Each Saturday from 12:30 – 3:30, the Museum’s Maritime Artist-in-Residence Frank Hanavan continues to build a model of the “America,” an 1851 racing yacht sponsored by the Stevens family. The “America” was the first winner of the “America’s Cup” international sailing trophy. 

Stop by and ask questions, or just watch!  Bring the kids. The word-working, and the level of detail in measuring and refining the dozens (hundreds?) of pieces is astonishing. On Saturday, April 30, Frank was sanding and adding refinement to the Bulwarks around the perimeter of the deck. And he started work on the cockpit. Tell us, Frank! “On America, the cockpit is very literal. It’s a large commodious upholstered circular bench set two feet lower than the main deck. The steering Tiller which controls the Rudder is located here, and it’s from this location that the captain operates the vessel. The upholstered circular bench creates a nice island of comfort and luxury for guests or other non-crew sailing participants and its sunken nature is an unusual feature for a sailing vessel.”

On May 21st, he, “applied more paper ‘copper hull plates’ and I think the resulting  illusion of a coppered hull is reasonably convincing.” We agree!!

Go, Frank, go!