Wianno senior

The Wianno Senior is a 25-foot, gaff-rigged sloop. The boat is raced on Nantucket Sound by four Cape Cod yacht clubs: Bass River Yacht Club, [ [http://www.bassriveryc.org Bass River Yacht Club ] ] Hyannis Yacht Club, [ [http://www.hyannisyachtclub.org Hyannis Yacht Club Home Page ] ] Hyannis Port Yacht Club, [ [http://www.hyannisport.org Hyannis Port Yacht Club ] ] and Wianno Yacht Club [ [http://www.wiannoyc.com Wianno Yacht Club ] ] .

The boat was designed in the winter of 1913-14 in the village of Osterville, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, for a group of sailors from the Wianno Yacht Club. They requested Horace Manley Crosby to design a sailboat for racing on Nantucket Sound. Manley Crosby was a member of the Crosby family, noted for building the famous Crosby catboats. Fourteen boats were delivered and raced that summer. See the book, "The Senior," [Hinkle, J. D. et al, Eds, "The Senior," 1989, ISBN 0-9623811-0-1] privately published in 1989 for the boat's 75^th anniversary, for more information of the history of the class. That history was adapted from the article "Warriors of Wianno." [Williams, F. W., "Warriors of Wianno," Cape Cod Life, April/May 1987] The book also contains several articles and photos by Wianno Senior owners and sailors.

At about the same time, Wooden Boat magazine published two articles on the Wianno Senior as part of the boat's 75^th anniversary. The first, "The Wianno Senior," [Howes, M. pp. 58-66, "Wooden Boat," No. 91, November/December 1989] describes the boats history and construction and includes several photos. Page 66 shows a photo of, perhaps, the most famous Wianno Senior sailor, President Jack Kennedy. His boat, "Victura," hull no. 94, is now on display at the Kennedy Presidential Library in Dorchester, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. [ [http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK+Library+and+Museum/News+and+Press/New+Exhibit+to+Celebrate+JFKs+Love+of+the+Sea.htm New Exhibit to Celebrate JFK's Love of the Sea - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum ] ]

The second article, [Fallon, J. pp. 67-69, "Wooden Boat," No. 91, November/December 1989] in that issue of Wooden Boat is by Jack Fallon. That article provides a short tutorial, "Tuning Up with Jack Fallon," on how to sail a Wianno Senior. Jack won the Scudder Cup, the annual class championship, a record nine times between 1949, when the Cup was established, and 1976. [Ibid, p. 69]

See the Wianno Senior Class Association website [ [http://www.wiannosenior.org/history.htm Wianno Senior Class Association: Inter-Club Racing History ] ] for a short history of interclub racing.

More recently, Pearl River Productions [ [http://www.pearlriver.tv Pearl River Productions - Cultural Documentaries ] ] has published a DVD providing a video history of the Wianno Senior class. Their website contains more information and a short sample of their video. That DVD provides updates to the class history beyond the 75^th anniversary and discusses the recoverary of the class from the devastating boat yard fire on December 10, 2003 in which 21 Seniors were destroyed, 18 of them, the classic wooden Seniors. [Cape Cod Times. p.1, December 11, 2003]

Today, two boat yards are still building Wianno Seniors. Crosby Yacht Yard, Inc. [ [http://www.crosbyyacht.com/Custom_Boats/wianno/wianno_sen.htm Crosby Yacht Yard, New Boats, Wianno Senior ] ] in Osterville, Massachusetts and Shaw Yacht, Inc, [http://www.shawyacht.com/shawwianno.html] in Thomaston, Maine.

To date, nearly two hundred Wianno Seniors have been built. Hull numbers through 173 were wooden boats; subsequent boats are being built of fiberglass. Hull number 210 will be launched in summer 2007 by Crosby Yacht. Note that several hull numbers were omitted in the sequence. A complete list of the current fleet is available on the Wianno Senior Class Association website. [ [http://www.wiannosenior.org/fleet.htm Wianno Senior Class Association: Fleet Roster ] ]

See the Wianno Senior Class Association home page [ [http://www.wiannosenior.org Wianno Senior Class Association ] ] for more information.

References