Atlantic 1905

Hand-crafted plank-on-frame wood hull with black topsides, gold cove stripe . Varnished stained wood hull.

Hull size: 60cm.

Board size: 75cm X20cm

Designed by William Gardner, Launched 1903 in New-York. At the Turn of the Century, royalty dominated luxury yachting, and races were organized for the pleasure of the wealthiest yacht-owners. In 1905, 11 yachts are invited in Europe to race the Kaiser's Cup, offered by the German Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Among these luxury yachts, there was a three masted steam schooner Atlantic, 185' long and owned by Wilson Marshall, who would enter the legend of boating forever. Driven to the potential of her lean hull form and 18,500 square feet of sail by Captain Charlie Barr, on the seventh day of racing she logged a staggering 341 nautical miles . When she passed the warship marking the finish, she had crossed the ocean in 12 days, 4 hours, 1 minute and 19 seconds. This record would stand for more than 50 years!

Her second owner was Cornelius Vanderbilt. She lasted into the late 1970s. Too big and costly to properly maintain, she sank at her last mooring in tidewater Virginia. In 1997, the New-York Yacht Club hosted the Atlantic Challenge, race for large cruising yachts in Atlantic's memory.

William Starling Burgess no doubt inherited his love of boats and sailing from his father as well as  his sharp analytical mind. He also acquired his precise and sensitive feeling for lines and forms from Nathanael Herreshoff, his “Uncle Nat”. But when the young Starling informed Herreshoff of his intention to become a naval architect, “the Wizard of Bristol” took umbrage.

When Mike Vanderbilt contacted him to build a new defender for the 1934 challenge, time was very short. No matter ! He started on the rough drafts of the plans at end of 1931 and Rainbow very nearly failed in the face of a faster challenger, Endeavour.

Starling Burgess came out of it quite well, Charles Nicholson even offering him the plans of his champion. His gesture was to prove quite unwise.