Beaton’s

22 thoughts on “Beaton’s”

1. Hello,

   My name is Sean Park and I am the Commodore of the Herreshoff S-Class of Western Long Island Sound (see our website http://www.herreshoff-s-wlis.org). We have 9 boats actively racing out of Larchmont.

   I am enquiring about the S-boat photo on your site. Do you know if the name of the boat is “Volunteer”? And has she been abandoned? I may be interested in moving her to a dry location and restoring her. She used to be in our fleet, but the owner disappeared.

2. My name is Matt Schofield and I also have an interest in this hull. My father owned her as “Ahab” from 1962-1968 and I have been interested in acquiring her. I would hope to sail her on Buzzards Bay. please let me know her status.
   Thank you.

3. Howdy,

   Seeing these pictures really brings back memories. For years in the ’50s we wintered our sneak box “Frozen Assets” at Beaton’s, the place of her berth.

   Sigh.

4. Hi Chip,

   Happy to provide the walk down memory lane. Are you sill in the area?

   Russ

5. I used to work there back in the 80’s. Scraping and painting. My father worked on his Sparkman there. “Magic” was her name. He found her across the street in Winters boneyard and restored her. all the finishing touches were done at Beatons. And I think Tommy beaton used to crew on her when he would race in the Metedeconk. Its good to see some things staying the same.

   Bill Kwaak

6. I had the pleasure of crewing on Magic with Doc, Tom, and Mark Dawson in ’85 I think it was. I had a boat there at Beaton’s that I had purchased in Brighton, England. I remember getting the boat to a Beaton’s mooring about 5 days before hurricane Gloria. My boat, a 35′ French built masthead sloop, had a red hull, and it stayed at Beaton’s for a few years in the ’80’s. I vaguely remember a triskedecaphobia party that I could’nt attend, and a discussion of the concept of “perseveration” which I seemed to be engaged in. I got a billet on a foreign ship out of Miami one winter and only got back to visit every so often….fond memories.

7. I grew up summering at Beaton’s Boat Yard. I bought my first sailboat, a Snipe, from three school teacher’s who sailed it from Beaton’s for several season’s. I had a friend, John Callahan, who introduced me to Beaton’s. He sailed the Snipe, then purchased a G sloop. We had many fabulous sails from Beaton’s over several year’s. We were given a lightning owned by Mr. Beaton on one occation in Mid December. We sailed on the calmest bay with a light breaze that day. It was surreal. Not a single other boat on the bay that day as far as I could see. There were very old boats rotting in the weeds which we played skipper on for hours and admired the old brass fittings and large wooden cleats and pulleys. A lot has changed since I last saw Beaton’s 35 or 40 years ago, but I still get the same warm feeling when I saw it again today. Please don’t change it. And thank you for being a part of my growing up.

8. Jim,

   Thanks so much for sharing your memories. While the Beaton family makes regular improvements to the yard, its soul will remain the same.

   When I first had a boat there in the late 70’s my kids had similar experiences playing on the abandoned boats on “Death Row”.

   Stop by sometime and renew your memories.

   Russ

9. During the ’50’s my family lived in a small cottage on Barnegat Boulevard, Bay Head Estates which my father and uncle purchased for $750 (!) in 1940 or so. We had a Comet and then a Lightning to sail on the bay. Fishing & crabbing provided local seafood and irregular visits to David Beaton & Sons in the ’38 Pontiac are a fond memory. Mostly I remember the smell of the wood stove and Balkan pipe tobacco which permeated the establishment. I also remember stepping up into the paint shop which seemed to have about a foot of drippings preserving the original, invisible wood floor.

10. the pix are great. My grandfather was Jim O’Dea and he worked every day with Dave Beaton in the yard. I live in Swan Point still , next to where my grandfather had his house and I think I have half of Mantoloking splintered in my back yard. Nice to see the pix of better days and remembering sailing there. Lois

11. Lois Lepore,
    I new your father, Jim O’Dea from my youth years at Beaton’s in the 60’s. My father left his camera at the yard on one occation. Jim O’Dea tracked my father down and returned the camera. I learned a life lesson from that. He was a great man to talk with and I always looked forward to his spirited conversation.

12. I remember many of my younger years at Beaton’s with my dad, Ron Tolles and my siblings!! Some of the best years of my life!

13. Thanks Marta. Beaton’s still has that timeless quality. Stop by when you’re in the area and say hi.

14. As a youngster growing up in Point Pleasant Beach, I was fortunate that my father decided to have Dave Beaton build us a racing sneakbox in 1956. We would visit there all the time and I loved to climb around the old boats and inhale the pervasive smell of cedar. I don’t think Dave ever had a production schedule, so a new boat might be ready in only 2 years (if you pestered him).
    For a while in the 60’s and 70’s there were regularly fleets of 30 to 50 racing in the Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association (www.bbyra.org), mostly represented by the Toms River, Seaside Park, Beachwood, Manoloking, Manasquan River, and Lavalette Yacht Clubs.
    I last won the Bay Head Invitational with 3/3 firsts in 1983 with an old Ratsey & Lapthorne sail that we broke out in heavy winds.

15. Nice to see a yard that has stayed in business on the same site. My childhood and teenage yard,Hogan’s Boatyard, on Main St. in Tiburon, Calif. is now a Hotel.

16. In the late summer of 1965 I brought my Lightning, #5697, built by Jules Hansen, Jamaica Bay, NY, to Beaton’s for new deck canvas and rub rails and for longterm storage. I was leaving for US Navy OCS in Newport and ultimately served in the aircraft carriers ESSEX and TICONDEROGA. When I returned in the spring of 1969 to retrieve “Bluebird,” Beaton’s refused to bill me for inside storage.

    As a Vietnam Vet who was returning to graduate school on the GI Bill, I have never forgotten–more than a half-century past–this act of kindness and generosity towards me by Beaton’s. I rather doubt that any third party, except for a reader her now, ever knew about this. That is the kind of people the Beatons are–exceptionally fine people of noble character.

    Bluebird never returned to Beaton’s. My cousin sailed her for a season off Rowayton, CT, in Long Island Sound, before she was sold.

17. FYI – the Herreshoff S boat is STILL at Beaton’s as of 1 Oct 2019, having survived the ‘5-ft breaking wave’ that Tom Beaton described to me that broke through the island at Mantoloking on 29 Oct 2012 (‘Superstorm Sandy’), destroyed 14 of the 16 multimilliondollar McMansions on the beach (because those people *refused* to have a dune), and came across the bay to charge through the whole Beaton boatyard causing untold damage to the yard, the boats, and all of Brick Township (to the point where Hinckley’s, who had the heliport used by those McMansion owners, chose to permanently close; and BTW the McMansions have NOT been rebuilt in the 7 yrs since). I have often wondered about this boat and the others similar to her as my cousin once had a Fishers Island 23 and I thought it looked very similar (though the S is smaller).

    I would strongly suggest that anyone interested should get in touch with Tom Beaton ASAP as the boat won’t last much longer where it is, how it is. Anyone wishing to restore it should have that opportunity. There’s no use hoarding something if only to let it degrade it in the condition it’s in; and someone should make that clear to the owner/abandoner of this poor classic.

    Best of luck to all in that.

18. Just a salute to the men who have kept the Bay’s traditions alive for decades. New to sailing I bought a sloop that was (and still is) kept at Shore Point. I fell in love with the A-cats across the stream and have been intrigued by the history of the wooden boats that were born on the Barnegat Bay. I share the water with some of these during our Wednesday night races and hope and pray that I can one day find a sneakbox with enough left of her to bring her back to her original glory. Good work, guys.
    O’Day 25
    Wind Dancer

19. I suspect you’ll hear more about Sjogin and Russ, Tom and Beaton’s in the future. Stay tuned, and in the meantime, enjoy Russ’s weblog, Hove to off Swan’s Point .

20. Beaton’s has been a part of my soul since the 1950s when I used to set out from the launching beach, rowing Louise Colie’s row boat to investigate the long-gone sedge islands on the eastern shore of the Bay. Then came my Penguin, my favorite Comet, SHEBA, then our unnamed Annapolis Rainbow, and, for the last 30 years our Compac 23 —all sometime residents of the yard.

    So many memories, undoubtedly shared by the other contributors.
    The personalities:Grandfather Dave, in his Glasgow accent describing how they built the WASP, was it?, from plans found in a closed drawer; Lachlan’s advice on sanding my Comet; Ted’s rye comment, said with a twinkle: “You’re one of those slow payers aren’t you?”; Tommy’s steady hand on the Yard’s tiller after the calamity of Hurricane Sandy.
    Atmosphere: The sound of the band-saw and the smell of cedar on entering the shop where a beautiful craft could be seen emerging from its chrysalis; the message board with boats for sale, like personal classifieds for those “who want to have a good time?”; the sound of wannabe sailors sanding and scraping their beloveds for the season; outside, the osprey nests with sqwalking fledglings; and all the boats in their berths, patiently awaiting the call of a Southerly. And now, the new headquarters with its spotless bathrooms, and there’s no uncertainty about whether to risk the old shack.
    Overall. The generosity and helpfulness of the curators of this timeless museum to the excitement and pleasure of sailing is what I will recall. How many times have I needed to borrow a tool, have help with a fussy engine, or reach the slip—and always someone’s there to help you.

    If there’s any place on Barnegat Bay that deserves to be a Heritage Site, it’s surely David Beaton and Sons Boatyard.

    Colin Hill.

21. I hope this message gets to Colin Hill. He refers to his favorite Comet SHEBA. Sheba is an unusual boat name, so I assume it is mine from the 50’s. I want to explain why it was called Sheba. When I was 12 years old I raised Siamese kittens and sold them for $25:00 to $35:00. I made enough money to purchase my Comet for $725:00. I thought it was only fair to name the boat after the mother cat that bore all the kittens.

22. 40+ years ago my Dad wintered his little sleeper skiff at Dave Beaton’s and I kept my 24′ Bristol there as well. When my Dad and I first visited the yard to inquire about winter storage we came across Dave Beaton working on a sneak box in his shop. My Dad asked Dave if he was the gentleman who owned the boat yard. Dave replied in his thick Scottish brogue: “Ah oon this baughtyard, but I een’t no gentlemen.”