Baltic Boat Works, LLC

06/23/2024

Newport Harbor

We have an open mooring for rent in Brenton Cove. Commercial Mooring for up to 40’ vessel.

10/08/2020

07/09/2018

Sail Newport Regatta - Newport, RI: 13 Herreshoff S-Boats on the line for two days for very close racing - 6 of these boats are clients of Baltic Boat Works, LLC.
The class is preparing its centennial celebration 2019!

One Design - One Hundred Years!

05/05/2018

One of the most fun projects we did! Thank you Donald Tofias for working with Baltic Boat Works, LLC, always staying involved and being a good listener!

It’s Valentine’s Day in Bristol, Rhode Island at Baltic Boat Works, LLC where an unlikely trio of Donald Tofias, Nick Dana, and Jens Lange are gathered around Spruce, a 1974 Maine Lobster boat. In line with the holiday, the three men are congregated to examine Spruce, a labor of love for each of...

01/01/2018

Happy New Year to you all from the Baltic Boat Works crew! Enjoy and stay safe. We look forward to working with you in 2018!

10/25/2017

The Herreshoff S-Boat SURPRISE is in the shop for a short visit! We hauled her out 10 days ago on her single point lifting system after a long and successful season - SURPRISE went out sailing more then 50 times this summer, weathered a freak gale, found some rocks but carried her crew safe and sound every time.

SURPRISE is having major fairing done after her structural restoration two years ago at Baltic Boat Works, LLC, plus some smaller repairs, and a deck hardware overhaul. She will leave the shop in a week from now to winter in the water - ready for an early start into the 2018 season.

1919 - 2019
One Design - One Hundred Years

10/20/2017

Looks like S-Boat season is over now... The rack for S-Boat masts (yes - that curve is part of the design) at Baltic Boat Works, LLC is full.
We sure had a lot of fun this season!

09/18/2017

LUCIE sails the 6mR Worlds pre-regatta - and wins!

Team LUCIE went thru two days of crew training and tuning the boat - we got accustomed to the local current and wind conditions, had some minor repairs at night and then headed right into the 6mR pre-World Championship regatta - The Westerleigh Cup.

The Westerleigh Cup was sailed in very light wind conditions with tide and current that was difficult to figure out. To give you an idea of the potential current the tide rise and fall is nearly 14’.

The first start of the Westerleigh Cup found LUCIE very eager to get started. So eager in fact that Lucie was over the starting line early and had to return to the starting line to clear herself and start again - this put her in last place! What a great way to start a regatta, NOT! Despite 20 classic 6 Meters in the Classic fleet, LUCIE fought her way back into the race to finish in 7th place. Not a bad result given her start. The second race went a little better for LUCIE. She got a good start, showed good speed throughout the race and was able to finish first.

Day 2 of the Westerleigh Cup had even lighter wind that started with a one hour Postponement ashore. The race committee finally got the fleet started in about 5 kt of shifting breeze. LUCIE came off the line just perfect, played the left side of the course and was able to finish 4th. The leader after Day 1, MAY BE VII, sailed by Dennis Conner, started prematurely but fought his way back to finish 11th. Day 1’s 2nd place boat was the renown “Goose” sailed by past 6 Meter World Champion Eric Jesperson won race 3.

After 3 races, the Olin Stephens designed GOOSE was still leading with LUCIE 2nd in the overall standings. The wind almost had died, AP went up, some waiting, more windshifts but finally by 2 pm the final start got off. LUCIE was able to get off the line and hold her lane. She fought hard with the Spanish entry BRIBON (helmed by HM Don Juan Carlos de Borbón). GOOSE unfortunately had an port-starboard situation with TOTEM and had to take a penalty turn which moved her back in the fleet. LUCIE struggled a bit on the last leg allowing the Finnish "Fridolin” to pass her but was able to hang on to a 4th place. That was just enough to give Lucie and her crew a hard earned 1st Place in the Westerleigh Cup in the Classic division, only one point ahead of MAY BE VII.

08/23/2017

Hollow, tapered wooden spinnaker pole...

One of the Meter Boats under our care needed a new Spinnaker Pole - always a fun side project! As with multiple spinnaker poles before we decided to built this one hollow and tapered to the ends with the taper already milled into the staves before glue-up.
It all starts with the best and tightest grained Sitka Spruce one can find, then milling of eight staves (though we built them 12-staved in the past as well). The staves are birdsmouthed and each stave is tapered to the ends which results in a tapered pole after assembly. Glue-up, planing to perfectly round, a little sanding, dry fit of bronze jaws, then eight coats of varnish. Once the varnish was cured the bronze jaws were installed and the pole was rigged.
Both the topper and the fore-guy have a bungee-core so that no lines are slack when stored on the deck upwind.