Aeolus is a 41ft (12.5m) extreme ‘plank on edge’ gaff topsail cutter – thin, deep with slack bilges, long keel, all-internal lead ballast of 6 tons and an excessive sailplan. She was built in 1904 in California, designer unknown but using a Kunhardt type hull and a GL Watson-inspired rig. She was owned and raced locally with some success and later chartered.

In 2003, she was imported to Britain but not sailed until Anthony Wheaton bought her in late 2008, did some experimental sailing with Tom Richardson (Elephant Boatyard) and took the lines of the hull for the new Ed Burnett sail plan. The new sails from SKB in late 2009 have been cut very flat; the mainsail has a much shorter foot, and bigger head sails have achieved balance and beauty.

She was rebuilt in 1982-1983 as an exact replica with the keelson remaining as the only original timber. Her build is double-planked cedar up to the waterline with fir planks above, light timber frames of oak, and triple layered decking finished in Port Orford cedar. Ironwood has been used for beams and structural timbers.

The spars and sailplan were replicated which, in the prevailing style at the turn of the last century, was overcanvassed with a 10ft (3.1m) boom overhang and light spars. This may have been suitable for inshore racing but produced excessive weather helm and an unseaworthy boat. This has been cured by the new cream working sails and tan topsails with a large symbol ‘A’ on the sails representing the wind god Aeolus escaping from a jar, where he had been imprisoned by Zeus, and so blowing Odysseus back away from the underworld.

In 2023, Mr Wheaton sold Aeolus to Clinton Garrett who shipped her back to the United States, where she now resides in the Narraganset Bay region. Where she is undergoing a minor refit to suit the next stage of her long running career in a new home.