The International Yacht Restoration School’s annual summer gala raised $885,000 for the school and included a special live performance by Jimmy Buffett and his band.
On the evening of July 6 more than 600 people gathered at the IYRS in Newport, R.I., to help support technology and equipment purchases that keep students on the forefront of fast-evolving fields of marine and composite manufacturing.
The evening included both a live auction during the sit-down dinner and a silent auction. Senior auctioneer C. Hugh Hildesley of Sotheby’s — who has conducted some of the auction house’s most prestigious sales, including those of the estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the collection of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor — conducted the live auction.
The top-earning auction item of the evening was a painting by maritime artist John Mecray of the 1885 schooner yacht Coronet, which is now being restored on the IYRS campus.
