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History of Terry, later Mamook

When J.C. Ainsworth bought CROD hull #4 in 1935, he named her Terry. Unlike any other CROD, Terry had teak decks, a particularly salty feature deeply appreciated by her subsequent owners. She, like most of her sister CRODs, was powered by a Universal Utility flathead four, Model BN.

As one of the earlier CRODs, Terry found herself in the middle of the regattas and adventures of the early band of original owners. Ainsworth's friend, Dr. Gordon B. Leitch was frequently at the helm (photo at left), and often recorded the CRODs' adventures in magazine articles, like "The CRODs Cruise to Bonneville" found elsewhere on this site.

According to sketchy available records, by 1941, Ainsworth had sold Terry to Tommy Luke, the owner who, we believe, changed her name to Mamook, a Chinook Indian word meaning "to do" or "to make" . Then Luke sold her to Herb Johnson in the late 50s. Herb's son Brent recalls, "As a teenager, I took all of the baby blue paint off the cabin and we removed the port lights and had them polished to their original shine."

In 1962, she changed owners again, this time to Jack Wilfong, a retired Navy Admiral. Wilfong's Navy bearing never left him, according to Jack Austin of Seattle, who crewed for Wilfong as a young man.

"Wilfong was at the helm, and I was on the foredeck. And when it was time to tack or fly the spinnaker, Wilfong let me know it in no uncertain terms," Austin recalls. "He barked his commands as if he were on the bridge of a battleship." Wilfong also kept meticulous records of Mamook's outings and maintenance work for the years he owned her.

By 1965, Wilfong was ready to part with Mamook, and his sometime crew member, Jack Austin, by now a young family man, (seen in 1967 at right) bought her. Austin continued the tradition of meticulous maintenance records on the CROD, and recalls some of the work recorded in the book.

"Admiral Wilfong had redone the deck by removing and numbering every strip of the teak deck, putting in a new 3/4" plywood subdeck, and putting every teak strip back in place. He also installed iron bark rub rails. Wilfong had a local German craftsman replace all the standing rigging with stainless steel wire rope and stainless steel turnbuckles. He had served all the ends with marline and painted them. Very salty! He had done an original style house roof, using white lead and canvas."

"I made a few modifications in the name of practicality. I removed the exterior tackle used to control the centerboard and replaced it with a hand winch inside. I also redid the house roof in modern materials to combat the leaking that was occurring. But we also did a lot of work to maintain the original look of the boat, by stripping and re-varnishing the mahogany house and trim, and resealing that wonderful teak deck."

"Over the years, the manifold on the Universal Utility needed to be replaced. Doc Freeman in Seattle used to stock the gaskets, but the manifolds themselves were hard to find, and they were in demand. There was an outfit in Florida that actually recast about 50 replacement manifolds for the Universal BN, but they didn't machine them. I bought one (I should have bought two!), and had it machined here. I also rebuilt the carburetor a few times."

"My daughter PJ made a full cover for Mamook which really protected her from the elements."

"My wife Ellie is of Ukrainian descent, and in 1982 Opening Day at the Seattle Yacht Club, we decorated Mamook as "Spirit of Ukraine" and won a prize for her." (see photo below)

Eventually, by 1990 or so, our kids were off to college or had otherwise grown out of the boat, and it was time to pass her along. She was still in great shape then, but could have used new keel bolts and centerboard. I passed this information on to the new owner along with all the documentation, including the Wilfong log, and the owner's manual for the Universal engine."

"We had heard that Mamook was later brought to the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle and subsequently sold."

"My daughter PJ married a sailor, and today, they race together on Voodoo Child, a Santa Cruz 52."

[Editor's note: research is underway to locate the subsequent owners of Mamook. We will update this page as new information becomes available. Please submit any corrections or additions by email.]