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| Jack & Jamie, c. 2012 |
Just about a year ago, I wrote the blog post History of Today for Tomorrow about Tove Moon and our Tulip Tree, hoping to capture the history of today. This is a similar post capturing the history of today and a fun little boat.
Getting underway
A couple weeks ago my husband was at an auction and he saw some David Armstrong photos. I wasn’t familiar with David Armstrong’s art, so I looked up some of his work and was secretly very glad that he let others bid on it. This prompted me to look at the recent work of an artist whose work I do have on our walls at our cottage on Sand Lake in Michigan. The artist is Curt Baldwin, who works in oil producing paintings of subjects and images from his childhood summers “on the southern shore of a small midwestern lake”. I know Curt, he is the youngest son of family friends we have on the lake and I hung out with his older brother and cousins. Many of his works are named for people or places on the lake and in fact, there is one with my family’s name and it proudly hangs on a prominent wall in our cottage.
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| Source: Curt Baldwin Artist Website |
In checking out his latest works in 2025, I came across the following: “The Kool”. OMG!! That’s OUR Sea Snark sailboat! I actually don’t know if Curt modeled this after our family’s sailboat but I don’t remember there being another Kool sailboat on the lake. I will have to ask him this summer!
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| Source: Online Exhibits-Yale |
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| Me & Kim, c. 1978 |
Well, it’s because in the 1970’s, Kool cigarettes had a marketing campaign, slogan, and “giveaway”. The slogan, “never a rough puff” and their opening lines of the advertisement, “Not with the taste of extra coolness in Kools. And now, for more smooth sailing, we’re offering you the world’s most popular sailboat, the Sea Snark.” For $88 and the carton’s end flap, you could have your own Sea Snark with Kool sail.
My grandfather smoked Kool cigarettes, so this was an easy thing for him to get. My grandfather loved spoiling his only child (a daughter–my mom) and grandchildren so he bought the sailboat for the family–I don’t ever remember him sailing in it. It appears that the first year the promotion was offered was 1971 and I read that they produced about 18,000 of these Kool Sea Snarks. According to Wikipedia, it was repeated in 1972 and 1975. I don’t know which vintage (or if there is a way to tell) ours is (and I say “is” because we still have it and occasionally bring it out). Generations have learned to sail using this little Kool boat! It is a styrofoam hull sailboat with a total length of 11 feet and beam of 3 feet. It is an EXCELLENT boat to learn to sail, so safe and easy for one or two.
I couldn’t find a photo of my dad by himself in it, but in my mind’s eye I can see the day my dad entered the Sand Lake 4th of July sailboat race in this boat. I did, however, find photos of me sailing in it. By the looks of my glasses the first picture was taken in 1978 and then the second a few years later.
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| Jack & Don, c. 1999 |
We also have photos of my dad teaching my nephew (c. 1999) and then my daughter and nephew venturing out by themselves (c. 2012, above).
I so appreciate Curt creating this work and I can’t wait to buy a print of it to mount along side these other photos to record the history of today for tomorrow.
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