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Elsie
Boat International
2003
story only
A journey from the Canadian Maritimes to Rhode Island can be tricky, especially in late autumn, and John Steele, founder of Covey Island Boatworks, near Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada, was not taking any unnecessary chances with his crew or his new yacht. Therefore, it was only after a wait for suitable weather in which to sail that the 17.37 metre Herreshoff ketch Elsie set off down La Have River Nova Scotia. Forty eight hours later she arrived safely at Newport Harbor, sharing the basin with Marguerite and the J-Class yacht Endeavour. Steele is laying her up in Rhode Island for the winter with the hope of finding a buyer this spring.
Elsie's sleek hull is a handsome sight to behold. Covey Island , a yard known for its custom power and sailing yachts, completed the centreboard ketch in October last year. Her lines go back 60 years to when L. Francis Herreshoff created fixed keel yacht Bounty, a smaller variation of his 21.94 metre clipper bowed Ticonderoga and one of his most noted and beautiful designs. In an earlier design...