Cirrus

The Fishers Island 31 Cirrus was built originally as a sloop for Henry Maxwell in the 1930s. The Fisher 31s were conceived by Sid Herreshoff as a racing class for the summer residents of the eponymous community in Long Island Sound. She has a full keel, is 43’ long and has a 10½’ beam. LB2013.1.121.26

Cirrus was the frequent companion of Alan Bemis, a summer resident of Brooklin, Maine. LB2013.1.152.18

Under Bemis’s watch, she received some interesting modifications, such as this engine box. Originally, the engine room stood the full cabin height; the rebuild effectively increased the size of the companionway. LB2013.1.68.12

Cirrus got to keep her elegant full teak deck under Alan Bemis's ownership; later, it was covered in plywood. LB2013.1.68.5

When Cirrus turned 50, Alan Bemis organized a race in Eggemoggin Reach with other Fishers Island 31s; here they are at Bemis’s wharf (Cirrus has the dark colored hull, at right). LB2013.1.120.9

The race route ran down the Reach and back; there was too much fog out in Jericho Bay that day. LB2013.1.122.6

Bemis invited Ed Maxwell and his son Wes—the son and grandson of the original owner—to join him onboard for the race (Ed Maxwell was a good friend of Maynard Bray’s; it was he who put the bug in Maynard’s ear about the yawl Aida, which the Bray family owned for decades). LB2013.1.121.30