to complete POMONA, putting in over 1100 hours of largely independent work.

POMONA, constructed of glued lapstrake plywood, is the first wooden “townie” built since 2004 and the only one ever completed by builders outside of the Lowell family.

Owner/co-builder Nick Tonello chose the name POMONA as an homage to the shipbuilding history of southern Maine. She is the second boat of her name to hail from Kennebunk. The first POMONA–registered by principal owner Simon Nowell and built by carpenter Joel Larrabee, Jr.—was the last vessel constructed by the shipyard of David Little at Kennebunk Landing in 1827*.

POMONA’s namesake is an ancient Roman goddess of the grove—a wood nymph—associated with apples and the coming of Autumn. She was launched for her first sail in late summer 2020, after the following christening dedication given by co-builder Kate Slocum:

“From this day, the first of September 2020, let this vessel be known and recognized by all captains and crew, shipbuilders, boatwrights, harbormasters and the venerable gods: Neptune, Poseidon, Varuna, Ran, and Thor–as POMONA, the second of her name to hail from Kennebunk, Maine”.

The Landing School continues to build Lowell Town Class sloops in the 2021-2022 academic year, while adhering to COVID-19 guidelines. A second-year independent study student, Benjamin Matos, also restored a 1936 Town Class purchased by the school from its private single-owner in Biddeford Pool, ME, in 2021. The Landing School student body enjoys the educational benefits and inspiration of having the Lowell Town Class past, present, and future under one roof.

*Ref: Barry, William E. _Sketch of an Old River_. Phoenix Publishing: West Kennebunk, 1993. Pages 21-23 & 67.