It is "only" a replica. But what a replica! The replica of the black three-mast schooner, which has now been completed, measures almost 70 metres in length overall. YACHT author Erdmann Braschos was on board
The original was launched in 1903. And immortalised herself in the annals of sailing history two years later. In the 1905 Kaiser Cup from Sandy Hook near New York to Land's End in the south-west of England, "Atlantic" set a record time for the North Atlantic passage in a regatta under skipper Charles Barr: 12 days, 4 hours, 1 minute. It would not be beaten until a hundred years later.
It is this record, but also the sheer size and design of the boat, that prompted owner Ed Kastelein to build a replica. The Dutchman is a lover of classics and experienced in the big trade. He had previously resurrected "Eleonora", the replica of the Herreshoff schooner "Westward", in whose honour the Big Class met off Cowes this summer.
The seven-page YACHT portrait of the new "Atlantic", which is closely modelled on the original, traces how Kastelein recreated the wonder sailboat at two locations and in four years, logging speeds of eleven or twelve knots even in light winds.
The schooner, which has been on charter for several weeks, will celebrate its regatta premiere from 25 September to 3 October at the Voiles de St. Tropez in France. It will then sail across the Atlantic, which gave the boat its name, towards the Caribbean.
