APHRODITE commuter yacht

APHRODITE was built by the Purdy Boat Company and launched in May of 1937 for Wall Street financier John Hay (Jock) Whitney of Manhasset, Long Island. She is a sleek and elegant 74-foot "Commuter Yacht", and was originally used to transport Mr. Whitney from his boat house on Long Island Sound thru the East River to his Wall Street office. After Pearl Harbor, APHRODITE was offered to the government for war service and she was commissioned in April 1942 as a Coast Guard auxiliary vessel (CGR-557). In the fall of 2003 a complete restoration was started at Brooklin Boat Yard bringing her back to her original appearance and updating her ship's systems up to today's standards. You can read about the restoration, and view photos of her undwerway here. I photographed APHRODITE while she was tied up at Fort Adams, near the Museum of Yachting at Newport, RI in July 2008. APHRODITE is also featured in the November/December issue of Classic Yachting Magazine where several paintings by Robert Webber are published. She is a stunning sight!

Classic Yacht Magazine

A gorgeous resource with photos and stories about classic sail and motor yachts as well as smaller classics. Browse the current issue and archives here.

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Motor yacht CARINA moored at the Newport Museum of Yachting

These photographs of the Carina were taken in August 2007 in Newport Harbor off the Museum of Yachting.

Photos of Adirondack II in Newport RI

Photos of Adirondack II sailing on Narragansett bay and at the dock in Newport, RI taken during the summer of 2007.

Peter Duck a Haven 12-1/2 built by Eric Dow visits Newport

I met a gentleman visiting from CT, who was rigging a gorgeous Haven 12-1/2 sailboat with his daughter at the Fort Adams launch ramp in Newport last weekend. She is a new boat, built by Eric Dow of Brooklin Maine and delivered about six months ago. He told me the hull is cedar.

I did some looking on line and and took the following excerpt from an interview with Eric Dow by Pauleena MacDougall and Amy Appleton published by the Maine Folklife Center

We still try to stick with wood as much as possible but it’s still the same design pretty much. I’d like to continue to build wooden pea pods but when I started out I think I sold the first one for $700 and you couldn’t begin to paint one for that now. The fiber glass ones are about $2,500 now and they take no time compared to a wooden would take to build. I don’t know a wooden pea pod like that now would be in the $11,000 range. There aren’t many people willing to pay that kind of money for a rowboat. They are very rare so we jumped up a step and we’re building the Haven twelve and a half. It’s a 16-foot day sailor, sailboat, very traditional design. It was adapted by Joel White from the Brooklin Boat Yard. He took a Herreshoff design and based this on the Herreshoff style, which had been a very popular boat. Woodenboat magazine was interested in that project and did a how to build boat and fairly publicized the design. We went into that and it got the price where we could and still do produce those boats and are able to earn a living at it. When you can build a 16-footer and get in the $30,000 range for it then the numbers work better than they would in a smaller boat.

What a fine piece of craftsmanship! I felt privileged to have a chance to get a close look at this rare beauty. After a bit more poking around the web I found another one listed for sale in Southwest Harbor Maine. The price is equivalent to a year's tuition at a good private college. For more on the Haven 12-1/2 see http://www.havenbuilders.com/

I hope to see you on the water!
Chuck