41' Concordia 41'

Actaea was the first of the Concordia 41's. She was conceived and designed by The Concordia Company (Hunt and Lowland) and was built to the highest standards by Abeking & Rasmussen in 1953. She became the flagship of the New York Yacht Club under Commodore Henry Sears and in 1955 placed first in class "C" and first overall in the (then) famous New London-Annaplois Race. Actaea has always been set up with a short bowsprit and a 7/8 sloop rig.

The Concordia yawl was designed in 1938 by naval architect C. Raymond Hunt with input from Llewellyn and Waldo Howland, Clinton Crane, Fenwick Williams and Frank Paine.

Earlier that year Llewellyn Howland's family's Colin Archer designed Norwegian pilot cutter, Escape, was destroyed by the Great Hurricane of 1938. Llewellyn commissioned the Concordia Company, which he had founded in 1926 and at the time run by his son Waldo, to design and build a replacement. Llewellyn wanted a sailboat that could be used for both cruising and racing and withstand the heavy wind and choppy waters of Buzzards Bay.

What was created was Concordia design number fourteen, a 39'10" yawl that would become one of the most successful yawls in history. There were 103 Concordias produced between 1938 and 1966, making the Concordia yawl class the largest class of large one-design wooden sailboats. The first four Concordias were produced in Massachusetts. Concordia commissioned the Abeking and Rasmussen shipyard in Lemwerder, Germany to build the last 99 (26 of them as a 41' Model). 102 of the 103 Concordias are still in existence today.

Over the years the Concordia yawl has won numerous races including the prestigious Newport Bermuda Race (1954 & 1978), the Annapolis Race (1955), Cowes Week (1955) and the Marblehead-to-Halifax Race (1955 & 1997).

1954 Newport Bermuda Race - Malay, Conc