The 52' Yawl KAY 34

The 52' Yawl KAY 34

The 52' yawl KAY was designed by Sparkman & Stephens and built in 1978 at A. Walsted Baadevaeft in Thuro, Denmark. View of the foredeck of the yawl KAY showing KAY's foredeck Dorade ventilator. Sparkman & Stephens (Rod Stephens in particular) insisted on plenty of fresh air below deck and achieved this via big cowls attached to scuppered deck boxes as shown here-the assembly known as a Dorade vent. Any water taken in through the cowl and entering the box, drained away quickly so that only air entered the living space through the raised duct, visible in this photo beneath the deck box's transparent top. These photos are of the Sparkman & Stephens-designed, Walsted-built yawl KAY. She had recently arrived in Camden, sailed there single-handed by her owner Arne Frizzell from Europe-Denmark, I think. Rod Stephens was scheduled to visit, and Jon Wilson and I had been invited by Bill Cannell to attend the gathering on behalf of WoodenBoat magazine. (Jon and I picked up Rod in Bangor and drove him to Camden on the day of the meeting.) This was the second KAY that Walsted had built for Frizzell, the first having been sold unexpectedly at a price he couldn't refuse, so he immediately ordered a duplicate. We got a chance to examine KAY in her entirety that day and hear about her from both co-designer Rod Stephens and owner-sailor Arne Frizzell. She was exceptionally well thought out in terms of design and just as exceptionally built. We found her bilge totally, and I mean totally, dry despite having just sailed transatlantic. The following photos show details of her construction. Maynard Bray 2022