Conversations with Classic Boats

Conversations with Classic Boats is a podcast about classic boat designs and the stories behind them. Hosted by Tom Darling, his latest offering is a two-part series that details the 88 year history of winter sailing at Larchmont Yacht Club in Larchmont, NY. Here’s a tease from Darling:

We rediscover the ultimate socially-distanced, outdoor recreation for sailors. That would be Frostbiting, or as they say on the Larchmont YC website, Winter Sailing. Emerging in the depths of the Great Depression, winter dinghy sailing consumed some of the greats of that time including the inestimable Arthur Knapp, considered the godfather of frostbiting at LYC.

The boat used at Larchmont is the Interclub Dinghy, the first one design designed after World War II for the purpose of winter sailing. From the fertile brain of Olin J Stephens, the IC graduated from its birth in the new molded plywood to fiberglass in the 1960s.

Larchmont’s fleets from the late 1930s on were a Who’s Who of the aces from those days aces. Ogivly, Knapp, Mosbacher, Shields, Monte Santo, Ulmer; these have been the rock stars of Western Long Island Sound.

I sailed at LYC from 1983 to 1996, and my summer performance in a Thistle was improved by all this frostbiting. Today, it is a new generation of skippers, many of them graduates of intercollegiate sailing. I would not stand a chance today. Frostbiting has gone from a game of crafty old veterans to one of quick, lithe ex-collegians.

One of today’s leaders is Butch Ulmer’s granddaughter Chrissie Klingler, 2020 NE Sailor of the Year at Yale, 2017 National Champ with her Yale classmate, sister Casey. Ulmer, a Long Island Sound veteran, was winner of four Winter Sailing Championships in the 1980s, only to be succeeded by his son Charley who also took four season trophies. Winter sailing remains still a family event at Larchmont.

Part One:

Part Two: