In July, I raced on J-109 belonging to Peter Rugg.I had previously written about the exciting Sunday, our final day of the regatta. The forecast was for intense thunderstorms. we managed racing in the morning, when powerful clouds appeared over Pt. Judith; the race committee chose to start a race, anyway. I was too busy on the boat to get photographs. These are from a boat that was nearby; caught by the same storm.
VIRGIN MONEY aka SPEEDBOAT
Speedboat left today from New York in an attempt to break the monohull powered winch trans-atlantic record. Aboard is an all star crew headed by Mike Sanderson.
Commodore Tompkins
Warwick Tompkins, one of the finest sailors I ever had the pleasure of sailing with. Not only a complete seaman, but a great closed course sailor as well. Independent minded and clear thinking, which occasionally caused friction, but usually right. It may be that this personality trait kept him from being recognized as the truly great sailor he is.
BUCKMINSTER FULLER AND UFFA FOX
Buckminster Fuller might easily be labeled the guru of the “woodstock generation”. perhaps best known generally for his geodesic dome. He was a global thinker,he was green long before it was fashionable. He completed few projects, was not really an architect, yet he made an enduring impression. The Whitney Museum just finished an exhibit dedicated to “Bucky” and his ideas. I confess he intrigued me as well. I saw him speak a number of times while in school.
50 KNOTS UNDER SAIL
Sailing at 50 knots has long been a dream of almost everyone who messes about in boats. It was mostly the fringe who actually made attempts, however usually being underfunded, were not successful. This first week of October, this barrier was broken not once, but multiple times, albeit by kite boards. Additionally, Hydroptere, a tri-foiler sailed by Alain Thebault, recorded 52.86 knots. For the moment none of these records have yet been ratified by the World Speed Sailing Records Council (WSSRC).
MACRAME
When I first started sailing a paid hand on a boat wore khaki trousers and shirt with a black tie and black shoes. They stayed forward of the mast unless called aft. Usually they were consummate seamen. In moments of crisis their word was law. A good example was Willie Carstens; who was inducted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame a few years ago. He is credited with introducing the dip pole jibe into modern racing.
Teddy Nelson & Ida Lewis Yacht Club
Teddy Nelson had been the Steward at Ida Lewis Yacht Club for many years. His father had held the position before him. Both had been devoted to the club.
Alan Bond Ben Lexen
Recently a posting on Ebay of the deck plan of Courageous reminded me of a past memory. Cowes Week 1975, We had been living in Cowes in an apartment over The Duke of York a pub at the top of the high street. Bob Miller aka Ben Lexen took over our lease. I left for the United States for the Trans-atlantic back to England. Leading up to that however, I spent time with Bob and Jack Knights, another great English sailor.
SPEEDBOAT
Speedboat aka Virgin Money is an exciting boat,an engineering marvel, elegant, extreme, powerful, fragile. Not particularly useful as its purpose can only really be to set or break distance records. Yet she requires a great deal of attention.
C class Catamaran
No three people have done more for the sport of sailing and speed than Dave Hubbard, Duncan MacLane, and Steve Clark. You probably don’t know who they are or what they have done.They just did it; and very well, genuinely interested in moving the sport of sailing forward. I am amazed that more is not made of their accomplishments.