photo credit: c h e e s e roc

Nathanael Herreshoff revolutionized American sailing boat design at the turn of the 20th century, “crafting innovative yachts that dominated the America’s Cup sailing competition for decades.”

Now a Rhode Island graphic designer and sailing captain, Will Sofrin, is using Massachusetts Institute of Technology records from two dozen of Herreshoff’s designs to help recreate original construction plans.

“Sofrin is deciphering tables of boat measurements left with a museum at MIT, which Herreshoff attended, and using the numbers to create mathematically accurate ink drawings, including of seven yachts designed specifically for the America’s Cup,” writes Eric Tucker of The Washington Post.

Herreshoff’s grandson, Halsey Herreshoff, is less than enthusiastic about the project:

“‘We don’t just hand [these designs] out to any old Tom, Dick and Harry,’ said Halsey Herreshoff, president of the Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol, R.I. and America’s Cup Hall of Fame. ‘There was never any intention that these would be just spread around the way this guy is doing.’”