August 19, 2021

The Buzzards Bay 25

HMM archive lecture footage from 1993

May 25, 1993

28 years ago HMM hosted a forum to celebrate the iconic Buzzards Bay 25 one design class. As Bray and Pinheiro wrote in Herreshoff of Bristol, "All four Buzzards Bay 25-footers came out in 1914 as sleeker versions of NGH's personal sloop Alerion (#718s). According to his son Sidney, this was NGH's favorite among the many hundreds of models he made. A persistent story of why the class never grew to more boats involves a sudden squall and sinkings the very first season, and indeed this event is confirmed by the 1915 Beverly Yacht Club's yearbook. The fact that these Buzzards Bay 25s cost about twice as much as the Buzzards Bay 15s and four times as much as the 12 1/2-footers might also explain why more were not built. The boats are breathtakingly beautiful, however, and they sail as well as they look. It is a pity that the class didn't blossom..." Watch the video to learn more.