Photo: Concordia Company

The recent sinking of the Concordia yawl, Winnie of Bourne, brought to mind just how remarkable this class of boats indeed is.  Winnie of Bourne was raised from the bottom near the entrance of Nantucket harbor just two days after she sank, so we hope that she will be salvaged and restored.

The Concordia yawl is the most successful and beloved class of wooden offshore sailboats ever built. The first was built to replace Llewellyn Howland’s family’s Colin Archer designed pilot cutter, which was destroyed by the Great Hurricane of 1938. The first yawl, named Java, was (and is) 39ft 10in long with a 10ft 3in beam, 5ft 8in draught, an 18,000 pound displacement, a 7/8ths fractional rig and a coveline with the iconic star on her bow and a crescent moon on her stern.

Over the next 28 years, over 100 Concordia yawls would be built.   Remarkably, for wooden sailboats, all but one (including, we hope, Winnie of Bourne) still survive today. (Halcyon, Concordia Yawl #3, was lost at sea with its owner Ron Perry in early May, 2011.)  Concordia yawls continue to be cruised and raced successfully all over the globe.

The Concordia hull was designed by C. Raymond Hunt.  Bill Harris drew her rig and Waldo Howland designed the interior. Between 1938 and 1966, a total of 103 Concordia yawls were built.  The first four Concordias were built in Massachussets. Two were built just before World War II and two immediately after.  The remaining 99 Concordia hulls were built by Abeking and Rasmussen shipyard in Lemwerder, Germany. (26 of these were the slightly larger 41′ version.)  The hulls were shipped across the Atlantic and finished by Concordia which installed the interiors, pumps, engines and rigs. 

Classic Boat Magazine describes how the Concordia yawls were built:  The boats were built upright and launched three at a time. They had 13/8in (35mm) African mahogany planks, often more than 16ft (4.9m) long, and those for the varnished brightwork were bookmatched – double sawn and matched. The topsides were tightly planked with almost no caulking: a tool would crush the grain, a cotton cord and white lead would be laid in, the plank forced down tight, and the rising grain would fill in any gap. Frames are 1¾in (44mm) white oak, steam bent or laminated, on 9in (229mm) centres with 2in x 4in (51mm x 102mm) Sitka spruce stringers. Most Concordias have mahogany decks covered with canvas – much of the canvas has now been replaced – some had teak decks.

The Concordia was never designed to any racing rule.  Nevertheless, over the years, Concordia yawls have won numerous races, including the prestigious Newport Bermuda Race (1954 & 1978), the Annapolis Race (1955), Cowes Week (1955) and the Marblehead-to-Halifax Race (1955 & 1997).

• 1954 Newport Bermuda Race – Malay, Concordia #2, Dan Strohmeier.
• 1955 Annapolis Race – Actaea, Concordia #17, Henry Sears.
• 1955 Cowes Week – Harrier, Concordia #30, Ray Hunt.
• 1955 Marblehead-to-Halifax Race – Malay, Concordia #2, Dan Strohmeier.
• 1978 Newport Bermuda Race – Babe, Concordia #26, Arnold Gay.
• 1997 Marblehead-to-Halifax Race – Crocodile, Concordia #67, Robert Crocker.