Replicas The Next Big Thing

THING In the first of two articles, John Lammerts van Bueren traces the start of the second great chapter of the classic yacht revival... the big class yachts and schooners

- John Lammerts van Bueren

It all started in 1999, at the MIT Museum in Boston. Timber supplier and yachting historian John Lammerts van Bueren, who has been pivotal to the replica movement, was with serial commissioner of big yachts, Ed Kastelein, and Kurt Hasselbalch, curator of the Herreshoff plans collection. As the two men went through the 400 or so plans for Westward and Ingomar, a visitor dropped by and asked casually if Ed was thinking of building a model. As Ed unrolled another plan he replied “yes, I do”. “Oh, best of luck,” replied the visitor. “By the way, what scale are you planning?” Ed Kastelein looked up and gently smiled: “One to One.” The man shook his head and walked on, “as I said, best of luck.”

So began what we might view as the second great chapter in the revival of large, classic racing yachts. As much as Elizabeth Meyer did the unthinkable when she restored the J-Class Endeavour 20 years ago, Ed Kastelein took on the unthinkable by building Eleonora, the recreation of the legendary racing schooner Westward. In the past 30 or more years, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of old yachts have been restored worldwide and there are sailors out there looking for more but the choice today is limited, with most of the good ones done. Where does that leave us? Should replicas be promoted while there are still old boats left to restore? Where is the line between restoration and replication? More than a few classics can only claim originality for their lead keels.

WHAT IS A REPLICA?