SUMMERWIND
LOA: 100' 9
Class/Type: Classic Staysail Schooner
Builder: C.A. Morse, Thomaston, Maine
Launch Date: 1929
Skipper:
A classic staysail schooner was given a new lease on life by means of a complete structural and mechanical refit in 2008. With luxurious accommodations for 13 in seven cabins, she was originally built in 1929 and christened as
QUEEN TYI
for a wealthy Wall Street banker who reportedly lost the vessel in the stock market crash that same year.
SUMMERWIND
was donated to the Naval Academy Foundation in 2015. She was officially commissioned on October 28 at the National Sailing Hall of Fame.
During World War II, she has served as a sub hunter in the coastal Picket Patrol off the coast of New England.
Watch the video documentary of the Picket Patrol - "The Hooligan Navy"
in the NSHOF
Film Library
.
Later, after many years of racing and cruising in New England, she went into service as a charter boat in the Mediterranean. In 2006 she was purchased by Texas oilman J. Don Williamson and underwent a major multimillion dollar restoration. Shortly afterward she won the 2009 Newport Bucket Race.
Summerwind was the training vessel for the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY in for three years. In 2012 James Grundy bought her and brought the vessel to Oxford, Maryland, where both masts and booms were replaced with carbon fiber spars. In 2014 she won the Great Chesapeake Schooner Race.
In the fall of 2016 Grundy donated
SUMMERWIND
to the United States Naval Academy Foundation. She was officially commissioned in a ceremony that took place here at the National Sailing Hall of Fame.
Click here to visit
SUMMERWIND's
Facebook page.
Video of Restoration:
BULL & BEAR
LOA: 55' (28' LOD)
Class/Type: Sandbagger
Builder:
Independence Seaport Museum Workshop
Designer: Tom Brady
Launch Date: 1995 & 1996
Skipper:
Various Volunteer Skippers
Sandbagger sloops were popular work boats in the 19th century which were also sailed for pleasure. A decendant of shoal-draft sloops used in oyster fishing the shallow waters of New York Bay, they ranged anywhere from 20 to 30 feet in in length, but had sail areas that were significantly disproprortionate to their size. They were the extreme sailboats of their day, with a sailplan that was twice as long as their hull length. Because they were so shallow, all sandbaggers have very large centerboards which can be raised and lowered.
While working, crews of 10 or more men would use their catch as ballast, moving it from one side to the other when tacking. It has been said that the first boat to get their catch to market got the best price, so a race ensued daily. People at the dock started placing bets on which boat would get home first. This evolved into sport, and instead of bags filled with oysters they used bags of sand, thus the name, sandbaggers. Actually it is said they used gravel so that the bags would not retain too much water.
From the 1860s to the 1890s sandbagger racing was a very popular sport from New York down the Atlantic coast and up to New Orleans, and also on the West coast in San Francisco. The exciting challenges would have watermen and amateur sailors racing for crowds of betting spectators. With few rules, sandbagger racing was always exciting. Stories have been told of sandbagger crews throwing extra sandbags into the water in light air to gain a bit more speed, along with the occassional extra crewmember!
BULL
and
BEAR
are modern reproductions of sandbaggers based on
ANNIE
, a sandbagger with a winning history launched in 1880 and raced in Georgia, Florida and Long Island Sound. Over 130 years later,
ANNIE
is still around, on display at
Mystic Seaport Museum
.
BULL
and
BEAR
feature shorter spars with less sail area than the original in order to increase stability, so they can be comfortably used for a variety of community, group and educational sails by NSHOF. Watertight compartments and other features further increase their safety. While the hulls are wood fastened with bronze, the spars are made of carbon fiber wrapped in wood, which significantly reduces weight aloft while maintaining authenticity.
Click here to watch a short documentary about
BULL
and
BEAR
.