dark harbor yacht club

• YACHT DESIGN
• YACHT MARKET
• YACHT CLUBS
• YACHT HOTELS
• CHARTER YACHTS
• YACHT SHOWS
• REGATTAS & RACES
• YACHT ACCESSORIES
• YACHT APPAREL
• SAILOR GUIDE

Tarratine Club of Dark Harbor

The Tarratine Club of Dark Harbor was founded on September 2, 1896 in Islesboro, Maine for the purpose of “promoting boating, golfing and kindred interests.”

Now more than 120 years later, the club maintains its traditions around golf, tennis, sailing, junior programs and dining facilities.

Contact Info

Golf Club Rd Box 140, Islesboro, ME 04848, United States

Phone: +1 207-734-8338

Email: [email protected]

Website: tarratineclub.org/home

OceanShaker.com is a treasure chest of information for people who really "dig" yachts. We believe our project will be a real concoction of beautiful yachts, fresh news, ocean winds and, of course, adventures.

Contact us: [email protected]

© Copyright 2023 - Oceanshaker.com

• AMERICA'S CUP
• CLASSIFIEDS
• NEWSLETTERS
• SUBMIT NEWS

Lyman-Morse building Dark Harbor 20S

Related Articles

Browse by Category

• Coach of the Year
• High School Sailing Team of the Year
• Optimist Sailor of the Year
• Sailing Fitness
• Regatta News/Results
• Boat Speed/Tuning/Sailtrim Articles
• General Sailing News
• Coaches Locker Room
• From the Experts
• Profiles in Pro Sailing
• Featured Jobs
• Marketplace Ads
• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar
• Skip to footer

Sail1Design

First Name*

Email Address*

Club Profile: Tarrantine Yacht Club of Dark Harbor

March 1, 2016 by Sail1Design Editor Leave a Comment

• Day-to-day instruction in the junior sailing program including all levels of sailing and seamanship instruction;
• Day-to-day coaching in the afternoon racing program including inter-club and intra-club series racing;
• Supervising and mentoring the Club’s teenage Junior Instructors;
• Occasional weekend Race Committee duties; and,
• An interest in racing Herreshoff 12s and Dark Harbor 20s when not occupied by teaching responsibilities.

Candidates should be mature, enthusiastic sailors with strong backgrounds in instruction and racing. Participation in a structured 420 racing program (college, high school or summer club racing team) featuring weekly practices and regattas will be preferred.  A demonstrated ability to teach sailors with varied skills and interests is required. The club offers a competitive salary, housing, shift lunch, and the potential for a year-end merit bonus. To apply, visit here.

Reader Interactions

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting this form, you accept the Mollom privacy policy .

One Design Classes

Browse the airwaves.

• Sailing News Articles
• High School & College News Articles
• One-Design Class Profiles
• Tactics & Strategy
• Sailing & Education
• ICSA Rankings
• Sailing/Yacht Club Profiles
• Youth Sailor of the Year
• Sail1Design Annual Awards

Helpful Links

• Join the S1D Team
• Accessibility Help
• Privacy Policy
• Entries feed
• Comments feed
• WordPress.org

Search form

Dark Harbor 20

A timeless beauty.

Photos By Tricia Ladd

Against a murky backdrop of global turmoil, traditions bring a sense of security; the players may change, but the traditions remain, unifying, nurturing, and maintaining connections to past generations.

One-design racing in summer communities up and down the coast of Maine is such a tradition, including on Islesboro, where Dark Harbor 20s have been racing for 85 years. The races are a joy to view, as much as it is to be aboard. For many, the 20s are as much of a cherished island icon as the Grindle Point Lighthouse. “To me, the 20 represents more than just a boat,” said Stanley Pendleton, founder of Pendleton Yacht Yard on Islesboro. “It is part of the life I have grown up with—it speaks of the life we have in Islesboro, and the history of the life we have been nurturing for the last century.”

The DH 20s came into existence after 1934, when naval architect and classic boat sailor/designer Clinton Crane led the Tarratine Yacht Club of Islesboro in the search for a new class of racing sailboat to replace the gaff-rigged Dark Harbor 17s. He introduced the club to Olin Stephens II of Sparkman and Stephens. The young MIT-educated designer was beginning to attract attention for designing the record-breaking yawl Dorade ; he had also designed Gimcrack , one of the first boats whose design was tank tested at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. The findings would go on to be called the “Gimcrack Coefficients”—a pivotal breakthrough in the science of predicting sailing yacht performance.

Stephens, who would become one of the most successful and influential yacht designers of the 20th century, was at the frontier of scientific yacht design focused on speed. The Dark Harbor 20 was a beneficiary. He used the Gimcrack findings to help design the new class, and the result was an immediate success. Reported Stephens, “They are nimble, exciting to race, and typically carry a crew of three in addition to the skipper. Displacement is light, and beam is moderate towards narrow; the hull easily driven. The boats are also attractive in appearance, as would be expected of a class sailed in this stylish and long-established enclave.” In the words of an island veteran at the time, the Dark Harbor 20 “turns on a dime and gives you change!”

Today, more than 80 years later, the DH 20s remain fast, responsive, and easy to handle. The current Islesboro racing fleet numbers 24 boats. Distinctively sleek, they have a narrow fin keel hull with long overhangs and a tall Marconi rig. Add custom craftsmanship, bronze fittings, and varnished mahogany brightwork, and you have all the characteristics of a timeless beauty.

During the 1930s, the first 16 DH 20s were built by George Lawley & Son in Massachusetts; five more were built after World War II by S. B. Norton & Son on 700 Acre Island at what is now Dark Harbor Boat Yard. All but one of these original boats remain today. “That so many of the inaugural fleet are still sailing is a remarkable accomplishment,” said Steve White, former president of Mystic Seaport Museum.

In 2003, over concerns about rising maintenance-and-repair costs, a “Save the Dark Harbor 20” campaign was initiated to preserve the fleet by researching a fiberglass version of the original boats, which were showing signs of age. Sparkman & Stephens re-engineered the design and Shaw Yachts of Thomaston, Maine, built four new boats using modern fiberglass materials and production techniques. The objective from the start was that the boats be identical in all relevant aspects to the original wooden boats to preserve their classic feel and ensure fair competition.

Mystic Seaport Museum honored Dark Harbor 20 sailors in 2018 for their commitment to preserving and maintaining a significant class of American sailing craft, and presented them with the William Avery Baker Award, “given to promote the awareness and appreciation of fine examples of one-design classes or boats, foster faithful preservation and restoration, encourage more people to do it, and keep boats alive and in use.”

In 2019, Pendleton Yacht Yard built a fiberglass DH 20 using parts from an original wooden hull, including the lead keel, deck house/coaming, tiller/rudder post, varnished mahogany bulkhead, seats, spars, and fittings, as well as the original Lawley bronze castings from 1935.  The result was a new fiberglass boat with the patina of age, and a hint of the past; Shearwater ( previously named New Wave ) was welcomed by the fleet two summers ago.

“The 20s have traditionally been handed down from one generation to the next,” explained Pendleton, “but we have secured hull No.6 for restoration or refit with a fiberglass hull, and are committed to preserving the authenticity of this special racing class.”

Today, PYY maintains and services the largest fleet of DH20s and is building additional new fiberglass versions of the boat, reviving Shaw’s original mold with what Pendleton calls a “modern twist.” The carvel-planked hulls, canvas-covered decks, and drifted oak rudder blades are being made of hand-laid fiberglass. The intention of each modification is to make the boats race and look the same as the originals.

Even on its mooring, the Dark Harbor 20 is a photographer’s dream, a most graceful and tranquil seascape subject. But on any Friday or Saturday summer afternoon, the 20 is primed for racing, and the air is charged with anticipation. Keenly competitive skippers and crews maneuver at the race start, and a loyal following of spectator boats keeps  up with the action right to the cannon blast heralding the victor at the finish line.

The Tarratine Yacht Club offered its first silver sailing cup in 1899 for a series of Saturday races in a class for “raceabouts.” Rooted in this 127-year-old heritage, the DH 20 stands as a symbol of stability.

“Tradition” comes from the Latin verb “trader,” meaning “to give for safekeeping.” Surely the Dark Harbor 20 is a tradition that has tied together generations who have kept the class safe and sound for future enjoyment. 

Tricia Ladd is a photographer who grew up near the Herreshoff boatyard in Bristol, Rhode Island, and summers on Islesboro, Maine. More of her photographs can be viewed at www.tricialaddphoto.com .

LOA: 30' ½" LWL: 20' Beam: 6' 8" Draft: 4' 1¼" Displ.: 5,200 lb. Ballast: 2,620 lb. Sail Area: 357 sq. ft.

Related Articles

Share this article:

Digital Edition Available ×

Can't get to the store to buy your magazine? We deliver the stories of Maine's coast right to your inbox. Sign up here for a digital edition .

2023 Maine Boat & Home Show ×

Join Us for the Maine Boat & Home Show !

Art, Artisans, Food, Fun & Boats, Boats, Boats

August 11 - 13, 2023 | On the waterfront, Rockland, Maine

Click here to pre-order your tickets.

Show is produced by Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine.

Lyman-Morse Building Dark Harbor 20s

If you’ve spent time in Penobscot Bay, you’re likely familiar with the Dark Harbor 20, a 30-foot LOA one-design classic sloop designed by Olin Stephens in 1934. Originally built as wooden plank-on-frame vessels, there were 21 Dark Harbor 20s built in the first half of the 20th century. Due to the dedication of their owners and the members of the Tarratine Yacht Club of Dark Harbor in Islesboro, Maine, most of the original DH20s still exist today and actively compete in the pristine waters of coastal Maine.

Olin Stephens of Sparkman and Stephens was the first yacht designer to successfully correlate scale model results with full-scale sailing testing, measuring the longitudinal driving force, aerodynamic side force and heeling moment. The correlation constants between model testing and full-scale performance as derived by his studies became known as the Gimcrack Coefficients.

The Gimcrack Coefficients were the first known comparison of this type, proving to be a significant breakthrough in the science of sailing yacht performance prediction. In 1934, Olin Stephens took the results from his Gimcrack testing and designed the Dark Harbor 20. His technological breakthrough proved successful, as most of the original 21 that were built are actively racing today.

Over 90 years later, we are proud to be continuing the legacy of these beautiful vessels. We’re nearing completion of two Dark Harbor 20s at our Thomaston facility, now constructed of fiberglass.

In the words of Olin Stephens, “They are nimble, exciting to race … displacement is light, and the hull easily driven …The boats are also attractive in appearance, as would be expected of a class sailed in this stylish and long-established enclave.”

We’re looking forward to seeing these out with the fleet this summer, and honored to be carrying on the legacy of such esteemed yachting heritage.