19' Rhodes O'Day Mariner 2+2 Sloop (1970) - ORION

“Orion” is a 1970 O’Day Mariner 2+2, hull number 1922, built in Fall River, Massachusetts. The boat spent much of her life in New Jersey, eventually finding her way to Surf City. She was owned by only a couple people in her 30-plus years of active sailing, and she found herself for sale again at the end of 2006. On one pleasant day at the end of February, 2007, my wife and I traveled to Surf City to see her for ourselves as I was actively hunting for an O’Day Mariner of her vintage. Upon our arrival, I was pleased to see her in pretty good shape, overall – no big structural issues, mostly only cosmetic issues typical for a boat of that vintage. It wasn’t too long after that I got in touch with the owner of the boat, made an offer, and she was ours. Two months later, we brought her home to Connecticut to begin her new life sailing the waters of Long Island and Fisher’s Island Sounds.

Based on the popular Rhodes 19 racing design, George O’Day added an open cuddy cabin to promote family sailing and named it the Mariner, first producing them in 1963. The deck and cabin went through various small design changes over the years, but by the time O’Day stopped making them in 1979, they had manufactured an astounding 3,771 Mariners. Rebel Industries then bought the molds and built some under their Spindrift One-Designs line until 1983. Stuart Marine, based in Rockland, Maine, started manufacturing Mariners in 1985 and continues to build them to this day, now known as Stuart Mariners. All three incarnations of the Mariner – O’Day, Spindrift, and Stuart – are able to race together as a one-design class.

My wife and I named #1922 “Orion” as that is our favorite constellation, and it just seemed to fit. Over the course of nearly 20 years, I have made a number of improvements, all documented on my website (mariner1922.com). She is a joy to sail, and I have been a proud member of the Mariner Class Association’s Executive Board since 2009, including serving as President for four terms. I organize a Rendezvous every year for other Mariner sailors, and we always launch from Niantic and sail to a nearby destination for a weekend including Mystic Seaport, Fisher’s Island, Stonington, New London, and Essex. It is a wonderful experience to sail in the company of nearly 20 other Mariners. “Orion” is now nearly 56 years old, and I hope to continue sailing her for many more years to come.