First part: To neglect a yacht
This section will be devoted to a brief history of yacht racing, yacht design and, most importantly, to the reasons that drive a classic yacht to be neglected and eventually broken up, thus becoming “lost”. Why some great yachts of the past have survived, whereas others did rot, were destroyed, abandoned or broken up?
To what extend certain factors like the local culture, the designer’s fame and the construction materials affect this trend?
Second part: The yachts
This section will focus on a selection of 25-30 yachts that no longer exist nor have been replicated on a full-scale. These will be sorted chronologically (year of launch), from Herreshoff’s favourite yacht Gloriana (1891) to Morning Cloud III (1972) the racing boat the belonged to the then British Prime Minister Edward Heath and lost at sea in 1974. Of each yachts there will be an exhaustive history, at least two high quality pictures from either the Rosenfled Collection or the Beken of Cowes archives, accurate technical specs (provided by the Lloyd’s Register), water lines, sail pans and other relevant images such as trophies, portraits, engravings.
Third Part: Technical drawings
This part of the book will be allocated to original technical drawings in colour, blue prints and archival documents related to several lost yachts (including those previously mentioned in the book); these documents, mostly preserved at Lloyd’s Register (London), Mystic Seaport Museum (Connecticut), GL Watson Ltd (Liverpool), Camper & Nicholson Historical Archive (Gosport) and Sparkman & Stephens (Connecticut), will be accompanied by exhaustive texts and accurate captions.
Born in Paris in 1970, Bruno Cianci is a journalist, media consultant and maritime historian. He’s the author of a number of historical and nautical books, two of which have been received the “Carlo Marincovich” award for journalism, in 2016 and in 2018. Among these books are “Yacht Clubs of the World” (2012) and “Legendary Sailboats” (2014). His articles have been published in twelve languages by over 100 media outlets worldwide. He’s a passionate vexillologist, skydiver and offshore sailor. He and his crew-mate Alessandro Caricato are the first Italians ever to have completed the Fastnet Race two-handed, an achievement they are extremely proud of. Since 2008, Bruno Cianci has been based in Istanbul, where he works as International Press Adviser for the Rahmi M. Koç Müzesi, a museum fully devoted to transport and maritime history. At the same time, he has been working as Turkey Correspondent for the renowned magazine Boat International. He is a member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club (London) and of the Royal Malta Yacht Club.
ISBN: 9788865946893
Pub date: November 2019
Extent: 224 pp