Dèrive - 55' Marco Polo

"These included, as a matter of interest to others, Slocum's Spray model, the Rudder's enlarged Sea Bird or Islander, Hanna's Tahiti and the larger Carol ketch, a design or two from the prestigious Sparkman & Stephens, a Tom Colvin junk-rigged cruiser, and L. Francis Herreshoff's famous Marco Polo. The latter I consider the finest world cruiser ever designed. Unfortunately, most of the yachts built from these plans were altered by the builders for aesthetic reasons and thereby the original concept was destroyed. In conver- sations with the old master himself at "The Castle" prior to his death, I gathered that Marco Polo was one of his favorite "babies," and it disappointed him that it had not achieved more acceptance.

Appearing in a Rudder series in 1945, Marco Polo embodied almost everything that our by-now war-weary and disillusioned gen- eration longed for, in a world cruiser. Fifty-five feet in overall length, with a lean 10-foot beam and a 5-foot draft, she was based on the whaleboat model. Rigged as a three-masted schooner, one man on watch could easily handle all the sails. On the foremast, she carried a square sail for running down the trades. For the doldrums, and for running up exotic rivers, she was diesel-engine powered and capable of making up to 12 knots, with a fuel capacity for runs up to 4,000 miles under auxiliary alone. The extra fuel capacity also provided for possible oil burning cooking and heating facilities, as well as the ability to purchase oil in bulk quantities for as little as 10 cents a gallon then.

She was cut-away forward and aft in just the proper proportions for heaving-to, running before a gale, or fetching up to a sea anchor or drogue. She also incorporated the spade rudder with a 150. one for maneuverability and for lashing down to take the strain off the blade when making leeway. Everything about Marco Polo showed the genius of Herreshoff in distinctive relief. In a dozen different ways she was far ahead of her time.

She was then, and still is, the one bluewater displacement yacht that can consistently make 200-mile-plus noon-to-noon runs in all but the worst weather. Considering that most ocean voyagers seldom average more than five knots, this is indeed remarkable.

Unfortunately, Marco Polo was a little too "radical" for the fickle consumer market. Average blokes reacted nervously to the three masts, even though they simplified the overall rig; they did not like the narrow 10-foot beam, although the length gave the vessel an unusual roominess; they were afraid of the spade rudder, although this is now almost standard on racing craft; and perhaps the double-ended whaleboat model was not as aesthetically pleasing as the modern yacht club type reverse-canted transoms, even though the vessel was designed to be incapable of capsizing or being over- whelmed when running or lying ahull. Marco Polo was my first choice, and still is; however, I had neither the time nor the space convenient for building her, and with wood becoming more difficult, it was not practical in my circumstances. For reasons of financing, convenience, and ultimate maintenance, I finally selected fiberglass or G.R.P. as the basic mode, after long consideration of sandblasted and zinced steel, aluminum, and even ferro-cement. Once this was decided, I began a search for a hull I could live with, in kit form, which I could complete myself in a convenient place, either in or near the water."

-- Don Holm "The Circumnavigators" : "Anatomy Of A Dream Boat"