In 1899, the members of the St. Regis Yacht Club commissioned Clinton Crane, a young naval architect, to design a class of wooden sailing sloops for the purpose of racing the light winds of the northern New York Adirondacks, home waters of the young club.
A few members contracted to purchase the first of these boats, which were to be called Idems (Latin for one), and to sail them annually in competition. They would require a crew of five, and over the next few years more club members contracted for these sleek vessels until there were an even dozen boats whose gaff-rigged sails would catch the wind each summer as they competed for the coveted silver trophies.
Today, these unique sloops continue this racing tradition — some even skippered by descendents of those original owners. Thirty-two feet of traditional wooden construction over a century old requires continuing maintenence, and nearly all vessels have seen complete restoration. Jim Cameron, the local authority on the maintenence and traditional repair of these antiques, knows each boat’s provenence (history) and has sailed as the Mainsail crewman on the winning vessel for more than 20 consecutive years, as well. Nearly every single boat in the original fleet has benefited from Jim’s expert and caring craftsmanship.
Boathouse Woodworks
Hand-Crafted Traditional Adirondack Guideboats
Jim Cameron, Master Boat Builder
P.O. Box 317, Lake Clear, New York 12945
(518) 327-3470
I am Claire McIlvain and my father, Francis Huston McIlvain, raced his Idem, the Mayfly, and won year after year until the Yacht Club retired the painting, The King Trophy to him. I was the “main-sheet” woman for about five years when my father first started to sail this boat and win! My father built a winch which had no cleat so that I could wrap and unwrap it rapidly and even stand on it when we were healing hard to the wind. It was an exciting boat to sail and our whole family participated in crewing this boat. We had to go out and practice racing. My sister and her husband now own this boat.