Racing at Mattapoisett is first recorded in 1878 when a town-wide Regatta was held for handicapped catboats of various sizes. A series of handicapped regattas was held through the eighties and early nineties, attracting an increasing number of boats, both large and small from nearby ports. Many were manned by local skippers and crews (who were given to heavy wagering on the results) and some by vacationing city “dudes” from Boston and elsewhere. Later, local summer residents who were members of the Beverly Yacht Club, then at Wings Neck, arranged an annual Mattapoisett regatta for club members. A fixture after the turn of the century, the Beverly regatta featured several classes of racing catboats and a spectacular class of Herreshoff Buzzards Bay Thirty Footers. The best racing was in a fast group of “rule beaters” known generally as “Race-abouts” which were as much the product of design competition among prominent naval architects as they were competitors on the racing course.
Since the Beverly Mattapoisett regatta came only once a year, a group formed the Mattapoisett Yacht Club in 1900 to provide regular weekly racing in class of one design Skipjack knockabouts which were built in the town. Other classes came and went. After a lapse in World War I, the club was revived in the twenties with imported German dinghies, the Herreshoff Fish Class, Cape Cod Baby Knockabouts and others. The annual regatta was reinstated, later becoming the victim of the depression of the thirties. Racing continued in Herreshoff 12 ½ Footers until after World War II, when the Beetle Cat became the principal racing class.
During the first three quarters of a century of yachting at Mattapoisett, the dominant personality was Commodore J. Lewis Stackpole of Boston, a national figure in racing both in small boats and in larger vessels such as his 10-Metre ASTRA, which competed successfully in New York Yacht Club events. An annual regatta was again revived in 1951 and the Stackpole Trophy was instituted in the Commodore’s memory as the top prize for the larger boats. The Club first occupied a clubhouse at the boatyard on Ned’s Point in 1959, where it continues in expanded quarters with a program of great activity suited to the diverse needs of a modern seacoast residential community.
This history was edited in 1969 by former MYC member and author Ned Wood.
A more detailed account was written on the occasion of the Mattapoisett Centennial by Club member, David Jenney.
Since the Beverly Mattapoisett regatta came only once a year, a group formed the Mattapoisett Yacht Club in 1900 to provide regular weekly racing in class of one design Skipjack knockabouts which were built in the town. Other classes came and went. After a lapse in World War I, the club was revived in the twenties with imported German dinghies, the Herreshoff Fish Class, Cape Cod Baby Knockabouts and others. The annual regatta was reinstated, later becoming the victim of the depression of the thirties. Racing continued in Herreshoff 12 ½ Footers until after World War II, when the Beetle Cat became the principal racing class.
During the first three quarters of a century of yachting at Mattapoisett, the dominant personality was Commodore J. Lewis Stackpole of Boston, a national figure in racing both in small boats and in larger vessels such as his 10-Metre ASTRA, which competed successfully in New York Yacht Club events. An annual regatta was again revived in 1951 and the Stackpole Trophy was instituted in the Commodore’s memory as the top prize for the larger boats. The Club first occupied a clubhouse at the boatyard on Ned’s Point in 1959, where it continues in expanded quarters with a program of great activity suited to the diverse needs of a modern seacoast residential community.
This history was edited in 1969 by former MYC member and author Ned Wood.
A more detailed account was written on the occasion of the Mattapoisett Centennial by Club member, David Jenney.