MEET
"BABY ORLO"
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MEET
"BABY ORLO"
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Back in March of 2005 I met through this website, Pete Reynolds a fellow Long Islander who had contacted me because of my stuff about Sea Sleds. Pete told me he had two early 1930's 13 footers that he was planning on restoring and sent the pics below of them. Pete who flies commercial jets for Northwest is a busy family guy with a 2 year old daughter. He had hoped to have one or both boats done by the summer of 2005 and then I lost touch with him as his email address no longer worked. Last week Lo and Behold there was an e mail from Pete with pics of "BABY ORLO" the first of his restored boats sitting proudly at his lake house in New Hampshire as pretty as she was when she left Knapp's plant at Mystic, Conneticut over 75 years ago. Pete who knows a thing or two about high performance, tells me Baby Orlo handles amazingly well on Lake Sunapee. He has a 1930's Johnson outboard for it too.
Orlo was the name of a series of HUGE inboard 75mph Sea Sled racers from the early1920's that can be seen on the Sea Sled story page here.
Here's how Baby Orlo looked in March of 2005
And Today !!!
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Notice the tufted seats a Sea Sled hallmark
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And waiting in the Wings for Peter Pilot.... er Rafters that is .... is "CORKER"
"Corker" was an actual 13 foot Sled that won the Boston to Manhattan marathon in 1928 and appeared in many print ads. Pete plans to have her ready for next summer.
Notice The K on serial number
From 1926 : notice the K on the Burgee...That Is J P Knapp Himself & The Ladies out for a spin?