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Sippican Historical Society Speaker Series: The Beetle Cat at 100

Historical lecture on Beetle Cat sailboats

Century-old sailboat design still making waves in Massachusetts

Century-old sailboat design still making waves in Massachusetts © Bill Womack An inside look at operations in the Beetle Cat Boat Shop in Wareham, Massachusetts. A sailboat model that was designed and first built in Massachusetts back in 1921 is still gracing the waters of New England a century later. Bill Womack, a Vietnam War veteran and former civil engineer, considers himself the fourth steward of the Beetle Cat Boat Shop, which is now located in Wareham.Sign up for our Newsletters The business namesake, John Beetle, built the first Beetle Cat in New Bedford 100 years ago as a way for children to learn the skill of mastering a gaff-rigged working boat.

Beetle Cat sailboat still making waves in Massachusetts

A sailboat model that was designed and first built in Massachusetts back in 1921 is still gracing the waters of New England a century later.Bill Womack, a Vietnam War veteran and former civil engineer, considers himself the fourth steward of the Beetle Cat Boat Shop, which is now located in Wareham.The business namesake, John Beetle, built the first Beetle Cat in New Bedford 100 years ago as a way for children to learn the skill of mastering a gaff-rigged working boat. The Beetle family was famous for building whale boats, Womack said.Soon, the Beetle Cat evolved into the perfect sailboat for yacht clubs and summer camps. By the end of World War II, the Beetle Cat was all the rage. Everybody in the 50s and 60s, in this area, learned how to sail on a Beetle Cat, Womack said.Since 1946, every Beetle Cat ever made was built on the same exact mold and in the same exact way. The wood used for the boats is even dried out the same way a year per inch of thickness. We make sure

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Beloved by its owners, the Beetle Cat has been bringing sailors together for 100 years Were you to encounter him in person, Bill Womack likely wouldn’t strike you as a structural engineer with a lifetime of high-profile tunnel, bridge and road projects under his belt. He has a snow-white, Imperial-style beard and a friendly, softly weathered face. He wears a baseball cap, flannel shirt, wool sweater and wire-rimmed glasses. He looks like anyone you might find poking around docks and boatyards just about anywhere in New England. Perhaps the look is fitting, considering that most of Womack’s work these days centers around sails, sawdust, varnish and the sweet smell of sawn lumber. He’s the owner of the Beetle Cat Boat Shop in Wareham, Massachusetts, the current iteration of a company that, since 1921, has been building the stately but simple Beetle Cat. It’s a 12-foot, wooden, gaff-rigged sailing dinghy that Womack fell in love with near Onset, Massachusetts, during summe