41 ft Concordia Yawl 1954

Every Concordia Yawl has a fascinating story. OTTER's is particularly so: because she was one of the first of the slightly longer, fuller, and deeper Concordia 41s developed by Ray Hunt and Waldo Howland to further enhance success on the racecourse; and because her commissioning owner, Drayton Cochran, was the key catalyst between Howland and Abeking & Rasmussen in the design becoming a class. And a most desirable community: Concordia, after all, was the Roman goddess who personified harmony and amity. In current ownership since 2006, OTTER has enjoyed an enviable level of both hands-on and boatyard professional care informed by her owner’s experience with classic cars. A regular sight at the Maine classic regatta series, OTTER is in commission and ready to be enjoyed.

Since 2006, OTTER has enjoyed regular attention to her needs at Rockport Marine, Rockport, Maine.
- 2021-2022: Bottom refastening: approx 3000 bronze screws
- 1980s: Centerline restoration

Concordia No. 19
Abeking & Rasmussen Build No. 4923

Born from the devastating hurricane of 1938, the design was originally conceived simply as a replacement for Concordia yard owner Llewellyn Howland’s destroyed earlier yacht. Then, post-war - through a combination of serendipity (involving OTTER's first owner; see below), excellent peer group marketing, and the choice of a superb builder in Abeking & Rasmussen who would create 100 of the 104 built to this sweet Ray Hunt and Waldo Howland design - through the 1950s and 60s the Concordia Yawls quickly became, and have remained, legendary as one of the most successful series-produced wooden cruiser-racer classes. In fact, the Concordia Yawl has become a way of life.

Every Concordia Yawl has a fascinating story. OTTER's is particularly so, both because (a) she was one of the first of the slightly longer, fuller, and deeper Concordia 41s developed by Hunt and Howland to further enhance success on the race course, and (b) her commissioning owner, Drayton Cochran, was the key catalyst in the design becoming a class. Described by Klaus-Peter Best in his excellent Classic Boat magazine #143 Concordia article as:

"... a man bursting with vitality, an experienced sailor, inventive, eccentric, and very rich. As the owner of America's biggest carpet company [Alexander Smith & Sons, Yonkers, New York] he was in a financial position to indulge in his passion: sailing."

However, it's rarely mentioned that Cochran, whose uncle Alexander Smith Cochrane was first owner of the legendary Herreshoff schooner WESTWARD, also had very strong German connections. His wife's parents were born there, and his mother's second marriage, in 1938, had been to a Prussian prince. With the Concordia Company's Waldo Howland as broker, in 1949 Cochran purchased the Lawley-built Concordia #2 JOBISKA from Philip Rhinelander, and renamed her INA. (As Daniel Strohmeier's MALAY from 1951, she would gain fame - and invaluable publicity for the class - by winning overall the 1954 Bermuda Race).

So smitten was Cochran by INA that when Abeking & Rasmussen were building his 71ft Walter McInnis designed steel motorsailer explorer yacht LITTLE VIGILANT (now based out of Mystic Seaport), Cochran also threw in an order for the Concordia yawl that became SHIELA (Concordia #5, now DUENDE). Cochran would eventually commission five Concordia Yawls from A&R, including build number 4923, SLY MONGOOSE III - now OTTER ... And the rest is Concordia Class history.

Subsequent recorded owners and hailing ports of Concordia #19 are:

As OTTER and EDELWEISS
1961 John H. James - Bridgeport, Connecticut
1964 Richard D. McIntosh - Bridgeport, Connecticut
1966 Marine Consulting Inc. - Bridgeport, Connecticut
1972 Harriet S. Wiswall - Bridgeport, Connecticut
1979 Edward M. Scheu Jr. - Portsmouth, New Hampshire/ Portland, Maine
1989 Terrance J. McClinch - Portland Maine
1991 William M. Hutchinson Jr. - Portland Maine
1997 Marshall Chapman Jr. - Portland, Maine
As MOONSHINE
2003 Langhorne B. Smith - Portland, Maine
As OTTER
2006 Present ownership

- Carvel mahogany planking on mahogany and oak frame
- Bronze strapping
- Lead ballast keel
- Deck of pine, canvas covered and painted
- Mahogany deck structures

GENERAL
- Painted canvas over pine deck
- Varnished locust and mahogany superstructures
- Bronze stanchions and bases; stainless steel wire guardrails
- All other hardware is bronze

FROM AFT
At taffrail
- Mooring fairleads port and starboard
- Padeye for mizzen sheet tackle
- Additional light padeye
- Pushpit with stern light
- Cheek blocks
Aft deck
- Socket for ensign staff
- Mushroom vent
- Central mooring cleat on varnished pad
- Ventilator for lazarette
- Main backstay chainplate offset for mizzen mast
- Mizzen mast position
- Original rudder head for emergency steering use

COCKPIT
- Bronze-capped coamings faired forward to house
- Laid teak on plywood benches port,starboard, and aft
- Lockers under
- Engine panel and bilge pump socket aft
- Steering/ binnacle pedestal
- Glass protected steering compass
- Traditional ship's wheel with bezel
- Cable steering
- Granny bar with fancy ropework
- Winch handle pockets
- Raised laid teak bridge deck
- Alloy mainsheet track and car
- 2 x Lewmar 48 bronze self-tailing primary winches
- 2 x Lewmar 42 bronze self-tailing secondary winches
- 4 x Associated cleats

SIDE DECKS
- Genoa track and car at rail port and starboard
- Headsail track and car on side deck port and starboard
- Chock for spinnaker pole stowage to port

TRUNK CABIN
- Painted canvas over pine roof
- 5 x Oval framed lights port and starboard
- 2 x Round opening ports forward
- Wide companionway hatch
- Bronze frame for dodger (sprayhood)
- Line winch to port
- Bronze and teak boom gallows
- Grabrails port and starboard
- Butterfly skylight
- 'Charlie Noble' flue for cabin heater
- Dorade box and large cowl ventilator
- Bronze self-tailing halyard/ line handling winch
- Main mast position
- Traveller for boomed staysail
- Butterfly forehatch with oval framed lights

FOREDECK
- Ideal 12 V vertical windlass with chain gipsy and warping drum
- On varnished pad
- Chain pipe; chain locker
- Bronze and timber mooring cleats port and starboard
- Recessed mooring fairleads
- Raised bow roller to starboard of stemhead

GROUND TACKLE
- CQR anchor with chain

GENERAL
- 4 x Steps down to varnished mahogany sole
- Typical Concordia finish; pine bulkheads and other carpentry

GALLEY TO PORT
- Large top loading cold plate refrigerator
- Stainless steel sink with mixer tap
- Cup[ shelf and other stowage under, outboard, and aft
- Hand pump
- Shelf outboard
- Side deckhead light

GALLEY TO STARBOARD
- Shipmate gimballed 2 x burner hob, and oven, propane stove
- Lift up chart / food preparation table over
- Plate racks and stowage outboard and aft
- Ship's electrical panel
- Side deckhead light
- Lamp with shade

SALOON
- Settees to port and starboard
- Drop leaf saloon table offset to port
- Drawers under
- Passageway offset to starboard
- Saloon length deckhead grab rail to port
- Deckhead grabrail to starboard extending into passage fwd
- Butterfly skylight in deckhead
- Baltic style oil lamp
- Stereo system
To port
- Pilot berth
- Stowage under
- Reading light
- Lockers forward with feet space under
- Shelf outboard
At forward port bulkhead
- Lamp with shade
- Gimballed oil lamp with smoke shade
- 1 x Fielded panel replaced with mirror
- Dickinson Newport diesel heater and flue
To starboard
- Traditional Concordia "Pullman" bronze slatted backrest to starboard
- Creates a generous berth when raised
- Extensive shelf space outboard
At forward starboard bulkhead
- Lamp with shade
- Ship's clock and barometer

PASSAGE FORWARD
- Hanging lockers to starboard
- Heads compartment to port

HEAD COMPARTMENT
- Cabin heater flue runs through here to deckhead
- Manual marine toilet; wood seat and lid
- Discharge to Lectra San system
- Wash basin with hot and cold taps
- Stowage forward outboard and aft
- Mirror with shelf
- Soap dish
- Lamp with shade

FORECABIN
- Fuel tank to port
- Port and starboard pipe cots
- Lockers forward
- Lamp with shade
- Gimballed oil lamp with smoke shade
- Chain locker forward

RIG
- Painted aluminium spars
- Keel stepped mainmast 3 ft / 91 cm taller than standard
- Main boom
- Counter timber stepped mizzen mast
- Mizzen boom
- Spruce spinnaker pole
- Bronze chainplates
- Stainless steel wire and rod standing rigging
- Harken foresail furler

SAILS
By Pope Sails, Rockland, Maine
- Mainsail
- Mizzen
- Genoa
- Racing genoa
- Mizzen staysail
- Spinnaker

CANVASWORK
- Mainsail boom cover
- Mizzen boom cover
- Covers for all hatches
- Wheel cover
- Spray dodger/ hood
- Spinnaker boom cover
- Cockpit cushions

MECHANICAL
- Westerbeke 27 4 cyl 30 hp Diesel
- Engine hours (2021) 1,671.4
- Stainless steel alloy propeller shaft
- Traditional stuffing box
- Bronze 2-bladed propeller 16 x 12 RH

ELECTRICAL
- 12 V DC System
- 2 x AGM House/ engine start batteries
- 1 x Lead acid battery for windlass
- Engine Alternator charging
- Switch and breakers panel
- No AC supply

TANKAGE AND ASSOCIATED
- Fuel: 1 x tank in fore cabin
- Water 3 x plastic tanks:
- Under saloon settees port and starboard
- Under starboard berth in forcabin
- Pressure water system
- Black water: Lectra San unit

NAVIGATION
- Ritchie steering compass in binnacle
- Garmin GPSMap 4212 multi function display
- At companionway on swing out bracket
- Garmin depth and speed
- Garmin radar (radome at mizzen mast)
- Autohelm 6000 autopilot

COMMUNICATIONS
- Horizon Spectrum VHF radio

- Electric and manual bilge pumps
- Fire extinguishers
- Emergency signal device
- Navigation lights
- Lifejackets
- Horseshoe lifebuoy

- John Williams