Conceived at first as an 18' open family daysailer for the Bryan family, this boat ended up growing a couple of feet in length and 6" in beam to become a small cruiser with a cabin and overnight accommodations for two. N.G. Herreshoff’s Buzzards Bay 12 1⁄2-footer played a part, as those familiar with that design can readily see. These fine little boats have long captivated Harry and his wife, Martha, because they both grew up on the shores of Buzzards Bay, Harry in Westport and Martha in Padanaram and Naushon Island. Four of the original 121⁄2-footers of 1914 still sail from the island.Joel White’s centerboard adaptation of the 12 1⁄2-footer’s larger sister (the Herreshoff Fish class), known as the Flatfish, also came into play since Harry’s new boat was more her size. For cruising, however, he needed something just a mite different. KATIE, built over a couple of years and launched in 2008, is the result. Inspired by N.G. Herreshoff’s Buzzards Bay 12 1⁄2-footer and Joel White’s Flatfish, this 20' cruiser, designed and built by Harry Bryan, cuts a handsome profile underway.
Photo by Benjamin Mendlowitz
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I had the pleasure of visiting Harry and Martha (and KATIE) when on a trip with my family. She’s a heartachingly fine boat to observe and be aboard.
I had the great luck to own HARD TACK, an L.Francis Herreshoff Prudence-class sloop. Built by Quincey Adams Yacht Yard in 1937, she is the boat pictured in Sensible Cruising Designs. I think, genealogically speaking, she must be a second cousin to KATIE. For looks, saltiness, comfort and sweet sailing in a big/small boat she is, to me, at the top of the list. I believe the N.G. and L. F. Herreshoff designs are all interpretations of the Abacos dinghies that were used throughout the islands, and both coasts of Florida, in the sponge and turtle fisheries there. With just the tiniest additional rake to stem, and stern, and by making her shoal draft, Harry Bryan has taken the KATIE design back close to those roots. For a boat with not much more than a plank on edge keel, Abacos dinghies sail remarkable well on all points of sail and I bet KATIE does too.
What a beauty of design, KATIE looks just perfect for a comfy overnight and would look very familiar to the Chiloé Islands inhabitants of southern Chile, that before the diesel engines, sailed those archipelago waters in shallow draft gaff-rigged “lanchas” as they called them. Those working boats were a common sight in the channels and bays, but are almost extinguished nowadays.
By the way, it would be very interesting to have a tabernacle-equipped version to make for an easier means of stepping the mast.