Lefty 1

Lefty was the 4th hull built by Cape Dory on the molds from the Greenwich 24, which they had bought from Allied in 1972. The boat was designed by George Stadel as a daysailer/weekender, but I have found her to be an able coastal cruiser and a comfortable home for me these five years.
When I first saw her she was a wreck, hurricane Bob had sent her to the bottom and somebody had fished her out and leaned her on a fence in the yard. She was all filled up with rainwater, her rig in a shambles and her hull badly scored from pounding on the rocks. Nobody wanted her, and I got her cheap from the guy who had contracted to cut her up and remove her.
I wish I had taken a picture of what she looked like in that yard. I didn't have a camera, and I was too concerned with getting the water out and getting her ready to move. She sure looked a mess, though. Still does, sort of. I opted for a workboat finish, as I like to call it, money being short. My first priority was patching up the hull and getting her afloat, then getting some kind of rig.
The rig I ended up putting in was an old wooden mizzen mast of an Alden ketch. A buddy of mine let me have it cheap and I cut 2' off the base of the mast and the boom to make it fit the sail plan. I got some second hand sails and some stainless wire, various blocks, shackles and a lot of three strand dacron and rigged her up. The mast didn't have spreaders originally, so I xeroxed Herreshoffs pattern for the tangs and had them made up out of bronze. The spreaders themselves I made up out of pressure treated lumber. Did most everything by eye to make sure it came out alright.
I launched her in the early spring and by July 4th I was ready to move aboard.
The first year I spent in Lagoon Pond learning to sail. I didn't have an engine, so I had to learn. The winter was a little rough, but I sailed as many days as the weather would permit. By the following summer I was sailing back and forth between Vinyard Haven and Edgartown, sometimes as far as Menemsha. The second winter found me back in the Lagoon, but by the following summer I made my first long cruise to Newport RI. Newport is a real sailor's town, and I fell in love with the harbor right away.
The third winter I decided to study for my captain's exam, which turned out to be the best thing I ever could have done for my navigating. The following spring I took an extended cruise of Narragansett Bay and Block Island, then got back in time to take a job driving the harbor launch in Vinyard Haven. This did as much for my boat handling as the Coast Guard exam had done for my navigating, and by fall I was ready to head south for the winter.

I left Vinyard Haven on the 1st of October and sailed to Newport for a refit. The boat needed a great deal of work that I had been putting off for some time. I spent three weeks at it and sailed out of Newport October 18th. I anchored a night in Mackeral cove, then sailed the next morning to Point Judith. The west wind was too strong to get any farther, so I anchored up in Point Judith Pond. The following day I sailed to Fishers Island and anchored by the FIYC.
From Fishers Island I sailed to Saybrook on the Connecticut River, and from Saybrook to Mattituck NY, a small town on the Long Island shore with a turning basin at the end of a long winding creek. Here a nor'wester kept me bottled up till the 3rd of November, high seas making the inlet unnavigable. Finally the wind came east and I sailed to Port Jefferson. The North wind Kept me in Port Jeff a couple of days, but midnight of the 7th found me anchored off City Island NY, and on the 8th I sailed down the East River, crossed New York Harbor and anchored at Great Kills Harbor on Staten Island.
I waited for a gale to pass then sailed down the coast to Manasquan NJ. The weather was changing fast now and gales Kept me in Manasquan till the 16th. The first fair breeze took me far as Tom's River, then down the Jersey ICW, anchoring at Long Beach, Shelter Island, Stone Harbor, and finally Cape May on the 20th.
The weather again turned foul, and a cold northwest wind kept me in Cape May over Thanksgiving before veering easterly for a fair wind up the Delaware. I anchored in Chesapeake City on the C&D Canal, then on the 28th sailed down the Chesapeake, anchoring nights in the Sassafras River and Warton Creek, arriving in Annapolis on December 1.
I stayed in Annapolis two weeks reprovisioning and seeing the town. Annapolis is so pretty around Christmastime, with brass bands playing carols on the streets and the parade of lighted boats in the harbor. I might have stayed longer, but Back Creek where I had anchored was starting to freeze. I sailed on down the Bay, anchoring the 15th at Harris Creek, Soloman's Island the 18th. I stayed a couple days at Soloman's and went to the Maritime Museum, which was excellent.
The 21st found me in Smith Creek, the 23rd in Reedville, and Christmas Eve I sailed up Indian Creek to the town of Kilmarnock. I waited a day for a gale to pass, then sailed to the Piankatank River, then a long cold sail down to Hampton Roads, arriving in Phoebus the 28th with frostbite in both feet. Fortunately it was the kind you get over, and on the 10th of January I sailed south for the Virginia Cut, anchoring in Deep Creek, Blackwater Creek, and Lutz Creek before crossing the Abemarle in a fresh nor'easter. I had bought a 6hp Johnson with this part of the trip in mind, and although I didn't have to use it much after all, it sure came in handy for the drawbridges.
I anchored a night in the Alligator River, sailed through the Alligator/Pungo Canal in very light winds, and anchored in a dense fog among the marsh grasses in the Pungo River. I anchored the 15th in Pungo Creek, the 16th in Gale Creek, the 17th in Cedar Creek, and the 18th in Town Creek, Beaufort NC, three months out of Newport RI.

Vineyard Haven Harbor

Photo by John Ring

Godfreys Bay VA

October 3:
I left Vineyard Haven at dawn on September 27 in a light wind which soon freshened so that I had to reef the main. I made Quick's Hole on the fair tide and got halfway across Buzzard's Bay before the southwest wind shifted west and I turned back and ran for Cuttyhunk Harbor while I had daylight. Next morning I set out in light southwesterly winds and got halfway up the Sakonnet River before the wind shifted northeast suddenly at about 20 kts, the first breath of an ocean storm. The boat tacked well up river, the new mainsheet arrangement seems a great success (I changed the traveller for just a padeye amidships). Nonetheless I did not make the tide at the Stone Bridge and had to anchor. At dawn I sailed up into Mt. Hope Bay then down the Eastern Passage to Potter Cove on Prudence Island. Anchored there three days while the wind blew to 45kts. Sailed and sculled downriver with the tide on the morning of the 2nd, anchored Newport Harbor 1300. Provisioning and refitting.
October 15:
I shifted my anchorage a couple of times to avoid gales before leaving Narragansett Bay. I rode out a sou'wester in Potter cove and a Nor'wester in Mackerel Cove before sailing to Point Judith on the morning of the 9th. I tried to leave the next day, but rough seas turned me back so that I was not able to make Fisher's Island Sound untill the evening of the 12th. I anchored at New London, then sailed to Mystic Seaport and tied up overnight. The next day I rode the easterly breeze to Old Saybrook on the Connecticut River where fog and drizzle caused me to seek shelter at nightfall.
October 20:
Sailed up the Connecticut River to Hamburg Cove, and anchored for a SW gale. Stayed till the 18th, sailed downriver to saybrook, anchored overnight. Morning of the 19th sailed on the first of the flood in a fresh SW wind. Long Island Sound being very choppy, I sailed south to gain some shelter, then west as the wind shifted south, arrived at Mattituck Inlet after nightfall.
November 5:
I waited three days for a fair breeze and sailed to Port Jefferson on a mild sou'easter. Northwest gales kept me bottled up in the harbor till the 31st, by which time I saw 15 kts southwest as a great oppertunity and tacked up the sound to Oyster Bay. The next morning I used the same wind to get to Port Washington and anchored for a fair tide for the East River.
The next day brought 25 kts southwest, which was a bad wind for Hell Gate, especially with the moon tide, as I was to find out when I foolishly tried it anyway. I made it ok, but gave myself a good shaking up. That river will earn it's reputation given half a chance. I made Great Kills some time after dark and anchored. I set out first thing in the morning in the fog and rain, running with a strong tide for the Sandy Hook Channel. The southeast swell against the spring ebb tide set up a wretched sea, but once down the coast a way it flattened out and I had a nice sail as far as Manasquan Inlet, where I arrived the evening of the 3rd. I have anchored in the Glimmerglass Pond for another storm to pass, and will sail for Barnegat Bay as soon as possible.
November 15:
I left Manasquan at dawn on the 12th, caught the last of the flood through the Point Pleasant Canal. Very smooth ride at high water. Ran down Barnegat Bay in a fresh nor'wester under reefed main and #2 genoa. Anchored at nightfall off Mordecai Island just north of the Beach Haven Inlet. Next morning I sailed to Great Bay and through the marshes to Atlantic City. A drawbridge is out of order south of the city, so I have anchored in a creek on the north side of Abescon Inlet to wait, either for the bridge to be repaired, or for a fair breeze for the outside passage to Cape May.
November 19:
I left Atlantic City the morning of the 16th, southbound on the ICW. Below Margate City there is a section of Broad Thorofare which has been closed due to shoaling, but is the only inside route with a high bridge. The current was swift, and I was almost to the bridge when I got out of the unmarked channel and was swept up on a shoal and stranded. I was eventually able to kedge off some hours later when the tide came in, and then had to make my way in the dark across Great Egg Harbor, where the channel was also shoal and unmarked. I tied to a dock in Ocean City where I waited out a nor'easter, then proceded to Sea Isle City on the morning of the 18th. The inside route has its hazards and is longer, but is especially beautiful this time of year.
November 28:
I left Sea Isle City on the morning of the 21st, and by noon was anchored in Cape May. I had intended to stay over Thanksgiving, but the next morning there was a fair wind up the bay and I sailed at first light. The afternoon brought a calm before sunset, so I anchored off the eastern shore south of Dyer Cove. The next morning the wind filled in southeast and I flew upriver for a while, then drifted in a short calm spell but soon was flying along again. I made the entrance to the C&D Canal just at dark and caught a fair tide to Chesapeake City. I anchored in the basin for a southerly blow and departed on the morning of the 26th. The wind filled in from the northwest for a while then died away again at sundown and I anchored in the bight outside Still Pond Creek on the eastern shore. The next morning light and variable winds kept me guessing and trimming down to Wharton Creek, where I visited friends for a minute before the wind filled in southeast and I fell to tacking down the bay. By mid afternoon the fog had come in and there was no horizon to be seen. At nightfall a squall of rain and a southerly breeze complicated the navigation of the shipping lanes and the Bay Bridge, but midnight found me sculling in a calm into the harbor at Annapolis.
December 4:
I left Annapolis on the morning of December 1st, again sculling in a calm. The wind finally came in for a while, then turned light and variable so that by sundown I had only gotten abeam of Bloody Point Bar. I was getting hungry, so I sailed round the bar and anchored in the Eastern Bay, made dinner and turned in. The morning brought plenty of northeast breeze and I ran down to Soloman's Island in good time, under reefed main alone part of the trip. I anchored up Back Creek for the night and got underway in a light breeze the next morning; but no sooner was I in the Patuxent River than I was becalmed and drifted back to my anchorage on the flood tide. The wind is forcast to be light southwest for the next few days, so I may explore upriver tomorrow.

Blackwater Creek NC

January 5:
On the morning of December 5 the wind came in light from the southwest, a fair wind for exploring the Patuxent River. I sailed upriver as far as St. Leonard's Creek, site of the great naval battle of 1814. The wind fell almost calm, and by the time I came to anchor in John's Creek, a couple of miles upstream, I was sculling. This is a fairly remote location, and I was able to quietly anchor right next to a bald eagle, but it was too dark to get a good picture. The next day the wind increased to a gale out of the south, but on the day following I was able to ride a light westerly and the ebb tide back to Soloman's Island.
The morning of the 8th dawned grey and rainy with half a gale northeast, which at any rate was a fair wind, if a foul day. I set out in some uncomfortable seas which by the time I reached the Patomac had half swamped the skiff. The wind veered southeast, and I rode the flood upriver to St. Mary's River on the northern shore. This I followed up to St. Mary's City and anchored after nightfall in Horseshoe Bend, a nice anchorage off the college. The next day was a gale from the northwest, and I stayed at anchor and rowed ashore sightseeing in the afternoon. No city at all, but a very nice graveyard.
The wind was still from the north on the morning of the 10th, and I sailed downriver with the tide and around Smith Point to the mouth of the Great Wicomico River. I would usually anchor in Reedville, but I had daylight and a fair wind upriver, so I found an anchorage a few miles in, very secluded and quiet.
The next day it rained all day, but on the morning of the 12th I had a fair wind south. I crossed the Rappahannock and entered the mouth of the Piankatank River where there is a great natural harbor, Fishing Bay. I shifted my anchorage three times in as many days as gales passed from the north, south and again north, this last a real hard blow that sank boats out on the Chesapeake and had the fishermen talking for days about how rough it was.
On the 16th I sailed for Hampton, but got becalmed off New Point Comfort at sundown. Rather than spend the night drifting around, I pulled into Davis Creek, a great place for a small boat. Here I tied up to the municipal dock till the 19th, when a light north wind fooled me into setting sail for Hampton again. I had barely gotten into Mobjack Bay when it came around south again. However I was by this time committed, and I tacked down the bay toward Hampton. A squall blew up around sundown, and it got pretty rough off York Spit, but by the time I got to the Hampton river it had calmed down somewhat and I anchored off the town dock.
After checking with the dockmaster, I put down all three anchors and took a Greyhound north for the holiday, returning on the 2nd of January. I found Lefty still where I left her, and on the morning of the 3rd I woke to a foot of snow on deck. Winter has caught me at last. Soon as I am reprovisioned I will catch the first fair wind for the Dismal Swamp and points south.
January 19:
I left Hampton on the morning of the 16th in a light northerly wind which held as far as Norfolk, then gave out. I anchored off Hospital Point, well off the channel in water far deeper than what is shown on my chart. The next day brought southerly winds, and I rowed ashore and walked around town, toured the battleship and the Naval History Museum. On the next morning I set the jib and drifted on a northerly wind toward the Virginia Cut. The Dismal Swamp was closed again, so I had to go by Route 1, as the chart has it. I only set the jib so I could get it down quick for the drawbridges, and my progress was slow. I had only made the Great Bridge Locks by three in the afternoon, and decided to tie up to the government dock north of the swing bridge. Today's weather is nothing good, rain and foul winds, so I am staying put.
January 31:
On the 22nd I got going again and sailed down the VA cut to the North Landing River.For the next leg I needed daylight to stay in the channel, so I anchored up Blackwater Creek. Here I stayed two days waiting for a wind, then on the 22nd ran down to the North River. I sailed up toward the head of the river as the evening fell and ran up on a mud bank in the dark. I was able to kedge off presently and anchored for the night. The next day brought gales, but I was able to shift my anchorage to Broad Creek before they hit. For the next few days the wind blew hard southwest, and on the 26th I tried sculling out to the channel to look for wind, but there wasn't any, so I sculled back. Next day I tried the same thing with more success. A light south wind came up and I tacked across the Pamlico Sound, arriving by moonlight on the other side. I anchored outside the Alligator River north of Long Shoal Point. The next morning the wind started off south, but once in the river a series of squalls caused it to shift to each quarter at random and kept me trimming sails till night fell. With the dark came a thick fog, and I made my way to an anchorage off an island near Rattlesnake Bay. By first light the fog had cleared and I was able to sail to the entrance to the Alligator Pungo Canal and transit that canal to arrive in the Pungo River some hours after dark. I anchored in the marsh to the north of the channel and in the morning set sail for Belhaven, arriving early in the afternoon of the 30th. I will be here some days reprovisioning before sailing for Beaufort.

February 25:

On the morning of the 3rd I left Belhaven in a moderate northeast breeze and sailed down the Pungo to the Pamlico River. I crossed the river and entered Goose Creek on the southern shore. The northerly winds of the previous few days had got up a wind driven current, which swept me along the land cut at Hobucken to Gale Creek. Here, as last year I anchored for a gale to pass, and it was a real brisk nor'wester that didn't let up for a couple of days.

At noon on the 5th I left as soon as the wind lay down enough and made a quick passage to the Neuse River Junction, but from there the wind died away till I was ghosting at sunset past Oriental. I had intended to stop here, but what wind there was was from the north, and I decided to run down Adams Creek and anchor for the night. Next morning I got under sail early, but was soon sculling down the creek with the current, and making good time. When the creek opened up above Beaufort, the wind came southwest, but I was able to set sail and make Town Creek on a close reach.

Beaufort is again my southern terminus, I have arrived dead broke as usual. I have taken a job at a local shipyard, repairing steel boats and packing fish, mostly flounder when they come in. I am paid partly in money, partly in flounder, so that Beaufort is again for me something like heaven. I will stay here as late as possible this year before heading north for the summer season.

I certainly did stay a while in Beaufort. All my friends were there, and I fell into that comfortable routine of the south, lazy days and easy nights. Breakfast was at the Royal James, where Kimberlin, the owner, would open up a little early for the regulars. Some of the old timers would be there having an egg sandwich and a beer, but as a rule I don't drink at breakfast. Brendan and Zack, Sarah Joe and Clammer Bob, various others would come around, and we'd make plans for the day. We could sail around the creek or the bay, play chess or guitars on Brendan's boat Hard Rock, head over to Nasty Harbor and build things out of junk at Zacks shop. I started building sails with Lars Bergstrom, and learned a real lot from him, not only about sails, but also how to bed windows real nice so they don't leak, how to do nonskid on the decks, and the sort of general approach to yacht finish rather than the rough workboat finish I had been doing.

Spring faded into summer, and I spent the nights drinking at the Backstreet Bar with Liz, the proprietor, who was one of my closest friends in town, as well as the owner of the best bar in town. Sometimes we'd slide on over to the Dockside for some liquor, and even out to the Handlebar, which was the real wild place. Brendan and I played some gigs at Liz's place, sometimes with Sarah Joe on guitar and singing, sometimes with the local kids on bongo drums. Liz was the moving force behind the Beaufort Music Festival, and did a great job getting everything organized.

Besides working for Lars, I was working for Tim Peregoy Towing and Salvage, repairing some deisels that had gotten sunk; I also worked for Ted and Tod's Shipyard doing welders helper work. I worked repairing a steel dive boat for the people that discovered the Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's old flagship, sunk off the beach at Moorhead City. Treasure Hunters are crazyer than showbiz people even, but the two brothers who were doing the welding were solid, good people. Zack and I did that job, and we had a real good time at it.

I deciced to haul Lefty and do some repairs. The yard bills at Ted and Tod's were cheaper than parking a car on Martha's Vineyard, and they had treated Brendan very well when he hauled Hard Rock, so he gave them a good reference. The yard could hardly have been more perfect for my purposes. Free advice was to be had in abundance, and the use of power tools belonging to the yard. I began a big job of tearing out the old repairs I had done when I first got Lefty, and grinding out the gell coat blisters that had formed in the three or four years since I'd had her hauled. I also noticed she needed a new rudder post, so had that off and replaced while I was at it.

I figured I was two weeks away from launching her, but I figured wrong. On the spur of the moment I hopped a bus north to visit my mom, and while there began a project which was to prove the most challenging of my life. I decided to start a family.

Update: April 2005

I had sold Lefty to my friend Brendan when I left Beaufort. I had finished the repairs on the hull, the storm damage on the starboard side and some blisters on the port. Brendan rebuilt the rudder, replaced the balsa cored deck with glass, and painted her red. The plan was to bring her north to Maine and give her to his dad for a retirement present. His dad had worked for Cape Dory for many years and now works at Robinhood, where Lefty will be fully restored and given a new interior.

The big challenge now was to have her delivered. Several trucking companies having proved unreliable, Brendan decided to drive down, buy a trailer, and haul her back himself. I figured he might need a hand, so I went too. We met up at Traditional Boatworks in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and drove through the night, arriving in Beaufort the next day.

We found a used trailer out on Harkers Island, got a bunch of lumber, and built a cradle. We motored out to the bouy which marked the anchors she had ridden out hurricane Isabelle on, and spent an afternoon in retrieving them. We used the anchor rode to lash her firmly to the trailer. All this took several days. Nothing happens real fast in the south.

We finally got back on the road, and again rolled on through the night, stopping frequently to grease the bearings on the trailer. The trip back was accomplished without incident. We had taken no chances in building the cradle; we made it about as strong as we could, on the model of the old marine railways, all braced up and through bolted. In a thousand miles of highways and back roads it didn't budge an inch.

So Lefty has come to her next owner, a good home if there ever was one. If she has any more adventures, I won't be the one to write them, but I will try to get some pictures posted when the renovation is complete and she is back in the water.

Prettiest of all the Cape Dorys, the CD25

George Stadel was a great yacht designer, and the Cape Dory 25 is a fine example of a great yacht. My Lefty is certainly everything I could ask for, and you don't have to take my word for it, you can ask anybody who owns one, she's a great little boat. I have talked to a couple of people who own Greenwich 24s and they say the same. If one great boat is enough to make a great designer, and I would say it is, how about all those Egg Harbors and the beautiful wooden boats he designed? I doubt he would even have considered the Greenwich a major work. Nonetheless I have been unable to find much biographical material about Mr. Stadel and have had to put this article together from what few sources I could gather.
In Woodenboat Magazine #47, John Gardner describes him as the last of his generation of east coast naval architects and yacht designers. He was a close friend and collaborator of Howard Chapelle, who credits him in several of his books on the history of sailing vessels. He knew McManus, the Boston designer of Gloucester fishing schooners, Francis Herreshoff, William Hand, C.G. Davis, Dwight Simpson, MacGregor and the Stevenses of Tancook Island Nova Scotia.
I have it from Roger Cumming, who has collected material for a book on Mr. Stadel, that he was born in Ohio and came to Boston to build boats. He could build a small boat entirely by himself in a week, getting out all the parts, assembling and finishing. He knew more than anybody about rigging and didn't care for modern sailboats. He was a traditionalist and mostly designed wooden boats, although some of his designs have been immortalized in glass.
He had a good business as a marine surveyer on the Connecticut shore, where he was admired, respected and loved by the boating public. He had a terrific collection of model boats and some of Chapelle's drawing instruments. Two of his sons followed him into the trade of naval architecture.
I have high hopes that Mr. Cumming will write and publish his book on Stadel's designs, and I am hoping for further correspondence from Allied Boat Company historian Daniel Smith who says he has some comments by Stadel on the Greenwich, which I would love to see. Untill then, this is all the information I have on this great yacht designer. If anybody knows any additional information or finds that I have gotten some of this all wrong, please write me at the email address on the home page.
George Stadel update:
I have recieved a package of information from Daniel Smith including a copy of a letter from Mr. Stadel in his own handwriting. In this letter, a reply to an inquiry as to why the boat might be found tender in a fresh breeze, the designer explains that "the boat was rigged for Long Island Sound weather, in other words moderate breezes, however she has a hull which can be ballasted to float deeper and still sail well... the idea is to get the turn of the bilges in the water" He reccommends adding four or five hundred pounds of lead low down in the bilge, as well as using reef points.
A comparison of the specs of the G24 and the CD25 shows that Cape Dory added 200 lbs of lead when they modified the boat, although with the hull lengthened half a foot, and with an additional 40 sq ft of sail, this seems to me conservative. Loaded for cruising, however, my Lefty is as stiff as could be desired, as long as I reef in good time.
Mr. Stadel adds: "These boats are also very touchy when it comes to fore and aft trim, they should be trimmed about 1 1/2 inches by the bow when no one is aboard."

Allied Greenwich 24

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