The new boats slightly resembled Stars. The ‘Tucks had a similar Marconi rig, were low and angular in appearance, had a hard chine and shallow V-bottom with slight deadrise. They had inboard rudders protected by skegs, and while 20 feet 6 inches long, had only 6 feet 6 inches beam. The rig of about 225 square feet of sail was simple. The boat drew but one foot with the board up and only three feet with it down. They were almost straight-sided and had broad bows that rose up out of the water when the boats were at rest. The designer called them “spoon bows.” He explained how he came up with it: “You may wonder why I favored the wide, or spoon-type bow. When I was a little feller, we used to sail models. One of my sailboats was made out of a wooden mixing bowl. It outsailed the other keen-looking models, and I never forgot it.”

The cost of the first Narrasketuck was $385, including sails, according to Long Island historian Carl A. Starace, who crewed the boat from 1935 through 1942. Apparently, this was within the means of the club membership, for the new boats were in great demand. Plans were reportedly sold to clients in England, Ireland, and as far away in the United States as Texas.

By 1947, over fifty Narrasketucks were showing up each year for the GSBYRA race week: so many that they could not all compete in one division. Dozens more participated in local club races. The boats continued to be very numerous through the 1950s and won the Queen of the Bay trophy, indicative of the best boat at race week, four years: 1947, 1949,1951, and 1952. Later, when a second trophy was offered for corrected time winners, ‘Tucks took it five times. The GSBYRA handicaps show them to be slower than Thistles and Flying Scots, faster than 470s.

Ketcham’s original boats had been built of 5/8-inch cedar, copper riveted to oak frames. They weighed about 1,000 pounds. Later, sailors, looking to lighten their boats for more speed, went to cedar on cedar. In 1969, the Narrasketuck skippers approved a redrawing of the specifications, which kept the original measurements and rig, but set a weight of between 800 and 850 pounds.

“Six boats, numbers 171 through 176, were then built of plywood, using aircraft assembly ideas. John Titterington, an old builder, lofted plans, made templates, assembled a web, and planked them with 3/8-inch, 7-ply marine mahogany,” remembers Glenn Schmidt. “They were very strong, efficient boats.”

That was about the time the number of ‘Tucks seemed to be dwindling. Only eighteen showed up for the race week in 1968. The next year it had been a mere ten. Then, for some inexplicable reason, the old ‘Tucks caught on again, and their numbers began to climb.

In 1976, Faber and Schmidt got together and made a mold to the first fiberglass Narrasketuck. The new boats they turned out joined the local fleet. Each winter they built a couple more; now there are fourteen glass boats racing.

Like so many other classes, “Going to fiberglass saved the Narrasketucks,” says Schmidt. “We’re able to build a glass boat for $7,000 now. A wooden boat would cost much more.”

And so the Narrasketucks grow strong again in Long Island’s Great South Bay. It would make Wilbur Ketcham happy, even as much as he abhorred talk of fiberglass ‘Tucks. He was proud of his centerboarder and enjoyed it, winning hundreds of trophies with ‘Tuck number seven which he built in 1937 and kept until his death thirty years later. His Defiance is now in the Suffolk Marine Museum at West Sayville.

But Narrasketuck number three, built by Ketcham in 1936, is still racing. Sporting a new mast, she’s doing battle for her 47th season. history missing from many other one-design classes.