Here’s the Belford Gray in repose yesterday. She’s at her mooring in Great Cove during an eerie interim between rain squalls. The sun is trying unsuccessfully to break through the overcast, creating a shifting half-light that draws attention to the vessel’s innate grace.
She’s a small Friendship Sloop, modelled after the iconic Maine fishing boats that were sailed primarily in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. These highly maneuverable boats reportedly were first conceived and built in and around the Town of Friendship in Maine’s Muscongus Bay area.
Friendship Sloops typically have sharp clipper bows with breathtaking sheers that swoop back to low deck areas and overhanging transoms (stern ends). The low aft portions are designed to make it easier for one or two fishermen to haul nets and traps out of the water.
Nonetheless, the Belford is not used for fishing. She was created by a series of WoodenBoat School students and volunteers and launched in 1972 as a schooling vessel. She’s 28 and ½ feet long and 9 and ½ feet wide at her beam (widest part), according to WBS data. Her name honors Belford Gray, a WBS instructor who was a highly regarded wooden boatbuilder. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on July 25, 2022.)