LYOVA MARIE

In 1987, I flew to Westport Point, Mass., from Austin, Texas, with tape measure, pencil, and pad and measured an old family boat that was on sawhorses in a field. It was probably built around the turn of the 20th century by Briggs.It has two planks per side and uses the inner lap as a riser for the two thwarts and sternsheets. There are four thwart knees, two hanging deck knees, and two quarter knees. She has a long relatively shallow centerboard, large skeg, and barndoor rudder. The type is well described in WoodenBoat magazine No. 66. In fact, it might have been described in that article but it came into Bob Baker’s possession afterwards.My father, Alden Ring, had sailed this boat through the 1960s and into the 1980s. He found it on a burn pile in about 1964, but I think he had owned it before years earlier. I understand this particular boat had a local reputation for speed and she does have a finer entry and is altogether narrower than others of the type measured and published by Bob Baker.Upon returning to Austin, I built this replica. In lieu of the original heavy cross-planked bottom, I used 1/2″ fir plywood as she lives on a trailer. Side planks are 3/4″ white pine. I’ve used a single 125sqft spritsail, but I prefer the 130sqft cat-ketch rig I am currently using. Over the years, three friends of mine have built their own copies using the same lines. The most recent, MARIE, was launched in Ft. Worth, Texas, by Bobby Taylor (September, 2014).