Obituary of Newton E. Durland

Tribute to Newton Durland, 4/22/16 - 10/22/11 By his daughter, Beth Ellen (Durland) Grosskopf " 'Tis good to sail upon the sea." This was a quote from Newton's 1934 yearbook from Grover Cleveland High School in Caldwell, NJ. Newton sailed a 12 ft. sneak box in Barnegat Bay, NJ. He owned a 26 ft. 1909 vintage Cape Cod Crosby Cat sailboat at 21 yrs. old. Newton was a boat builder by trade. He received formal training in Naval Drafting, then obtained on-the-job training at 13 shipyards. He built his first sailboat from scratch at age 26. During WWII he built PT boats and mine sweepers at Julius Petersen Boatyard in Upper Nyack, NY. He worked on Rockefeller's yacht, The Dauntless, and on Racer/Designer Olin Steven's deck on the Vim, upon which many America's Cup sailboats were modeled. Newton and Ralph Winslow drew up plans for the 20 ft. sloop sailboat, WD (Winslow Durland). Newton built the hull form for the sailboat in the basement of his house in Nanuet, NY and had 20 mahogany shells made. He started buiding, racing and selling the sailboats, and then opened a successful retail store, Durland Boat Company, in Nanuet which he operated from 1954 - 1975. It's slogan was, "Headquarters for family fun." He operated it with his wife, Edith, and the help of his three sons, Eric, Chris, and David. The store carried Whirlwind, Lyman, Penn Yann, Duranautic, Duratech, and Cobia boats up to 21 ft., Johnson outboard motors, rowboats, sailboats and Grumman canoes. Many Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts in Rockland County, NY paddled canoes from the store at summer camp. The family enjoyed camping on islands on Lake George, NY. Newton expertly steered the boat for many a water skier while someone else was the spotter. Some trips took the family to the Manasquan River, Barnegat Bay, Lake Hopatcong and Candlewood Lake in New Jersey. They went to Norwalk, CT and Eton's Neck on Long Island. The family made winter treks to Florida in 1961 and every year thereafter. They often camped and boated in the Florida Keys. They made their own fun while maneuvering the motorboat on the Oklawaha River and in Sebastian Inlet or canoe surfing in the Atlantic Ocean, and later, boating, sailing, and canoeing on the Indian River. Newton lived on a canal in Melbourne Beach, FL since 1980. He had a view of the canal where palm branches waved and mullet fish jumped daily. Long after his vision started to dim, he still paddled the canoe out and threw the cast net for bait or a fish for Charlie, the visiting heron. Other regular visitor's included Henrietta, a white egret, an Osprey that perched on the sailboat mast and occasionally manatee and porpoises. He and Edith also built a small cabin on a island in Newboro, Ontario where they loved to spend summers. What a pleasure having Newton Durland for a father, a role model, a family-fun-loving man, a good citizen, Boy Scout, and church-goer. As part of his legacy and enjoyment, there are still small arrays of boats at his home on the canal leading to the Indian River and his cabin in Canada.