When a Snipe was stored in an attic

The Snipe dinghy was designed in 1931 by William Crosby, not long before this 15-foot dinghy found its way into the attic of a downtown building in Wichita Falls, TX. It turns out that a young Navy recruit put it there right before he shipped off to World War II.

But it was never claimed, and when the building was sold to a new owner, Wichita Falls resident Jim Loudermilk was allowed to climb into the attic and see it for himself. There, buried under decades of dust and debris, was a Snipe, an eight-hundred-pound racing sailboat made in Mississippi.

The owner offered it to Loudermilk under two conditions. One, he had to figure out how to get it down and two, he would restore the old watercraft to its original glory. He did both … watch video.