The National BoatBuilding Challenge History 

The National BoatBuilding Challenge was started by John Hansen, current publisher of Boats and Harbors magazine. The first competition took place at the Newport RI wooden boat show in 1981. The SIKA adhesives company sponsored that first event, a “quick and dirty” boatbuilding contest featuring six teams building any boat they cared to build and then racing them. Racing the boats has been a fundamental part of the contests ever since. SIKA still sponsors the Georgetown, SC event each October.

The first “one-design” boatbuilding contest, featuring the TEAL design by Phil Bolger, was held about four years later at the Oyster Festival in Norwalk CT. Phil Bolger’s TEAL design remained in use until 2001 when Willie French of Georgetown SC, by way of New Zealand, and his partner set the unbelievable record of ONE HOUR, ELEVEN MINUTES and THIRTY FOUR SECONDS. Since the competitors had become just too quick at building the TEAL,

“B.” Coleman of SEACO YACHTS DESIGN in Lexington KY was asked to design a more complicated skiff.  He designed the handsome 12ft. GEORGETOWN BATEAU which was the “challenge boat” used through 2006.

In early 2007, WoodenBoat magazine organized the National BoatBuilding Challenge circuit and the “challenge boat” became a modified version of Phil Bolgers 12 ft. MONHEGAN SKIFF design. The first regional contest was held in Belfast Maine during July 2007. The second regional contest was held in Georgetown, SC during October 2007. The third regional contest is planned for Beaufort, NC during the North Carolina Maritime Museum’s WoodenBoat Show on May 3, 2008. Successful contestants from these regional contests will be invited to compete for the national title at WoodenBoat magazine’s Wooden Boat Show at Mystic Seaport during June 27-29, 2008. WoodenBoat magazine plans to expand the number of regional contests to six or seven sites during the next few years.