36' Atkin Ketch (1962) - ROBIN (ex SYLTU)

ROBIN, originally known as SYLTU, is a double-ended ketch designed by John Atkin of Darien, Connecticut, and built by Lyle Harrington of Bradford, New Hampshire, for George Berry of Essex Falls, New Jersey. Launched in July 1962, she descends from a long line of Colin Archer-William Atkin types known for their pointy ends, broad beams and seakeeping abilities.

John based the design on his father William’s 1929 sloop ERIN, but gave ROBIN a finer forefoot, flatter buttocks, and shallower draft. She is 36’6” length-on-deck, 41’6” overall, with a 10’7” beam, 4’7” draft, and displacement of approximately 21,000 lbs. Planking is 1 ⅛” (finished) white cedar on a mix of double-sawn and steam bent white oak frames and keel, with 8,200 lbs. outside lead ballast, 1 ½” x 18” Honduras mahogany cabin trunk, and straight-laid 5/4 Burma teak decks. Plank fasteners, keel bolts, drift pins, main and mizzen mast tabernacles and compression posts, deck and rig hardware, fuel and water tanks, etc. are Monel, mostly custom made in a kitchen equipment fabrication shop in Newark, New Jersey. The interior is finished in white pine with mahogany trim. Spars are varnished hollow boxed sitka spruce. A Yanmar 3GM30F provides auxiliary power, but originally ROBIN had a four-cylinder Westerbeke.

In 1972, Berry sold the boat to Bob and Dot Schirmer of North Guilford, Connecticut, who re-christened her ROBIN in honor of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and kept her at Dutch Wharf Boatyard in Branford, Connecticut. A young carpenter at the yard named Jon Wilson was smitten with her and would take his lunch breaks aboard. While working on the boat one day, he stepped through the open forward hatch and cracked a few ribs (his). In 1974, Wilson founded The WoodenBoat magazine and asked Stephen Davis, who purchased ROBIN from the Schirmers in 1974, to pen an article. Davis documents the boat’s build and early years in “A Quest for Perfection” in WB issue 12 (Sept-Oct 1976).

In 1981, Davis sold ROBIN to Michael and Carol Robinson, who kept her in Penobscot Bay under the care of Brooklin Boat Yard for the next 21 years. Seeking to improve SYLTU’s coastal performance, the Robinsons asked Joel White to design a new rig. BBY added a 5’ wishbone bowsprit and a second headsail, and extended the main mast by 8’. BBY also replaced ROBIN’s worm gear steering for a tiller as drawn by Atkin. The yard carried out a variety of updates and other work on the boat over the years, including some planking repairs after ROBIN was driven up on a ledge near Jonesport.

In 2002, Michael Robinson – a longtime Maine lumber company executive who graduated from seminary at age 60 – accepted a position as a pastor in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and ROBIN was moved to Padanaram Harbor. In late October 2006, a day or two from being hauled, a storm broke ROBIN from her mooring and dashed her on the rocks. She suffered significant damage to her starboard planking and deadwood. The Robinsons decided to donate the boat to The Apprenticeshop in Rockport, Maine.

In 2011, a boatbuilder and Apprenticeshop graduate named Joe Taylor bought ROBIN and performed a major refit. From 2012 to 2017, Taylor and his spouse, their two young children, and the family dog cruised seasonally between Maine and the Bahamas. By late 2017, ROBIN was being stored at the Kensington, New Hampshire home and workshop of boatbuilder John Noon. The property was previously owned by Gordon Swift, a legendary boatbuilder with whom Noon apprenticed.

ROBIN remained there until 2024, when her current owner acquired her and then moved her back to Dutch Wharf in Connecticut, where he is currently restoring ROBIN with an anticipated re-launch in 2025.