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Clark was one of 3 guys from Southport, Connecticut who, in the late summer/early fall of 1960, bought 3 bare hulls from Marscot/O'Day and finished off the boats themselves in their backyards. This was a deal put together by Bob Larson of US Yachts - who also lived in Southport. They wanted an affordable, offshore boat that they could race and cruise with their families. It took a year to finish the boats. They helped each other with the planning and the work.
Clark's boat was hull #14 and came in 2 parts - a hull, and a detached fiberglass deck/house/cockpit. While he was working in the interior that deck rested on edge outside the garage. He had an off center opening cut through the transom for an outboard - at one time he had an 18hp motor. The other boats were Phil Zerega's # 12 Teal, which later became your webmaster's Marionette, and Dick McCauley's #11, Windsong
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Clark has not yet been able to find any pictures of Peridot. April 29, 2012: We got this picture! See Clark's email below
Because we knew you'd ask Peridot is a semi precious gem stone. Clark had the boat for 35 years, and in 1995, gave the boat to a couple who lived near the Thimble Islands on Long Island Sound. We are still working on trying to find her.
Clark said that he remembers a Dolphin Nationals (in the mid 60's?) hosted at Pequot YC in Southport. He said that Dolphins raced as a one design fleet at Pequot and that Bob Larson had put up a nice bowl as an annual trophy.
Webmaster Note: December 29, 2013 We used this picture as our 2013 Christmas Greeting photo on the What New page. We got a response from Clark (edited)
This was taken about 22 years ago. Peridot spent the winter at Pequot YC in a narrow space between their float and a sea wall. A space only a 'small boat' can get into!
I sailed over a 100 races each winter in a very active Frostbite fleet within 100 yards of her. The very small Southport Harbor was great for this sport.
I did every Sunday for 27 years. Several of us used a heavy outboard to break up the ice so we missed only a few Sundays each year. What summer sailor can rack up 3000 races?
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May 1, 2010. Looking for some hand written notes I had from the early days of this website about Windsong, Hull #11, I came across an interesting email from Clark - excerpts of which are below
The project started with friends who were starting their lives and families. We all wanted small cruising sailboats. The group was 6-9 people who often met at my house. Most were engineers. McCauley and I were MIT class of 1948 in Mech. Engineering. Phil was a well educated and talented Industrial Designer from the R.I. School of Design, I think. We had a friend (Poor memory – call him “C”) who was building a Cutlass of strip planked wood. She was 24’ LOA and at that point upside down with a near-finished hull. We had permission to use this as a plug to make a MFG mold and then pull hulls. We could have done it!
But then I thought that there were builders with molds who might like to make $ soon by selling raw hulls. Much talk and I found Bob Larsen and his interest in George O’Day. When it was time to put money up only 3 of the group were still in. We borrowed “C’s” trailer, made three trips to Fall River and put a boat hull in our three yards, all in Fairfield CT. I also got the one piece deck/house/foot well piece.
We had the paper outline of all the internal wood parts for bulkheads, etc. to be made of 5/8” plywood. We three talked a lot and purchased as a group under my Fairfield Sailing Supplies letterhead at full yard discounts. For one year we were an active yard - in 3 places! Few other yards made three boats at one time.
None of us liked a dirty engine between the two big quarter berths. We all added a sealed bulkhead just aft of the foot well and put an outboard within the hull. Mine was off center, port side, and big enough for an 18 HP Johnson. I started with a 10 HP, went to an 18, and then to a 6 HP. On the starboard side was room for gas tanks, oil, and other gear that could get wet from rain leaking past a simple hatch. I cut a notch up the transom so the motor could tilt up. Phil could not accept this and had a center motor and only a hole in the bottom. When sailing the bottom holes were plugged by the piece we cut out.
We purchased the three masts from (?) - it was one of the first orders for a Connecticut company (Dwyer?) that became big in that business. They were new at it when they got our order. The 31’ mast (a guess) was made from a 32’ extrusion they ordered. They cut off a foot to get it right. As it happened the extrusions they got were oversized by about a foot and thus we got masts a foot too long. I kept it and Phil and Dick had it corrected. Years later, when I got my second set of sails, I added area and got the boom down where it was planned. 2. At the head of the mast were two large sheaves (about 8” in diameter) in the mast at a slight angle so the jib and main halyard pull was on center. There is a well accepted custom that the main halyard end comes to the starboard side and jib to the port. They got it wrong on all three! I lived with it and the other two had it fixed. GOOD to have the extra foot of mast!
We used a friend’s flat bed trailer to carry the boat and its wood cradle to a launching ramp at Southport. Some “I” beams, blocks, and small jacks got the boats on the trailer. We all had town moorings at the entrance to Southport Harbor. I had a Thistle before the Dolphin - we used it as a picnic boat. Both daughters were sailing with us often before they were a year old in a basket in the bow of the open boat! The Dolphin was a BIG improvement!
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April 29, 2012. Interesting tidbit. Your webmaster was talking to Lew Weinstein of Essex, Connecticut (last spoken to 17 years ago, when he, as a Director of the Connecticut River Museum, sold me my boat, Marionette - this story is recorded here). Anyway, the Weinsteins had a Shaw 24 named Bequia and advised that, before they bought her, and aided by an introduction from mutual friends, the DuBois, they had chartered Windsong from Dick McCauley for a week back some 45 years ago! Small world....
And, this invited a call to Clark to see what he was up to - and to try again to get a picture! After a fascinating, long talk about designing and building boats, (He has designed and built several, I built 'Teer) I received the following email from Clark (minor edits), and the above, long awaited photo.
Ron
I was able to dig this up. Peridot is in a slip that only she can get into. Three feet of draft was also important here. The floats were bubbled and that kept the ice away from the boat. This is at Pequot Y.C. in Southport (Fairfield) CT. The red bow and greens on the boom are because it was near Xmas.
The ability to turn the outboard was wonderful in tight areas and in reverse. The big slot gets the prop out of the water. Worth the odd look. When racing I put in a plug so the bottom was fair. Not having to lift the motor up and down allowed it to be out of the water more often.
There was a full bulkhead in front of the motor so no odor ever got into the living area. A fore and aft bulkhead had the motor on one side and extra gas and oil on the other. This drained into the motor area and thus into the sea. Even a major spill of gas would never get into the boat. Worked like a charm!
Motors in wells, with a light following wind, suck in their fumes and are rough. It took a few years of thinking how to cure this. Do not try to get the fumes out of the motor area, but instead get fresh air to the motor intake. A 1” hole in the side of the motor and a bit of flex hose feed fresh air to the motor intake. I had several motors. The first was a 10 HP Johnson. Then an 18 HP that also fit. Then a 6 HP that Sarah could easily start.
It was good to talk with you.
Clark
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June 23, 2012. On a DFI field trip your webmaster tracked down Sarah DuBois yesterday. She is Clark's daughter, and she is the one who swung the champagne bottle (truthfully, a paper cup filled with champagne) that launched Peridot for the first time back in 1961. She filled in some historically important details, and will look for pictures.
1) Peridot's hull #. Since the beginning of this webpage Clark has always insisted that this boat was Marscot/O'Day hull #14. Your webmaster, stubbornly inserted a ? after the number where ever this subject came up on the website. Why? Because this boat was one of three in a very special group of boats - and we 'knew' the other two were #s 11 and 12. With Sarah's guidance your webmaster was able to grasp an important principle in the numbering game. For the same reason there is no floor #13 on the elevator panel, boat builders would never assign hull #13. So, Peridot is hull # 14
2) The name of # 14 was going to be 'Greensleeves' as Sarah's mom would have liked. However, this name would not fit on the transom. Peridot is a green gemstone - and it fit.
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