Mongolia- Victory Class- Newport

21 September Mongolia

BOAT: Mongolia
OWNER: Thorpe Leeson
DESIGNER: William Gardiner. New York  http://abrushwithsail.blogspot.com/2012/04/william-gardner-yacht-designer.html
BUILDER: Henry Nevins, City Island, N.Y.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_B._Nevins,_Incorporated
YEAR: 1919
HULL: Cedar on Oak
LENGTH: 31feet 10 inches [9.5 meters]
HISTORY:
 After the first World War, prolific yacht designer William Gardner of Larchmont, New York was commissioned to draw a one design class that would revive the sport of sailboat racing. At the same time, the designers and builders at the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in Bristol, R.I. had that very idea. The result was two similar classes with followings in different geographical areas.  The Herreshoff class was dubbed the S Class and the Gardner boats were called the Victory Class- several boats of both classes remain today.
Local yacht captain Thorpe Leeson was preparing his Herreshoff S Class for the Tiedemann Regatta in Newport this past July when he realized that he was woefully behind. The boat needed too much work to be ready. With just days to go, Thorpe was poking around on E-Bay and found Mongolia for sale in nearby Warwick, R.I. . On a whim, he bought the boat, worked around the clock to prepare, and ended up taking second place in a regatta that he was otherwise not ready for.
Since then, he has refurbished Mongolia (each Victory Class was named after a theater of war in WW1) and put her up for sale.  Another classic saved.