If you look at these boats; the sail area, the size of the gear, and no winches to speak of. It really was a time of iron men and wooden ships. The boats needed a long course for a race because of the time involved in setting this much sail.
These two wonderful one-third scale America’s Cup boats are listed for sale with Harry Morgan at Sparkman & Stephens.
For me, running was an acquired taste. I think it was the idea of mental determination that I found intriguing. It is something that is learned. I kept running until I was nearly 40. In college I was running nearly 10 miles a day; part of my regimen in preparation for sailing. Along with lifting weights, it served me well. Today I just cannot find the interest.
Do you remember where you were when Apollo 11 landed on the moon? I was in the middle of the Ocean. BBC stayed on late, instead of signing off at midnight. We were all huddled around the Nav station listening to a crackling radio transmission.
In 1968 I sailed the Bermuda and Trans-Atlantic races. Finishing in Travemunde, Germany. My friend John Watson and I had the clever idea of selling our plane tickets, buying a car, touring Europe, selling the car at the end of the summer and buying tickets home. The problem was that the very second hand car we bought died within a few days.
I awoke to thick damp fog and although the forecast was for it to clear and the wind to fill from the west; I was skeptical. The forecast was exactly right. I discovered why Lee likes sailing so much in Fishers Island Sound; the view.
As I continue to “mine” my papers and photographs, new material comes to light. I have previously written about my “Carina” years and the Nye family. Not enough can be said about their involvement in yachting. Here are copies of the Bermuda newspaper after our win. and a photo of Bodie Rhodes and one of his daughters Robin.
I first met Burt Darrell in 1970 after the Bermuda Race. We had work done at his yard. In the succeeding years I would always visit and help out at the yard, as the finish of a Bermuda Race would push the limits of the usual island time. I looked forward to it, as I was rewarded with many stories of the sailing past. He was a man of enormous understated charm. Often I was invited to lunch at his house, again understated, well hidden from the public. A house he built himself with lumber salvaged from wrecks on the reefs surrounding Bermuda. The House was built of teak.
