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Shields (keelboat)

sailboat class

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ7496198
Source-derived summary

The Shields, also called the Shields 30 and the Shields One-Design, is a one-design racing keelboat first built in 1962, in the United States. The design was commissioned as a fiberglass replacement for the 1930s International One Design and is Sparkman & Stephens design #1720. Shields had boats with hull numbers 1 to 31 constructed at Cape Cod Shipbuilding and he donated them to several American universities on the US east coast. The boat class was named after him in honor of his donations. In the end he donated over 100 of the boats to various colleges and universities, including 15 donated to universities in southern California.

The design was initially built by Cape Cod Shipbuilding, then hull numbers 32 to 189 by Chris-Craft Industries and hull numbers 190 to 200 by Hinckley Yachts. Today it is once again hull numbers 201 to 259 built by Cape Cod Shipbuilding and remains in production. 5 hull numbers were assigned to boats that were built to replace the 5 Navy War College boats that had burned.

Design

The Shields is built predominantly of fiberglass, with teak wood trim, including teak coamings, toe-rails, handrails, the cockpit floor grating and the cockpit seats. It has a fractional sloop rig with aluminum spars.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Shields (keelboat)” as sailboat class. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1962, 1720—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1962. The account is most persuasive where Shields, keelboat and sailboat can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as sailboat class. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7496198. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1962 and 1720.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Shields (keelboat)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Shields (keelboat) primary sources, Shields (keelboat) archive and Shields research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Shields (keelboat)”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Shields (keelboat)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.