Spartina, a 15'3" vee-bottomed, sprit-rigged rowing and sailing skiff, is named for the salt-water marsh grass common to Tidewater. Her design is based on a traditional 1870s lower Chesapeake Bay crabbing skiff documented by Howard Chappell for the Smithsonian watercraft collection in 1919. The noted Maryland small craft designer, Karl Stambaugh, converted these lines into a design appropriate for a plywood hull. He called his design a "Windward 15." Construction began in December 2003. Joe Filipowski, Bobby Guess, John Stewart and a band of friends have gathered each Monday and Wednesday evening since then to complete her construction.