Description
The Buzzards Bay 25 (also known as the Buzzards Bay Boy's Yacht or Herreshoff Special Class 25) is an iconic wooden daysailer and one-design racer designed by legendary American naval architect Nathanael G. Herreshoff (often called "Captain Nat") in 1914, specifically for the challenging choppy conditions of Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Commissioned by the Beverly Yacht Club, only five originals were built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company (HMCo) that year—Mink, Vitessa, Bagatelle, White Cap, and Tarantula—as sleeker, larger evolutions of Herreshoff's personal sloop Alerion III. These gaff-rigged sloops emphasize elegance, simplicity, and performance: long overhangs for speed, a narrow beam for agility, and a centerboard for shallow-water access, making them ideal for daysailing, club racing, or light cruising with a small crew. With a focus on seaworthiness in sou'wester winds and waves, the class raced actively for seven seasons but was limited by high cost ($2,000 each, equivalent to ~$60,000 today) and a tragic 1915 squall that sank two boats. Revived through restorations and modern replicas (a dozen+ built since the 1980s), the BB25 remains a pinnacle of classic yacht design, celebrated for its "ghosting" in light air and powerful reach in breeze.
