Month: December 2008

Admiral’s cup 1969

1969 was my first Admiral’s Cup and first Fastnet Race. The Admiral’s Cup team: Carina, Palawan, and Red Rooster. The Dick Carter designed Red Rooster was chosen for the team before she hit the water. It proved to be a good choice.

This is also the first time I met Syd Fisher owner of a long line of boats called “Ragamuffin”
this one being a 49 foot S&S design. As Carina was approximately the same size we were tasked with covering Ragamuffin. I had never encountered a boat as well sailed as Ragamuffin.
Racing was under the RORC rule, used in almost every country except the United States, where we sailed under the CCA rule. 1969 was the year that the IOR rule would replace both older rules. “Carina” had been launched in the spring of 1969 and the IOR was not yet published. McCurdy and Rhodes had been tasked to design a boat that would rate fairly under any rule. (Many of you may be familiar with “Carina” as she is still winning race today 40 years later.)
The United States team scored well enough to win the Cup. the photo shows Max Atkin and Dick Nye holding the cup. The black and white photo is at the prize awarding in Plymouth at the finish of the Fastnet Race,if you look closely you will notice Ted Turner, Dick Cater, Alan Paul Hope Kirkpatrick in the picture.
The Fastnet race became one of my favorite races; although I have only completed 5 .



Trans-atlantic 1969

June 1969 was the start of the Trans-Atlantic race to Cork Ireland from Newport Rhode Island at the Brenton reef tower, now just a memory. the finish at Daunt light ship.

Sailing aboard “Carina”. We won our class, in a race that was commemorating the anniversary of the oldest yacht club in the western hemisphere The Royal Cork Yacht Club, founded in 1720. It is hard to summarize a 15 day long race in a few pictures and a few paragraphs.
1969, as many of you may remember was an eventful year. The Newport Bridge was completed. I took the photo of the bridge and the ferry from the stern of “Carina” as we headed out to the start. I returned at the end of the summer, my college roommate picked me up at the airport. The question on everyone’s lips was :”did you go to Woodstock?” To which I replied : “What’s Woodstock?”Perhaps my most memorable moment of the race, was the cold rainy night that the BBC stayed on the air after midnight to carry the landing on the Moon.
After cruising the south and west coasts of Ireland, where the Irish where the greatest of hosts, “Carina’ headed to England for the Admiral’s Cup and the Fastnet race.