Past Projects

Two A-Class Catboats: SPY & TORCH

Photo Credit: Benjamin Mendlowitz

SPY and TORCH were built by the Workshop on the Water in 2001 & 2002. These catboats have joined a racing fleet on New Jersey’s Barnegat Bay.

Catboats are wide sailboats with a large single sail. Originally designed in 1923, SPY and TORCH represent the pinnacle of the catboat’s evolution in New Jersey. With their ten-member crews, these boats require close teamwork as they compete for some of the oldest trophies in American sailing. A-cats are the boats the junior sailors of Barnegat have most longed to command and the boats retired sailors most fondly remember.

To learn more about the A-Class catboat, visit the Barnegat Bay A-Cat webpage, the Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association and the Bayhead.com website.

Images of SPY

Framing SPY.

Setting the keel in place.

Planking SPY.

Installing the decking.

SPY completely framed.

Installing the cabin sides.