Barnstable Cat Boat

Designed by John Beetle and first built in 1921, the Beetle Cat was a 12-foot gaff-rigged wooden sailboat for the Beetle family’s children. The Beetle family, widely known for their unexcelled Beetle Whaleboats, could build a complete whale boat in one day. When John Beetle died in 1928, his daughter Ruth took over management – making her the only woman boatwright in the U.S.

Notable owners included Jackie Onassis, who had one shipped to Greece in 1969 for John F. Kennedy Jr. and Caroline Kennedy to learn to sail in, Steven Spielberg, and Calvin Klein. The design has remained essentially unchanged for over a century.

This boat, however, is not that boat, but you might not be able to tell unless we pointed out the difference. This Barnstable Cat Boat is a fiberglass reproduction of the original wooden design – the only difference is a fiberglass hull and deck. Appearance-wise it is a near exact replica – right down to the deck texture which you’ll swear is canvas – and the two boats race together equally in many fleets in New England.