Taylor Allen, who grew up working in the maintenance yard his father bought in 1962 and, after taking charge in 1980, turned Maine’s Rockport Marine into an internationally renowned wooden boatbuilding yard, has finally retired.
Standing in front of the yard’s iconic red shed at his retirement party on July 8, the76-year-old Allen was feted by family, friends and former and current employees who teased him about the time it took him to call it a career. Soft spoken and unassuming, Allen worked side-by-side with his yard’s employees to design, construct and restore a wide variety of fine yachts, using both traditional plank-on-frame and modern wood-composite techniques.
Currently, Rockport Marine is building a 95-foot sailing yacht named Ouzel, which is scheduled to be launched in September.
As a boss, Taylor was respected for his boatbuilding skills, but was also liked by crews for his easy-going, non-confrontational style. He created a working environment that attracted some of the most talented boatbuilders, many of whom stayed with the yard for decades. Having a beer with the crew after the day’s work was just as much a part of that culture as taking pride in building beautiful boats.
In 2017, after 37 years as company president, Allen turned the yard over to his stepson, Sam Temple, but didn’t stop working. He finished rebuilding a 70-foot sardine carrier for his retirement, launched it in 2019, barely used the boat, and continued to show up at the yard. Filling in wherever manpower was needed, Temple says Allen did hard, physical, unglamorous work, stripped and revarnished brightwork on boats, and ran one of the boat projects.
“Taylor made [Rockport Marine] a good place for a lot of great people,” Temple said at the retirement party, a comment that brought many “hear-hears” from the crowd. Making it fun was also important. “My mom used to come down here and when she wanted to find Taylor, she would just wait a bit and listen for a laugh.”
Allen thanked his wife, writer and editor Martha White, for always being supportive even when times at the yard were tough. “There were a few times in the past where I didn’t know if we were going to make it,” Allen said. “They were fleeting, but they kept me up at night.”
He recalled a day in the 1990s when business was slow. A customer stopped by to ask how much it would cost to build a 46-foot sailboat and Allen, without thinking too long about it, tossed a number out there. The customer went for the favorable price, but the man who had originally commissioned the design also wanted that same price, forcing the yard to build another underpriced boat. “I have a well-deserved reputation for underbidding projects,” Allen said to laughter. “It took us a year to come out of that one, but it worked.”
True to his style, Allen credited Rockport Marine’s employees for the yard’s success.
“The reason this place worked so well is because of all the people that worked here. Sam and I were the figure heads, but you guys were the ones who made it happen. It’s your collective energy and work ethic that has gotten us to where we are now. You all brought very different perspectives to the work and made it work in a nice way. What we have managed to accomplish is recognized around the world. It’s just remarkable. Thank you all for that.”
Allen was non-committal about his retirement plans, but he is known to always have a project. He and his wife have been doing some plumbing on a friend’s island house and still sail their Aage Nielsen cutter. As for work at the yard, he told the crowd, “I’m not coming back.”
