One of the most interesting hull we found on our way.
We believe Sylvina has a key role in the US History of Yachting. A working knockabout schooner with marvellous waterlines which witnesses a bygone era when the schooner rigging was considered both as a safe and fast concept. A concept who led the way into the first America’s Cup
Sylvina W. Beal History The Sylvina W. Beal is a knockabout schooner, a type of schooner without a bowsprit. (A spar projecting forward from the bow of a vessel.) She was built with long bow overhangs to allow easier handling at wharves and prevent loss of life at sea caused by men being washed off the bowsprit when furling heavy sails in bad weather. McManus in Essex, Massachusetts first used this design in 1901 when designing the schooner Helen B. Thomas. This design replaced the prominent bowsprits called “Widow-Makers,” was fast, and very seaworthy. The Sylvina W. Beal was built in East Boothbay Harbor, Maine in 1911 at the Frank J. Adams Yard. She was built for Charles H. Beal of Beals Island and named for his wife Sylvina W. (Alley) Beal of Jonesport whom he had married on 17 November 1887. Launched as a two-masted 84-foot wooden fishing schooner, she fished as both a herring and mackerel seiner. She was also used as a seafood cargo carrier until she was converted to a windjammer passenger schooner in 1981. In 2002 she left Downeast Windjammer and Captain Steve Pagels in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, for her new berth in Eastport. She has also served as a Movie set in “the Edge of Innocence” and “Amistad”.