Dorade

That yacht is Dorade, built and launched in 1930 at the Minneford Yacht Yard. ﷯The 2017 race was Australia’s 628-mile Rolex-sponsored Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, considered by authorities to be one of the most challenging ocean races.

         

In Dorade’s 88 years, she has won many major racing honors. In 1931 she won the Fastnet Race (from the Isle of Wight to the southwest coast of Ireland and back), after which she was given a ticker-tape parade up Broadway. In 2015 Dorade finished second in the same race. In 2013, she won the Transpacific Yacht Race, in 2014 first place in the Newport-Bermuda Race, and in 2015 second place in the 2,800-mile Transatlantic Race.

 

﷯Dorade was designed by Olin Stephens for his father, who commissioned the yacht for $28,000, a considerable sum during the Great Depression, comparable to $400,000 today. She is a 52-foot yawl with a unique design for that time. Dorade silenced her critics with a string of victories that has never been equaled by any racing yacht in deep water races.   

 

When you visit the City Island Nautical Museum, see if you can find more information about Dorade, one of our most famous yachts—a photo, a book, an article, or maybe a model. 

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