Why does it happen that I dream about Vintage so often; about sailing on her and sitting in her cabin after a day's sail; about the warmth of her cabin with the cook stove heating up and her wood fire aglow?

At the age of 94, James Mitchell compiled a book about his beloved boat, Vintage. These words and images are his story.

Last year, Rob McAlpine and his Restive were winning the Bermuda Race when he was forced to make a call and turn around. His sail track was coming off the mast, so he decided to call it. He wasn’t deterred, though. He just resolved to come back in 2024.

In 1963, Joel White built and designed the first powerboat to come out of Brooklin Boat Yard, Kishti, a 34’ wooden power cruiser. While she isn’t as well known as High Time or Maine Idea, Kishti boasts the distinction of being number one. After stumbling on a single photograph of Kishti in our archives halfway through 2023, we set out to find her. Where could she be now? 

“This was a dream project for us – the owner had a clear direction of what he wanted out of the boat, and pulled together a great team of sailors, sailmakers, and other industry professionals. We were given leeway to push the limits and create a truly unique race boat. While we have built many performance sailing yachts, few have been as purpose-built to win races as this one. We’re no strangers to combining wood and carbon, and this build gave us the chance to push the boundaries and highlight what’s possible with our construction methods by combining different species of wood mixed with strategically placed carbon fiber to create a hull that’s both lightweight and extremely rugged.”

The Shepard had been sitting under a tarp in Lynn’s yard for about twenty-five years, though the engine and other parts were stored in Lynn’s shed. After meeting Lynn and seeing the Shepard in person, Bruce agreed to pick her up and, ultimately, take on the lengthy process of restoring her. Bruce says, “It took about a year and a half to get all the parts… Lynn kept finding parts, and I kept going to get them.”

If you’ve stopped into the boat yard at any point over the last two years, odds are you were greeted by a mammoth-sized project in the main shop. That project was Djinn, the total restoration of a 63’ Sparkman & Stephens motor sailer. Now, Djinn is on her way to Boothbay Harbor after being launched in June complete with new hull, interiors and systems.

“This engine room is a captain’s dream!” Greg, captain of Djinn

Zephyr had been leaking badly, so it was clear some exploratory work needed to be done to identify where she needed to be shored up. Haddie, the craftsman who has worked on Zephyr these last months, says, “As much as we can, we need to repair but also restore… that’s always the consideration. How much should we do?” Haddie explains the “setting the cotton” process that he used in order to pinpoint problem areas. “We have to gently tap the caulking iron in all of the plank seams. If there’s no resistance, then you know there’s a leak there.” What he found was some compromised plank seams in the cotton caulking. Through further investigation in the forefoot of the stem to keel joint and garboard seam, he found some rotted areas that required thoughtful removal and replacement of wood throughout the intersection of the stem to keel joint, frames, and plank hood ends. Still, it’s Haddie’s goal to keep the integrity of this special wooden boat intact while still giving her new life on the water.

Chris bought “the Brooklin” in the fall of 2021, renamed her Spirit of California, then promptly did some updating. Following the updates, the team spent a lot of time in December of 2021 training on the new vessel to get ready for racing season.

Then, as it does every year in sunny California at CYC, the racing season kicked off in January. “We won our first race,” Chris says, “Then, we won the whole series!” Spirit of California proceeded to win five perpetual trophies in 2022, a first for her and the team.

After the astounding success of Legend, a Wheeler 38’ we launched in 2021, Brooklin Boat Yard is beginning construction on two Wheeler 55s for the Wheeler Yacht Company.

You can see all the renderings of the new Wheeler 55 here.

“The Wheeler 55 is an exciting step into the world of Spirit of Tradition boatbuilding in a large modern power cruiser. There is nothing I look forward to more than working with clients returning for a second build. It’s the greatest compliment a customer can give us.”

Eric Blake, Project Manager

Brooklin Boat Yard customers continue to sing our praises. Many have come back to build more than one boat with us because the experience was so good.

Here are some of the things our repeat customers had to say about us.

In our regular “Meet the Maker Series,” Brooklin Boat Yard introduces you to our team of skilled craftsmen and women: interns, carpenters, painters, riggers, designers and others.

Follow along to get to know the people behind our extraordinary craftsmanship.

Kairos is a boat with a strong family legacy, so it was important to the owner, Rush Hambleton, that Kairos be treated with care and competence. He came to us with the job of refitting and restoring Kairos. “Everyone said Brooklin Boat Yard was the place to go,” says Rush.

After Kairos was inspected, we determined the bottom had badly rotted, but a complete replacement or restoration would have been very costly and time-consuming. Instead, Nick, Will and our team came up with a creative solution: let’s make a 3D model of the hull then create a fiberglass “shoe.” Once that was done, we replanked to the curve.

This solution didn’t just save hundreds of hours, it also delivered a family boat on time and within budget- a standard we work hard to maintain at Brooklin Boat Yard.

Rush said, “I’ve worked with a lot of boat yards. Nick was the most professional and articulate communicator I’ve dealt with. He really understood the family relationship of this boat.”