INDIAN

About the INDIAN

… 1927 season, and race results from the period suggest that they were all built. By 1951 the class neared 100 boats in the Boston-Marblehead region alone, not counting those built for the Cape and Islands, or in Long Island. There were numerous boat shops that built Indians including Reid's shop in Winthrop, George Chaisson's shop in Swampscott, and Lowell's shop in Amesbury. They were also built by their owners. Archie Hayes sr and jr built one in the sail loft of Wilson & Silsby, in Boston in 1930 under the weather eye of the Mass Bay Indian class measurer George Rolt. Rolt built at least 3 and as many as 7 in his South Boston boat shop during the 1930s-1950s, and was the first Mass Bay Indian champion in Gosling in 1927. Many years later, an Indian was measured and a mold made for fiberglass hull builds, probably in the 1970s. Woodenboat (magazine) still sells Indian plan #148, and of course the original Alden/Crocker material for the Indian now resides at the MIT Museum, within the John Alden Collection. Photo: Massachusetts Bay Indians #10 Mohawk (foreground) with #14 Pelican II astern in a 1932 Leslie Jones collection photo 08_06_013229 during Quincy Race Week. Mohawk carries the South Boston Yacht Club Indian class head insignia while Pelican II has the Squantum YC hachet insignia. Both boats were probably built in 1925-1926. Mohawk was the 1932 Mass Bay Indian season champion. Thanks to Kenneth D. Rolt for the above historical information. Additional information: Spinnaker: 250 sq.ft. At least one fiberglass version was built. (Nereia Yachts, NC, USA) (There was an earlier one design class called the INDIAN, (1913), from the design firm of William Gardner, and built by Thorpe Brothers of Nyack, NY., for members of Shattemuc Y.C., Ossening, NY. It is thought that no more than a dozen were built.)