It’s the largest gathering of wooden boats in New England, and it takes place at one of the most popular summer ports in the Northeast. The Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut, will host the 31st annual WoodenBoat Show from June 23 to 25.
More than 100 boats built by amateurs and professionals will be on display, from mahogany runabouts to daysailers and schooners, luring those who appreciate the shine of varnished wood and the lines of classic craft. Recent events have drawn up to 12,000 attendees, making the WoodenBoat Show one of the most successful of its kind in the nation. Artisan Boatworks of Rockport, Maine, will display a Herreshoff daysailer and Gannon & Benjamin will exhibit the 100th sailboat designed by Nat Benjamin. Sea Rebel—a 44-foot sportfish built in 1967 and designed by Warren O’Neal of Roanoke Island, North Carolina—will be on the docks as well.
The event will feature other notable restorations. One is Grayling (shown at left), a 64-foot Frank Rice design, which was launched in East Boothbay, Maine, in 1915, and once carried loads of sardines to Maine’s canneries. Restored at Benjamin River Marine in Brooklin, Maine, she was relaunched in 1997 as a pleasure cruiser, with a white hull and varnished cypress wheelhouse. Since 2005 she has been maintained by Tommy Townsend at Thomas Townsend Custom Marine Woodworking in Mystic, and show attendees will be able to learn about her restoration process.
Show walkers might also want to look for Annie, a 34-foot yawl designed by K. Aage Nielsen and restored by Gannon & Benjamin in 2021. Her black hull is made from double-planked mahogany over cedar with oak frames and with her seafoam green sail covers she looks the part of a classic 1950s-era wooden sailboat.
In addition to a lot of cool boats, the show features demonstrations and seminars for the community of boat owners who are passionate about DIY. And, the show is a great way to make new friends and see old acquaintances. “The same people come back year after year,” says show sponsor Laura Sherman. “It’s pretty cool to watch.”
This article was originally published in the June 2023 issue.
