Quoth the Mistral Admiral: "It's a little like a Dairy Goat Journal butt shot."

This is Mistral in her earliest incarnation, in the Blanchard boat yard shortly before completion in 1939. The picture has an honored place on the wall above the drill press in The Center for Wooden Boats shop. Kemp Jones, steward of the Center for Wooden Boats Thunderbird and celebrated Mistral driver, suggests we post a link to Steve Bunnell's excellent WoodenBoat article on Mistral designer Ben Seaborn. Here's an excerpt:
"In 1938 [Seaborn] designed a 26’ racer/cruiser (foreshadowing the Thunderbird?) of which the Blanchards built three. Seattle sailor Keith Fisken purchased one and was so impressed by the performance that he quickly ordered a second Seaborn boat, this time a 31’ vessel, he named Romp II. That boat proved to be the most successful race boat of Ben’s prewar designs.
Completed by the Blanchards in 1939 and considered very fast, Romp II didn’t really hit her stride until the late 1950s and 1960s when she was campaigned by Bill Baillargeon under the name of Mistral. The boat won overall in the 1966 and 1968 Swiftsure races - the smallest boat ever to have done so."