1914 Buzzards Bay 25

Vitessa is one of the five original Buzzards Bay 25’s designed by Nat Herreshoff and built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company for the Beverly Yacht Club in 1914. The club was moving its clubhouse from Beverly to the town of Marion on Buzzards Bay and wanted a design that would handle the diverse sailing conditions and draft constraints of their new sailing grounds. They’d have to be shoal draft, able to ghost along on light air days and still stand up to Buzzards Bay’s notoriously strong sea breeze and steep chop.

The design was descendant of his personal boat Alerion and the similarities are clear. They were hybrid centerboard/ballast keel sloops sporting shorter overhangs and higher aspect rigs than his earlier designs. Though the Buzzards Bay 25s were originally drawn and built as gaff sloops, Vitessa currently sails with a marconi yawl rig built for Bagatelle to race under the CCA rule in the 1960’s. It was fitted during Vitessa’s extensive refit in 2000 and is more easily handled and balanced than the original arrangement.

During the winter of 2000-2001 Vitessa underwent a major restoration at the MP&G yard in Mystic, CT, a yard with a reputation for high-end restorations on Herreshoffs with an eye towards originality and longevity. She was completely refastened with silicon bronze and monel, received all new white oak frames and floors, new keelbolts, a new sprung cypress deck, and mahogany deckhouse, coamings, rails, seats, etc. Vitessa has been exceptionally maintained since her refit and spends the summer on a mooring near her current owners home in Round Pond, ME. She’s a perfect day sailer and classics racer in great condition with exceptional pedigree.