Yachting, January 1930 / Mit Museum
Long and very lean, HOPE was built at Hodgdon Brothers in 1929 for John G. Alden’s use. As a Q-class racing yacht, she had spartan accommodations.
The Great Depression began at the end of HOPE’s first racing season, and the Universal Rule that created the “letter class” racers such as Q-boats would eventually be abandoned in favor of the International Rule, which spawned the 6-, 8-, 10-, and 12-Meter sloops. HOPE was among the last of the Q-boats built. She and other letter-class yachts soon became obsolete in New England, and many of them migrated to the Great Lakes.