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Last Updated on:
April 19, 2008
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builders
of the Sea Pearl 21 and Sea Pearl 21 Trimaran sailboats |
History |
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| The Sea Pearl 21 was the invention of two Florida sailors looking to set the world on fire with their idea of the perfect Florida sailboat. However,the man who should get most of the credit is L. Francis Herreshoff. The Sea Pearl is based on Herreshoff's Carpenter as the perfect tender, designed to take over in the shallow waters when the mothership (the Walrus) had her anchor down. She was to have the sailing characteristics of a whaleboat, able to take a good sea and sail handily, while having the beachability of a dory. The Walrus and the Carpenter are featured in Herreshoff's book Sensible Cruising Designs. | ||
In order to make the Sea Pearl more perfect as a family daysailer and beach cruiser for two, it was decided to lengthen her from 18 to 21 feet, while keeping the same proportions. This gave her a beam of 5 1/2 feet and a length to beam ration of 3.8 to 1, the same as the Carpenter. She was to have the same soft chines and the hard flat dory bottom of the original design. The transom was modified from sharp double-ended to tombstone to easier mount a kickup rudder. The bow was modified to provide more deck space forward and give her a more modern look. The Marine Concept's Sea Pearl debuted at the 1982 Miami Boat Show in February with hull number 11. All of the teak and the mahogany spars were highly glossed with seven coats of spar varnish. The early Pearls had lots of teak including massive teak rub-rails and a teak rudder stock. Hull 11 is actually hull number 1, since it was the first of the production design. I am glad to say that Stan Jankowski, who bought that first SeaPearl 21 on the last day of the show, still owns it and it still looks as good or better than it did then. |
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The Sea Pearl 21 as we know it today looks much the same. They all have the same hull and deck design. Several rigs have been designed, including a wishbone rig, which led to the Marconi rig we have today. Water ballast tanks and the reefing goosenecks were added in 1987, shortly after Shane St. Clair returned from his 5,000 mile Voyage Through America. Shane gave the Pearl a good test in all kinds of situations over this nonstop, six month trip which circumnavigated the Eastern United States via the Atlantic, Great Lakes and Mississippi River. Happy Seas and Fair Winds to all of you... but especially to the Pearlers.
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