The Maltese Firilla
March 7, 2025
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The Maltese Firilla Certainly, our most accurate model to date, the 1/6 scale Firilla model was designed when one of
As we work our way backwards in time, the details of these vast America’s Cup boats become multiplied, and a little fuzzy. I have seen mast heights from 104 to 200 feet and an assortment of draft and beam dimensions.
After careful study and comparisons, here is the best data I have found. It will be up to the builder to check these numbers, improve them, or use them as I show.
Reliance sailed only the 1903 America’s Cup and won in three races, in August and early September, of 1903. She had a crew of 64 and it is suspected that the only person at that time who could sail her was the famous Scottish skipper, Charlie Barr. Captain Barr set the record for fastest sailboat crossing of the Atlantic in 1905, aboard the schooner Atlantic, a record for monohull sailboats that stood until 1997.
A few details of the actual boat:
Owners: J. Pierpont Morgan and John D. Rockefeller
Year Built: 1903
Launched: April 12, 1903
Designer: Nathanael Greene Herreshoff
Builder: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company
Construction: Frames and deck planking were steel
Mast: Steel
Length Overall: 143.7 ft. / 43.79 m
Length Waterline: 89.6 ft. / 27.32 m
Beam: 25.9 ft. / 7.88 m
Draft: N/A
Draft with Keel Lowered: N/A
Displacement: 175 tons
Mast: 199 ft. / 60.65 m
Boom: N/A
Bowsprit: N/A
Top Mast: N/A
Source:www.americascup.com 5/2/2007
One of the earliest designs in our library, this design was acquired in 2015 and we have lost track of the name of the original designer. What we do know is that the frame set has a little bit more beam and a little bit more draft than a straight scale version of the boat. This means the model will sail slightly better than an perfect scale model of Reliance.
Reliance is our biggest frame sets and we have sold these all over the world, most notably in the Caribbean, where I suspect there are several of these models gracing restaurants and bars on several islands.
I do hope you like this presentation and decide to build this model!
Thank you.
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