Thanks to Henrik Andersin for the marvelous historical footage
John Hartridge's Reunion with Blue Marlin from Henrik Andersin on Vimeo.
Category: 12 meter class
NEWPORT, THEN AND NOW
I am working on a book of photographs of the Newport Waterfront from the 60’s and 70’s. Today I walked the waterfront to the extent I could and took photographs from as close as I could to the spot where I had taken images all those years ago.
12 METER CLASS 1958-1986
I have been working making short videos lately. I have made others that have nothing to do with sailing. Sailing is what people expect to find here.
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.
FINAL DAY 12 METER NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
A fine south west breeze greeted the fleet on the final day of racing. Three races completed before the prize awarding at Ida Lewis Yacht Club.
12 METER NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY 1
At the end of day one; “Intrepid” is in first place after three races.
1964 / 1974 CUP DEFENDERS, TALES OF THE PAST
A reunion of the crews from 1964 and 1974 America’s Cup defenders was a wonderful event filled with tales of the past. All made possible by Jimmy Gubelmann, as I like to call him the glue that binds. I heard stories that I had not heard before and a few I knew.
Mariner, Courageous, Intrepid, Valiant were represented from 1974 and Constellation and American Eagle from 1964.
12 METERS IN NEWPORT
PRETTY BOATS
Twelve meters are elegant yachts. It is practically impossible to photograph them poorly. I had a long relationship with the 12 meter class; having lofted and built “Courageous” and having sailed on “American Eagle”, Weatherly, “Easterner” and “Intrepid” in the sixties and seventies.
They are still eight knots boats and after the last America”s Cup we will never be satisfied with anything that does not foil and sails at less than thirty knots.
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.