I crossed the atlantic twice on “Carina” which was launched in the spring of 1969. A year which was famous for Woodstock and the Moon walk. We huddled around the radio at sea to listen to the Moonwalk broadcast. We races the Fastnet and the US team won the Admiral’s Cup that year; finishing second in 1971.
Category: uffa fox
SAILING THROUGH LIFE
This is in response to those who asked:”Who are you?” It is a least a dimension.Boats have always been a part of my life. Naturally interwoven with the story of Newport.
EVER CHANGING SHAPE OF SPEED
Every sailor wants a boat that is faster than his opponent. An edge that allows for errors in judgment. The achievement has been interrupted often because of rating rules; which attempt to make unequal boats equal. The disparity has now grown to a point where it is silly. Not that it was ever perfect.
Uffa Fox sitting on the upper balcony of his house in Cowes watching over the boats returning from a day’s racing, worked towards planing hulls, light and strong.
Dick Carter, so well known for fast boats that two of his designs were chosen for Admiral’s Cup teams before they were finished; i.e. untested.
Süd Fischer’s “Ragamuffin” , for me was not only the fastest of her time but the best sailed.
The just finished America’s Cup has changed the paradigm of the search for speed under sail.
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.
Uffa Fox,in my mind is very much the same. No discussion of the history of sailing is complete without including him; yet he was not a naval architect. He designed and built boats, but could never stay in business. His thinking nevertheless, cleared the way for the next necessary step in design thinking in yacht design. Again I remain intrigued with Uffa, I met him on a number of occasions.