Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

My first job in RI . . . 1977
In Response To: Believe that's correct. ()

Tanton had a partner in a business called Branton Yachts. The partner was an Argentine, hence "Spanish-speaking minority" and was able to get an inside line on SBA loans . . . no such thing as a "French-speaking minority" in government-speak, even though, in the US, that would be a much smaller minority, and logically, much more deserving of special treatment.
I can vouch that the boat was not built to, er, world-class standards, as nobody there, certainly not me, had a whole lot of boatbuilding experience. They were riding the early wave of cold-molded epoxy-saturated -- Eric Goetz was just up the road in Bristol. That's where I learned to use a bandsaw and a table saw (and miraculously kept all my fingers).
Frank McCaffrey was the most experienced and a very sound man. He went on to build his own business and ended up doing a lot of wooden boat restorations.
Branton Yachts did not last very long -- the most famous (or infamous) boat built there was Circus Maximus -- Tanton's take on the Bill Lee theme of light, skinny IOR beaters . . but I had left by then.
Many years later, I worked for Tanton in his design office. He's a genius, but probably shouldn't have been involved with the construction end . . at least with that particular set-up.

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