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BOASTING AND BETTING
Poor men, wrote author Scott Cookman in his 2002 book Atlantic: The Last Great Race Of Princes, don’t race around the globe in yachts. So, of course, the story of the transatlantic yacht race that began on May 16, 1905, from Sandy Hook, New Jersey, is a tale of almost implausible extravagance involving eleven extraordinary vessels, a handful of the world’s wealthiest men— including European royalty—and all their inflated egos combined. Known as the Kaiser’s Cup, it was a one-time competition that, at the finish line twelve days later at Cape Lizard Light off Cornwall, UK, earned the winning American yacht Atlantic, the golden trophy and bragging rights for a century to come. (You’ll recall that it took Columbus five weeks and a day for the crossing, but in his defense, he was sailing a carrack and going “uphill,” meaning east to west against prevailing winds.) Cookman’s book chronicles the competitors’ bets and boasts over their yachts, as well as the life and times of the participants of that exciting and dangerous race. The contest was proposed by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany with the arrogant expectation that his U.S.-built schooner Hamburg would claim victory. It came in second to Atlantic, nearly a full day behind.
Built on commission for Wilson Marshall, heir to a stage line fortune, and launched in 1903, the 228´LOA Atlantic embodied every criterion that defined the Gilded Age, but all of it was afloat. It was designed for a gentleman demanding nothing less than full luxury, total comfort and, of course, prestige; the yacht cost Marshall an estimated $1 million. Thanks to the design of William Gardner, Marshall got all that he wanted and Atlantic, in return, gave them both international glory as well.
Below the teak decks, the yacht was not unlike the gilded ballrooms and lavish boudoirs which attract so many tourists to Newport’s Beaux Arts mansions. Atlantic had a marble lobby, multiple Tiffany & Co. Skylights, a mahogany-paneled master suite and posh guestrooms, a carpeted saloon, porcelain tiled bathrooms with bathtubs, hot and cold running water, electric lights, electric refrigeration, and, de rigueur, monogrammed china.
INSET TEXT: The fore, main and mizzen on the replica are raised on sail tracks rather than with masthoops. The teak-planked deck appears uncluttered, even spacious, despite the schooner's narrow 29 ft. beam.
During its debut season, Atlantic had already shown itself to be exceptional. A small notice in the New York Times reported that one October morning in 1903 Atlantic made a record hop from New London to Newport in three hours in a heavy westnorthwest blow, hoisting only the lower canvas. The log for its sea trials showed the vessel could exceed 18 knots under full sail. Just days prior to the starting gun for the 1905 transatlantic challenge, the NYT reported: “She heels readily to an angle of nine degrees, but becomes very stiff at twelve to thirteen…” During the race, Marshall’s skipper, three-time America’s Cup winner Captain Charlie Barr, who was reputedly not one to fall off to ease a vessel’s pain or lessen its crew’s anguish, recorded more than 20 knots. Atlantic’s 24-hour record was 341 miles, an average speed of 14.1 knots.
INSET TEXT: Although its sea trials came in a bit off the speed clocked by the original, the Atlantic replica will be a formidable contender in international yacht racing. note the low profile of the deckhouses and hardware.
The remarkable record the vessel set, crossing 3,013 miles from America to England, was 12 days, 4 hours, 1 minute and 19 seconds, a time not bested by any other monohull until a century later. On the evening of May 28, 1905, off the Lizard Point finish line for the Kaiser’s Cup, not one other competing yacht was in sight. “So speedy was the Atlantic,” wrote the correspondent for the New York Times in a cable dispatch from London published the next morning,“that she nearly caught the mark boat napping.” The same article, with forthright pride, said: “On her foremast she flew the burgee of the New York Yacht Club, while she carried as well the Larchmont [Yacht Club] flag and the international code signal ‘K.S.R.B.’” (Its distinguishing signal.) The same day, the New York Herald reported: “Captain Barr was seen leaning over the port rail of the yacht smoking a cigar.”
Sixty-three years later, in 1968, what was left of the vessel after decades of raw disrespect, ignominiously sunk—for the first time, that is—at its berth. What no one will ever know is how many attempts, official and unofficial, were made throughout the rest of the 1900s to break Atlantic’s record. It is magical that, despite having been refloated, sunk twice more, and stripped before finally being cut up for scrap on the hard in Virginia in 1982, Atlantic’s indomitable spirit lived on to inspire a new generation of bold-minded yachtsmen and talented builders. Bragging rights, indeed.
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TITLE IMAGE: Posed for a portrait in calm waters, "Atlantic" showed off its nearly 22,000 sf of sail, carried on steel masts. A few weeks before the Kaiser Cup Race, the schooner's 25-1/2 foot iron centerboard was replaced with a 70-ton lead keel. Photo: Naval Historical Foundation
 The "Atlantic" replica under full sail is equally as breathtaking as the original. The mainmast, made of aluminum, measure 144.4 ft. above the waterline; the topmasts, gaffs and booms are sitka spruce.
ATLANTIC REDUX
Of all the things in the universe you would ever want to bring back to life, a classic racing yacht of the magnitude of the long-gone Atlantic is a most intriguing undertaking and, arguably, one of unprecedented scope and expense. “In today's superyacht era there have been a number of replicas of the older yachts, which to me, says that the older racing yachts were far more beautiful than some of today's speed machines,” says Roger Marshall, a wellknown author and yacht designer from Jamestown, RI. Does it beg the question though: Can a replica really replace a classic?
Launched in 2008 and delivered in ’10, the Atlantic replica has been acclaimed as “a masterful blend of tradition and technology.” Owner and project manager Ed Kastelein, a retired luxury hotel, restaurant and property developer from Holland, set out to clone Gardner’s 1903 design for his all new Atlantic, with the guidance of his friend and yacht historian John Lammerts van Bueren. Stem to stern, above and below decks, the new schooner is a worthy heir of its Gilded Age antecedent. Its sail plan, among other critical elements, is identical. These are notes from one of the project newsletters, June, 2010, anticipating the first summer of cruising: The crew is so very curious on how she will handle her motion in seaway, that special feeling when she will lean over for the first time and sail away. (Atlantic’s website has a photo album at www.schooner-atlantic.com and there are many newsletters from the construction phase.)
The sailing world has watched Kastelein’s reputation as a builder and restorer rise throughout his many projects: Thendara, Aile Blanche, Borkumriff, Zaca a te Moana and most recently, in 2001, the 162-foot Herreshoff design, schooner Eleonora. His research on Atlantic took more than three years, during which he and his team gathered original design drawings, vintage photography and personal accounts of the vessel from M. I.T., Mystic Seaport Museum, and the archives of the U.S. Navy and the New York Yacht Club.
 With no photographs of Marshall's 1905 "Atlantic" for reference, Ed Kastelein styled the interiors of his new schooner, including his owner's suite, with a clean, yet classic look. Honoring tradition, he spedified rich mahogany woodowrk and detailed, raised paneling throughout.
Below decks, Kastelein allowed for more headroom and wider passageways than the original yacht. Atlantic is appointed for luxury charter, hosting 12 guests. There is an owner’s suite, with a library and writing desk and en suite full bath, plus five guest cabins, each with marble-finished heads. He did not compromise on the varnished mahogany paneling, period bronze hardware and inviting comforts. There is a full-beam saloon amidships with a dining table for twelve and a spacious seating area. In the foreign press last year, he was quoted as saying the Atlantic project “came in at under 20 million Euros.”
The same schooner that made Marshall famous in its debut season in 1903, is now making Kastelein an international celebrity. In some interviews, Kastelein has hinted that he might like to see the new Atlantic earn the same bragging rights for its own recordbreaking run from Sandy Hook to Lizard Light. Its luxurious living arrangements and busy charter schedule will not exclude it from racing, according to Kastelein.
“There are other yachts of what has become known as the ‘big class’ that it would be interesting to see afloat again,” says Roger Marshall “The Kaiser's yacht Meteor would be a perfect example. The king's yacht, Britannia would be another, and Satanita.” He himself knows the allure of ocean racing, having competed in the 1997 Atlantic Challenge aboard the 100-foot Avance, so he fantasizes scenes like this: “Imagine Atlantic, Meteor, Satanita, and Britannia racing up the Solent in a reprise of a race that took place more than a hundred years ago.”
 Set for dinner for twelve, the table in the dining saloon seats four guests on each side, two at one endand, in regal style, two more on a wide upholstered banquette below the portholes at the far end.
Like all of us who are avid yachtwatchers, and especially since he is a designer who knows the astronomic expectations inherent in every megayacht project, Marshall wonders whether we will see replicas of today's yachts a century from now or if we will see even newer replicas of the old big yachts.
Kastelein’s success in recreating Atlantic has preserved a legend, without the actual artifact in hand. In doing so, he has set a record for excellence and ambition that may stand untouched for years to come.
REPLICA PHOTOS BY: kees stuip, John lammers vanbueren and Flying Pictures st Tropez.
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