Ingomar and Elmina

Painting – Acrylic on Board
61 x 45 cm>h5>

The painting depicts these two beautiful schooners racing in the early 1900s. I did this painting because I was always fascinated by the beauty and amount of sail carried by these yachts of the romantic era, and I wanted to see if I could portray the true magnificence of these craft.

The following information about these schooners is from the Herreschoff website.

In 1903, Morton Plant, Commodore of the Larchmont Yacht Club, commissioned Nathanael G. Herreshoff to design INGOMAR. Plant was a prominent yachtsman who had made a large fortune in the management and ownership of railroads and steam lines.

INGOMAR was built in Bristol at the same time as RELIANCE, the America’s Cup defender of 1903, and was the first of nine Herreshoff steel-hulled schooners. Together with the first ELMINA, designed by Cary Smith, INGOMAR marked the beginning of a great line of famous large schooners that were to race under the New York Yacht Club burgee for over two decades. She was sent to Germany and England in 1904 where, skippered by Captain Charlie Barr, she won twelve out of twenty-two races and took four seconds and one third. Writing to Captain Nat after the 1904 transatlantic crossing, Barr said “INGOMAR is as good a cruising yacht as you will find anywhere.” INGOMAR raced successfully at Kiel under Barr’s command in 1904. INGOMAR proved to be the most successful American yacht to race in foreign waters since the 1851 triumph of the schooner America

Ingomar Specifications:

Built 1903
LOA 127ft
LWL 86ft
Beam 24ft 2″
Draft 14ft 0″

Ref: Beken of Cowes
Rosenfeld