Sailing a piece of history
The classic Herreshoff-designed S-boat class celebrated its centennial in style
Winning the overall event across 17 races was the 90-year-old Vindex with a convincing performance. Following in second was Pirate, also 90 years old, and then Surprise, at 89 years old. The oldest boat was Aquila, which was the first S-boat off the Herreshoff line in 1920.
“The nice thing about wooden boats, is that they are living things. If you keep up with the maintenance, they are not that much more work than modern boats,” said David Hubbard, owner of the S-class Clara J. “And wood is more easily replaced than big patches of fiberglass, and with a little TLC, these boats can keep going for centuries. One down, who knows how many to go.”
As the season progressed, many members of the class spent time researching and updating the history of the yachts. Alan Silken gathered history for his book “Setting Sail in America: The Remarkable Story of Herreshoff S-class Sailboats” with photography by his son Corey Silken that was released in conjunction of the centennial. S-boats have long been popular both for looks, size and high-performance, with many well-known past owners. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., son of president Teddy Roosevelt, owned the boat The Fair American. Others included Paul Hammond, of Seawanhaka Yacht Club in Oyster Bay, New York, the owner Spinster, and who was said to have been the one to first ask for a S-boat to be designed by Herreshoff. Hammond was part of the syndicate for the 1930 America’s Cup defender candidate Whirlwind, which lost to Enterprise in the trials. Charles Francis Adams, grandson of President John Quincy Adams, owned Monsoon. He also skippered the America’s Cup yacht Resolute in the 1920 campaign just as the first S-boats were coming off the line. It is also known that Gen. George Patton owned one, although it is doubtful that he ever sailed it, as it was likely sailed by his wife.
Another S-boat with an interesting history, Tinker Too, was owned by the Wickes family in Newport in 1936 to 1938, and was raced by 15-year-old daughter Ann Wickes, who often sailed with an all-woman crew. She won the Narragansett Bay S-boat championship in 1937. Tinker Too was sunk in the great hurricane of 1938, but the boat was rescued and restored, passing through the hands of several owners before needing another complete restoration. She was fully restored at the IYRS School of Technology and Trades in Newport in 2014 and renamed Clara J.
“I had the honor this summer of taking Anne Wickes’ daughter Anita sailing aboard my Clara J,” Hubbard said. “Anita had never been onboard, but the boat was always remembered fondly in the family with much memorabilia, she even brought along her mother’s trophy.”
For more information on the surviving Herreshoff S-boats, visit the Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné” maintained by historian Claas van der Linde at www.herreshoff.info.
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