Welcome to 2016! 

The museum closed for the season on December 20th after the museum Holiday Party, but since then, it seems like things around here have only gotten busier. The 4th Annual Frostbite Bash on February 8th was a home run, and we are full speed ahead on a variety of campus projects and exhibit updates. We'll keep you posted on our progress!

We set a stretch goal for the 2015 Year End Appeal, and thanks to your generosity, we achieved it! We'd like to extend our sincerest gratitude to everyone who donated, as these funds will help us improve our programs, our campus and our exhibits, and it will help us preserve our world-class collection.

It's not too early to start thinking about sailing classes for the summer! We are now accepting registrations for 2016 for youth and adult classes, as well as our rental program. We are currently hiring adult sailing instructors - please let us know if you know of anyone outstanding who'd like to teach others the joy of sailing!

We could also use some help with our "wish list" of equipment for the Sailing School as we prepare for the upcoming season. We would welcome any donation, and they are all tax deductible! 

If you are interested in donating, please contact Maria Coughlin. 

Six Digg-It Band

The 4th Annual Frostbite Bash was a huge success early this month! Nearly 200 guests joined us at the Museum for a rockin' party that went late into the night. Guests enjoyed great food, an open bar, and dancing to the Six Digg-It Band. Many, many thanks to all of our sponsors, vendors, and volunteers for making the night so magical! We're already excited for next year's Bash!

Thanks to our friend and volunteer Bob Baglini for taking a bunch of fantastic photos like this one of the band. Many more can be found on the HMM Facebook page here.

After four years of hard work and dedication by The RELIANCE Project volunteers, this spectacular model made a guest appearance in the Hall of Boats for the Bash - complete with her new staysail courtesy of Steve Thurston. There is still a lot of work ahead - including a rearrangement of the Hall of Boats - to create her home for the next couple of years. Stay up to date on the progress at www.therelianceproject.com. 

Photo by Bob Baglini

We are excited to share our newest feature in The Current: The  Volunteer Spotlight. In each issue, we will highlight one of the fantastic Volunteers here at HMM. To kick off this new segment we interviewed longtime volunteer, Harris Gruber. To read the full interview: Click Here. 

Q: How long have you been a Volunteer at the HMM?

A: I began as a Guide in June 2010.......this is my seventh season.

Q: Why did you decide to volunteer at the Museum?

A:  I responded to a newspaper article about the Museum.....and its need for more Volunteers.  [...]   The summer season of 2009 was the busiest I had ever been, but by the following Spring, it all abruptly disappeared with the economic crash and I found myself newly ashore.  It was fortuitous that the Museum needed more help when I was looking about for something to keep me busy.  It has been great fun learning about the Herreshoff legacy and great to meet so many people from all over the world. The Volunteer experience itself may be the best part of it. 

Read the complete interview online, Click Here. 

The 1920 Cup campaign was unlike any other Capt. Nat had experienced. There was no new boat to design and build; no Herreshoff boats from a previous Cup to refurbish to challenge the new defender. Older brother John Brown Herreshoff (JB) was gone. Sorely missing was JB's firm hand directing a profitable partnership. Nat was now the president of a stock company, the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (HMCo), accountable to a board of directors. There were few competing projects - never before in a Cup year had the workload been so low. If not for completing the schooner OHONKARA and the new 1919 S Boats in production, the shops would have been empty. Before the year was out the board decided to indefinitely close the shops, except for small boats and the sail loft.

Click here to read on...