by Halsey C. Herreshoff

November 30, 2017

In honor of our late Curator Carleton Pinheiro, the Herreshoff Marine Museum and Halsey C. Herreshoff hosted an evening celebrating the mighty Herreshoff racing Schooner WESTWARD and her replica, the beautiful ELEONORA. ELEONORA had graced the HMM waterfront as her home during summer of 2017.

The schooner WESTWARD was launched in March 1910 as hull number 692 at the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. and became one of the most famous racing schooners in the world. WESTWARD was undoubtedly the fastest schooner in the world in her day, and with Captain Charlie Barr at her helm, she sailed successfully against well-known yachts like BRITANNIA, LULWORTH and METEOR II winning numerous trophies. For thirty-seven years, WESTWARD graced the yachting scene and represented all that was best in yacht design and workmanship.

The yacht ELEONORA, an exact replica of WESTWARD, was built at the Van der Graaf shipyard in Holland and launched in March 2000. Since then, she has successfully participated in a number of classic sailing regattas and hosted a number of high profile guests. ELEONORA shows astonishing beauty under sail, her slender hull cutting a pathway through the sea, an elegant combination of beauty and power.

Halsey Herreshoff, grandson of the designer and builder of WESTWARD, and Brendan McCoy, Captain of ELEONORA, explains what makes these boats special and tells the stories about their racing adventures.