It’s time once again to round up some Wesort news. For those just tuning in, this is a long-running arc on the blog, based on some of my earliest childhood experiences in boats. The first real post in the series is here, where my dad lays out the history of a small sailboat design called the Wesort, which I remember sailing aboard when I was very small. I’ve since posted a few more times about these nifty little boats, as you can see by looking at the tag.

None of the research blogging posts in my queue are quite ready yet, so it’s time for another update on the weird world of Wesorts. If you’re a Piscataway Indian reading that sentence, please don’t take offense - I’m talking about Wesort sailboats here, for the benefit of the six people in the world who’ve heard of them. And if you have absolutely no idea what any of this is about, hang on, because it’s going to get weirder.

Wayne sent this note through the contact form: I sailed a Wesort my family owned back in the 70’s. I was a sloop rigged sailing rowboat designed and built locally in the Severn River region during the 60’s. Mine had the number 127, but I’m not sure how many were made. It was made of plywood with a flat bottom and wooden mast with a closet dowel for a boom. It was rather slow, but since it was a sloop it gave a more complete sailing experience than the faster and smaller Penquins that used to race together in Severn regattas.

Boatbuilders come and go, so it’s no surprise that virtually all of the vessels in my earliest sailing memories are now out of production. Most of them, though, survive in boatyards and have fan clubs online, so information about them is never more than a Google search away. Not so the Wesort. Before I was even big enough to hold a tiller, I remember my father teaching older kids how to sail at Indian Landing Boat Club on the upper reaches of the Severn River.