by David Broderick member of the Northern California/Lake Tahoe chapter
MATOKA is a 1937 24′, ( LWL 17′,) Quincy Adams Interclub Sloop, 4′ keel, 1200lbs ballast – one of nine built for racing by the Quincy Adams Shipyard, Quincy Ma, which had taken over the old Lawley Shipyard. Both have long since closed. My home waters are in Buzzards Bay, a body of water off Cape Cod which is lovely in the morning and can be unforgiving in the afternoon. In 2015, I was looking for a day sailor which I could handle and which could handle Buzzards Bay.
Fortunately at that time I had subscribed to Bone Yard Boats, a publication which listed old wooden boats needing to be saved. Bone Yard Boats saved a lot of fine boats, mine was one. No boat listed by BYB was priced over $10,000 and boats of questionable buoyancy were “free to a good home”. The dye was cast.
I made the purchase in 2015, hull #1, originally built for Thomas Burgin, the longtime Mayor of Quincy MA (Burgin Parkway) and named CLAIRE II. She was competitively sailed in Quincy for many years, later sold, restored and renamed ADAMANT. The boat then had several subsequent owners prior to my purchasing it. The only other Interclub to survive is hull # 2 (ADAMANT), which was purchased and restored by a prior owner of my boat.(sellers remorse ?). That ADAMANT is still competitively raced and recently won both the Opera House Cup and Corinthian Yacht Club Classic Regatta, both well known local wooden boat events.
My cost for the boat was the approximate cost of the new sails which the previous owner had purchased. Any restoration is a personal commitment. It can be as extensive or shallow as you want to make it. Knowing that I would be dealing with an unforgiving body of water, I wanted to make the boat as strong as possible. Fortunately for me, there is a local boatyard The Wooden Tangent in Mattapoisset, MA., which deals only with classic and antique smaller wooden boats, primarily sailboats. They were up for the task and they did a beautiful job. Restoration included 12 new planks, 5 ribs, new transom, new bulkhead, new cockpit sole, new seating new cabin roof, new tiller, rigging etc. The only things we didn’t have to replace were the wooden mast and the T-boom, a brilliant invention which I had never seen before or since.
The boat is great. She’s like a little tank. Great for an afternoon on Buzzards Bay!
Lovely old boat. Probably not too many sailors read this old boat stuff. I have owned many boats (7) over the years and only tow were fiberglass. You made quite an emotional as well as monetary investment. Congratulations on the result. By the way, one of those 7 boats was a Sakonnet 23 built by Edey & Duff in Mattapoisett.
Love the sailboats! Thank you for sharing another classic!
I’m the owner of Adamant, hull # 2 of the QA Interclub. I’d like to get in touch with owner of Matoka. Thanks,
Gabriel you should send me an email. The webmaster should be able to provide mine.
Hello Kenneth:
Just saw your reply, I’ve been traveling overseas until last Sunday. You can reach me at info@studiomilano.com
Thanks, Gabriel
David B, owner of Matoka, hull # 1.
I see that there is a sale pending for the Adamant. Is she going to stay in New England? If so it would be fun to match race her if the new owner is interested.
i have seen your boat in Onset harbor, and i am an admirer. I live a couple houses down on Burgess point road – you may have seen my blue cat-ketch in the harbor. My wife and I built it a few years ago
lovely story,put a smile on my face and i am not even a blow boat guy!!
What an uplifting story and fine set of satisfying photos. Ginger Martus (founder of Bone Yard Boats) would be pleased. Makes me wish I had had the time and money to retain mu old 24′ Al Mason “Ostkust” s;loop.
Wonderful rri[p down memory lane. Reminds me of my 24′ Al MASON “Ostkust” SLOOP which I should have kept;
AIC (Adams InterClub) #1 was the Claire II. It was Quincy (MA) Mayor Thomas Burgin’s boat.
AIC #2 was the Peanut II. It was owned by Hosea D. White. My grandfather frequently raced with White.
Both boats were launched from the Adams Shipyard in May 1938, along with a few others.
Goeller may have designed the boat in 1937, but they were built and launched in 1938.
My grandfather also raced in the Little Lady. This was also an AIC boat of (for now) and unknown number, and it was supposedly built in 1939. I know it had been owned in 1942 by a Long Island NY owner, but then the boat was sold to George T. “Mike” Brady in 1944 at the suggestion of my grandfather. Brady kept the boat until the end of the 1945 season, when he sold it back to Long Island. Brady replaced the Adams boat with the 30 sq meter Arista (30 | US40), the ex-Evanthia III.
I have photos of many of these AIC boats, including the brand new AIC-2 Peanut II before the mast was stepped for the first time. It was sent to me by the grandson of the original owner. There are also many AIC photos in the Leslie Jones photo collection that is maintained by the Boston Public Library.
Adamant Hull # 2 has been sold to a young passionate sailor living on the NY-CT state border. I feels she is in great hands and ready for new adventures. S/Y is in great conditions and sailing strong!