Museum Hours:
Memorial Day to June 30
Weekends
1 - 5
June 30 through Labor Day weekend open 7 days a week
1 - 5
Labor
Day thru Columbus Day
Weekends
1:00 PM to 5:00PM
November thru April by appointment only.
Admission is free
(a $5 donation is suggested)
June - September
Saturdays & Sundays
11am to 5 pm
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Harold S. Vanderbilt and the Great J-Class Yachts
| Between 1928 and 1937, ten J-class yachts were built for the America’s Cup race. These yachts were twice as long as America’s Cup 12-meter boats and had four times the sail area and six times the displacement. |
Ranger, dubbed the “Super J”, had 7546 square feet of sail area driving her 135-foot hull. Ranger flew an 18,000 square-foot spinnaker! |
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Get a few old-time Greenport families together and they will certainly tell about their relatives who worked for Harold S. Vanderbilt on the winning yachts Enterprise (1930), Rainbow (1934), and Ranger (1937).
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Mr. Vanderbilt prestigiously helmed the yachts himself during the actual Cup Races, but otherwise the big Js were all captained by a Greenport man, Captain George S. Monsell. This was a powerful and well-respected position and under his leadership, the J-Class Greenport crews - twenty six sailors not including the afterguard, were regarded as the most skillful racing hands afloat.
Mr. Vanderbilt’s own yacht, Vagrant, was maintained at Greenport’s Brigham’s Shipyard. The tender to the J-Class yachts, Bystander, was built at Brigham’s. And Vara, the luxurious 150-foot motor yacht that Mr. Vanderbilt lived aboard during the races, was also maintained here in Greenport.
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