An account of many happy years of building, designing and living with small boats; with plans and illustrations of some of these boats, and the circumstances under which they were conceived.
Illustrated with designs and photographs by Mr. Atkin and pen sketches by Charles G. Davis.
With an introduction by C. F. Chapman, Editor of Motor Boating.
The infinite pleasures of small boats is a big subject and this is a big hearted, detailed book about it.
William Atkin in his 45 years as a designer and builder of little ships has shaped the contours of 616 of them. He is succinctly introduced by Commodore Chapman, Editor of Motor Boating as "America's foremost designer of small yachts."
With great gusto, Mr. Atkin tells of the joys of his merry and productive years and the yachts and men he encounters in them. Along with his cheerful autobiography go the stories behind the making of a dozen of his more famous little ships, together with the complete drawings and details of their construction.
"Billy" Atkin tells here of his first childhood boat, built and sailed on the family lawn at Montclair, N. J., far from water. Then came the famous "Red Shop" at Huntington, L. I., in those good old days when he designed and built boats with Cottrell Wheeler. From there he takes the reader to "The Mizzen Top," also at Huntington where some of his most famous small yachts came into being: Eric, Dragon, Fore An' Aft, Ben Bow and Tally Ho!
The years from 1933 to the present are filled with more and more pleasure ships and adventures until the great wind forced the family to move to the present Atkin home and shop at 'Anchordown," Darien, Connecticut.
Here grew, among many others; Hell Diver, a power boat with sails; Islamorada, the Jersey sea skiff adapted to Florida waters. Lady of the Lake, a shallow draft stern wheeler and Princess Lena, a V-bottom seabright skiff.
Throughout the book are the lively and accurate pen sketches of Charles G. Davis, that grand old man of American yachting, superb model maker and artist.
To any lover of small boats and yachting, Of Yachts and Men should be a delight from cover to cover. A wealth of wisdom and humor fills the book; a glance at any page will convince the reader that it will become a classic in the small boat field.
– From dust jacket
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