SNAnna
A New Hampshire businessman has just launched a 56-footer called Anna. She’s a near replica of the famous Sparkman & Stephens design Stormy Weather that was only a little less of an icon than her older sister Dorade. She had an impressive racing career starting in the 1930s.
Anna was cold-molded in mahogany, western red cedar, and Port Orford cedar with West System epoxy by Brooklin Boat Yard in Maine. “We found the builder a delight to work with,” says Bruce Johnson, president of S&S. “They delivered the boat on budget and three weeks early.”
Anna’s owner has owned several S&S designs in his sailing career, including the Six Metre Tempest. When he sold his business he tried to buy Dorade in the south of France and when that deal fell through, looked at other classic S&S designs. Eventually, he realized that even if he did buy one of these old boats he’d still have to do a complete restoration that would take as much time as building a new boat. So he started talking to S&S.
Anna retains much of the look of Stormy Weather; her profile, tumblehome, deckhouse, and even her mainsheet system are all the same. Underwater the boat is very different; she features a very modern cruiser/racer underbody with a bulb keel and spade rudder. On deck, she’s sloop rigged with buff-colored carbon fiber spars. Like Stormy Weather she’s steered with a tiller.
The boat’s paneled interior was styled by Martha Fay Coolidge of Round Pound, Maine, painted white above counter height with varnished mahogany below. Her cabin sole is wide cedar planks and varnished deck beams set off her overheads. Anna is three feet longer than Stormy Weather to get standing headroom in the modern canoe-body.
So if you’re cruising in Maine this summer keep an eye out for this stand-out from all the other classics that cruise there.
