New owner of NY30 "NEOLA II"

[Baltic Boat Works]

The NY30 HMCo #638 ex NEOLA II has a new owner and is currently undergoing a full restoration in Bristol, RI.

The vessel was sold in June 2011 to Ted Boylan. The boat was named MINX at the time of the sale but will carry her old name ROWDY upon completion of the restoration in summer 2013.

The marconi rig, deck structures and interior all have been removed and discarded as none of it was original. The hull is being reframed incl. new floors, chainplates etc. The boat will be put back to its original 1905 configuration including original rig (the 1917 version though). The gasoline engine that was installed in the boat will be replaced with electric propulsion.

[Steve]

Thanks for the update.  Where will her home port be?

She was first named ROWDY by Holland Duell.  He sold her to buy a NY40, which he also named ROWDY.

[Adam]

What's also interesting is she was contracted for by George M. Pynchon - Who named her NEOLA II - Who also sold her for a NY40 (#774 MISTRAL). Pynchon was of course also the owner of M-Class ISTALENA we spent so much time researching....

[Baltic Boat Works]

Homeport of NY30 #638 ROWDY will be Newport, RI. It can be expected that she will travel the East Coast from Maine to Long Island during her first two seasons.

Does anybody know whom she was named for? Who was Neola?

[Adam]

That is a good question.... I can tell you that Neola I was a Gardner and Cox designed "60 footer" (51 feet WL), and built on Staten Island, launched June of 1902 by the Townsend & Downey yard. All it says at her launching is Mrs. Pynchon named her (NYT, June 4th 1902).

He only raced her through 1904  - when he sold her and went into the 30 foot class.

[HerreshoffHistory]

According to Gherardi Davis in his New York 30 history, Neola was an Indian princess of the Tuscarora tribe.

The name of Pynchon's big 57-footer Istalena was also from the Indian: White Water Lily.