The original Baybirds were
designed by Starling Burgess for the Corinthian Yacht Club sailing program in or around
1920 and built by William Chamberlain in his shop on Orne Street in Marblehead.
Camp Postcard 1930,
Three Baybirds |
The fleet moved south to Duxbury then on to Chatham Yacht Club where they remained as a
racing fleet until newer classes took over. The boats ended up at various sailing camps on
Pleasant Bay most notably Quanset Sailing Camp and Pleasant Bay Sailing Camp. Over the
years, the wood hulls were fiberglassed which extended their sailing careers. In the
mid nineties, Merv Hammatt made a mold from one of the old boats, and began production.
When we took over in 2006, the mold was tired and due for retirement.
Our original
plan was to build a new plug and molds. In the meantime, the fleet has been expanding with
older boats. The fleet races out of Namequoit Sailing Association on Pleasant Bay, and has
grown to include 7 active boats. Some are fiberglass. Some are wood. Some have
questionable rigs. They are all different, except for the shear excitement of sailing
them. The class is now officially registered as the Baybird Class Association, which will
oversee all design parameters and class rules. We have our first order to build a new
Baybird, and we have opted to use the old molds for the time being. In fact, the hull used
as the original plug showed up as a restoration project last spring, and it turned out to
be a real surprise. As interest in the class grows, we will make improvements along the
way.
In the meantime, alumni from several of the sailing camps that once flourished on Pleasant
Bay are getting wind of this resurgence and stopping by the shop to see what's going on.
Their stories are full of fond memories of sailing and racing Baybirds on the bay. It's
these stories that convince us that this is a boat worth investing in.
