Sail Number: 1
Vessel Type: New York 70
“Mineola” Specifications:
LOA: 106′ 0″ / 32.30m – LWL: 70′ 0″ / 21.33m – Beam 19′ 4″ / 5.89m – Draft 14′ 0″ / 4.26m – Displacement: 84 tons – Ballast: 40 Tons – Sail Area: 6,945 ft² / 645.21 m² – Original Rig: Cutter – Hull Number: 529 – Designer: N.G. Herreshoff – Contracted By: August Belmont – Contracted amount: $32,593 – Launch Date: January 16th 1900 – Status: Destroyed
Historical
Four 70-footers were built respectively for August Belmont, Cornelius Vanderbilt, W.K. Vanderbilt, Jr., and Harry Payne Whitney. To this date, the most expensive one-design class ever conceived for some of the most influential owners of this day. Superiority will only be achieved by each owners ability to excel by ones skill in sail handling and tuning by a crew of 15 professionals.
As a one-design class the owners desire to see a fair proportion of the original build price, or return on investment as possible, unlike the all an out racing machines that are outdated the following season for more extreme machines
The 70-footers are the result of the application to a larger class of the ideas and conditions that made racing in the smaller classes so interesting.
The first of this class launched was Mineola, a beautiful vessel, with a sheer the same as the defender of the tenth America’s Cup race Columbia, and hence gives the same impressions to an observer. She was painted white above the water-line and green below, with her name appearing in gold on a stern that is much a reminder as Columbia, as are other features of her hull.
Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):
Owner/Guardian: (1900) August Belmont