BREAKTHROUGH was given a traditional seafaring christening and launching by the renowned Brooklin Boat Yard iyesterday. She’s the 47-foot Down East cruiser with a bit of a lobster boat flare that we’ve been watching being built at BBY all year. Here’s how the day went.
The cruiser was loaded onto BBY’s flatbed boat truck and carefully moved out of the paint shop. She then was positioned by the truck within the mobile hoist, where she was put in slings and her inflatable dinghy was attached to its stern mounting.
The hoist turned her around and motored her stern-first to BBY’s launching channel. Her christening/launching wreath was tied to the bow then.
Speeches full of pride and thanks were given by a BBY representative and the owner of BREAKTHROUGH. Then, the ownrer’s heavily-gloved wife took a homerun swing with the wrapped champange bottle, which exploded impressively on BREAKTHROUGH’s tape-and-pad-protected nose. The crowd roared and clapped and recorded everything on their phones.
Guests for BREAKTHROUGH’s first voyage boarded her while she was at the launching ramp. Then, the hoist backed her into the end of the tide channel and lowered her into the Harbor waters. The yacht’s powerful engine was engaged and she glided gracefully through Center Harbor and out into Eggemoggin Reach — a beautiful sight, especially for those of us who watched her being born.
As readers of these posts know, the cruiser was designed by BBY Chief Designer Will Sturdy, who deserves a lot of credit. The vessel was named BREAKTHROUGH because of her innovations in design and her state of the art systems, according to BBY craftsmen.
By the way, this inspired me to do a little on-line research: Smashing a bottle on a ship's bow apparently evolved from an ancient ritual of appeasing the sea gods with splashed drink on a new vessel’s prow as an offering for safe travels. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on July 15, 2026.)