Building the 55-knot Carbon Fiber Sportfisherman Skinny Witch

Martin Hardy’s crew at Composite Yacht (Trappe, Maryland) shift the freshly cured carbon composite hull of the 55’4″ (16.9m) sportfisherman Skinny Witch between halves of the vacuum-compatible split mold.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. In 1974, 17-year-old Martin Hardy gathered his pizza shop earnings and joined a couple of classmates on an open-ended trip to Europe and Great Britain. He reckoned that a thousand dollars would fund the adventure. After a couple of months on trains and hitchhiking, living on bread and cheese, he ran out of cash somewhere in the Scottish Highlands. He somehow made his way to the hamlet of Scoraig, situated between two sea lochs and reachable only by boat along the rocky northwestern coast. He found work patching up the essential double-ended, lapstrake boats the Scoraigians used to cross Little Loch Broom to and from the only road in or out. Lessons from his grandfather, a patternmaker at the U.S. Navy Yard, served him well, and the Scoraig residents took him in, fed him, and paid him what they could. It took U.K. government officials about six months to discover that he was there working without a visa. Two agents made the 25-mile (40.2-km) road trip out to catch a boat across the loch, address the situation, and give him a year to get out. In that time, he discovered just what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. Go to this link to read the full article published by Professional Boatbuilder Magazine https://www.proboat.com/2025/01/building-skinny-witch/