The following information, and the photographs attached to item 15388, were contributed in January 2018 by David Vieira of Lisbon Portugal. David is the current owner of Valhalla. He has embarked on a restoration project to bring Valhalla to her former shape and rigging plan. ### VALHALLA is a 65 foot yawl rigged ocean racer designed by John G. Alden in 1948 and built in 1949-1950 by Hinckley Yachts, Southwest Harbor, Maine, US. She was designed under the Cruising Club of America Rule (CCA) and has participated in major US regattas from 1950 to 1965 such as Bermuda, Transpacific / Honolulu, Annapolis to Newport races. In 1966 she was acquired by Dr. Manuel de Mello, a Portuguese yachtsman (very active sailor in the Star Class), for racing along Portugal's local and coastal regattas. Before shipping her to Portugal, Dr. Mello ordered a new rig and sailplan from Sparkmans & Stevens, because he favored the cutter rig (image 15388-14 shows the "new" sailplan by Sparkman & Stephens, from 1965. Item 15405 shows the original sailplan.) In 1973 Dr. Manuel de Mello decided to stop sailing and donated "VALHALLA" to the Portuguese Navy to be used has a sail training vessel for young officers. The Portuguese Navy renamed her "VEGA." She was the star of the Navy sailing fleet together with the tall ship "SAGRES." In 1976 she crossed the Atlantic again to participated in the U.S. Bicentennial celebrations (Operation Sail 1976) Regattas and Naval Parade in the Hudson river. From 1973 to 2007 she had a very intense and successful training and racing career, but she started to show her age and was in need of constant care. Sadly, in 2008 she was decommissioned. The Navy had just recently taken ownership of a bigger and more modern aluminum yacht built by Jachtwerf Jongert B.V. (Medemblik - Holand). Unfortunately, since 2009 she had been in the hard (but under a tent). The Navy itself has a very deep connection with "VEGA" and wanted her to be taken care of properly. However, the process of selling any item from the Navy is complicated, in particular when it comes to such a vessel that triggers so many emotions for so many high ranking Navy officers. Finally in the beginning of 2017, after many appeals, David Vieira was able to buy and rescue VALHALLA from an uncertain future!
Description: The following information, and the photographs attached to item 15388, were contributed in January 2018 by David Vieira of Lisbon Portugal. David is the current owner of Valhalla. He has embarked on a restoration project to bring Valhalla to her former shape and rigging plan. ### VALHALLA is a 65 foot yawl rigged ocean racer designed by John G. Alden in 1948 and built in 1949-1950 by Hinckley Yachts, Southwest Harbor, Maine, US. She was designed under the Cruising Club of America Rule (CCA) and has participated in major US regattas from 1950 to 1965 such as Bermuda, Transpacific / Honolulu, Annapolis to Newport races. In 1966 she was acquired by Dr. Manuel de Mello, a Portuguese yachtsman (very active sailor in the Star Class), for racing along Portugal's local and coastal regattas. Before shipping her to Portugal, Dr. Mello ordered a new rig and sailplan from Sparkmans & Stevens, because he favored the cutter rig (image 15388-14 shows the "new" sailplan by Sparkman & Stephens, from 1965. Item 15405 shows the original sailplan.) In 1973 Dr. Manuel de Mello decided to stop sailing and donated "VALHALLA" to the Portuguese Navy to be used has a sail training vessel for young officers. The Portuguese Navy renamed her "VEGA." She was the star of the Navy sailing fleet together with the tall ship "SAGRES." In 1976 she crossed the Atlantic again to participated in the U.S. Bicentennial celebrations (Operation Sail 1976) Regattas and Naval Parade in the Hudson river. From 1973 to 2007 she had a very intense and successful training and racing career, but she started to show her age and was in need of constant care. Sadly, in 2008 she was decommissioned. The Navy had just recently taken ownership of a bigger and more modern aluminum yacht built by Jachtwerf Jongert B.V. (Medemblik - Holand). Unfortunately, since 2009 she had been in the hard (but under a tent). The Navy itself has a very deep connection with "VEGA" and wanted her to be taken care of properly. However, the process of selling any item from the Navy is complicated, in particular when it comes to such a vessel that triggers so many emotions for so many high ranking Navy officers. Finally in the beginning of 2017, after many appeals, David Vieira was able to buy and rescue VALHALLA from an uncertain future! [show more]
Photographs: Above - 15388-9 : Arriving from Operation Sail in 1976 #1 - 15388-1: Vega in 1976 #2 - 15388-3: Builder's plate reading "Built by Henry R. Hinckley & Company, Southwest Harbor, Maine, Design No. 861, Hull No. 795. #3, #4, #5 - 15388-2, 15388-7, and 15388-8: Under the tent at the naval base #10, #11 - 15388-11, 15388-12: In David Viera's boatyard #5, #7, #8 - 15388-4, 15388-5, 15388-6: When Vahalla was offered to the Navy in 1973 #12 - 15388-13 : Vega in Lisbon, early 1980s
Description: Photographs: Above - 15388-9 : Arriving from Operation Sail in 1976 #1 - 15388-1: Vega in 1976 #2 - 15388-3: Builder's plate reading "Built by Henry R. Hinckley & Company, Southwest Harbor, Maine, Design No. 861, Hull No. 795. #3, #4, #5 - 15388-2, 15388-7, and 15388-8: Under the tent at the naval base #10, #11 - 15388-11, 15388-12: In David Viera's boatyard #5, #7, #8 - 15388-4, 15388-5, 15388-6: When Vahalla was offered to the Navy in 1973 #12 - 15388-13 : Vega in Lisbon, early 1980s [show more]
Bermudan Ketch “Ticonderoga” was designed by Lewis Francis Herreshoff, built by Quincy Adams Yacht Yard, Quincy, Massachusetts for Harold “Harry” Edward Noyes (1898-). “Launched as Tioga in 1936, this glorious ketch finished first in twenty-four of her initial thirty-seven races. Renamed Ticonderoga in 1946, she went on to set more elapsed-time records than any ocean racer in history. Ticonderoga held more than thirty course records in races on several oceans, surpassing even the best performances of the hard-driven nineteenth-century clipper ships. But Ticonderoga wasn't designed for racing. Her creator, L. Francis Herreshoff, shaped her for genteel "afternoon sailing," giving her uncommon elegance of form with a clipper bow, elliptical transom, raked rig, gilded garnish, and a bathtub. It is these qualities of unsurpassed opulence and beauty, combined with her astonishing speed, that have made Big Ti so incomparable.” - “Ticonderoga: Tales of an Enchanted Yacht” by Jack A. Somer, published by W. W. Norton & Company, 1997. “Ticonderoga” was 72’0” x 16’0” with a 7’10” draft – an elegant and very fast ocean-going racing yacht. The boat has raced across the Atlantic and Pacific, the Caribbean and Mediterranean, and along the coasts of three continents for decades. She won the Transpac race from San Francisco to Honolulu in 1963 and 1965 (raced by owner Robert Johnson) and was winning important races up to the 1970's. “Herreshoff carried out his lines to suit the flow of water – and the eyes of the beholder.” - “A Life in Boats: The Years Before the War” by Waldo Howland, p. 118, published by Mystic Seaport Museum, 1984.
Description: Bermudan Ketch “Ticonderoga” was designed by Lewis Francis Herreshoff, built by Quincy Adams Yacht Yard, Quincy, Massachusetts for Harold “Harry” Edward Noyes (1898-). “Launched as Tioga in 1936, this glorious ketch finished first in twenty-four of her initial thirty-seven races. Renamed Ticonderoga in 1946, she went on to set more elapsed-time records than any ocean racer in history. Ticonderoga held more than thirty course records in races on several oceans, surpassing even the best performances of the hard-driven nineteenth-century clipper ships. But Ticonderoga wasn't designed for racing. Her creator, L. Francis Herreshoff, shaped her for genteel "afternoon sailing," giving her uncommon elegance of form with a clipper bow, elliptical transom, raked rig, gilded garnish, and a bathtub. It is these qualities of unsurpassed opulence and beauty, combined with her astonishing speed, that have made Big Ti so incomparable.” - “Ticonderoga: Tales of an Enchanted Yacht” by Jack A. Somer, published by W. W. Norton & Company, 1997. “Ticonderoga” was 72’0” x 16’0” with a 7’10” draft – an elegant and very fast ocean-going racing yacht. The boat has raced across the Atlantic and Pacific, the Caribbean and Mediterranean, and along the coasts of three continents for decades. She won the Transpac race from San Francisco to Honolulu in 1963 and 1965 (raced by owner Robert Johnson) and was winning important races up to the 1970's. “Herreshoff carried out his lines to suit the flow of water – and the eyes of the beholder.” - “A Life in Boats: The Years Before the War” by Waldo Howland, p. 118, published by Mystic Seaport Museum, 1984. [show more]
The boat in front is the "Sweet Pea'' owned by "Peter" Richardson, Great Cranberry Island. Lewis Gilley Stanley was sailing her the day the picture was taken. The yawl behind "Sweet Pea" is "Electron II" owned by Professor Holmes of the University of Vermont Physics department. He adjusted and fixed compasses for fishermen for free.
Description: The boat in front is the "Sweet Pea'' owned by "Peter" Richardson, Great Cranberry Island. Lewis Gilley Stanley was sailing her the day the picture was taken. The yawl behind "Sweet Pea" is "Electron II" owned by Professor Holmes of the University of Vermont Physics department. He adjusted and fixed compasses for fishermen for free.