The Herreshoff 12½ Footer is a
one-design keelboat
A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open w ...
.
History
Nathanael Greene Herreshoff
Nathanael Greene Herreshoff (March 18, 1848 – June 2, 1938) was an American naval architect, mechanical engineer, and yacht design innovator. He produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup defenders between 1893 and 1920.
Biography
Her ...
designed the 12½ footer in 1914. It has been in continuous production since then, and is nearly universally acclaimed as one of the finest small boats of all time He was 66 years old by then, and had all the experience from a full and legendary career of designing and building yachts. He had already accumulated 5 of the never-matched record of 6 consecutive
America’s Cup
The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...
defenses, and 6 consecutive victories.
The
Herreshoff Manufacturing Company
Nathanael Greene Herreshoff (March 18, 1848 – June 2, 1938) was an American naval architect, mechanical engineer, and yacht design innovator. He produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup defenders between 1893 and 1920.
Biography
Her ...
took the first orders for the 12½ footer in 1914 and built 364 wooden hulls through 1943. Following the closing of HMC production, the Quincy Adams Yacht Yard was licensed by HMC to build the design. Quincy Adams used the Herreshoff builder’s plate, and built 51 hulls from 1943 through 1948. The Quincy Adams boats had hull numbers in the 2000s, and were planked with mahogany rather than the white cedar used by HMC. They also have something of a reverse sheer forward.
In 1947, Cape Cod Shipbuilding
acquired the rights to the design. They built about 35 wooden hulls between 1948 and 1950, when they switched to fiberglass.
Another company, Doughdish, Inc.
is building a fiberglass version of the 12½. Since Cape Cod’s rights prohibit anyone else from using the trademarked named “Herreshoff 12½”, the boat is called Doughdish. The molds were created by taking the lines from three original wooden hulls. Bill Harding, the creator of the Doughdish, took great pains to ensure his boat was an exact replica of the original, even eschewing the weight reductions afforded by fiberglass construction to ensure the Doughdish is authentic in every way (other than building material). In fact, the Doughdish is allowed to compete against the original wooden boats in association regattas, while the Cape Cod Shipbuilding 12½ is not. Finally, since 2006 the Herreshoff 12½ is once again available in wood from Artisan Boatworks
of Rockport, ME.
The design was developed into the
Bull's Eye, also first built in 1914 and the
Buzzards Bay 14
The Buzzards Bay 14 is an American sailboat that was designed by L. Francis Herreshoff and first built in 1940.Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition'', pages 88-89. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994. ...
, designed in 1940.
Current builders of Herreshoff 12½ Footers
References
External links
The H Class Association
Herreshoff Museums and Archives
The Herreshoff Marine Museum / America's Cup Hall of FameThe Herreshoff Legacy: An MIT Museum ProjectThe Herreshoff Registry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herreshoff 12 (keelboat)
Keelboats
1910s sailboat type designs
Sailboat type designs by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff
Sailboat types built by Cape Cod Shipbuilding