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.

During a storm, Teddy would be the one who saved your boat, ever vigilant, he would sleep at the club if foul weather was forecast.

In the photo Teddy is toasting my graduation from St. Georges's School.Teddy was of a generation that thought he would be employed at the club until he could no longer do the job or he died. I believe he was terminated in 1972. It broke his spirit, he never really recovered from it. I resigned from the club when it happened.

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.

We went to Speed Week in Weymouth to watch Crossbow and the other rather unique boats try to set speed records across a 500 meter circle.

Upon returning to Cowes, where I sailed Cowes week aboard "Gitana" and the Fastnet on "Guia" Bob Miller and Alan Bond asked me to a meeting. I was being offered the job of building the 1977 challenger for the America's Cup. I was quizzed on how I envisioned the project and finally the question arose; would I bring the plans of Courageous. I had built her the year before at Minneford's in City Island and still possessed a set of plans. When I replied no the meeting was over. Many of my suggestions however were used in the building of Australia.

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.

Below she reminds me of Windward Passage the 72 foot 1968 design by Alan Gurney, a practical sensible layout. Both were ahead of their time. Once again, if only today's materials had been available to Alan; who knows what he might have created. the thought process was similar; go fast.

There is a difference in that Passage was built on the beach, There were limits to what someone would spend for a yacht. From that comparison the owners of Passage got a lot of bang for their buck. She was durable, still sailing, looking better than ever. In today's world she is heavy and under canvased. I expect she will still be sailing after Speedboat is only a memory.

That said, Speedboat will soon leave to make an attempt on the Trans-atlantic record for a monohull. I would love to be part of that. After all it will only be six days; hardly time to establish a rhythm.

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.

E scow

The E scow is still my favorite monohull. I haven't sailed one in years. They were still wood. Modern materials have made these boats even more dynamic. If the materials available today had been available 100 years ago the yacht designers and builders would have been on cloud 9. They had the ideas, the means of expression was limited.

I owned one; here in Newport, however most of my E scow sailing was with Henry Bossett in New Jersey. We would trail his boat to Lake Murray, South Carolina at Easter break. It was always a great regatta, with a large turnout.

12 meter North American Championships 2008

September 20-21, 2008 the 12 meter North American Championships were held in Newport,RI. It was the debut for the newly re-fit "Victory 83" which showed great potential.

Courageous won again, as did Hissar, and Weatherly, sailed by Clayton Deutch.

Bill Shay

Bill Shay was practically synonymous with the yacht "Carina" having sailed with the Nye family starting in 1956. Bill slept forward in the 1957 Fastnet race; which "Carina" won finishing when most of the fleet dropped out.

I met Bill in 1969 when I sailed on "Carina" in the Trans-atlantic race to Ireland. He was a great shipmate always ready with a can do attitude.  

more wire tails

The entry about wire sheets reminded me of an incident while sailing on Intrepid in 1979. If you read far enough back in my blog there is an entry about my two seasons aboard Intrepid with Gerry Driscoll. It was an attempt by Gerry to come back in 1980 with Intrepid. It was contingent on finding financial backing. We were sailing against France 3 everyday, as Intrepid belonged to Baron Bic at the time.

We had no budget to speak of, so I would try to get an extra day or two out of the runner tails. They were 1/4 inch galvanized wire and took a great deal of abuse, particularly upwind tacking. Typically a set of runner tails would last 4 days, before they broke down.

Racing upwind on the fifth day of a set of runner tails; the windward tails exploded. Gerry,without a word, calmly tacked the boat. My arm was filled with small "splinters" of rusted wire, it stung. When we sorted out I looked at Gerry, who was still steering, not only was his arm covered with the same spikes, but one side of his face as well.

It was the last time I economized on runner tails.

Jack Sutphen's book signing

Jack's book:"Messing About in Boats" was published earlier this year. He was in Newport this weekend for a book signing in conjunction with the 12 Meter North American Championships, at the Seaman's Church Institute. Lots of people turned out. I first met Jack in the 1960's, he was working at Ratsey&Lapthorn sailmakers, as was Arthur Knapp. I raced against him on Long Island Sound.

Jack then showed up in Newport sailing 12 meters. He was very good at making a 12 go fast. He now lives in San Diego, and at 90 is having a great time.

wire sheets

When I started sailing rope sheets and guys were normal. The rope was not very sophisticated, it stretched quite a lot. As the boats became more evolved wire sheets and guys became normal. It was 7x19 galvanized, because it was more flexible. It rusted quickly and broke down just as fast. Your hands were constantly torn by the meathooks.

In the photo at the right, we are sailing Independence off Marblehead in March. It is cold. Ted Hood would just keep sailing in a straight line; often we would not return until after dark. For amusement, we would spray the wire on the drum just before casting off. It would flame, from the friction of the wire slipping on the drum in the tack.

bannister's wharf

In 1977 bannister's wharf was the dock for the Courageous/Independence syndicate. A lift was installed and we alternated boats in the lift.

I arrived early each morning as I was responsible for the mast and other components and left,usually before the sun set, unless we were making a major change. I never understood what the scene was like at The Candy Store and the Black Pearl. My only clue was the overwhelming smell of the garbage that greeted me each morning.

The 12 meter North American Championships are being held this weekend and hosted at Bannister's Wharf.

VALENCIA

Valencia is probably best known as the site of the America's Cup, at least to sailors. How do you really characterize a city as old and as beautiful and as diverse?

The column and ceiling are in the water board, dating from the 14th century. their job is quite literary to regulate the ebb and flow of water in the vast low areas surrounding the city. The fisherman set nets, rice is grown the oranges are irrigated.

As with much of Spain the Moorish influence is impossible to miss. The tiled rooftop is a glaring example, but the style is so woven into the fabric of the culture it is easily misunderstood.

The last photograph is of the house on an orange grove.

PARIS

I love Paris. The sights, the smells, the sounds, the food; even the language. French is my second language, I studied it starting at a young age and continued through college. I married a french woman, whose family embraced me wholly. I freely confess that I know France largely through their perspective, one I could never have known any other way.

How do I select the photos to represent this city where there is a new and exciting discovery on every corner.

The French love their language and enjoy playing with it, which they do well. The are proud of their country as well; that said the French have had a fascination with America since before the Revolution; which has never waned, despite the idea we have that the French do not like us.

Olin Stephens 1908-2008

Olin Stephens turned 100 years old in April of this year. He touched so many lives during his lifetime; mentored many many yacht designers, and brought joy to many many yacht owners. The list of his accomplishments is so very long, as well. He designed 7 America's Cup defenders, and was involved in several more.

He is pictured with Alan Hanover, the present owner of "Columbia" the 1958 defender. Alan proudly announced in 2000 that he intended to restore "Columbia" to her original shape, adding approximately 4 feet to the stern . Olin responded quietly:"Why would anyone do such a thing?" After the restoration was complete, Olin conceded that the boat really did look better.I sailed with Olin on a number of boats and our lives crossed for other reasons as well as I lofted and built a number of his designs.

Jim McCurdy is pictured with Olin aboard "Carina" one of Jim's designs, in 1971 in Cowes, England.

Sail Testing

I don't remember exactly when but somewhere during my sophomore and junior years at URI I responded to a posting on the bulletin board at the student union. This led me to Mr. Lynch, who became a lifelong friend. It was a request for someone to do sail testing. Mr Lynch had a friend named Domina Jalbert. He had invented the re-entry parachutes for the space capsules for NASA. A man from Pawtucket, RI, who loved flying kites. He had an idea for sails and needed some practical testing and feedback.

I provided a sail from one of our Beverly dinghys as a pattern, and was shortly given one of Domina's creations to test. I recruited anyone from the sailing team to sail against, more often than not it was Henry Bossett. I was not a good influence on Henry and his grades suffered.

I would give regular reports to Mr Lynch; effectively saying that the design had merit and deserved further exploration.

Pre-feeder

In 1977 we discussed what would happen if when hoisting the jib it jammed in the pre-feeder. I worked evenings after racing hand making one pre-feeder capable of being opened in the event there was jam. As with so many things once the season was over, I put it away. Preparing for the America's Cup Jubilee in 2001 the question came up again. I still had my hand made proto-type. Jim Gubelmann, a good friend took an interest in it as a marketable product.

1983 America's Cup

1983 changed the course of America's Cup history forever, and with it the fate of Newport. Twenty-five years ago this September, a bittersweet anniversary.

I was not participating , I did go to see the final race aboard a syndicate member's boat to watch. Liberty did lead 5 of 6 legs, and gained on the last leg.

I went to watch the cup literally be handed to Alan Bond on the terrace of Marble House. The NYYC was gracious in defeat and naturally the Australians were overjoyed. I took the photo of Ben Lexan around 6:30 the next morning, still basking in the afterglow of success.