Aboard: GRAYLING

GRAYLING is a boat I’ve long been familiar with and have had a small part in preserving. It’s hard to believe that a quarter century has gone by since her restoration by Benjamin River Marine in Brooklin, Maine. But not at all surprising is that, under the excellent care of her two owners since then, she looks as good now as she did on her first trip up the Mystic River in 1997. She’s been a lucky boat right from the start, when Frank Rice so carefully built her for his brother, George, for catching mackerel off East Boothbay, Maine, where they lived. Under George, GRAYLING carried all that she caught, but later, after he sold her Downeast, she became a pure sardine carrier, one of many serving the canning factories of Lubec and Eastport. Boom times it was back then—until the fish got scarce, the factories closed, and the sardine boats got old.

After seeing GRAYLING tied up and languishing in Lubec in the 1980s, I aimed to preserve what I could of her by camera, rule, and pencil. Even with alterations, such as a box-like plywood wheelhouse and a raised sheer forward, she spoke to me. But fate intervened in the best way possible, and my idea never saw fruition—at least not under my hand. Steph Hart bought GRAYLING, steamed her back to midcoast Maine, and lived aboard her with his family for a few years. Then, with encouragement from the boatbuilder and designer Doug Hylan and a bunch of us “visionaries,” Ted Okie bought her and undertook a full-blown restoration under Doug’s hand and leadership at Benjamin River Marine. The result is what you see here—a lady that looks as good as, and probably better, than she did in her youth. (See WB Nos. 141 and 142 for the restoration story as told by Doug Hylan.)