Time has not managed to strip Evening Star of her elegance. Graceful and dignified, she spent the last few years docked in Berkeley Marina, where the casual observer has no chance to get acquainted with her history–a history which stretches back 82 years, and reads like an adventure novel, with dozens of thrilling races, a man overboard search operation, a brush with a hurricane, and even a stint in World War II.
Evening Star’s history began in 1937. She was an Alden design, and one of the last boats to be built by Herreschoff. A year after she was built, her owner, Frederick S. Ford Sr. entered her in the Port Huron Mackinac Island Race of 1938. It’s rumored she was built specifically for this race, although this rumor was later disputed by Ford.
Whatever the case, the Port Huron Mackinac Race proved to be an auspicious one: Evening Star finished first, with a time of 49 hours, 9 minutes and 29 seconds. She spent the rest of the 1930s in various races and on cruises around the Great Lakes region.
Her racing career was temporarily cut short in the early 1940s, during which Evening Star joined the “Coastal Picket Force”–the predecessor to the Coast Guard Auxiliary–in 1943. Ostensibly acting as a coast guard vessel, Evening Star was “armed to the teeth”–per the words of her owner, Frederick S. Ford Jr.–with a pair of machine guns that “would not fire more than five rounds without jamming.” Her crew contributed to the war effort by radioing information about the locations of German U-Boats along the eastern seaboard.
After the war, Evening Star headed west and resumed her prolific and successful racing career; she won Newport to Ensenada in 1948 (a win she would go on to repeat several times), and the Pacific Coast Ocean Championship in 1954. In 1951, during the Honolulu Race, a Man Overboard Search suspended the race for nearby vessels, including Evening Star, who had reported the incident. After the sailor had been rescued, Evening Star was allowed to continue on, and placed 5th, making the trip in 11 days, 20 hours, 8 minutes and 29 seconds, including time lost to the search efforts.
Evening Star raced only periodically during the 1960s, before coming back in the 1970s to win the Master Mariners Regatta twice, in 1974 and 1976, the Boreas Race in 1976, Long Beach’s Ancient Mariners Regatta in 1977, and her division in the 1978 Farallon Singlehand Race. By the 1980s, she was racing in the San Francisco Bay, still consistently beating modern vessels thirty or forty years her junior, although her age was beginning to show.
In the mid 1980s, she spent five months out of the water for repairs, and was hauled out again in 2011, at which point much of her interior trim and her deck hardware, as well as her original teak deck were placed safely away in storage, awaiting her future restoration.
Although Evening Star’s racing days are mostly behind her, her promise as a comfortable cruising yacht remains. Once restored, she will make a stunning and historical addition to the sailing community in the San Francisco Bay.
Specs & Details
LOA: 60′
Beam: 14′ 0″
LWL: 39′ 10″
Draft: 7′ 4″
Design or Class: Keel yawl
Designer: John G. Alden
Boat Type: Auxiliary sail
Gross Displacement: 60′
Sail Area: 1960
Number of Engines: 1
Builder Name: Herreshoff Mfg. Co.
Location Built: Bristol, RI
Year Built: 1937
Hull or Design No.: 638
Documentation or State Reg. No.: 236160
Repairs & Restorations
Evening Star’s current restoration needs are mostly interior-based. The following is work that still needs to be done on Evening Star:
- New floors/soles
- Remove & inspect tanks
- Diesel motor replaced with electric
- Rewiring
- Replumbing
- Re-rigging
- New sails
Evening Star’s hull and deck are currently in good ship. The original wheel, windlass, binnacle, compass & oil lamps are currently in storage and will be refitted to the ship upon completion of restoration.
If you’d like to watch Evening Star on her journey to full restoration make sure to follow @sveveningstar on instagram!!