coronet sailboat restoration

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Coronet to leave IYRS, Mystic Seaport and Museum to restore the 1885 Schooner Yacht

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Coronet, which has been under restoration at IYRS School of Technology and Trades since 1995, is leaving Newport.

The  Henry B. du Pont Preservation Shipyard  at Mystic Seaport Museum is preparing to receive a massive restoration project later this month, according to a press release today from IYRS. 

Coronet, the 1885 schooner, and what may be considered the last of the Gilded Age yachts, will be making her way to Mystic for a three-year restoration. The hauling process is proving to be an impressive undertaking in and of itself, as the vessel is currently on dry dock at IYRS School of Technology and Trades .

First launched in 1885,  Coronet  was one of the most elegant sailing yachts of her day. Intended for crossing the ocean in style, the 131-foot schooner was designed by William Townsend and built for Rufus T. Bush by the C. & R. Poillon shipyard in Brooklyn. Bush then put forth a $10,000 challenge (roughly $300,000 in today’s dollars) against any other yacht for a transatlantic race. The ocean race between the Coronet and the yacht Dauntless in March 1887 made Rufus T. Bush and the victorious  Coronet  famous—the New York Times devoted its entire first page on March 28, 1887 to the story.

IYRS says that the Henry B. du Pont Preservation Shipyard, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, is uniquely suited to the task. In 2007, a major investment was made to upgrade the Shipyard’s shiplift which allows it to haul vessels up to 450 tons, a capability unmatched by any other facility on eastern seaboard. 

Since 1995,  Coronet  has been under restoration at IYRS School of Technology & Trades, the premier marine trades and modern manufacturing school in the United States. Originally purchased as a student project to provide the hands-on experience in historic wooden vessel restoration the school is known for, the schooner was later sold to a private buyer but remained at IYRS under restoration by a team of shipwrights who included IYRS alumni.  Coronet  has been one of Newport’s favorite maritime attractions during its years at IYRS.

Over the course of the next few weeks,  Coronet  will be moved from dry dock at IYRS and hauled to the Museum in a complex and meticulously planned series of events managed by Mystic, according to IYRS. Currently underway is the dismantling of the building where Coronet resides, allowing a 1000-ton floating crane to access the vessel. Coronet will then be lifted from the former building site to a dock near IYRS. From there it will make the journey from Newport to Mystic on an eight-hour trip that will end through the Mystic Bascule Bridge and up the Mystic River to the ship lift at the south end of the Museum.  Coronet  will reside there until restoration is complete, a process that is expected to take approximately three years. 

Coronet  was recently purchased by  Crew , a New York-based company run by brothers Alex and Miles Pincus, according to IYRS. The purchase and continued restoration efforts of  Coronet  are in line with Crew’s notable history of historic vessel restoration. “Coronet is without equal. Her restoration is a calling that we feel destined to pursue,” says Alex Pincus, CEO of Crew. 

The Museum and the team at the Shipyard have worked with Crew over the years to maintain vessels in their existing fleet, most recently,  Pilot , a wooden schooner with a nearly 100-year history that now serves as a seasonal oyster bar located at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6. “Working with Crew has always been a pleasure, and they understand the historic preservation of their fleet. We look forward to this exciting project to bring  Coronet  to life,” says Chris Gasiorek, Senior Vice President of Operations and Watercraft at Mystic Seaport Museum.

Visitors to the Museum will be able to view the progress of the restoration as the Shipyard offers a unique opportunity to watch its shipwrights while they work. The restoration team will again include IYRS alumni who are looking forward to bringing Coronet’s restoration full circle.

Spectators both near and far can also follow along with the restoration on social media at both the  Museum  and  Coronet  Instagram accounts.

The Coronet Floats Again

The brothers behind Crew restaurants are refurbishing one of the Gilded Age's most celebrated sailing vessels.

Above: Brothers Alex and Miles Pincus aboard the Coronet in December.

In the end they did figure something out for the Coronet, enlisting investors and fellow conservators so that last December the boat was transported to the Mystic Seaport Museum for final restoration. After that? “It won’t be a restaurant. It’s too good for that. We’re thinking maybe another race across the Atlantic.”

Norman Vanamee is the articles director of Town & Country.

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RESTORATION “CORONET”

Coronet is the world’s only remaining Gilded Age vessel. Built in 1885 for a New York Yacht Club member.

Coronet is 192 feet over all and built entirely of wood, including wooden treenail fastenings. Her history includes sailing around the world twice, rounding the Horn five times, hosting Alexander Graham Bell, the King of Hawaii and the Emperor of Japan on board, a stint as flagship of the New York Yacht Club, providing transport for the first American/Japanese scientific project and transporting missionaries to Palestine and Africa. Coronet has been afloat for all of her 119 years. Her hull planking, frames and ceiling are all original and her Stanford White interior is 90% intact. J Class Management supervised the donation, stabilization, historical documentation, hauling and set up for the complete restoration of Coronet. The ongoing project, supervised by the International Yacht Restoration School, will return Coronet to her original, nineteenth-century configuration with no engine or electricity on board . Visitors are encouraged to come and see this restoration at the International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS) in Newport, Rhode Island. To read more about Coronet and IYRS, please go to www.yachtcoronet.org.

For complete restoration updates view the Coronet Blog

Name: Coronet Class: Schooner Designer(s): Smith & Terry, Christopher Crosby, William Townsend Type of Boat: 2 masted Gaff Topsail Schooner Year Built: 1885 Built by: C & R Poillon, Brooklyn, New York LOA m / ft: 58.5m / 192′ LOD m / ft: 40.5m / 133′ LWL m / ft: 38.1m / 125′ Beam m / ft: 8.5m / 28′ Draft m / ft: 3.6m / 12′ Yard No: Sail Stats: Sail area: 8,300 sq. ft. Construction: Wooden hull Other: Freeboard: 6′ 174 GRT

Construction Update October 16, 2013 – Temporary boards laid along the inside faces of the stanchions show the eventual shape of the bulwarks. (they’re really safety rails) Coronet’s form is easily seen these days now that she’s completely framed.

Construction Update October 16, 2013

Construction Update October 16, 2013 – The deck skylights and covered hatches have all been positioned to give a sense of how she will look when completed.

Construction Update February 26, 2013

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One Comment

Frank Sanford and Shilo ministries owned this at some point I believe. My great-grandfather sailed on this ship along with his brother. My grandfather Issac Gleason as a small child sailed back from Jerusalem in the 1800’s. Do you have any history of the time it belonged to Frank Sanford and his voyages? Very interested in my family history and would love to come and see this vessel!!

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• Art & Life

A Gilded Age Yacht Makes a Splash in Newport on its Way to Mystic

— Emilia Otte, Cate Hewitt, 12.2.2022

NEWPORT, R.I. — The Coronet, an 1885 schooner that crossed the Atlantic Ocean in just under 15 days, circumnavigated the globe several times, crossed Cape Horn from East to West, and traveled on prayer missions, is preparing for a shorter voyage: from Newport to the Mystic Seaport Museum shipyard, where she will undergo restoration for two to three years before setting sail across the globe. 

The transport to the seaport shipyard is part of an ongoing restoration of the ship, which was built during the Gilded Age and is set to become a vessel for adventure cruises, according to one of the ship’s new owners, Alex Pincus. He and his brother Miles, the ship’s new owners, are the co-founders of the restaurant group Crew , which owns restaurants in New York City and New Orleans. 

Pincus told CT Examiner that he and his brother want to recreate the 1887 transatlantic voyage when the ship traveled 3,000 miles from the East Coast to Queensboro, Ireland, in just under 15 days. The New York Times wrote at the time that the schooner “skims the rough waters like a petrel.”  

But before that, the ship will have to arrive at the Seaport for many years of restoration.

On Friday, shipbuilders, captains, and the current owners gathered at the dock behind the International Yacht Restoration School, or IYRS, for the first step of her voyage: using a giant crane to lift the 133-foot-long vessel into the water.   

Before the ship can be moved to Mystic, she will have to sit in the water in Newport for a few weeks. 

According to Sarah Armour, who has been with Mystic Seaport since 2020 as the captain of the schooner Brilliant, sitting in the water will expand the wooden planks, causing them to press against the caulking and making the boat watertight.

When the weather was favorable, Armour said, the ship would travel out into Rhode Island Sound, to the Block Island Sound, Fishers Island Sound and then up the Mystic River, a journey that should take about eight hours. 

The Coronet has lived at the IRYS school of Technology and Trades in Newport since 1995, where current and former students have learned shipbuilding skills by working on the vessel. 

In 2007, the boat was purchased by a new owner, Bob McNeil, and Jeffrey Rutherford became the project manager for the ship restoration, traveling back and forth from California to the East Coast every few weeks.

“There’s no question about it. That’s my baby,” Rutherford said.  

When it comes to restoring boats, he said, the more pieces of the original vessel that can be saved, the better.   

“Owners who get involved with these projects, they don’t want a replica,” said Rutherford. “They want to be able to say, ‘I own this original boat from whenever it was from.’” 

But with the Coronet, it wasn’t so easy. Rutherford said that McNeil offered him a $500 bonus for every piece of original frame he could save. But out of about 1200 frame pieces, he was only able to save a dozen.

“The boat was extremely rotten. So even with the incentive, we didn’t save much,” he said. 

Rutherford said that, unlike McNeil, who wanted to keep the boat as close to the original as possible, the Pincus brothers were willing to put engines in the boat, which he felt was a more realistic idea, particularly if they wanted to use the boat for adventure cruises.  

Alex Pincus told CT Examiner that he and his brother had been restoring boats since they were children. He said when the opportunity to buy the Coronet came up, he couldn’t say no.

“I didn’t really have any choice, emotionally,” he said. “This kind of thing doesn’t really happen to you regularly in your lifetime.” 

Pincus said he saw the Coronet as “the most important sailboat in the world.” Although he and his brother had an agreement in place with the former owners, the purchase was only formalized on Friday afternoon. He said he felt great.

“As I said to my friends, it’s like getting married into royalty,” Pincus told CT Examiner. 

And as for the cost of restoration? 

“I have no idea,” said Pincus. “A substantial amount.” 

Just getting the boat ready for the move to Connecticut has been hard work. Casey Cochran, a shipwright with Mystic Seaport Museum, described what he’d done so far to make the Coronet seaworthy.

“About 95 percent of the boat had to be caulked with cotton fibers and oakum, which is tarred hemp fibers – they had to be driven into the seams, and then seaming compound over the top of that and the bottom paint had to get done, ” he said. “And there was about a month or so of work to put cleats on board for the dock lines and for the tow when we bring it to Mystic.” 

He said a crew of six or seven workers took care of the caulking. He said that when the building that housed the Coronet was torn down, it slowed down the work, forcing them to come in at night and work.  

Jamie Kirschner, a shipwright with Mystic Seaport Museum, said one of the biggest challenges about moving the ship to Mystic was putting together the lifting gear to get it into the water. 

“It’s basically a giant mobile that’s hanging above the ship and hooked to the yellow straps and so figuring out all that, how it all went together, and just the weight of everything and. moving stuff around and logistics of getting it into the water,” he said. 

Krit Singh, also a shipwright with Mystic Seaport Museum and a former IYRS student, said the biggest difference between the Coronet and other boats he’d worked on was it’s sheer size — he’d gone from working on vessels that were 12 to 26 feet long to one that is over 120 feet long. 

But it’s not just the ship’s build that stands out — Armour and Singh both pointed out the Coronet’s long history as one of the things that makes the boat unique. 

“it is from the golden age of yachting … there were things like marble staircases inside, a cigar smoking lounge. Certain things that you wouldn’t typically find in a boat that’s built today,” said Singh. 

Armour said that the Mystic Seaport Museum still has much of the interior of the original boat, which will be put back into the frame as it’s restored. She said the museum even has the original Steinway Piano used on the ship.  

“There were just, like, tycoons all over the place,” added Armour, speaking about the time period the boat was built in.  

Timothy Murray lived part of the boat’s more recent history. He moved on board the ship when he was 12 years old. His father was captain of the ship from 1955 to 1961. A church owned the boat at the time, and his father took church members and youth groups up and down the East coast as far as Nova Scotia. 

In the boat, Murray shared the main state room with his brother. Their parents had the state room across the hall. He said the boat’s interior had ornate woodwork in “19th-century classic yacht style.” 

“We didn’t know it, but we were living in the lap of luxury,” he said.

Murray learned how to operate and maintain the ship while living aboard. When he was in college, he worked on the boat during summers.

“I must say I considered myself to be in the best of all possible worlds, living on board the ship for those years,” he said. “Anytime we took a cruise in the summer, I was part of the crew and my dad taught us piloting and navigating … It was a wonderful way to grow up.” 

He continued working on it for 40 years, becoming the ship’s captain in 1988, until it went to IYRS in 1995. 

“I have a very strong emotional attachment to this vessel, and I’m delighted beyond words to see it being restored,” said Murray. 

Rutherford told CT Examiner that the decision to move the boat was a positive one for everyone. The city no longer wanted to renew what was originally a four-year permit for the building that housed the boat, IRYS wanted to use the property for other things, and the new boat owners already had a relationship with the people at Mystic Seaport. 

Singh added that he felt that Mystic Seaport was the ideal location to continue the boat’s restoration. It provides a permanent structure rather than a temporary one, and it also will be a draw for people coming to the museum.

“We’ve got the shipwrights and the talent to work on it — because, before, it was a smaller crew, or students working on it, like myself, through the summer. So progress was very slow,” he said. “We have the best ship lift on the East coast, so we have the ability to haul it and work on it out of the water, and all the tools that we need to finish [a] project of this scale.” 

Jay Coogan, director of IRYS, said at least a half dozen alumni from the school are working at the shipyard at Mystic Seaport.

“At least one or two of our graduates from this year’s group are going to go down to Mystic after they finish here,” he said, adding that they will be working on the Coronet. 

Peter Armstrong, Director of the Mystic Seaport Museum, said the Gilded Age details of the Coronet tie into the the themes of the “Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano” show currently on view. 

“It was a ‘super yacht’ of its period,” Armstrong said. “It was like a piece of artwork – it was beautiful.”

Rutherford said he was pleased about the Pincus’ goal to eventually use the boat for adventure cruises. 

“Boats like to be used. They don’t like to sit in a museum. They like to be operated, so I think it’d be great if they can make that happen,” said Rutherford.

But he’s not sure if he’s going to make it on a cruise himself – especially considering how expensive it will be.  

“That thought has crossed my mind more than once,” he said. “Maybe there’s an empty berth onq one of these cruises, and I can just slip into that one.”

Home » The 1885 Schooner Coronet Arrives at Mystic Seaport Museum Monday, December 5

The 1885 Schooner Coronet Arrives at Mystic Seaport Museum Monday, December 5

• By Sophia Matsas
• December 5, 2022

Mystic, Conn. (December 4, 2022) – This past Friday, the 1885 Schooner Yacht Coronet was successfully launched in Newport, Rhode Island following eight months of meticulous planning and coordination. On Monday, December 5, the vessel is set to make its way to Henry B. du Pont Preservation Shipyard at Mystic Seaport Museum to complete its restoration, a process that is expected to take three years.

The journey will begin at around 8 a.m. on Monday morning and is anticipated to take up to eight hours. Anticipated arrival to the Museum is between 2 – 4 p.m. on Monday afternoon. Coronet will be towed out of Newport Harbor and travel out through Rhode Island Sound, Block Island Sound, Fishers Island Sound and finally up the Mystic River through the Mystic Bascule Bridge and upriver to the Museum.

Images below were captured during Friday’s launch.

Photo Credit: Mystic Seaport Museum

Coronet will be towed by Jaguar , which most recently towed the Mayflower II after routine maintenance at the shipyard. Progress of the journey can be followed throughout the day here .

The arrival of Coronet as it passes the Mystic Bascule Bridge and makes its way up to the river to the Museum will also be live streamed on the Museum’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. Updates will be posted throughout the day across the Museum’s social channels prior to going live.

Facebook Twitter Instagram

Coronet Press Release History:

• MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM AND CREW TO RESTORE 1885 SCHOONER YACHT CORONET
• THE 1885 SCHOONER CORONET TO BE LAUNCHED ON DECEMBER 2

Media Contact Sophia Matsas Director of Marketing & Communications Mystic Seaport Museum 860.572.5317 (o) [email protected]

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum is the nation’s leading maritime Museum. Founded in 1929 to gather and preserve the rapidly disappearing artifacts of America’s seafaring past, the Museum has grown to become a national center for research and education with the mission to “inspire an enduring connection to the American maritime experience.” The Museum’s grounds cover 19 acres on the Mystic River in Mystic, CT, and include a recreated New England coastal village, a working shipyard, formal exhibit halls, and state-of-the-art artifact storage facilities. The Museum is home to more than 500 historic watercraft, including four National Historic Landmark vessels, most notably the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan . For more information, please visit mysticseaport.org and follow the Museum on Facebook ,  Twitter ,  YouTube , and  Instagram .

• boat launch , coronet , crew , henry b du pont shipyard , iyrs , museum news , shipyard news

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My Life In Boats: Alex Pincus on the restoration of 40m Coronet

Two restaurateur brothers are the next caretakers of Coronet, discovers Grace Trofa

My brother, Miles, and I grew up on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. It’s a great lake for sailing and it is the base for the Southern Yacht Club, one of the oldest in America. We learned to sail at summer camp. We were about 11 when my brother paid $100 for an old Laser and rebuilt it with parts from West Marine. I was into white water and built my own kayak on our porch.

As we got older, we tinkered with bigger boats. We both ended up in New York for graduate school. My brother got a job as a captain of the 75ft [23m] schooner Shearwater , and we got this idea we should start a sailing school, then a sailboat charter business. We sold that and it still operates today out of Pier 25.

Then after I read Mark Kurlansky’s book The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell , we had this idea to start a dockside bar. In the 19th century the whole New York waterfront was surrounded by oyster barges. Years before, Miles had discovered the 142ft [43m] Sherman Zwicker (sistership of the famous Bluenose ), a cod fishing schooner. We convinced her caretaker, Captain George McEvoy, to allow us to bring her to Pier 25 and operate her as a dockside oyster bar, to introduce her to a whole new generation. Ultimately, he donated the boat to us, which was incredible. That’s now Grand Banks.

Not long after, we came across the last remaining oyster barge built in 1830; we bought that for a dollar and are currently finding her a new home. Then we purchased and restored the 142ft [43m] Pilot , which was built to race the schooner Columbia in 1924. Like Grand Banks, she is now a dockside oyster bar operating at Brooklyn Bridge Park. We also purchased at auction an FDNY fireboat, the 105ft [32m] Governor Alfred E Smith , our first big steel boat, and we are talking about making it into a bar. We already have the perfect location in Brooklyn, adjacent to the original fireboat station.

Our latest restaurant, Holywater, is on shore because we needed a place in winter, but when you go inside it looks like you are on a boat. Miles and I are having a good time; we like messing around with boats.

And that brings us to our latest, most exciting, acquisition: the 132ft [40m] 1885-built Coronet . We have done a lot of work with Mystic Seaport Marine, so when the family of the late Bob McNeil reached out to locate a new owner to complete the project, the shipyard contacted us.

McNeil did an incredible job on the work completed so far. We spent a year convincing the family and the International Yacht Restoration School that we were the right people to continue this project. We orchestrated the largest crane on the East Coast to lift Coronet off the land. It was incredible to see her back in the water after almost 30 years. We are working on getting a group together to fund the estimated four-year project and plan to sail her across the Atlantic again, from New York to Cobh (formerly Queenstown), Ireland, and try to beat the original time of her first race, 14 days and 15 hours.

We’re thrilled and lucky to be pursuing our passion of restoring old boats and to be a part of their history. It’s incredible to be working with your brother, keeping your childhood interests alive.

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Schooner Coronet makes its way to Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic ― Visitors watch as the schooner yacht Coronet makes it’s way to the Mystic Seaport Museum Monday, December 5, 2022.

The 131-foot schooner was built for oil tycoon Rufus T. Bush in 1885. It is considered the last of the Gilded Age yachts and is famous for winning a transatlantic race against the yacht Dauntless in March 1887.

It recently was purchased by Crew, a New York-based company. Coronet was towed Monday from IYRS School of Technology and Trades in Newport where it has been under restoration since 1995.

The museum’s Henry B. du Pont Preservation Shipyard has worked with Crew over the years to maintain vessels in its existing fleet, most recently, Pilot, a wooden schooner that now serves as a seasonal oyster bar in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Coronet will remain at the shipyard for a three-year restoration.

Published on May 30th, 2013 | by Editor

PHOTO: Restoration of the 1885 schooner yacht Coronet

Published on May 30th, 2013 by Editor -->

The restoration of the 1885 schooner yacht Coronet is underway on the wharf of the International Yacht Restoration School in Newport, RI. All hull frames and deck beams have now been erected, with the last few midships frames having joined the bow and stern this past weekend. Owner Bob McNeil is personally handling the restoration of the original interior paneling. He and his team will soon tackle a rebuild of her grand marble main stairway. Re-launch is still down the road, but a few key steps closer today. Update courtesy of T.J. Perrotti, Perrotti Performance Design

Tags: Bob McNeil , Coronet , IYRS , T.J. Perrotti

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Coronet1885

• The Shipwrights
• Welcome to the Coronet Blog

Posted By Tom Daniels on November 25, 2009

Welcome to the home page for the classic yacht, Coronet.  Coronet was first launched in 1885, and was one of the most elegant sailing yachts of her day.  She was designed for crossing the ocean in style, and featured a marble staircase, stained glass doors, mahogany paneled staterooms, and a piano in the main salon.

Since 1995, Coronet has been on the campus of the International Yacht Restoration School, awaiting restoration.  Coronet Restoration Partners purchased her in 2006, and restoration has now begun in earnest.

We’ll be following Coronet’s team of shipwrights here as they bring this classic boat back to her former glory.  We’ll cover it all, from harvesting the timber to restoring the original interior.  If you are a builder, a hobbyist, a historian, or just enamored with classic boats, we think you’ll enjoy watching this beautiful vessel come back to life.

If you see this (more…) at the bottom of a post, that means that the post continues on another page.  Just click it and you’ll go to the rest of the post.

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64 Responses to “Welcome to the Coronet Blog”

Could you please give us a little more info on why the project was paused and if and when it will resume? That way I will not have to continually log into this site and again and again be disappointed in no progress( I have follow this site fron the very beginning and this is discouraging)

Hi Ken, Unfortunately I don’t have info to share on why the project is currently paused. That’s between the owner and project manager. In the meantime, you can create a Google alert that will send you a message when this website is updated, and save you the trouble of continually checking in. In the box where it asks for a topic, enter Coronet1885. That should keep the alerts pretty much focused on just this site. Best, Tom

Hi, I stopped by yesterday to check on progress and was sad to see it at a standstill. But it was as wonderful as ever to explore and I took some photos of all the bits and pieces around (My favorite part). Thought I’d share. Fingers crossed for work to start up again. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s42tml9skk5hyz7/AADGEMY5yVvv16ojugSSAko-a?dl=0

Thank you for sharing your photos! You’re not alone in hoping that the project gets going soon!

Well, its been a while since I discovered the Coronet’s history on TV. As I recall, I saw the re-launching, which was, as I say, kind of scary; since the Coronet almost capsized! As a visual lover of things old, glorious or beautiful, please keep my email and send me a note when and if the restoration is restored. Must say – despite what the delays’ causes are – that the work done before the stop was really remarkable.

Great news that there is progress! After two years I feared that the project had come to an end. Thanks Tom for keeping us updated.

I’ll be in town next Saturday 23.2.2018, and would love to see the progress of the Coronet will the building be open? Thanks Pat

Anything new in the last 6 months?

Wow, it’s been about a year since the last update, and there was none in 2017. Is restoration still going on? Or, is there no interest? Is there another web site we can go to for more information? This is a great project. and I would to keep up on the progress. thanks

First time on the site. I am a great-great grandson of Richard Poillon of C & R Poillon Shipyard who built the Coronet. His daughter Emma Poillon was my great-grandmother. It is fascinating to see the restoration work being done to the Coronet. I am retiring this summer and my Wife and I hope to visit the ship sometime in our travels. Keep up the great work you are doing. Sincerely, Jack Shiner

It’s been over two years. I presume this is a dead page.

There must be many like me wondering when an update on progress will appear?

I just posted the launch update… at last!!

Thank you so much for visiting Jack! I just posted the launch update… at last!!

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BOATING REPORT

BOATING REPORT; For the Coronet, 19th-Century Glory

By Barbara Lloyd

• June 20, 1999

If a boat could look like a homeless waif, the 133-foot schooner Coronet is a ragamuffin of the high seas. But beneath its scruffy exterior is a sailboat as vital to United States yachting history as a national monument is to the American archives.

Never mind the snubbed stem where a graceful bowsprit once jutted. And ignore the boxy-looking wheelhouse on a deck that never knew clutter. And try to overlook the absence of a rig where two masts once soared to 135 feet.

The porcelain sinks that fold up like closed scallop shells are still affixed to its cabin. And the dark, richly carved panels of rare mahogany still line bulkhead walls between six gracious staterooms.

Good fortune was missing, however, when it came to the polished marble steps of the main saloon. They are gone now. So too is the brass chandelier, the writing desk and the open-tiled fireplace. But most any part of a boat can be replaced or rebuilt at the International Yacht Restoration School here. At least, that's the attitude that prevails when it comes to Coronet.

''What the U.S.S. Constitution is to the United States Navy, the Coronet is to yachting,'' said John Mecray, a marine artist who helped start a campaign to restore Coronet to its 19th-century eminence. ''There is no second.''

An exhibition including photos and artifacts from the partially denuded yacht is scheduled to open Saturday at the Newport Art Museum. Entitled ''Coronet: An Air of Greatness,'' the three-month show precedes a fund-raising effort for the yacht.

In the late 19th century, Coronet was the flagship of the New York Yacht Club. Built entirely of thick-planked oak and pine in 1885 by Rufus T. Bush, a club member, the yacht was designed for global voyages. It was built at the former Poillon Brothers boat yard in Brooklyn.

In 1887, in its trans-Atlantic racing debut, Coronet defeated the famous 123-foot schooner Dauntless by more than 30 hours. The 14-day passage from New York to Ireland was widely publicized. Then, under a series of eight owners, the vessel circled the globe to great fanfare. In 1888, it was the first registered yacht to round Cape Horn, at the tip of South America, from east to west.

It sailed in 1895 on a scientific expedition to Japan for Amherst College when owned by Arthur Curtiss James, a former club commodore. In 1905, the Kingdom, a nondenominational Christian group based in Maine, bought Coronet to ferry its missionaries around the world. Four years ago, the group gave Coronet to the yacht restoration school.

Of special significance at the exhibit will be three models of Coronet on loan from the New York Yacht Club's main clubhouse in Manhattan.

The display is designed to broaden public awareness of the boat, which Mecray said will cost about $7 million to restore. He contends that rebuilding Coronet is as important as revitalizing any architectural treasure. Peter Stanford, president of the National Maritime Historical Society in Peekskill, N.Y., agrees.

''She expresses an age that has vanished,'' Stanford said in a telephone interview. ''It is about ship design, and how people of that time spent their money. She has traveled so much of the globe, in voyages for scientific, religious and recreational purposes. She wraps up so much of our relationship with the sea.''

MAKING WAVES

As many as 250 sailboats are expected to race beginning Monday in Block Island Race Week. Organized for 18 years by the Storm Trysail Club, the five-day Rhode Island Sound regatta includes yachts from 24 to 60 feet. One-design class competitions take precedence this year over boats sailing under grand prix handicap rules. More than 70 sailboats are racing in closed one-design classes.

Three sailboats broke the Annapolis to Newport Race record last week. Finishing first, and setting a course record of 47 hours 45 minutes, was Chessie Racing, a 70-foot yacht skippered by George Collins of Annapolis, Md. His boat, formerly named Pyewacket, took five hours off the race record set in 1987 by Starlight Express, also a 70-footer.

The Comprehensive Guide to Moscow Nightlife

• Posted on April 14, 2018 July 26, 2018
• by Kings of Russia
• 8 minute read

Moscow’s nightlife scene is thriving, and arguably one of the best the world has to offer – top-notch Russian women, coupled with a never-ending list of venues, Moscow has a little bit of something for everyone’s taste. Moscow nightlife is not for the faint of heart – and if you’re coming, you better be ready to go Friday and Saturday night into the early morning.

This comprehensive guide to Moscow nightlife will run you through the nuts and bolts of all you need to know about Moscow’s nightclubs and give you a solid blueprint to operate with during your time in Moscow.

What you need to know before hitting Moscow nightclubs

Prices in moscow nightlife.

Before you head out and start gaming all the sexy Moscow girls , we have to talk money first. Bring plenty because in Moscow you can never bring a big enough bankroll. Remember, you’re the man so making a fuzz of not paying a drink here or there will not go down well.

Luckily most Moscow clubs don’t do cover fees. Some electro clubs will charge 15-20$, depending on their lineup. There’s the odd club with a minimum spend of 20-30$, which you’ll drop on drinks easily. By and large, you can scope out the venues for free, which is a big plus.

Bottle service is a great deal in Moscow. At top-tier clubs, it starts at 1,000$. That’ll go a long way with premium vodka at 250$, especially if you have three or four guys chipping in. Not to mention that it’s a massive status boost for getting girls, especially at high-end clubs.

Without bottle service, you should estimate a budget of 100-150$ per night. That is if you drink a lot and hit the top clubs with the hottest girls. Scale down for less alcohol and more basic places.

Dress code & Face control

Door policy in Moscow is called “face control” and it’s always the guy behind the two gorillas that gives the green light if you’re in or out.

In Moscow nightlife there’s only one rule when it comes to dress codes:

You can never be underdressed.

People dress A LOT sharper than, say, in the US and that goes for both sexes. For high-end clubs, you definitely want to roll with a sharp blazer and a pocket square, not to mention dress shoes in tip-top condition. Those are the minimum requirements to level the playing field vis a vis with other sharply dressed guys that have a lot more money than you do. Unless you plan to hit explicit electro or underground clubs, which have their own dress code, you are always on the money with that style.

Getting in a Moscow club isn’t as hard as it seems: dress sharp, speak English at the door and look like you’re in the mood to spend all that money that you supposedly have (even if you don’t). That will open almost any door in Moscow’s nightlife for you.

Types of Moscow Nightclubs

In Moscow there are four types of clubs with the accompanying female clientele:

High-end clubs:

These are often crossovers between restaurants and clubs with lots of tables and very little space to dance. Heavy accent on bottle service most of the time but you can work the room from the bar as well. The hottest and most expensive girls in Moscow go there. Bring deep pockets and lots of self-confidence and you have a shot at swooping them.

Regular Mid-level clubs:

They probably resemble more what you’re used to in a nightclub: big dancefloors, stages and more space to roam around. Bottle service will make you stand out more but you can also do well without. You can find all types of girls but most will be in the 6-8 range. Your targets should always be the girls drinking and ideally in pairs. It’s impossible not to swoop if your game is at least half-decent.

Basic clubs/dive bars:

Usually spots with very cheap booze and lax face control. If you’re dressed too sharp and speak no Russian, you might attract the wrong type of attention so be vigilant. If you know the local scene you can swoop 6s and 7s almost at will. Usually students and girls from the suburbs.

Electro/underground clubs:

Home of the hipsters and creatives. Parties there don’t mean meeting girls and getting drunk but doing pills and spacing out to the music. Lots of attractive hipster girls if that is your niche. That is its own scene with a different dress code as well.

What time to go out in Moscow

Moscow nightlife starts late. Don’t show up at bars and preparty spots before 11pm because you’ll feel fairly alone. Peak time is between 1am and 3am. That is also the time of Moscow nightlife’s biggest nuisance: concerts by artists you won’t know and who only distract your girls from drinking and being gamed. From 4am to 6am the regular clubs are emptying out but plenty of people, women included, still hit up one of the many afterparty clubs. Those last till well past 10am.

As far as days go: Fridays and Saturdays are peak days. Thursday is an OK day, all other days are fairly weak and you have to know the right venues.

The Ultimate Moscow Nightclub List

Short disclaimer: I didn’t add basic and electro clubs since you’re coming for the girls, not for the music. This list will give you more options than you’ll be able to handle on a weekend.

Preparty – start here at 11PM

Classic restaurant club with lots of tables and a smallish bar and dancefloor. Come here between 11pm and 12am when the concert is over and they start with the actual party. Even early in the night tons of sexy women here, who lean slightly older (25 and up).

The second floor of the Ugolek restaurant is an extra bar with dim lights and house music tunes. Very small and cozy with a slight hipster vibe but generally draws plenty of attractive women too. A bit slower vibe than Valenok.

Very cool, spread-out venue that has a modern library theme. Not always full with people but when it is, it’s brimming with top-tier women. Slow vibe here and better for grabbing contacts and moving on.

High-end: err on the side of being too early rather than too late because of face control.

Secret Room

Probably the top venue at the moment in Moscow . Very small but wildly popular club, which is crammed with tables but always packed. They do parties on Thursdays and Sundays as well. This club has a hip-hop/high-end theme, meaning most girls are gold diggers, IG models, and tattooed hip hop chicks. Very unfavorable logistics because there is almost no room no move inside the club but the party vibe makes it worth it. Strict face control.

Close to Secret Room and with a much more favorable and spacious three-part layout. This place attracts very hot women but also lots of ball busters and fakes that will leave you blue-balled. Come early because after 4am it starts getting empty fast. Electronic music.

A slightly kitsch restaurant club that plays Russian pop and is full of gold diggers, semi-pros, and men from the Caucasus republics. Thursday is the strongest night but that dynamic might be changing since Secret Room opened its doors. You can swoop here but it will be a struggle.

Mid-level: your sweet spot in terms of ease and attractiveness of girls for an average budget.

Started going downwards in 2018 due to lax face control and this might get even worse with the World Cup. In terms of layout one of the best Moscow nightclubs because it’s very big and bottle service gives you a good edge here. Still attracts lots of cute girls with loose morals but plenty of provincial girls (and guys) as well. Swooping is fairly easy here.

I haven’t been at this place in over a year, ever since it started becoming ground zero for drunken teenagers. Similar clientele to Icon but less chic, younger and drunker. Decent mainstream music that attracts plenty of tourists. Girls are easy here as well.

Sort of a Coyote Ugly (the real one in Moscow sucks) with party music and lots of drunken people licking each others’ faces. Very entertaining with the right amount of alcohol and very easy to pull in there. Don’t think about staying sober in here, you’ll hate it.

Artel Bessonitsa/Shakti Terrace

Electronic music club that is sort of a high-end place with an underground clientele and located between the teenager clubs Icon and Gipsy. Very good music but a bit all over the place with their vibe and their branding. You can swoop almost any type of girl here from high-heeled beauty to coked-up hipsters, provided they’re not too sober.

Afterparty: if by 5AM  you haven’t pulled, it’s time to move here.

Best afterparty spot in terms of trying to get girls. Pretty much no one is sober in there and savage gorilla game goes a long way. Lots of very hot and slutty-looking girls but it can be hard to tell apart who is looking for dick and who is just on drugs but not interested. If by 9-10am you haven’t pulled, it is probably better to surrender.

The hipster alternative for afterparties, where even more drugs are in play. Plenty of attractive girls there but you have to know how to work this type of club. A nicer atmosphere and better music but if you’re desperate to pull, you’ll probably go to Miks.

Weekday jokers: if you’re on the hunt for some sexy Russian girls during the week, here are two tips to make your life easier.

Chesterfield

Ladies night on Wednesdays means this place gets pretty packed with smashed teenagers and 6s and 7s. Don’t pull out the three-piece suit in here because it’s a “simpler” crowd. Definitely your best shot on Wednesdays.

If you haven’t pulled at Chesterfield, you can throw a Hail Mary and hit up Garage’s Black Music Wednesdays. Fills up really late but there are some cute Black Music groupies in here. Very small club. Thursday through Saturday they do afterparties and you have an excellent shot and swooping girls that are probably high.

Shishas Sferum

This is pretty much your only shot on Mondays and Tuesdays because they offer free or almost free drinks for women. A fairly low-class club where you should watch your drinks. As always the case in Moscow, there will be cute girls here on any day of the week but it’s nowhere near as good as on the weekend.

In a nutshell, that is all you need to know about where to meet Moscow girls in nightlife. There are tons of options, and it all depends on what best fits your style, based on the type of girls that you’re looking for.

Related Topics

• moscow girls
• moscow nightlife

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Check out Moscow’s NEW electric river trams (PHOTOS)

Water transportation has become another sector for the eco-friendly improvements the Moscow government is implementing. And it means business. On July 15, 2021, on the dock of Moscow’s ‘Zaryadye’ park, mayor Sergey Sobyanin was shown the first model of the upcoming river cruise boat.

The model of the electrical boat with panoramic windows measures 22 meters in length. The river tram - as Muscovites call them - has a passenger capacity of 42, including two disabled seats. The trams will also get cutting edge info panels, USB docking stations, Wi-Fi, spaces for scooters and bicycles, as well as chairs and desks for working on the go. The boats will be available all year round, according to ‘Mosgortrans’, the regional transport agency. 

Passengers will be able to pay with their ‘Troika’ public transport card, credit cards or bank cards. 

The main clientele targeted are people living in Moscow’s river districts - the upcoming trams will shorten their travel time in comparison to buses and other transportation by five times, Mosgortrans stated. 

As the river trams are being rolled out, Moscow docks will also see mini-stations, some of which will also be outfitted with charging docks for speed-charging the boats.  

Moscow is set to announce the start of the tender for construction and supply in September 2021. The first trams are scheduled to launch in June 2022 on two routes - from Kievskaya Station, through Moscow City, into Fili; and from ZIL to Pechatniki. 

“Two full-scale routes will be created in 2022-2023, serviced by 20 river trams and a number of river stations. We’ll continue to develop them further if they prove to be popular with the citizens,” the Moscow mayor said .

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