C38 Momentous: Olympic Sailing, HA!

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Momentous: Baltimore, MD, United States; Currently located in Baltimore, Md. Third owners. Previously SPIRIT (located in Mayo, Md.) Fleet member of North Point Sailing Association. The original boat was designed by Sparkman and Stephens to be built as a one-off racing design. The hull form was then purchased by the Yankee Boat Company in Marina del Rey, California. They built approximately 30 Yankee 38′s before the business failed. Frank Butler of Catalina Yachts purchased the molds from Yankee, and started building our boat. He wasn’t content with redesigning the interior and giving it a Catalina deck. He put a taller mast, shorter boom, and moved the rudder and made it a balanced spade design for faster tacking. He also, so the story goes, called Sparkman and Stephens for permission to advertise it as a Sparkman and Stephens design. It is said that they asked for a royalty way beyond what he was willing to pay and he politely refused. He made the Catalina 38 a faster boat, and as a result for years it replaced the Cal 40 as the official Congressional Cup boat, one of the top match racing regattas in the world. It was, in turn, replaced by the Capri 37, also made by Catalina Yachts .