Herreshoff 7'11" Dinghy

Description

The Herreshoff Marco Polo is a miniature 7 ft 11 in (LOA) sailing and rowing dinghy designed in 1955 by Nathanael G. Herreshoff’s youngest son, L. Francis Herreshoff, specifically as a tender for his personal 57-foot ketch Marco Polo. Weighing only about 90 lbs. complete, with a 4 ft beam, wineglass transom, and tiny full keel carrying 25 lbs. of outside lead ballast, she is essentially a perfectly scaled-down version of a classic Herreshoff 12½ — same sweet sheer, same lapstrake appearance (though many were built smooth-skinned), and the same exquisite balance. She sets a tiny 35 sq ft sprit or lug sail on an 8-foot unstayed mast, rows beautifully with one or two people, and is so stable that a child can sail her confidently in a fresh breeze. L. Francis built the prototype himself in cedar planking, and over the next few decades a handful of professional yards (notably the Herreshoff Manufacturing revival and artisans like Ballentine’s Boat Shop) produced perhaps 50–70 examples in wood or early fiberglass. Today the Marco Polo is treasured as the ultimate “yacht’s yacht tender” — pretty enough to hang on davits as jewelry, yet genuinely capable of sailing circles around most 8-foot prams while teaching generations of kids (and adults) the pure joy of a perfectly proportioned small boat.