LIGHTNING CLASS – BOAT # 167

July 4, 2008 marks a celebration of the founding of the Skaneateles Boat Works 70 years ago. They manufactured Lightnings and Comets, among other boats. Festivities in town to mark the occasion include a Lightning Regatta to be held off the Skaneateles County Club, off West Lake Road.

My colleagues from the Finger Lakes Boating Museum (FLBM) having been at work over the winter in Ye Old Boat Shop in Penn Yan restoring #167, a wooden Lightning Class boat. At the board meeting early in March, they reported that while the hull is coming along nicely, they have a few needs: original hardware from a wooden Lightning, a rudder and tiller, an original boom, and sails (main, job, or spinnaker).

In order to make #167 regatta ready by July 4th, I am asking for your help. If you have any original Lightning boat parts stashed in the garage or basement, secluded under a cottage or in a barn, and can part with them, I’d be happy to make them available to our restoring team. Thanks for you help in marking this historic event.

Suellyn Hunt

585.394.2842

email: suellyn42@hotmail.com