So my continuing education on wooden boats has led me to another design...possibly one of the best yet...from Nat himself. I ordered the index on the Herreshoff collection at MIT and have waded through all the normal materials...it takes awhile to become familiar with such a body of work.
Having looked long and hard at centerboard designs including Presto and her ilk, I recently became aware of Nat Herreshoff's personal boat "Pleasure" (HMCo #907). I found her in a general quest for a smaller version of "Aida" in an e-mail to Mr. Maynard Bray.
So..."Pleasure" is smaller version of Maynard Bray's "Aida" (around 30 feet) and built a year before "Aida". She resides at the Herreshoff Museum and has been restored. I plan to go see her in the future and to acquire any available photos, etc from the museum.
I was able to retrieve some dialogue from Nat on this specific design that was contained in a personal Herreshoff letter Mr Bray was kind enough to email me part of.
Nat Herreshoff put a lot of thought into this design for crusining south Florida etc... and his comments are quite interesting. According to Mr Bray, Herreshoff wrote out lots of building/construction details at the time...as he was not around when she was built...hopefully all available at MIT along with the plans for her.
Having only seen the great photos of "Aida" in "Wood, Water and LIght"... I was wondering if anyone had any photos and/or information on "Pleasure" . She has similar origins to her bigger sister "Aida",... and of course..."Alerion". BTW, "Alerion" has always been one design that I have kept in the back of my mind as a favorite daysailer if one decided to not build a boat more slanted towards cruising.
Also of note, Herreshoff changed her to a yawl rig after only a year and the letter mentioned above comments on the changes and describes her performance. BTW, Herreshoff went sailing with Commodore Munroe in this boat...and Herreshoff commented she was "livelier" than any of the boats in the area at the time... (Biscayne Bay) which I presume meant she was pretty fast ...
Anyway, any info on her rebuild, performance, accomodations, etc... or photos would be appreciated.
RB
[ 07-31-2005, 09:34 PM: Message edited by: RodB ]
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