Lawley Owners Unite

Speaking of Lawley yachts (post below), the owners of Lawley-built yachts have an active association. I've not been to their annual meeting, but I understand it includes a bit of acting, with historian Llewellyn Howland playing George Lawley himself. Learn more about the association here.

Comments

[Dave Tew]

Bror Tamm was a supervisor for Lawley's for many years, and one day in 1975 he appeared unannounced at the Bath Apprenticeshop bearing a box of his designs, drawings and photographs. He was very elderly and needed to brace himself on the arm of his daughter, who he was visiting in Norway, Maine. There was a real gleam in his eye as he told story after story and spread his papers on a lofting table for everyone to pore over. His wife and daughter beamed. They could see that everything he had to say and show was appreciated by the crew of youngsters. They said he seemed to get younger before their eyes as questions flew and he took his time explaining things in detail that happened decades earlier. A natural, careful, patient teacher and boss, he would have been wonderful to work for. His description of building small boats for L. Francis Herreshoff and spars for the J-boat Whirlwind were fascinating... and his disappointment at Lawley's closing was palpable still.

My wife and I visited him at his home in Quincy, Mass. several times over the following years. His basement was a wonderful combination of workshop and library stuffed full of books and files of designs and clippings from yachting magazines. Delicate Herreshoff double paddles and patterns for elegant castings were scattered around. While we'd be down in the basement, our wives would sit in the kitchen, and when we came back upstairs they'd always serve sliced, sugared cucumbers with vinegar which we ate in the dinette he'd built into a nook in their kitchen. On our last visit before he passed away, he gave my wife a cross-section of oval spruce mast he made for the 1925 Herreshoff R boat 'Gypsy". He'd turned it into a small tray for holding his pocket change and keys by the front door. We use it for the same purpose in our house now.

[Bob Reibel]

My summer camp is across the lake from where Bror Tamm's daughter and son-in-law had a camp. Mr. Tamm would tell me how to redo my mistakes in the boat I would sail over to visit him. He was charming and knowledgeable. I didn't know that he knew anything about a Nootka Sailing Canoe, but he sure did have comments about my building skills. Bob Reibel

[Dave Mainwaring]

I am searching for information regarding two boats,
ARIES,and Clair II, Adams Interclub Class, 24'6"

Thanks,
Dave Mainwaring
mainwaring@rcn.com
www.mainzone.com