Tuesday, January 14, 2014

The restoration of Griff

Bill Boyle is restoring yet another vintage era Moth Boat.  This boat was constructed in 1947 in Atlantic City, New Jersey and was first registered as "Day" to Evening Star YC member Robert Armour on the 10th of July, 1947.  After racing briefly under Armour's ownership, "Day" was transferred to another ESYC member (S. DeMille) in 1952.  By 1957 she was purchased by the Zeidman family, renamed "Drifter" and moved to Mirror Lake (aka: Browns Mills YC) up near Whites Bog, NJ.   Browns Mills had a very large Moth fleet in those days and the Zeidman siblings were part of that racing scene.  In the early 1990s the son of Zeidman family brought "Drifter" to a Brigantine Moth Boat Regatta with a for sale sign on her.  BYC member Joe Courter bought her, renamed her "Griff" and raced her a couple seasons before moving to a faster Moth.  She malingered in Joe's garage until Bill Schill picked her up two years ago, "ripe for restoration".  Sadly, he never got the chance to enjoy this project.  This past spring I helped Bill's widow, Marty find homes for his Moths.  Another Bill, Bill Boyle, put his hand up for Griff.  So buckle up and follow the account of Griff's revival here:  http://griffavintagemothboat.blogspot.com/

Griff on her way back to the race course.  Will she get yet another name?

3 comments:

  1. Hi George—enjoying your blog. Was thinking it might be interesting to interview George Bailey about his and his father's adventures with the Moth, both racing and cruising. Can you pass along our contact info?

    smallcraftadvisor@earthlink.net

    Thanks!

    Josh Colvin
    Small Craft Advisor

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi George—enjoying your blog. Was thinking it might be interesting to interview George Bailey about his and his father's adventures with the Moth, both racing and cruising. Can you pass along our contact info?

    smallcraftadvisor@earthlink.net

    Thanks!

    Josh Colvin
    Small Craft Advisor

    ReplyDelete
  3. Josh: I will pass your contact e-address to George Bailey. Sadly, Warren passed away a couple years ago. Did you sail Moths back when Warren was active in the class?

    ReplyDelete