Zephyr (sail): The Watch Hill 15

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

The Watch Hill 15

While we're on the subject of spring coming and summer not far behind has anyone heard of the venerable Watch Hill 15? They're jib-headed mainsail Herreshoff sloops, initially a a modification of the Buzzards Bay 15-footer called the Watch Hill Class - designed in 1923 for the Watch Hill Yacht Club. Watch Hill is a beautiful place but not strong on "populism" these days. However, I've been fortunate enough, through a family connection, to have had a chance to sail on one last summer - we'll overlook (momentarily) the non-populist vibe of Watch Hill in favor of the WH 15's beauty, grace and history. If you're a sailor who appreciates works of art, it's a history worth knowing.

A Watch Hill 15 downwind on a Saturday race off Stonington, CT - August '04

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: I came across this while researching this boat, I am surveying one in Newport. Apparently the designer/builder was a major Herreshoff shipwright who took the Buzzard Bay 15 and gave it his spin. The one I am working on is from Nantucket. I didn't know there were many of them!; 8:08 PM

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"It was with a happy heart that the good odysseus spread his sail to catch the wind and used his seamanship to keep his boat straight with the steering-oar"
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Zephyr - May 05, 2005 - Sailors are intrinsically storytellers

Technology is having a significant impact on sailing culture, particularly in how sailors communicate with one another and share information about key aspects of voyaging and cruising (weather, friendly ports-of-call, sheltered anchorages). Some of the best examples of this are found in the multitude of individual sailing weblogs being published with more popping every day. Unlike Zephyr, which focuses on a specific topic (sailing culture) and covers it broadly, these sailing blogs are written from the perspective of voyagers, boatbuilders, weekend warriors they're mostly about the individual journey and serve as a two-way, grassroots window into the sailing world. When I was mate on the Maxi in the late 90'€™s I used to punch out email updates to all my desk-bound friends back in the States, compile a mailing list and send them whenever I could find an Internet cafe when we paused in Roadtown, English Harbor, Culebra, etc. I remember people enjoyed them, forwarded them all over their offices, to friends across the country. Sailors are intrinsically storytellers and the Internet has magnified this attribute. Consider the shift from the viral, uncontrolled mass email to a narrow-casted, self published weblog. We are witnesses to this technology proliferating, evolving and beginning to virtually knit together the larger sailing community...not surprisingly the results are (like many things in life) heterogeneous - we discover compelling content side-by-side with the trite, sublime with mundane, unique with conventional...

Zephyr (sail)

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

The Watch Hill 15

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Zephyr - May 05, 2005 - Sailors are intrinsically storytellers