'Third Witch'

Just found the photo of 'Third Witch' on your website.  Just great to see her looking well and still sailing. 

Jim Stanton built her for me (first owner) but only built the one at that time.  He had earlier built two Waterwitches, side by side in his shop, one for himself and one for another owner who helped with the construction. It was with 'Curlew' , his Waterwitch, that he did all the cruising.  In fact it was as a result of seeing his boat while he was doing some repairs on my little Sea Fury (Dutch built 22 ft twin keeler), see pic on the left...  that I decided if I could ever afford it I would have him build me a boat.  He had told me that his boat was almost nine years old at the time I first saw her and had done two trips from his home port on Lake Ontario, down the Intercostals Waterway (on the US east coast) and across to the Bahamas and return.  He related one scary moment when he was hugging the side of a channel as he entered from the Atlantic so as to allow a cruise ship lots of room.  The wake from the ship lifted 'Curlew' several time and dropped her very hard onto the bottom and he was sure that there would be extensive damage. They sailed safely into the port with no leaks being observed and he went over the side to look for damage and there was absolutely none.  A great credit to both the design and to the builder I think.

She was in beautiful condition but I thought that was to be expected of a boat builder.  But then he told me that she had never been repainted in all that time.  (So much for the problems of maintaining wooden boats!)  I was convinced.

Eventually I was able to commission him to build 'Third Witch'.  (The name came from the fact that my first two boats were both named Witchcraft and that my daughter had bought the second one so the name was still in the family.)  We went with the best equipment that I (and the bank manager) could afford and the quality of the build was second to none.  With his background as a fine furniture maker the construction and interior furnishing was absolutely excellent.  I didn't see him roll the hull over but he did it by himself inside the shop.  He had a bit of excitement when he was casting the keel when the mould burned through and spread the lead all over the yard.  Then he had to collect it, cut it up and start all over again,  some of the pieces being several hundred pounds apiece.

It turned out to be a protracted build because Jim was working completely alone and unfortunately had some serious health problems part way through.  Incidentally she has the extension that was shown in the M.G. plans for the steel hulled version.  She was launched at Port Stanley, on Lake Erie, 2 July 1991 with the usual small problems attendant upon the launch of a new boat.  Because of the lateness of the season we only did a few day sails that year.

The most exciting occurrence was at the end of the first season when I took her down river from the yacht club to have the holding tank pumped out before winter storage.  Just as I turned into the marina I put the engine in reverse, heard a loud clunk and had no power. although the engine was still running.  The thing that made it exciting was that about fifty yards downstream from  the marina was a lift bridge that wasn't lifted!  I was without power and the river current would have taken me into the bridge before I could have got to the anchor to drop it.   Fortunately we had enough way on to just make it into the marina out of the current where the operator could catch a line from me. It turned out that the prop had come off. A diver friend eventually found it (for $100.00 fee) and saved me about $750.00 for a replacement.

We managed a few cruises on Lake Erie and I did a couple of overnights of 100 miles or so single-handed (don't turn your noses up at our lake sailing, this isn't Lake Windermere we're talking about!) but  "The best laid plans o' mice and men........" etc.  My trans-Atlantic dreams came to a halt when my wife developed rheumatoid arthritis and couldn't hold on, pull lines or even move around on the boat in safety. So reluctantly we sold her. 

If you could pass these tid-bits on to the present owner they might find it interesting.

Fair winds,  Graeme George   geetwo at rogers.com

Great to hear from you Graeme!

A couple of photos of the Riptide 31 Third Witch on Lake Champlain. I hope to have more and better later in the season.

 Jim Boutin

 Vermont, U.S.A.