and they are sailed in twenty-six countries. Material is mahogany plywood. 



So far, relatively few of these boats are sailing in the United States; the 

 principal areas are reported to be near Boston, on Long Island Sound, 

 and on the Severn River, near Annapolis, Maryland. For information on the 

 International Cadet Class, write Yachting World (Dorset House, Stamford 

 St., London S.E. i, England). Another source of information is The Bell 

 Woodworking Company, Ltd., of Leicester, England, and, in this country, 

 John Wright, Jr. ( 308 W. Queen Lane, Philadelphia 44, Pa. ) , who sells the 

 complete boat or kits. Price for the former with Dacron sails is about $650. 

 Kit prices depend on how much is to be done by the purchaser. 



VITAL STATISTICS: L.O.A. io'6%'.'; watcrlinc g's"; beam 4'i%''; 

 draft 6I/2" without centerboard, with C.B. 2'6"; sail area 44^/^ sq. ft.; weight 

 about 150 lbs.; trailable. 



CAPE COD BABY KNOCKABOUT- 

 also EIGHTEEN-FOOT KNOCKABOUT 



Soon after World War I, Charles Gurney, founder of the Cape Cod 

 Shipbuilding Company, designed and built an inexpensive centerboard sloop 

 which became the well-known, 18-foot, Cape Cod Baby Knockabout. Thou- 

 sands of these boats have been built over the years; at one time, it is said, 

 they sold at $175, including a "sail-a-way" lunch. Nothing was fancy; this 

 was before the days of fiber glass, chrome, genoas, and Dacron. The sails 

 were either a high leg-o-mutton or a "modified Marconi." The jib was small 

 and the boats had a heavy -weather helm. The sails were cut in vertical 

 strips and were innocent of battens. Nevertheless, the boats proved to be 

 good sailers and safe family boats which would come up into the wind and 

 spill the sails with a strong puff of wind or at the slightest inattention on the 

 part of the helmsman. The writer once owned one of these boats and can 

 vouch for what is said above. 



Among about sixteen thousand boats of all types built by the Cape Cod 

 Shipbuilding Company, the Baby Knockabout was for many years the best 

 known. Their production in numbers began in about 1921. By 1925 they 

 were being raced. An authority on the class and its modernized successor 

 gives some interesting comments gleaned from some old ship carpenters 

 who worked on the original Knockabouts. 



"The hull was framed in white oak and planked in white cedar. The 

 boats were known for their ability to take the dusty sou'westers of Buzzards 

 Bay. More were purchased around the southern shores of Cape Cod for 

 teaching children to sail. The rudders and jibs were so small that puffs over 



40 THE SAILBOAT CLASSES OF NORTH AMERICA 



