The Classic Yacht Symposium - interesting facts

by Norene Rickson on 24 Apr 2008 If you attended the Herreshoff Marine Museum’s third Classic Yacht Symposium held on April 11th to 13th in Bristol, Rhode Island, you would have learned some interesting things from Irish yachting historian Hal Sisk, owner of Peggy Bawn, a restored 1896 Irish-built cutter.

Sisk’s talk revealed that Irish sailors built the first one-design boats back in 1821 and had a major influence on one-design racing. They also started the first yacht club – the Water Club of Cork – in the early 1800s. It is all true, although Sisk was later heard to remark, 'Never let a fact get in the way of a good story.'

Sisk’s fascinating and often uproarious talk was the highlight of a weekend of papers and presentations about the restoration of classic yachts. The Classic Yacht Symposium is held every two years (on opposite years to the Chesapeake Sailing Yacht Symposium), and this year’s program lived up to the high expectations of the 175 delegates who gathered at Roger Williams Law School for the three-day event.

The program began on Friday with tours of three boatyards in Connecticut – Stonington Boat Works, McClave, Philbrick and Giblin of Mystic, and Taylor & Snediker located in Pawcatuck. At these yards delegates were able to see various yachts undergoing restoration, including the Herreshoff designed NY50 Spartan. At the end of the day, delegates attended a reception sponsored by Jamestown Distributors.

On Saturday the delegates heard about a number of classic yacht restorations, one of which was Sarah, a Concordia yawl. They also listened to a presentation about the building of Riviera, the yacht on which Nathaniel Herreshoff explored the Rhone river in Germany. In addition, the schedule included talks on the rebuilding of Annie at Mystic Seaport and the restoration of Spartan, which had been seen firsthand the previous day. Several other interesting papers on yacht designers, builders, and reconstruction projects rounded out the day’s program.

The evening talk in the Hall of Boats at the Herreshoff Museum, given by the aforementioned Hal Sisk, was the highlight of the event. It was followed on Sunday morning by a discussion of painting a wooden boat given by Jim Siedel of Interlux. There was also a discussion of the rebuilding of J.P. Morgan's 30-foot 1925 launch Corsair III given by Fred Bisset and Jim Titus.

The Herreshoff Marine Museum would like to thank the following sponsors that helped to make this year’s symposium possible: SNAME, Jamestown Distributors, Bristol Bagel, Plantation Caterers, Lobster Pot Restaurant, Viti Mercedes, CRF Group, the Gob Shop, and Janice Davison. The next Classic Yacht Symposium will be held in Bristol, RI, in April 2010.

www.herreshoff.org