Imitator Sailboat

This is the story of one of my father’s sailboats, which is from a booklet he created as a college senior in 1951. From a scan of the booklet, I created a Word file with lightly edited text and the scanned drawings. In late 2007, I had a local artisan bind a handful of copies as “craft books” and gave them to my father’s grandchildren as Christmas presents. I put the pdf on the internet.

The story has a fascinating second chapter. In 2018, a descendant of the person who built the sailboat (in 1938) apparently discovered the pdf on the internet. They sent me an email with photographs and some additional information. We exchanged a few more emails, talked to the phone, and I sent her one of the extra craft books.

My father's 1951 booklet

Imitator Sailboat Book (pdf)

Contact with the builder’s family

From email: “Here are some photos of Imitator from when she was built by Bert Frost. Bert Frost was our great-uncle. We are still boat building here in Maine.” The firm is http://www.lowellbrothers.com/.

“I believe she may have been built in Medford, Mass, as the Frosts didn’t move to Tiverton until around the time of the hurricane (hit RI Sept 21). I’m not positive of that, though.” The first photograph below was "AI colorized."