Time and Again

By Bill Pike


Shelter Island 38: Don't go changing.

Although Billy Joel is a world class singer-songwriter, he's also a real seaman, with a "real thing" for gritty yet pretty vessels, downeast lobster-yachts mostly.

Joel's salty biography includes a 38' Ray Hunt-designed Lee Wilbur, a 46' Jarvis Neuman/Wilbur and, as of a couple of years ago, a Flye Point 36. A fast-laner by trade, he's obviously hung in with the slomo boats over the years, leaving speedemonism to the thunderboat set.

But people change. These days, Joel's into commuting to New York City by boat from his home in East Hampton. And bopping over to Newport for lunch.

To do this, he's driving a fast new vessel, a veritable hot-rod lobsteryacht designed by Doug Zurn of Marblehead, Massachusetts, and custom-built by Peter Needham at Coecles Harbor Boatyard, Shelter Island, New York.

Forget about sedentary powerplants. Joel's new Shelter Island Runabout has a set of fuel-injected 415-hp MerCruiser Magnum MPIs geared into racy Bravo Three outdrives. And forget fast-forward looks. We're talkin' downeast graceful sheer here. And a bow as proud as any Stonington traphauler's.

"If I want to go fast," Joel asks, "Why does it have to look a certain way?"

Of course, speed, even in a traditional looking vessel still means a skinny-beamed hullform and feather-weight construction. The Shelter Island Runabout's balsa-cored Kevlar/E-glass hull, as well as its deck and liner, are layed up with pricey vinylester resin via a method called SCRIMP (Seeman Composites Laminate Resin-Infusion Molding Process) which guarantees a light, strong laminate. Stringers are all-glass with high-density foam inside.

Accommodations ? Yacht-grade but spartan, with teak ceiling planks, Ocean Frigast reading lamps from Denmark, Macleod Tartan upholstery (Joel's grandfather was a Scotsman) and a standup head that's as voluminous as the galley is "symbolic."

"Cook on a boat...," says Joel, "Hell, you bring sandwiches."

The Shelter Island Runabout is a real performer, with a scalding top end of 55.2 mph. Courtesy of a couple of mucho-adjustable Stidd helmseats, driving feels like tooling around in a '56 Buick Roadmaster.

- Boating Magazine Jan '97

For more information on ordering, email staff@thehamptons.com


Coecles Harbor Marina
Dept. I
P.O. Box 1670
Shelter Island, New York 11964
USA

tel: 631.749.0700