John Hartigan's Allegro, an early Lunn built boat, Noank, Connecticut (updated March 11, 2012)

September 23, 2008. Ed Maxwell sold his Peerless to a John Hartigan who painted her hull red and renamed her Allegro. We lose the track here and need to find her.

Stay tuned

March 11, 2012. We have some historical info about Allegro from Ed Purcell (Just Friends). The boat did not have a stern pulpit and was kept in Noank, wintered initially at the Noank Shipyard, then at the Portland Boat Yard up the CT river. Allegro lost her original mast in a tussle with the Connecticut River railroad bridge in 1976/77? and it was replaced with a lighter section more flexible mast that was black - an important clue for our eventually finding her. Your webmaster, particularly sensitive to this matter having once narrowly escaped a tussle with the RR bridge over the Niantic River. The story is repeated here as reminder to Dolphin owners - take great care approaching these mast eating monsters.

It seems that John decided to winter store Allegro at the Portland Boat Yard about 25 miles up the CT River instead of her normal yard in Noank, CT. He lived in Glastonbury which very near Portland and working on her would be much easier than having to drive all the way to Noank. So one Fall morning (pending actually finding and talking to John, some editorial license must be permitted here) John set out single handed from Noank for the mouth of the CT River. While we all know the golden rule - don't approach bridges with the current if you can avoid it - we also know that long up river trips against the current are veerrry long. The breeze was building and backing, of course, now coming from directly astern at 20 knots or more, so John got the sails down and got the motor running. There was a very strong flood current due to the co-incident spring tide (Murphy's Law) and John, mis-gauging his approach and timing (Murphy's Law again), tried to turn to stem the approach but, well... it was not pretty. After a nearly successful, very much heeled over, bumping through the bridge's iron substructure and rails, the mast hung up, one of the shrouds let go, the mast went overboard, and John needed a new mast.

Stay tuned