 | Wood Pussy |  |
Fleet Captain: Marc Taranto
MBC is home to one of the largest Wood Pussy fleets in the country and has hosted the national championships every other year for the past decade. Many Wood Pussys have been lovingly restored by their owners, and the skippers – youngsters to oldsters – are very serious about their sailing and are competitive on the river.
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THE HISTORY The Wood-Pussy was designed by Phillip L. Rhodes circa 1945. He was commissioned by Donald Abbott to design a small boat that would be suitable both as
WHY THE NAME? The question of a name arose. Philip Rhodes decided on Wood Pussy which is a colloquial "Yankee" name for a skunk. |
The Birth of a War Baby
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a junior training boat and as a day-sailer for adults who no longer had the time nor the money to care for a much larger boat. In his view a skunk is a "very pretty" little animal but a tough customer to fool with. Rhodes felt this description fit to a tee. |
| THE PREPETUAL TROPHIES |
In 1947 the first National Championship regatta was sailed in 1947 in Long Island. Palmer Scott the original builder, donated the perpetual trophy, hence the name the Palmer Scott Perpetual Trophy to winner of the Wood Pussy National Championship Regatta.
By 1950 the WP had migrated to New Jersey with fleets forming on the Navesink and Shrewsbury Rivers In response to this growth and the already established Long Island Wood-Pussy Championship, the (then) National Wood-Pussy Class Association authorized a New Jersey State Championship Regatta first sailed in 1957 and continued through the early 1970s.
Through the urging of some of the more seasoned sailors, in 1963 the Jim Craig Solo Bowl, a National Single-Handed Championship named for a former leader of the NSS (Navesink Sailing Society), was added with equal status to the Nationals.
