Genesta 1885

Hand-crafted plank-on-frame wood hull with light varnished topsides, mahogany varnished bottom paint .

Hull size: 60cm.

Board size: 75cm X 20cm

John Beavor-Webb was born in August 1849 in Ireland. He attended Trinity College, Dublin, with the aim of becoming an engineer. An excellent racer, he raced his 25-foot Itchen and won 10 out of 12 races. In 1875, he worked with the modeler-builder Dan Hatchen, and had a part in the design and construction of the 5-ton yacht Freda.

He then devoted himself to yacht design and composite construction, in metal and wood, and then in iron or steel. In 1884, he built Genesta, a composite construction cutter, for Sir Richard Sutton. He also had an order for Lieutenant William Henn, a second steel cutter, Galatea. 

John Beavor-Webb in fact issued  a dual challenge with Genesta and Galatea. A good racing man, Beavor-Webb steered Genesta with Captain John Carter. His performance in the second race against Puritan was to be for a long time engraved in the memory of the yachtsmen who witnessed the race.

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.