WATCH ABOVE: Two West Islanders have given a piece of Pointe-Claire’s history a new lease on life. Global’s Billy Shields reports.
POINTE-CLAIRE – Two West Islanders have given a piece of Pointe-Claire history a new lease on life.
The Jabberwock is a 19-foot sloop that fits into a class of custom-built racing yachts that ran out of the Pointe-Claire Yacht Club in the 1930s.
The boat belongs to a class known as the Pointe-Claire One Design (PCOD).
Pointe-Claire Yacht Club historian Robert Gallant and retired engineer Richard Moore spent a winter restoring the boat, which had been in storage in North Hatley for 23 years.
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“It had very little dry-rot at all,” Moore said.
“Now, it sails beautifully.”
In yacht regattas, sailors would often gripe that a winning boat had a faster design instead of a better crew, but having everyone sail the same shape changed that.
By building the 23 PCODs, West Island sailors of the era hoped to standardize the results, creating a truer test of skill on the water.
Regattas still happen regularly at yacht clubs throughout the West Island, but they now use a handicap points system to compensate for design differences.
The Yacht Club is in the process of determining what purpose the boat will serve in the future.
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