41' Sparkman & Stephens Sloop (1974) - MAME

First owned by Steele Griswold – former owner of Shelburne Shipyard – Mame is a heavily modified Tartan-41. The hull and deck were ordered unfinished from Tartan Marine in 1974 and delivered to the Shelburne Shipyard where the interior and teak toe rail were installed to Mr. Griswold’s specifications.

The Tartan 41 was designed by Sparkman & Stephens (S&S) at the request of Charlie Britton, founder of Tartan Marine, Co., who was eager to produce a boat that could compete with the new S&S designed Swans. Essentially Charlie was given a Swan minus the teak deck and fancy joinery work and as a result, the Tartan 41 became lovingly known as “the poor man’s Swan”.

Midway through her racing career Steel Griswold, an engineer by training and a former P-38 fighter pilot hired S&S to oversee the modification of the hull and rudder. The original skeg and rudder were removed, and a new rudder – designed to resemble the wing of a P-38 – was installed about a foot further aft. The underbody was completely faired with a finer entry forward, and the keel was lengthened to over 7 feet. Two blocks of lead were also removed from the keel to lighted the boat. The mast is a custom tall rig double spreader with Navtec rod rigging and hydraulics.

The boat was repowered, and a teak cockpit installed by the second owner complete with Harken electric winches and Raymarine electronics as well as roller furling, windlass, and anchor bow roller.

Mame has had a remarkable racing career on Lake Champlain and is still regarded with admiration by the local racing crowd and boat aficionado.