Claiborne C. "Sandy" Van Zandt Jr.

10/29/1931 - 8/3/2025

Noank – Claiborne C. "Sandy" Van Zandt Jr., a pioneering sailmaker of international renown who sailed around the world with his wife, Sidney, in a boat he designed and built with his family, passed away peacefully Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025, at his apartment at Academy Point in Mystic. He was 93.

Sandy, who also maintained a home in Noank, founded Van Zandt Sails in 1962, designing and constructing sails for boats all over the world. He was one of the first sailmakers to switch from canvas to the new Dacron material, and also introduced zippers in his sails, which provided sailors greater "options" when dealing with changing wind conditions.

The business thrived, as boats using VZ Sails won national and international sailing championships. He also pioneered gluing sail seams, which improved accuracy and sped production. Gluing seams became the global sailmaking practice after the secret left the Van Zandt sail loft in 1968. Sandy sold the Old Mystic business in 1974 and retired.

In 1978, he designed and built a 20-foot wood and epoxy cruising dinghy named "Dulcimer," which he and Sidney trailered to Key Largo, Fla., and sailed across the Gulf Stream to spend the winter cruising in the Bahamas.

In 1980, he designed a unique 39-foot, steel-hulled sailboat, "Sequel." Sandy, Sidney and their son, Douglas, built the entire boat in a field in Deltaville, Va. The vessel was round-bottomed, with two bilge boards (two centerboards, four feet apart) instead of a single centerboard or keel. When these boards were lowered, Sequel drew 7 feet, but when they were retracted in the hull, the boat only drew 3 feet, allowing it to maneuver in shallower water.

Sequel was launched in November 1982. Sandy and Sidney lived aboard for 14 years, sailing 95,000 miles, during which time they circumnavigated the globe, completed four Atlantic crossings and visited 56 countries.

In 1996, they returned to Noank, and Sandy began welding sculptures and woodworking. A chestnut kitchen table he built used floorboards that had been salvaged from a demolished building at Haley Farm State Park in Noank – a fitting tribute to Sidney's effort in the late 1960s to help save the former farm from a development project. That successful neighborhood campaign led to the formation of the Groton Open Space Association, for which Sidney served as its first president.

Sandy was born Oct. 29, 1931,in Milwaukee, Wisc., the eldest son of the late Claiborne and Marion Ida Schifflin Van Zandt.

Following graduation from Hackley School in Tarrytown, N.Y., Sandy worked as a deckhand on a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution vessel, researching the Gulf Stream. After service in the U.S. Army in Germany, and a winter ski bumming in Aspen, Colo., he entered Middlebury College, graduating with a degree in physics. At the end of his first year, he met Sidney, in Bedford, N.Y. They married in 1955.

In addition to his extensive travels and work, Sandy was a longtime member of the Noank Planning and Zoning Commission.

In addition to his wife, and their son, Douglas, who lives in White Salmon, Wash., Sandy is survived by a nephew, Derek Van Zandt, of Shelter Island, N.Y. His only sibling, Pieter, predeceased him.

A celebration for Sandy's well-lived life will take place at a future date. Donations in his memory may be made to the Groton Open Space Association (GOSA), P.O. Box 9187, Groton, CT 06340.