Montauk

Montauk was designed by William Gardner and built at B.F. Wood & Sons Boatyard in 1921 for W.A.W Stewart and W.W. Aldrich. She was one of four Sixes built to the second International Rule in America in preparation for the British American Cup. During the races she was helmed by W.A.W. Stewart and was the second highest point scorer for the American team.

L. Francis Hereshoff notes in a letter to Robert Schultz, 4th August, 1961, that Montauk was “of quite normal shape but low free- board for a Metre boat. At that time freeboard was not as strong a minus factor in the rule that it was to become later. At any rate, Montauk was a small.”
(Source of the Hereshoff letter.)

Tom Harnish (whose father bought Montauk in 1962) recalls that after the British American Cup of 1921 in the UK “…she was dropped in the cradle when they put her on the boat to bring her home from England. It hogged out the hull, and her racing days were over.” (pers. comm.).

“Montauk, owned by Winthrop Aldrich and W. A. W. Stewart, had its initial tryout yesterday under the auspices. of the Seawanhaka Corinthian
Yacht Club of Oyster Bay. Montauk and the Victory boat, the Soixante-Quinze, also owned by W. A. W. Stew art, tested their speed over no fixed course or distance, but with results generally satisfactory to the owners of the six-meter craft. In a light air during the morning the Victory yacht almost held its own, but when the breeze freshened in the afternoon the Montauk left the Soixante-Quinze almost as though it had been anchored.” (New York Times, 16th May, 1921).

She features in the Six Metre Story, The Boats That Sailed a Century Ago