The design of the cocktail racer dates back to 1939, when boat designer Charles G. MacGregor published an article showcasing what could be done with a novel new material called ‘plywood’. It starts with: “TO THOSE who love the thrills of speed on water …” The article describes a truly puristic design where e.g., a “wheel is not necessary, but a great convenience”.
MacGregor unfortunately did not give any hints why he had chosen the name ‘Skua’ for the design. But most people anyhow refer to it today as Cocktail Racer or Cocktail Class Racer.
The credits for this go to 3 families in the Chesapeake area who in a sunny summer evening in 2007 – apparently over some cocktails – had the great idea to bring this design back to life and created the Cocktail Racer Class organised as the Cocktail Class Wooden Boat Racing Association with more than 100 members today. You’ll find the full story here
The US already has quite a vibrant racing scene. This video by Thomas McMurtrie Jr. nicely brings across, what Cocktail Racing is about.
We stumbled across this fine racing class, when planning a boys-vacation spending fun time together. One of us had encountered Berger Boote in Berlin, with Lutz Berger a boat builder offering boat building workshops where you can build a boat in a week. He is the reseller of Chesapeake Light Craft, who in 2012 came out with a kit for the Cocktail Class Racer and we immediately fell in love when we saw it.
And the idea was born: We want to build this boat and bring the racing class the Europe.
