Dorade
Type: 52-foot yawl
Builder: Minnefords
Year: 1930
Original owner: Olin Stephens
Why this yacht matters: Stephens designed Dorade in 1929. He was 21 years old. Minnefords built her in 1930 for a total of $28,000, and the following year, Olin and Rod Stephens sailed her to victory in the 1931 Transatlantic Race in a time of 17 days, 1 hour, 14 minutes. She also won the Fastnet and Bermuda races in 1931 and 1933, and her Transpac record stood for 12 years. Maybe the most famous single innovation aboard Dorade was the water-trap vent that will forever be known as a “dorade”.
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From the pages of Yachting_: Dorade_’s ends are not chopped off, the bow and stern being the natural ending of her lines, and these overhangs help in a seaway when they increase her effective length from 37 feet [LWL] to 52 feet, thus increasing her natural speed and fore-and-after stability_. — Uffa Fox, yacht designer quoted in an article about Dorade by Barry Pickthall in November 1997
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