A Project Named Clancy - I. Introduction to Clancy

Introducing the latest boat building project at the Lee Boatworks: a Clancy.  

The story of the Clancy begins with Bob Pickett was something of a local fixture.  Born in 1929 and raised in Florida, Pickett was a boat nut.  He his wife Erica settled in Anacortes in 1971, opening Flounder Bay Boat Lumber.   His sister-in-law would later note that Pickett "had a strong sense of how to enjoy life, include others, and build community.  Boating did all three..."   He helped found OARS, a rowing club in Anacortes, and pushed for the establishment of Seafarer's Memorial Park.   He also took an interest in making boat building more accessible to amateur builders.  Along with journalist J.D. Brown, Pickett wrote "Rip, Strip and Row," his first do-it-yourself manual in 1985 for a cedar strip rowboat, the Cosine Wherry.  (side note: a few years ago, my Dad finished a Cosine Wherry originally begun be a cousin.) 

Bob Pickett

The boat was was to become Clancy was born as Pickett's second effort, developed "in response to the need for a safe, small, lightweight, high-performance sailboat of distinction that was fully within the reach of any beginning builder.  He commissioned the design from Richard S. Kolin, a Pacific Northwest boat designer, builder, and wooden boat teacher.  Known for more traditional small craft, such as the lapstrake as Heidi 12 skiff  and Catherine 14 Whitehall-style pulling boat, Kolin designed Clancy to be built as simply as possible using what Pickett described as stitch and glue, though in techinque it is more of a hybrid between stitch and glue and plywood-on-frame.  The 10-ft cat-rigged sailboat was named after Kolin's dog, a fact reflected in the Clancy's "C-Bone" class insignia.

Two books were spawned from the design effort, 1992's "Build a Clancy" and 1997's "A Boat Named Clancy" (I only have "Build a Clancy," so I do not know if or how different the books are).  As with "Rip, Strip, and Row," both Clancy books were authored by Pickett and Brown.  Supplies to build  Clancy were available through Flounder Bay, and Pickett arranged for sails and hardware packages to be readily available through local suppliers .Tech support was offered via the "Clancy Hotline" -- listed in 1992 at 1-206-293-2369 -- with Bob or Erica Pickett answering all your Clancy questions.

Norm Abrams' New Yankee Clancy

The boat was adopted by Seattle's Alternative School #1's to teach boat building in a classroom, and further rose to popularity when it was adopted as part of Seattle's Center for Wooden Boat's fleet, where Clancy's were built and used as instructional boats.  Flounder Bay also offered a Clancy Classroom.  The boat's true moment of fame, however, came in 1995, when Norm Abram built a Clancy during a special two-part episode of his PBS program, The New Yankee Workshop. 

The Picketts sold Flounder Bay Boat Lumber and retired around 2003.  Bob Pickett passed away in 2018.  A mural of Bob and Erica rowing a gig with members of OARS can be seen right across from the old Flounder Bay location on 3rd and O St, in Anacortes.

In "Build a Clancy," Pickett and Brown wrote that while Clancy is perfect for first time boat builders, "but veteran do-it-youselfers, experienced carpenters, and Old Salts, too, will enjoy the challenge."