28' Crowninshield Camden Class Sloop (2021) - PONYO

I built this boat as a retirement project. Before I was given my gold watch and sent away, I decided to train for a new career, something that had nothing to do with my previous one. I took a week-long course at the WoodenBoat School, then another, then many more. Eventually I realized I’d fill my yard with small boats unless I put on the brakes and shifted to a multi-year project.

PONYO is that multi-year project. The largest boat that would fit in my waterfront basement was a knockabout, a classic gaff-rigged sloop designed by B.B. Crowninshield in 1915. Exactly a hundred years later I began building the knockabout – in my basement. I did about 85% of the work by myself, but friends did pitch in, something I especially appreciated on the many sanding and painting days. PONYO is actually a Spirit of Tradition boat having been modified two ways. The hull is strip planked rather than carvel planked, and the underwater appendages have been updated with a fin keel and a spade rudder.

She enjoys sailing in Classic Yacht events from Newport to Maine, and has had the good fortune to appear on the podium a few times.