FINAL VOYAGES

Edited by Maggie Salter (BOS/GMP) and Bob Green (ESS)

R. Snowden Andrews Jr. Leonard J. Baker John Bankston B. Devereux Barker III Arthur S. Billings Zenas F. Bliss Jesse Bontecou Andrew A. Burnett-Herkes Dorothy L. DuPont Pierre S. du Pont John Paul Ekberg III James D. Phyfe Sr. John R. Pingree Jon A. Rolien Peter C. Ross Diana K. Russell Charles P. Schutt Jr. Kaighn Smith Gordon L Thayer Jr. Frank H. Trane Charles D. Whittier

R. Snowden Andrews

1931–2020

Richard Snowden Andrews Jr., a longtime resident of Guilford, and most recently Madison, Connecticut, passed away at his home October 20, 2020, surrounded by family. Denny, as he was fondly known to friends, grew up on the water, sailing spring and fall in Manhasset, New York, and spending summers at his family home in Guilford. In the off-season, his leisure time was often on the water in a layout boat or hunkered down in a duck blind overlooking a spread of decoys, intent on bringing home dinner.

Denny attended the Choate School, then graduated from Saint Lawrence University before serving in the U.S. Navy, patrolling the coastal Atlantic. Denny loved the outdoors. He was an avid and accomplished ocean sailor, blue-water racer, and sportsman. He supported many organizations including Ducks Unlimited, the Mystic Seaport, and others with missions to preserve sporting heritage and historic landmarks.

Denny learned to sail on Long Island Sound racing one-design sailboats. His favorite one-design was the Star class. He had a truly gifted touch on the helm and bought home more than his share of silver. He was a member of a winning U.S. team in the Admiral’s Cup and competed for many seasons of racing around the buoys in Long Island Sound. A typical season included Larchmont Fall Series, followed by the Block Island Race, and gearing up for either a Newport Bermuda Race or the Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race. He claimed to enjoy the sail back from Bermuda more than the race down, and the Marblehead to Halifax race typically led to cruising Nova Scotia’s Bras d’Or Lakes and the coast of Maine with his wife, Dorothy, his close friends, and his four sons.

Sailboat racing was a passion, but he was also known as an accomplished boat handler in all conditions. Other bluewater sailing included two transatlantic passages, one on his C&C Redline 41, Pampero, and another aboard the J Boat

Duane M. Hines F. Harvey Howalt James A. Hurst Jr. Henry R. Keene Sr. Bruce Kirby Andrew S. Lindsay Donald F. MacKenzie D. Scott McCullough Brian O’Neill Walter R. Paul Richard W. Pendleton Jr.

R. Snowden Andrews

Shamrock V on her historic return to the U.S. He spent many winters in the Bahamas on his Peterson 46, Pampero, and in later years on his Grand Banks 42, also Pampero. His trips up and down the east coast of North America from Newfoundland to the Bahamas and beyond logged many miles. There are very few pretty harbors on the Atlantic coast he didn’t spend a night in at least once.

Although he belonged to several yacht clubs, including the New York Yacht Club, Storm Trysail Club, Off Soundings, and Sachem’s Head Yacht Club, the burgee that most often flew atop the masts of his four Pamperos was the Cruising Club of America burgee. He loved the CCA and everything it stands for in seamanship, extensive offshore boat handling, and genuine love of sailing and cruising. Lee Andrews

Leonard J. Baker

1929–2021

Leonard J. Baker passed away at sunset January 20, 2021, in Huntington Beach, California. He was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1929. He attended Michigan State University, graduating with a degree in electrical engineering, and then went on to MIT, where he received his master’s in aeronautical engineering. He joined the U.S. Department of the Navy, where he headed the Polaris missile guidance section. He received the Navy’s Outstanding Achievement Award and the Navy Superior Civilian Award. In 1961, he took a position with Northrup Grumman in Southern California. Len then went to work for TRW Systems and was instrumental in the success of Apollo 11. He finished his career as president of Mykotronx, Inc.

Len started sailing on the Charles River in Boston and continued on the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. Upon moving to southern California, he bought his first boat, a Coronado 25, Frenesi. In 1973, on his new Cal 34, he embarked on a three-month sailing trip from Los Angeles to Acapulco with his wife and teenage daughters. He was privileged to be invited on many long-range cruises and races. He helped deliver Deception, a Mull 43, from Seattle to LA and then raced her to Mexico and Hawaii. He served as her navigator on the Transpac Race in 1977, when only a sextant was available for navigation!

His last sailboat before crossing over to a powerboat was Georgetown, a Cal 43. He then had a Defever 43 and an Offshore 48. He named his boat Georgetown, because that is where he met and married Paula, his wife of 57 years. They raised two daughters and developed a community of lifelong friends through sailing. They spent most of their time sailing with friends in the Caribbean and up and down the coast of North America from Alaska to Central America. Len was a wonderful captain and always treated his crew with respect. He was a skilled navigator, knew how to repair anything on any boat and was a great cook!

Len was honored to join CCA in 1994 and was an active member for over 20 years. He served as cruise chairperson, entertainment chairperson, and rear commodore. He and Paula greatly enjoyed the company and camaraderie at many CCA events including a memorable charter to Baja, California. Len was the consummate party planner. Always hosting cocktails on his boat in Cherry Cove or his house in Huntington Beach, he made sure his guests were well taken care of. It’s no wonder he served as entertainment chairperson for CCA. As their summers were spent at Catalina Island in Cherry Cove, Len was active in the Cherry Cove Yacht Club and eventually became commodore. He was also a member of LA Yacht Club, serving as captain and rear commodore, and Long Beach Yacht Club.

Len and Paula enjoyed traveling onboard cruise ships. They took over 50 cruises sailing to Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the Mediterranean. Len lived a long, active and full life. He was a true friend to many, guiding and inspiring every day. He is survived by his two daughters, Leah and Leslie and his four grandchildren.

Leonard J. Baker

Leah Baker Camper

John Bankston

1941–2020

John Bankston was born in Zebulon,

North Carolina, and graduated from Griffin High School in Griffin, Georgia, in 1958. He earned a bachelor’s degree in building construction and planning from the University of Florida in 1963. John and his wife, Susan, moved to Clearwater, Florida, in 1964, where they started a family and John began his own commercial contracting business. He and Susan had learned to sail in Rhodes 19 sailboats with the St. Petersburg Yacht Club Junior Sailing Team. John was hooked! The first sailboat they bought was a Snipe.

Both he and Susan actively raced onedesigns, winning the J/24 Florida State Championship in 1980. John volunteered for several years as an instructor for the Optimist Club of Clearwater,

John Bankston

teaching youth in the Optimist pram. He was instrumental in the early planning stages of the Clearwater Sailing Center and later started youth sailing at the Clearwater Yacht Club using the international class Optimist dinghy.

John became a member of the Cruising Club of America in 1987. He spent many years in offshore racing, participating in and organizing CCA cruises and rendezvous. In 1975–76 he served as commodore of the Florida Offshore Racing Association. He sailed in long-distance regattas, including the Regata del Sol al Sol from St. Pete to Isla Mujeres and the Daytona to Bermuda, where he won first in fleet. In their new Outbound 46, Watercolors, John and Susan won first in class in the Caribbean 1500 from Hampton, Virginia, to Tortola, British Virgin Islands. While there, he spent the winter anchored on a mooring in the U.S. Virgin Islands National Park, working with a team of park volunteers.

After retirement, he and Susan sold their home and cars, put furnishings in storage, and took off in early April 1988 on their Passport 40, Whisper. Their plan was to move through the Bahamas quickly in order to arrive in Venezuela before the hurricane season. They stopped on the uninhabited island of Warderick Wells in the Exumas. The only other boat anchored there was a trawler named Moby, owned by a most charming Irish Bahamian, Peggy Hall, who was accompanied by her dog, Powerful. No sooner were the Bankstons anchored that Peggy came over in her dinghy to introduce herself. She was the new warden for the Exuma Land and Sea Park, an area designated for protection from fishing and development by the Bahamas National Trust. The park consists of a 22-mile-long string of islands set in pristine emerald-green waters. They learned Peggy’s dream was to build a park headquarters in Warderick Wells. She had an agreement with Operation Raleigh, which was founded by Prince Charles, to construct the building, but the foundation would have to be certified as adequate. When she learned that John was a retired commercial contractor, she asked if he would delay his departure for a week because she was expecting delivery of a jack hammer from Nassau. Even though John was burned out from construction, he and Susan agreed to put their cruise on hold so he could help clear the area and operate the jackhammer. When the foundation was complete, John wrote a letter to Operation Raleigh certifying that it was solid.

When they stopped at Waderick Wells on their return from Venezuela, the Bankstons found a new Land and Sea Park headquarters! They assisted Peggy by dinghying visiting scientists to uninhabited islands for research, operating the radios in the headquarters, and chasing poachers while riding shotgun in Peggy’s superfast dingy! It became apparent to the park that the sea bottom was being harmed by the growing number of visitors. In 1992 John organized a team of dedicated fellow cruisers to install a system of donated moorings from Shroud Key to the north and south to Belle Isle. After diving the designated locations for the moorings, he determined two different types of moorings and ground tackle would be needed depending on whether the bottom was rock or sand. The mooring equipment was delivered by Sea Dragon, out of Fort Lauderdale, which became the operation headquarters as they moved along the island chain. The whole process took several weeks, requiring the volunteers to sail back and forth to Nassau every couple of weeks for provisions and to take on water.

For more than 30 years of offshore cruising and racing, John proudly flew the CCA flag, always volunteering wherever a need arose. He has returned to the sea again with billowing sails and an arc of visibility to the horizon. Sail on, John.

Susan Bankston

B. Devereaux Barker III

1938–2021

B. Devereux Barker III passed away June 16, 2021, contented and at peace, having chosen to avoid further treatment for cancer. Born November 8, 1938, Dev grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and lived in nearby Manchester-by-the-Sea his last 40 years. As a young child, Dev was given a Brutal Beast, a class of sailboat designed for small children by Starling Burgess. On weekends, he and his father sailed his Flying Saucer in the harbor, where his father taught him the rudiments of racing techniques. With a twinkle in his eye, Dev would say, “I was hooked by the Brutal Beast,” and he indeed had a lifelong love of sailing. As a teenager, he skippered the Ray Hunt-designed 110s and 210s in the junior program at Pleon Yacht Club, where he was elected commodore at the age of 18.

After graduating from Harvard in 1960, Dev joined the Navy Reserve and spent two years at the United States Naval Academy, where he ran the sailing program. He organized the logistics and crew for the academy’s boat, the Aldendesigned Royono, when it competed in the 1960 Buenos Aires–Rio Race. Dev drew an excellent crew from the academy, and made lifelong friendships with crewmembers (and CCA

B. Devereaux Barker III

members) Bart Dunbar, Larry Glenn, and Konnie Ulbrich. Dev wrote the story of the race for Yachting Magazine.

After his time at the Naval Academy, Dev was a winch-grinder aboard America’s Cup defense candidate Easterner. On the staff of Yachting from 1962 to 1972, Dev combined his passion and talent for writing and sailing. He raced in the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit and the Onion Patch, often with the late Ted Hood. Dev organized the crew on Ted’s 53-foot Robin for the 1968 Bermuda Race, which Robin won overall on corrected time. Dev remembered calling his father from Bermuda with the news of Robin’s win: “A high point of my life.”

Dev joined the NYYC Race Committee in 1963 and became chairperson in 1968. Two years later at the age of 31, he led the committee in a decision to disqualify the Australian America’s Cup contender, Gretel II, following a collision at the start of the race. Forty-three years later, he and John N. Fiske Jr. wrote a short book about the controversial decision, Gretel II Disqualified: The untold inside story of a famous America’s Cup incident (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013).

Dev often sailed with the late Bradley Noyes, who Dev greatly admired as a mentor. In 1973 Dev sailed from the Canary Islands to Antigua aboard Brad’s Tioga, a Hood design built by Maas in Holland. The 60-foot boat had fore and aft tandem centerboards to add stability when flying a large spinnaker downwind. When the aft bronze centerboard let go in mid-Atlantic, one of the crew bravely dove under the boat in heavy swells to secure the large plate to the side of the hull. This dangerous maneuver was successful, and the spinnaker was flown during daylight hours for the entire passage. Dev turned 35 the same day the halfway party was celebrated. He wrote in his journal, “Men have their great adventures, and this certainly is one of mine.”

Dev credited his Uncle Gardy for introducing him to the joys of slower, relaxing cruising on Star Song, a 42-foot Aagie Neilson design built in Denmark at Walsteds. Dev and his family cruised New England and Canadian waters on Star Song for several years, especially loving the Bras d’Or Lakes, where he purchased Boulaceet Farm near Baddeck in 1984.

Dev built the C&C 40 Expectation and in 1980 raced her to Bermuda. The next year Dev raced Expectation to Halifax with his family as crew (his wife and sister-in-law were both pregnant at the time). Dev was chairperson of the Bermuda Race Committee in 1990 and 1992. He sailed a total of 12 Newport Bermuda Races in his lifetime.

Dev joined the CCA in 1972 and was a member for 49 years. He was chair of the Boston Station Membership Committee in the 1980s. Most recently, he edited the quarterly newsletter, Waypoints from 2017 to 2020 and co-chaired the 2019 fall meeting in Boston.

Dev worked for HUB International insurance firm in the Boston area for 36 years, retiring in 2010 as senior vice president. A loving friend, husband, and father, Dev devoted his time to others, always willing to lend a hand when needed. For the past six years, Dev was chairperson of the board of directors at Triform Camphill Community in Hudson, New York, where his daughter, Holly, lives with other special needs adults. Dev leaves Jilda, his wife of 40 years, five children, and four grandchildren.

Nancy W. McKelvy

Arthur S. Billings

1934–2021

Arthur Billings was born and raised in Presque Isle, Maine, and died January 17, 2021, in St. Petersburg, Florida. He graduated from the University of Maine in 1956 and then from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1960. He married Patricia Trenkle, and they moved back to Maine where he completed an internship and residency in radiology. He became a partner of diagnostic radiology at Brighton Medical Center in Portland, where he was chairman of the radiology department from 1972 to 1992. He lectured at the New England College of Medicine in Biddeford and served on the school’s board of trustees.

Dr. Billings devoted his life to his patients, but he gave his heart to sailing. As a native of Maine, he knew the joy of open water and took every opportunity to sail throughout New England. Art’s early interests in sailing included cruising in a 30-foot Herreshoff and a 30-foot Pearson. Art and Tricia’s first

Arthur S. Billings

sailboat, however, was a 14-foot slooprigged Tanzer, which they sailed locally on lakes. They became hooked on sailing and soon bought a Mariner 28 sloop to explore the Atlantic waters off the coast of Maine.

In 1992 they purchased a Bristol 47.7, Cynosure, and circumnavigated the world from 1992 to 2001, a lifelong dream of Art’s, as well as completed a 3,100-mile voyage from the Galapagos to the Marquesas and 40-plus-day voyage from St. Helena to Tobago. Art and Tricia made numerous passages between islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans. During these passages, Art and his “first mate” encountered many storms and calms, avoided pirates in the Malacca Straits, and rounded the stormy Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. More than a few times, Art offered his medical expertise for injuries inflicted by machetes in various locales and donated his onboard medicines to officials in Vanuatu for the benefit of the locals. Art and Tricia spent a couple of days working on a pearl farm on Ahe in the Tuamotus and marveled over the rafters full of peanut butter jars brimming with black pearls in the thatched hut where they stayed. A brief stay in a village at the top of a promontory in Vanuatu was one of the highlights of the circumnavigation. They enjoyed the company of the scantily clad natives through dancing and shared meals. Art was able to share his medicinal training with the local medicine man. He was awarded the CCA circumnavigation pennant for this voyage.

Upon their return from the circumnavigation and seeing the world from the water, Art and Tricia retired to Treasure Island, Florida. Dr. Billings was a proud member of the Cruising Club of America, which he joined in 2010, as well as the Portland Yacht Club, St. Petersburg Yacht Club, the Seven Seas Sailing Association, Sail and Power Squadron of St. Petersburg, and the Freemasonry.

Art will be dearly missed by Tricia, and his three sons, Stephen, David and Michael, and their families. Art instilled his love of the water in all three of his sons, and they continue as capable mariners today. Tricia Billings and Renee Athey

Zenas W. Bliss

1925–2021

Zenas W. Bliss II was a 51-year member of the Cruising Club of America. Zene was a lucky man to have lived a full life to the end. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and grew up there, summering in Matunuck, where he was always close to the ocean and the New England coast he loved. His father, Zenas R. Bliss, was navigator and tactician for Harold Vanderbilt; one of his most memorable experiences was going aboard Vanderbilt’s Rainbow and Ranger, the 1934 and 1937 America’s Cup contenders.

After graduation from the Moses Brown School in 1944, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and went off to train for the imminent invasion of Europe. He was a soldier of the 11th armored division, entering combat in the fall of 1944 under the command of General George Patton. He sustained a lifetime of discomfort from frozen feet in the winter of 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge. When his service ended in Germany at the end of the war, he returned to Providence to earn a degree in engineering at Brown University in 1949.

Before and after the war he spent nearly all of his free time sailing and racing a wide range of boats. He won the Navigator’s Trophy for the Monhegan Races in 1962 on Legend and in 1965 on Carillon. He became a member of the Cruising Club of America in 1969. He crewed on four Newport Bermuda Races and return deliveries as navigator on Legend and Carillon, winning class B and C honors in two of the races. In addition to his racing experience, he enjoyed summers cruising the New England coast with family and friends.

In early 2000, he acquired what would be his beloved Raptor III, a Jarvis Newman 52-foot lobster yacht. He spent every summer on Raptor III for almost 10 years as he cruised New England waters with his son, Zenas F. Bliss, and grandson, Zenas F. Bliss Jr. (Fraser). On the CCA Down East cruise in 2014, they covered nearly 900 miles of voyaging up the coast to Roque Island and return to Point Judith, Raptor’s home port.

Charles Starke (NYS) recalled, “Zene was a good friend for many years. We initially met in 2006, in the middle of the Bering Sea on a cruise to Siberia by recognizing the CCA burgee on our hats! We sailed together many times, including a trip to Nova Scotia together on my boat in 2010, and sailed parallel courses and rafted on the Maine CCA cruise in 2014.

“The story I remember most fondly was the description of how the captain on the J-Class Ranger took him, at age 8, down to the keel cooler on Ranger for an ice cream while they were sailing. He even got to steer Ranger.

“Zene his wife, Janet, along with myself and my daughter went on a memorable safari together in Africa in 2011. I remember Zene and Janet very fondly.”

In addition to his times on the water he also enjoyed global travel including 11 trips to the African continent and adventure travel on six of the seven

Zenas W. Bliss

continents with family and friends. Zenas F. Bliss

Jesse M. Bontecou

1926–2020

Jesse M. Bontecou, a lifelong resident of Dutchess County, New York, died in Vassar Hospital November 16, 2020, after a brief illness.

Jesse was born in New York City in 1926. The family moved from Rye to Millbrook in 1927 for his parents’ love of foxhunting and riding. Jesse’s father started an Angus herd in 1928. Jesse attended several one-room schoolhouses on and around the Shunpike before attending Millbrook School, graduating with the class of 1944. He attended Yale, transferring to and graduating from the New York Maritime Academy at Fort Schuyler. As a merchant seaman, he made several transatlantic crossings in Liberty ships. Jesse married Ruth Lyon in 1947, and they had four children, Jay, Tim, Mark, and Ruthie.

He loved the sea and Rally Farms, the family Angus cattle farm in Millbrook, and was lucky enough to be able to pursue both passions. Rally Farms occupied his weekdays from dawn to dusk. He was never afraid to get his coveralls dirty, nor did he ever ask anyone to do something he would not do himself. Jesse not only showed and raised Angus cows from his well-respected herd, but also promoted the Angus brand while serving on the board of the American Angus Association, including 12 years as vice president. He also was central to raising the crops that the herd of 275 brood cows consumed. Jesse and Ruth were divorced in 1973. He married Gayle in 1974.

His love of sailing and the sea was evident from an early age. He built a 13-foot sailboat, Blue Teal, when he was 13, then singlehandedly and without parental permission sailed her from Point Judith to Block Island and back. He puttered about Narragansett Bay in the lapstrake Dyer Dow dinghy that was tender to his grandfather’s yacht, Felicia.

He was a member of the Conanicut Yacht Club in Jamestown, Rhode Island. In 1955, he joined Ray Hunt in England to help crew Ray’s new Concordia, Harrier, at Cowes Week. They did extremely well, winning six out of six races. In 1956, Jesse purchased Harrier and proceeded to win the Annapolis to Newport race in 1957. He raced in many a day race in and around Narragansett Bay and the surrounding area. Jesse competed in 14 Newport Bermuda Races, two Buenos Aries to Rio races, and many more. In 1977, Harrier finished second in class and seventh in the fleet in the Marion Bermuda Race.

He did extensive cruising up and down the east coast in Harrier. The CCA moorings were a blessing when mooring in the Great Salt Pond in Block Island. Anchorages in the Elizabeth Islands were favorite short-trip stopovers as well. Several extended cruises included rounding Cape Horn with Tom Watson aboard Palawan. He was never happier than just messing about on his beloved Harrier. He was often joined by his crew, John Quinn, John Parsons, Dick Hutchinson, and sons Jay and Tim on the day races.

His love of birding found him and Gayle, his wife of 46 years, traveling around the world on ecotours, filming their winged friends. When his legs refused to listen to him and he became wheelchair bound, he resorted to his computer for birding reports and sightings.

Jesse was very active locally in politics, serving on both the Millbrook and Stanfordville, New York, town boards, the Patterns for Progress board, the Soil and Water Conservation board, and as a director of the Bank of Millbrook for 36 years. He was instrumental, with his friend George Perkins, in establishing the Dutchess Day School. He served as board chair for many years and then as an honorary board member, 50 years in total. He was a board member of Millbrook Prep school from 1950–1954 and was given the Millbrook Medal for his 70 years of service and philanthropy.

This note placed in a cupboard in his summer home in Rhode Island is indicative of his humor: “Please place all pots and pans upside down. Mice can’t defecate up.” Jesse’s humor, energy, and joie de vivre will be sorely missed. Tim Bontecou

Jesse M. Bontecou

Dorothy L. DuPont

1928–2021

Dorothy “Dot” Elizabeth Lane DuPont, 93, of Evergreen Woods, North Branford, Connecticut, passed away peacefully on March 26 after succumbing to pancreatic cancer. She was the widow of Benjamin DuPont. Dot is survived by her daughter, Margaret du Pont, and her husband, Joseph Fortin of East Calais, Vermont; her sons, Benjamin DuPont, Jr. and his wife, Pamela, of Chester, Connecticut, and Lane DuPont and his wife, Elizabeth, of Newport, Rhode Island; and her granddaughter, Alta DuPont, and grandsons, Chase, Stefaan, and Julian du Pont. Just days prior to her passing, Dot welcomed her first great-grandson, Pascal du Pont.

Dot met Ben at a sailing event when Ben was at Yale and Dot was at Vassar.

Dorothy L. DuPont

In 1958 they purchased the Block Island 40 yawl Rhubarb, which was not named for the color or vegetable, but rather the word used at the time to describe a noisy altercation on the baseball field between the players and umpires. They participated in five Newport Bermuda Races, winning their class in one. During the 1959 Southern Series, they won the Nassau Cup Ocean Race from Miami to Nassau. They were frequently seen at CCA Essex Station events, and every summer they sailed to Maine and back, enjoying the many delightful coves along the way. Dot continued to sail to Maine with friends on Rhubarb after Ben’s death. Dot loved Rhubarb and sailed her for 50 years. Dot and Ben also liked to ski, and in 1965 they built a house in Stowe, Vermont, which they enjoyed for many years. They also travelled extensively, with memorable trips to New Guinea, Antarctica, the Galapagos, and Machu Picchu.

Dot was an associate volunteer at Yale University Peabody Museum in the entomology department, and also gave her time to the Visiting Nurse and Red Cross organizations in Branford. Besides the CCA, Dot was a member of the New York Yacht Club, Pine Orchard Yacht Club, Off Soundings, the North American Station of the Scandinavian Yacht Clubs, and North Cove Yacht Club in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Dot was a generous philanthropist, avid reader, and accomplished photographer. Jeb N. Embree

Pierre S. du Pont

1935–2021

Pete du Pont grew up sailing Bullseyes on Fishers Island Sound in the early 1940s and spent his last years sailing them in the Fox Island Throughfare near North Haven, Maine. In the interim years, he raced a 1956 Olympic campaign on 5.5 meters and won numerous championships in J/44s, J/30s, J/121s, Mumm 30s, and ID35s, including finishing first at Key West Race Week. He won a series of trophies from the Royal Swedish Yacht Club Regatta in Sandhamn, Sweden, culminating in the King Oscar II Jubilee Cup in 1957. This was the first time the Jubilee Cup had gone to anyone outside Scandinavia. He competed in two America’s Cup trial races, as a grinder on Weatherly in 1958 and as navigator on Nefertiti in 1962. He made one transatlantic crossing and participated in five Newport Bermuda races. When the Laser came out, he quickly bought two. He simply loved boats.

He cruised and raced all along the New England Coast, from Annapolis to the Bay Fundy, and even the Great Lakes with his kids and grandkids. He was a longtime member of the New York Yacht Club, the Cruising Club of America, and the North Haven Casino. When asked how he wanted to be remembered, he said, “When you tack into the freshening lift off the shore, smell the pines, feel the sun on your shoulders, the wind on your face, and the surge of the hull beneath your feet, and know at that moment I am with you, just like all those times before when we smiled back at God as we sailed together.”

Governor du Pont was born in Wilmington, Delaware. He graduated from Philips Exeter Academy, earned a bachelor’s of science degree in mechanical engineering from Princeton University in 1956, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1963. At Harvard, he won the Ames Moot Court Competition.

In May of 1957, he married Elise Wood, and they moved to Brunswick, Maine, where he joined the U.S. Naval Reserve, the Seabees, from 1957 to 1960. In 1963 he moved to Wilmington, Delaware, and worked as an engineer for the DuPont Company until 1969 when he ran unopposed and was elected to the Delaware State House of Representatives.

During his three terms in the U.S. Congress from 1971 to 1977, du Pont served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. Beginning with his second campaign for Congress, he refused to accept any campaign contributions larger than $200 from any one person or organization. As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, he was a co-author and sponsor of the War Powers Act of 1973, which was passed into law and limits the authority of the president to commit U.S. Armed Forces abroad without the consent of the Congress. He served as Delaware’s 68th governor from 1977 to 1985.

As governor of the state of Delaware from 1977 to 1985, du Pont led eight

Pierre S. du Pont

consecutive balanced budgets, two separate income tax reductions totaling 9 percent, and a constitutional amendment to limit future excess spending and tax increases. The income tax cuts were the first in Delaware’s 200-year history. He brought the state back from the worst bond rating in the country to one of the best. Under his tenure, Delaware’s unemployment dropped from above average to one of the lowest in the nation, 14 percent lower than the U.S. average.

In 1987, Governor du Pont launched a campaign for president of the United States, competing for the Republican nomination with then Vice President George H.W. Bush, Senator Bob Dole, and Congressman Jack Kemp. After a modest showing in the New Hampshire primary in February 1988, Governor du Pont withdrew and supported the eventual nominee, George H. W. Bush. Thereafter he withdrew from the political arena to become a partner of the Wilmington, Delaware, law firm, Richards, Layton & Finger.

He enjoyed sailing far into his old age, sailing with his children and grandchildren in Penobscot Bay and beyond. He frequently sailed and raced in the annual New York Yacht Club Cruise, bringing friends and family along, with a goal to have fun, win races, and instill a love of sailing. Woe be to any who challenged him on the waters of the Fox Island Thoroughfare, where he dominated the local sailing circuit late into his life. But competition was only part of his love of the sport. He volunteered his time at the North Haven Casino to teach new sailors the art of racing. He took his family on weekly sailing cruises during the summer, including overnight trips for special occasions like birthdays. And every day on the water was spent with a smile. In his own words, “I have sailed boats all my life, and found calm and fulfillment and real pleasure on the water.”

Ben DuPont

John Paul Ekberg III

1947–2021

John Paul Ekberg III was born in St.

Louis, Missouri, in 1947. A longtime resident of Greenwich, Connecticut, and more recently Setauket, New York, he was the beloved spouse of Barbara McKenzie; loving father of Tess Bremer and her husband, Mark; cherished “Papou” of Clara Bremer; and devoted son of Peggy Ekberg and the late John Paul Ekberg Jr. John is also survived by his dear sisters, Marla Barbin (Ry), Susan Stiritz (Bill), Jill Ryan (Ken), and many nieces and nephews.

John was a distinguished and accomplished lawyer in Greenwich, practicing family law for many years. He also had the prestigious honor of being admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the U.S.

John took great pride in being a member of the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich for more than 40 years. He was an avid sailor with a passion for competitive sailing. John captained his devoted crew of Foolish Pleasure to many racing victories throughout the years. John will be greatly missed by all who had the privilege to be a part of his life. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital and the American Heart Association. Newspaper obituary

Andrew A. Burnett-Herkes

1952–2021

On Saturday, September 18, 2021, Andy Burnett-Herkes hugged and kissed his wife, Sara, good night, went to bed, and quietly slipped his mooring line and sailed over the horizon during the night. A resident of Somerset, Bermuda, he had been fighting cancer for well over 20 years.

Andy purchased his first sailboat, a Firefly dinghy, at age 12, using money he’d earned from collecting empty soda and rum bottles from the side of the road and in bushes and selling them back to the shops. When he was still a preteen, Andy made his first ocean voyage in his Firefly some 10 miles to the southwest of the island one Saturday after his father had refused to take him fishing with his friends on Challenger Bank. When Andy sailed around the fishing boat, Pop instructed him to go back to the boat club because his mother would be worried. This Andy did, having enjoyed a day’s outing sailing on the ocean.

Andy completed his early education in Bermuda before attending high school at Kent’s Hill in Maine. He completed a postgraduate year at the Academic Sixth Form Centre in Bermuda, then went off to the London School of Economics but transferred with his major professor to Luton College, where he completed his master’s in market research. He worked in advertising before joining the Bank of Butterfield’s marketing division. He later worked on several development and fundraising schemes for private schools and the Bermuda Age Concern charity.

For much of his adult life, Andy was involved with the development and administration of sailing in Bermuda. He was commodore of the Sandy’s Boat Club, where his father had been a founding member, and was a former president of the Bermuda Sailing Association, where he initiated a youth sailing program. Andy was a member of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club for more than 40 years and served on a number of committees before being elected honorary secretary. He was elected a member of the CCA in 2007 and has served on the Newport Bermuda Race Organizing Committee and was responsible for post-race inspections. As RBYC secretary and CCA Bermuda Station secretary, he worked closely with Bob Darbee, organizing the final prize lists for the Newport Bermuda races. He served with grace and humor as master of ceremonies for several of these award events — no easy task with over 100 trophies and awards to present.

Andrew A. Burnett-Herkes

Over the past decade, Andy became increasingly involved with sail training and working with the Bermuda Sloop Foundation to foster maritime education and sailing in Bermuda. In 2016 he was invited to join the foundation’s board, on which he worked closely with the captain and crew of the Spirit of Bermuda on marine operations. Although one of the foundation’s directors remarked that “Andy never lost his cool and managed complex subjects confidently and clearly,” it is obvious he had not had the experience of being Andy’s foredeck man when gybing around the windward mark in 20 knots and setting the reaching spinnaker on his beloved J24 White Rabbit.

Andy enjoyed campaigning his J24 and usually lead the fleet at year’s end. He qualified for four J24 Worlds. Under his watchful eye and tutelage, a member of his crew generally won the “bilge boys (or girls)” race. He was a natural teacher and enjoyed going to sea with neophytes and helping them cope with the wonders and challenges of ocean voyaging, whether on a delivery from or to Bermuda or in an ocean race.

Andy made numerous trips on Duchess of Devonshire, both on deliveries and racing with Sir Bayard Dill in Newport to Bermuda Races. In spite of some “hairy” Gulf Stream experiences, he preferred sailing on the ocean to racing around the buoys in harbors. It was no surprise that when his cancer began to inhibit his ability to be agile on deck, Andy gravitated to larger, more stable sail-training vessels. He became more involved in administration but still was able to enjoy time at sea with Sara on the Europa while the vessel was in Canada and in the Baltic and North Seas.

Andy will be greatly missed by his family and by the Bermuda Sloop Foundation, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, the CCA Bermuda Station, and others in the Bermuda sailing community.

James Burnett-Herkes

Duane M. Hines

1937–2021

The morning of October 16, 2021, dawned calm, clear, and bright over San Francisco Bay as a parade of some 20 yachts formed in front of St. Francis Yacht Club to celebrate the life of Duane “Dewey” Hines. More than 200 of Dewey’s friends and family were aboard the vessels, which ranged from Knarr class yachts, which Dewey owned and raced nearly all his lifetime, to large and crowded powerboats, They paraded under the Golden Gate Bridge to scatter Dewey’s ashes on the outgoing tide. Flowers floated in the bay’s waters, and white doves filled the air.

Dewey Hines was an engaged and engaging yachtsman. He was a member of the CCA San Francisco Station for 27 years and a member of the St. Francis Yacht Club for 67 years, serving as commodore in 1997.

Dewey had many beautiful yachts, and it’s hard to remember him ashore. It seems he was always on the water, much of the time making passages. In 1994, Dewey and some friends sailed his 68-foot motor yacht Rewa down to Mexico. When they arrived in Puerto Vallarta, Dewey sent his crew home and invited his then-girlfriend, Darlene, to come down and join him. Dewey and Darlene then double-handed from Mexico to Hawaii and from Hawaii to British Columbia and Southeast Alaska. It was an eight-month voyage of some 5,400 nautical miles, and when it was over, Dewey said to Darlene, “You have just passed an eight-month interview.” He then proposed. After that 1994 voyage, Dewey and Darlene enjoyed cruising in the Pacific Northwest so much that they kept a yacht in British Columbia for 14 years and spent their summers cruising the unspoiled waters of British Columbia and Alaska.

Dewey was a successful small-boat racer, first racing his Star Boat Ah-Me-Go on San Francisco Bay as a teenager. After graduating from Willamette University in Oregon and completing active duty in the Air Force, Dewey resumed racing small boats with Snipes and won a San Francisco Bay Snipe Championship in 1964. He actively participated in leadership, becoming the Snipe commodore for the greater San Francisco Bay Area. He also raced in the 505 class until he moved up to the Knarr class, which is highly competitive on San Francisco Bay and in Europe. Racing his Knarr, Dewey won podium finishes nearly every year from 1973 to 1980, including the Knarr International Class Championships in 1974, 1997, and 1980.

When he was not racing small boats or his Knarr, Dewey was a soughtafter crewmember aboard ocean-racing

Duane M. Hines

yachts. Dewey made 12 Transpacific Yacht Races from Los Angeles to Honolulu (2,225 nautical miles) on various yachts, mostly belonging to members of St. Francis Yacht Club. His first Transpac Race was in 1955, aboard James Michael’s mighty S&S yawl Baruna, coming in third in Division A. Michael, coincidentally, would become the first West Coast commodore of the CCA in 1972. In 1957, Dewey raced the Transpac aboard Orient, then owned by Dennis Jordan, coming in second in Division A. Michael and Jordan would later found the company Barient (a blend of Baruna and Orient) to build premium yacht winches. Dewey raced on both yachts to Hawaii and on San Francisco Bay, and one could often find him powering those Barient winches.

While Dewey owned a number of yachts over the years, the queen of his fleet was his 54-foot, Rhodes-designed yawl, Ocean Queen V. Dewey lavished attention on Ocean Queen, and in 2019 he raced her to a third-place finish in the classic yacht division of the St. Francis Yacht Club’s Rolex Big Boat Series Classic Yacht Division. This was the last regatta for Dewey as the Covid pandemic shut down yacht racing in 2020. It was too bad as Dewey had at least one more regatta left in him before he set sail for Fiddlers’ Green, the sailors’ heaven.

Bob Hanelt

F. Harvey Howalt

1926–2021

F. Harvey Howalt died peacefully at home in Dalton, Georgia, on July 6, 2021. He spent his early years in the Boston area, where he attended Boston English High School and Boston University for both undergraduate studies and law. He served in the United States Army Air Corps towards the end of WWII, flying Mitchell A-26s that were to support the Marines in Japan. It was his brief time in the Army and a particularly annoying sergeant that convinced Harvey he would someday be in business for himself as his own boss.

Harvey worked at the Tillotson Rubber Company in Massachusetts in the late 1940s. The owner, Neil Tillotson, would become the most influential person in Harvey’s life: his mentor, lifelong friend, father-in-law, and business partner for 45 years. With financial backing from Mr. Tillotson, Harvey and his first wife (carrying their soon-to-be first child) moved to northwest Georgia in 1952 and started Textile Rubber and Chemical Company to provide backing to tufted textile carpets. It became a thriving global business, now with facilities in ten countries. Though flooring remains an integral part of its business, TRCC expanded into making products for water treatment, mining, cosmetics, shampoo, medical devices, the paper industry, grease, lubricants, and paint.

Harvey’s real passion was the sea and sailing. In fact, Harvey would tell you his desire to get from the Georgia mountains to the sea as often as possible made him a more successful businessman. To ensure TRCC ran smoothly while he was away sailing, Harvey always sought out the very best partners, managers, and team members and truly delegated responsibility to them.

Harvey helped expand another business of Mr. Tillotson’s, Alden Yachts, in Portsmouth, R.I. In 1985 Harvey worked with yacht designer Ted Hood to acquire and develop a strip of surplus land from the Navy. Today, much of that land is home to Hinckley Yachts, Hunt Yachts, L.M.I., and McMillen Yachts.

He was a proud member of the New York Yacht Club since 1978 and the Cruising Club of America since 2008. He was active for many years in coastal racing aboard his J-33 and J-105, both named If Only. He participated in Block Island Race Weeks, NYYC regattas, Sail Newport events, and even a Bermuda 1-2 at the age of 70, aboard his J-33.

After many years of owning several yachts ranging from 54 to 89 feet, Harvey commissioned Jongert Shipyard to build a 140-foot ketch, Islandia, which was launched in 2000. After sailing her across the Atlantic, he began the seasonal routine of sailing south each winter, sometimes as far south as Grenada or as far west as Central America. Islandia was based in Newport most summers and cruised north into Penobscot Bay, Maine, where he enjoyed CCA Gams in Billings Cove. Harvey always enjoyed the journey more than the destination. He never missed a delivery or a watch and sailed his last trip up from the Caribbean at the age of 94.

Apart from business and sailing, Harvey devoted time to reading, painting, sea shanties and calypso, playing any kind of thinking game, reciting poetry, and collecting memories. He also enjoyed snow skiing, SCUBA diving, tennis, and fly-fishing.

In addition to helping many family members and friends with college expenses, Harvey started a scholarship program at TRCC in the 1980s to help children of employees pay for college. Today that program supports eight fulltime college students annually. TRCC also recently endowed two scholarships at Dalton State College.

Harvey supported many school programs and Little League teams

F. Harvey Howalt

in the Dalton area. In every parade, you could always count on seeing a beautiful orange and blue truck from TRCC. Though often done anonymously, Harvey and TRCC still proudly support over 100 local organizations or programs each year.

After a long and loving courtship, Harvey married his wife Dee in 1987. They spent many wonderful years exploring the world together and sailing its seas. From a sunrise over Mount Everest to a sunset looking west towards Montego Bay, Harvey’s time with Dee created a treasure trove of beautiful memories which he valued above all else.

Ed Sisk

James Aiken Hurst Jr.

1930–2021

Jim Hurst, a 51-year member of the CCA, passed away on May 26, 2021. He was a native of San Francisco, a Korean War veteran, a successful commercial real estate agent in San Francisco and a passionate blue-water sailor with significant offshore experiences. He made multiple transatlantic crossings and sailed from California to Hawaii several times, but his 1,430mile ocean race from San Diego to Acapulco in February 1958 had to be Jim’s most memorable voyage.

Jim, then 28, was one of 12 crewmembers aboard the beautiful 69-foot ketch Celebes, which was a favorite to win and, in fact, took the lead midway through the race. Not far behind Celebes, but just over the horizon, was the yawl Escapade, also a favorite in the race. Eighty-six miles offshore of Cabo San Lucas in the early afternoon, with both yachts sailing well in force 5 northeast trade winds, Celebes was suddenly engulfed in flames!

The fire apparently started in Celebes’ auxiliary generator compartment and soon overwhelmed the crew’s futile attempt to put it out. The crew below deck scrambled to escape via the forward hatch. The time between the discovery of the fire and the order to abandon ship was less than five minutes, and because the fire blocked access to the navigation station, there was no time or way to radio a distress call. Celebes was sinking and the crew was in the water. As thick black smoke rose upward, they were able to launch and inflate the life raft. As the crew crowded onto the raft, they wondered if anyone knew that they had abandoned ship.

Aboard Escapade, the crew spotted the smoke and realized there could be a serious situation aboard Celebes. They immediately started their engine, and sped toward the smoke. At first, they headed toward the burning Celebes, but she was drifting away from the life raft at three knots. Fortunately, they saw the life raft and rescued the crew. The Celebes crew elected to stay aboard Escapade for the rest of the race. When Escapade crossed the finish line at Acapulco, the Celebes crew was ordered to the bow so that they could be first to finish because they had been leading at the time of the fire.

An outdoorsman who loved fishing and game-bird hunting throughout the lakes, rivers, marshes, and fields of northern California, Jim loved the camaraderie he shared with his fellow hunters and fishermen, but sailing was his greatest passion. Besides crewing on friends’ yachts, Jim commissioned a wooden racing yacht, custom built to his own specifications in Denmark, which he skippered in numerous regattas and to numerous victories on San Francisco Bay.

Jim was a member of two prominent yacht clubs on San Francisco Bay, the Corinthian Yacht Club and St. Francis Yacht Club. Like so many San Francisco Bay sailors, Jim loved to cruise the miles of waterways in the San Joaquin Delta and would often cruise to Tinsley Island with his wife, Lynne, and their son, James.

James Aiken Hurst Jr.

Bob Hanelt

Henry R. Keene

1925–2021

At the age of 96, Henry unfurled his sail on July 11, 2021 and headed Down East one last time. Born in April 1925, he lived his entire life in Dedham, Massachusetts, and spent summers in Catuamet on Cape Cod. When he was 12 years old and spending time in Maine, he would ride his bicycle on a dirt road from Thomaston to Camden to go sailing. He was as familiar with the coast of Maine as a true Mainer, and knowing where to cut through the islands was a true gift.

Years later, he would take his family to cruise the coast in the 25-foot Amphibi-con, New Era, built in his garage in 1958. She was the prettiest, most well built of her class. Henry made certain the family would be sailors first. With his daughter Susan, Henry raced their H-12, Surprise, with varying degrees of success! He later moved up to a Pearson 35, followed be a Bristol 38.8, both named Alida. He rigged his final Alida so he could sail it well into his 80s, going Down East every summer from Buzzard’s Bay. He ended his boating life with a Zimmerman 36 and finally a Cape Dory 28-foot powerboat.

All this while Henry built the worldrenowned Edson Corporation, leaders

Henry R. Keene

in steering mechanisms for sailboats from 20 to over 210 feet. His friends included Henry Hinckley of Hinckley Yachts and Bill Shaw of Pearson Yachts, among many others throughout the marine industry.

As fiberglass boats proliferated, with wheel steering not far behind, Edson manufactured steering devices and pumps, which were known worldwide for high quality at a favorable price. Edson’s “Sudden Service” and “now is the time” expedited orders were ahead of their time. He sold Edson International to sons Hank and Will in 1989 so he could devote more time to build award- winning ship models.

Henry became a proud member of the Cruising Club of America in 1993. He sailed in Buzzards Bay with yearly trips Down East for four to six weeks at a time. He always brought along friends and family; his wife, Jane, was a true first mate! He sailed extensively with Sandy Weld on Windigo in Europe, the Northwest, and on charters in the Caribbean. Henry would not turn down an offer to go on a sailing adventure. He believed in giving back when it came to more people sailing. He supported sailing programs at the Camden Yacht Club and the Buzzards Yacht Club, both of which he was the oldest member at the time of his passing. He was an active director for the Maine Maritime Museum, helping with the collection and display of the Edward O’Brien legacy.

His seven grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren called him “Gogo.” He kept moving for fear of stopping and rusting! His mantra was “learn to swim, then row, then sail, and if you must, powerboat!”

He will be missed by friends, family, and employees. We only wish we could hear him yell “Buoy room!” one more time.

Hank Keene, Jr.

Bruce Kirby

1929–2021

Sailing legend Bruce Kirby passed away July 19, 2021, at 92 years of age. He grew up in a sailing family in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and was on a sailboat by the time he was 6 months old. He crewed on his father’s racing boat at the age of 6 and learned to sail on the widening of the Ottawa River. He carved model boats, was a keen observer of the way a boat moves through the water, and was a competitive sailor in International 14 dinghies from the age of 15.

He left college after one year due to a lung infection and became a reporter for the Ottawa Journal. He met Margo Dancey at the Britannia Yacht Club, and they were married in 1956. When Bruce became one of the editors of the Montreal Star, he and Margo moved to Montreal where their two daughters were born. In 1956, he represented Canada in the Finn class in the Olympics in Australia. He raced a Finn in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo and a Star in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Because of his sailing knowledge, he covered the America’s Cup for the Montreal Star front page. By the mid1960s, he had become editor of One Design Yachtsman (now Sailing World) in Chicago. The Kirbys wanted to move to the East Coast, and Bruce convinced the publisher to move the editorial office from Chicago to Connecticut in 1969.

In an International 14 regatta at Cowes, England, in 1958, Bruce saw that the New Zealanders were faster upwind. He came home and designed an International 14 to make it faster when sailing to weather. He was selftaught in boat design. “I had a copy of Skene’s Elements of Yacht Design. If you can understand 50 percent of what’s in that book, you can design a boat. Yacht design isn’t brain surgery. We should always pretend that it is, but it’s really not.” Having made that modest disclaimer, he allowed that “designing a vessel that is compatible with two disparate elements, air and water, is actually a challenge.” Seven versions of the Kirby International 14 were built, 739 boats total. “It was done seat of the pants,” he explained. “No testing. It was all empirical. Each new boat was a take-off on the old one.”

In 1969 he was asked to build a fiberglass sailboat that one person could race. At the 1971 New York Boat Show, 144 Lasers were sold for $595. The Laser was fun to sail, could be transported on the roof of a car, but also could be raced. Over 250,000 have been built. The Laser became an Olympic class in 1996 and the Laser Radial became an Olympic class for lighter people in 2008. Bruce came to call his original legal pad drawing the “million-dollar doodle.” He retired from Sailing World

Bruce Kirby

and became a full-time boat designer.

He was commissioned by a friend to build Runaway to IOR standards. He always skippered that boat and represented Canada’s entry in the Admiral’s Cup in 1981. In 1983, he designed Canada I for the America’s Cup races, and it made the semi-finals in Newport. In 1987 he designed Canada II for the America’s Cup races in Australia. Bruce’s design career includes a multitude of successful classes such as the Pixel, Kirby 25, and Ideal 18, and production racer/ cruisers like the San Juan 24 and 30. He designed a variety of Sharpie hulls for home construction. He designed the 23-foot keelboat Sonar for Noroton Yacht Club in Darien, Connecticut. The Sonar has been raced all over the world and is used in the Paralympic Games.

He became a member of the Cruising Club of America in 2000 and was also a member of the New York Yacht Club and Noroton Yacht Club. Bruce was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame, the Canadian International 14 Hall of Fame, and the City of Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame. He was awarded the Order of Canada.

Margo and Bruce were married 65 years. He worked on his autobiography over a period of seven years. They enjoyed cruising on Long Island Sound on several boats that Bruce designed. They had two daughters and two granddaughters. Margo said that he was a “super-grandfather,” towing the granddaughters’ Optimist prams and Pixels (designed by Bruce himself) to various regattas. Imagine being coached in dinghy racing by Bruce Kirby! Maggie Salter, edited from Scuttlebutt and New York Times obituaries

Andrew S.D. Lindsay

1956–2020

Andy Lindsay died on October 24, 2020, at his home in Ipswich, Massachusetts, after six years of stage IV nonsmoker’s lung cancer. After his diagnosis, his life was prolonged by a series of experimental treatments developed at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 2018, Andy climbed 21,247-foot Mera Peak in Nepal with his doctors’ blessing and was pictured at the summit holding his MGH flag. It was his last expedition in a life spent adventuring.

Andy was the son of Peter Lindsay (BOS), a Navy man and longtime CCA member, and the nephew of Andy Lindsay (BOS), also a longtime member. Uncle Andy was known as Big Andy in Biddeford Pool, Maine, where he taught a whole generation of summer kids how to sail in Turnabouts. They included many CCA members, who are grateful for learning knots, navigation, and cruising skills. Andy absorbed his uncle’s lessons well.

In 1977, Andy sailed transatlantic with his father, Forbes Perkins (BOS), and Forbes’ sons, Tom (BOS) and Rob (BOS), on the Concordia Goldeneye. This trip put Andy in the Cruising Club of America and was his introduction to sailing offshore. Tom Perkins reports this was a “classic Cruising Club family cruise.” Andy sailed offshore extensively, including to Antarctica in 2013 and across the Indian Ocean with Greg Carroll in 2009. He did several Bermuda races, including 1990 onboard a Concordia yawl with an entire crew of CCA members.

A college graduate and experienced offshore sailor, Andy worked at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in the summer of 1978. Charlie Willauer remembers first meeting Andy, who was hired as an assistant watch officer on board Jemel, a 44-foot ketch donated to the school. Jemelwas a custom race boat and much more complicated than a pulling boat, making it a great vessel for training Outward Bound staff. “Right away, I realized Andy’s competence as a sailor as he quietly fine-tuned leads and trimmed sails while teaching others,” Charlie says.

In the 1990s, Andy and I discovered cruising multihulls, particularly Ian Farrier’s small folding versions. Together with Peter McPheeters, we owned Ion and Sorn for more than 25 years. We cruised New England and the Maritimes and had adventures to the St. Lawrence River, the Bras d’Or Lakes, and Cape Breton. We dreamed of Newfoundland, but Andy’s illness prevented that. While the accommodations were only a little better than Hurricane Island pulling boats, the sailing speed far surpassed a Concordia, and Andy became an accomplished driver and trimmer.

“Andy was an exemplary shipmate,” Peter writes. “There was never a more steady and even-keeled member of a crew, whether enduring stormy seas in the north Atlantic or on the rare occasion when a stormy temper might manifest itself belowdecks. He was a true seaman, a prudent and good-humored mariner, whose focus remained on keeping the ship safe and heading in the right direction, no matter what the source of the commotion around him. He was a lover of good food and wine, and loved nothing more than to prepare and enjoy a fine meal, whether hundreds of miles offshore or hanging on a hook in in one of the more remote corners of the Maine coast. Andy was an environmentally green sailor before ‘green’ was the norm for responsible sailors, always saving his paper towels for a second or third use. The only unforgivable error I

Andrew S.D. Lindsay

ever remember Andy committing was to forget the coffee when provisioning for a partners’ cruise. Of course, we never let him forget it, and in spite of such an egregious sin, we will always miss him.”

Andy leaves his beloved wife, Jan; his son, Jackson; daughter, Barrie; and two grandchildren.

Fair winds and godspeed, Andy. Jesse Deupree

Donald F. MacKenzie

1924–2020

Cruising was our life. Don taught me to sail, and I loved every minute of it. We were married 54 years.

Don was born in London, Ontario, Canada, and learned to sail on small boats at Port Stanley on Lake Erie. At the beginning of World War II in 1939, he joined the Royal Canadian Navy and served on Corvettes crossing the North Atlantic from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and St. John, Newfoundland, until the end of the war.

After the war, he came to the United States and became a citizen. He enjoyed sailing and racing Lightnings on Kentucky Lake. He represented Garcia sporting goods and Beretta and Sake sporting arms in the Southeast until retirement. During these years, he owned and sailed a Pearson 26, Troon, and a Hinckley Pilot 35, Quandry, along the Florida east coast from Pensacola to Key West. Quandry was the last wooden Hinckley Pilot built before Hinckley converted to fiberglass.

Although he enjoyed racing with CCA friends from Clearwater, Florida, cruising was his main interest. In 1975 he bought Meteor, a Morgan 41, renamed her Mistick and began planning a life of cruising. In 1976 we sailed to Newport, Rhode Island, and New York City to be a part of the Bicentennial sailing celebrations. While in the East River on the run from Newport to New York, surrounded by hundreds of yachts large and small and the current at full flood, his friend Courtney Ross (FLA) went down below and shouted that he could hear pinging from the engine, indicating it should be shut down. Thankfully, it was all in fun, and they continued on to an anchorage in the harbor with thousands of yachts. Courtney recalled that Don had a “great dry sense of humor.”

In 1983 we began sailing full time, crossing the North Atlantic several times in the wake of his war convoys to visit favorite ports in Europe. Having enjoyed the canals of Europe on Mistick, we spent several summers on a 100-yearold Dutch sailing barge, Vertrouwen, before selling her and continued to cruise on Mistick. His favorite cruising ground was Scotland, especially the Outer Hebrides. In his 80s, he had the opportunity to cruise the Pacific Islands with friends.

Don was always willing to lend a hand to fellow sailors, both new and experienced. He loved the sea and sailing and was grateful for the many years he had living and cruising on it. Sandy MacKenzie

Donald F. MacKenzie

D. Scott McCullough

1949–2020

Scott McCullough passed away after a courageous battle at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. He was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, attended the Brunswick School there and the Hun School of Princeton, New Jersey, and graduated from Brown University. For many years, he worked for Rolex USA, where he was a top salesperson. Scott sailed on his father’s yacht, Inverness, on many ocean races and was a crew member on two America›s Cup boats.

His love of the water was apparent, and he would spend as much time as he could aboard his beloved Black Watch motor yacht. Scott enjoyed hosting social hour aboard the boat for his wife, Kathy, and their friends. He loved his yearly trip to Florida on Black Watch and was probably the only sailor who could turn a one-week trip into a four-week trip. He was generous, selfless, and extremely patient.

He became a member of the Cruising Club of America in 1989 and was also a member of the New York Yacht Club, Storm Trysail, and the Lincoln County Rifle Club.

D. Scott McCullough

Newspaper obituary

1941–2021

Brian A. O’Neill of Bainbridge Island, Washington, passed away unexpectedly on April 16, 2021. Born in Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, on July 30, 1941, at the beginning of World War II in the Pacific, Brian carried on the family tradition of service to country and to others throughout his life.

With a seafaring grandfather and a WWII Navy pilot father, Brian was a natural for the CCA. Having been raised in Seattle, he spent his formative years on boats. His family founded two marinas, one in Anacortes and one in Seattle. Brian and his wife, Mary Alice, met their CCA sponsor, Maury Rattray, in 1996 in Greece while on a five-year circumnavigation on their Norseman 447 Shibui; having already made a voyage in prior years throughout the South Pacific to New Zealand.

Brian was the consummate career Marine, serving as a helicopter medevac pilot in Vietnam, and with great competence in various fighter jets thereafter. Among his many challenging but interesting postings were as a Top Gun instructor, executive officer of the Blacksheep Squadron 214 of WWII fame, and as attaché for the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait. After retirement and between sailing adventures, Brian worked as a consultant to McDonnell Douglas, living in Kuwait, where he provided technical expertise on the F-18 Super Hornet.

Upon his retirement from the Marine Corps in 1987, Brian and Mary Alice quenched their thirst for the sea with many sailing adventures, including the aforementioned circumnavigation, which concluded in 1997. Many of the following summers were spent sailing the waters of British Columbia and Alaska. Brian’s boats were always prepared with extreme care, meticulously maintained, and his military training showed up in his sailing. Competitive? You bet!

Brian assisted many sailors, including NROTC students at the University of Washington, in their boat preparations and route planning, always willing to lend a hand and develop a program training them on sailing skills, boat preparations, and racing. Transpacific voyagers called on him regularly for weather routing. Those in the know, instead of asking him how he was doing, would ask, “Is the Pacific High strengthening or weakening?” An avalanche of details would follow, during which he would acknowledge his fascination with this feature of the north Pacific. He was competent in all things maritime, especially in the areas of equipment, navigation, and meteorology. His wellfounded advice on those matters, and enthusiastic zest for life were infectious and will be sorely missed. Brian was not an equivocator, but firm in his opinions, all of which you could take to the bank.

The PNW station owes a lot to Brian for his contributions as rear commodore and his service on several committees, including the Two Nations Cruise in 2005 and the Awards Committee, and as cruise chair for the 2014 Club Cruise, Voyage of Discovery in Desolation Sound, Canada. He was a PNW mainstay and always made himself available to lend help and advice and to support station events and logistics.

In 2008, years after their circumnavigation, Brian and Mary Alice created a three-year voyage of the North Pacific circuit via Micronesia, combining their passions for military history, education, and sailing by visiting many of the WWII sites where his father served and helping outer island schools along the way. For this voyage. they were presented CCA’s 2011 Far Horizons Award.

Brian attended Sullivan Preparatory School, Washington, D.C., was a 1959 graduate of Shoreline High School, Seattle, and a 1967 graduate of University of Puget Sound.

He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Mary Alice, three children, seven grandchildren, six sisters, one brother, and many nieces and nephews.

Brian was a remarkable man who lived life to his fullest and who was always available to others who needed assistance. Throughout all their voyaging, Brian and Mary Alice sailed an impressive 100,000 nautical miles. He will be greatly missed by his family and friends. John Kennell and Tad Lhamon

Brian A. O’Neill

Walter R. Paul

1933–2020

The club lost a 14-year chair of its Offshore Communications & Technology Committee on December 11, 2020, when Walt Paul, of Weston, Connecticut, sailed his final voyage at the age of 87 in the unyielding hands of the Covid epidemic.

Walt was no doubt one of the early proponents of continuing fellow members’ knowledge of celestial navigation tools and methods, along with how to communicate offshore via single side band, and later satellite systems. Thank you, Walt, for your numerous articles guiding us all. The list of members of this committee over the past two decades reads much like the navigators’ hall of fame, something for which we should all be proud.

Walt leaves his charming and everso-competent first mate, Evelyn, with whom he shared 62 years of wedded bliss and tens of thousands of miles of ocean passages aboard Nefertari, their Stevens 47.

After serving as a radar technician in the Korean War, Walt earned a degree

Walter R. Paul

in mechanical engineering from the University of Toledo. After building computer controls for NASA and the USAF at IBM in Oswego, New York, Walt shifted into procurement, eventually heading all IBM procurement in 47 countries and some 17½ time zones. He was also lucky enough to be posted in Australia for three years, including 1987 when the Stars & Stripes recaptured the America’s Cup in Perth.

In 1994, Walt and Evie began their 14-year sojourn aboard Nefertari, first racing to St. Thomas in the Caribbean 1500, where they spent five wonderful years, thence to the British Isles, via Bermuda and the Azores, for the Millenium celebrations in London. They went on to Scotland, Norway, Denmark, Germany for Keil Week, Amsterdam, and Belgium, before dropping the spar and heading to Paris. Next, they went to the Med, where they joined the Mediterranean Rally, going as far east as Egypt. After joining the CCA Croatia Cruise in 2006, they sailed back through the Med, across the ocean to the Caribbean, and finally back to Saugatuck Harbor in 2007. Walt was a recipient of the Parkinson Medal for their 1999 and 2007 transoceanic passages.

A musician, raconteur extraordinaire, racer, and cruiser, Walt was one of a kind, and will be remembered by many of us as the life of the party, a skilled racer, master “tinkerer” on board, and a very special friend. He was full of advice for whoever would listen! A side note: As a member of Saugatuck Harbor Yacht Club since 1974, Walt won the Round Long Island Race, numerous Denmark Races in Stamford, as well as a solid showing in the Marion Bermuda Race.

The CCA extends its sympathy to Evelyn and their three grown sons, Walter, Erik, and Stephen, with whom Walt shared so many miles.

Jim Binch Past Commodore

Richard W. Pendleton, Jr.

1933–2020

Dick was an avid sailor, who made many voyages to Nova Scotia and the Swedish Archipelago. He joined the Cruising Club of America in 1999 and was also active in the New York Yacht Club, North American Station of the Royal Scandinavian Yacht Clubs, and Nylandska Jaktklubben.

A graduate of Rutgers University and Yale Law School, Dick made New York City his home for most of his adult life. He had a successful and distinguished career as chief counsel with Phelps Dodge Corporation. He was a significant supporter of the American Boy Choir School, Avon-Old Farms School, and Mystic Seaport Museum, all of which he served for decades as a trustee.

Dick moored his yachts, all named Excelsior, in Old Lyme, Connecticut, his weekend home. He had many friends on the waterfront there.

Dick enjoyed teaching and mentoring young people. He sailed many summers locally and in Maine with crews under the age of 18, mostly the sons of his friends. He remained lifelong friends to all of them. Nothing says more about Dick than the reminisces of Doug Ward, son of our longtime member Peter Ward (NYS):

“Sailing with Pendleton was like going to camp. It was loads of fun. You got to see old friends and meet new shipmates. Some of us were there year after year.

“On board there were lots of traditions to be kept and records to be broken. We would have lobster when someone left the cruise (there were usually a number of guys switching out the same day), picking mussels and digging clams in Bunker Cove near Roque Island. Visits to certain harbors like Winter Harbor, Roque Island, and Small Point were also a tradition. In these locations, there were all kinds of ‘records,’ from eating the most pancakes to being youngest to jump off the spreaders. You could generally make up a record if you thought you just broke it.

“Although we didn’t realize it at the time, we were also learning responsibility and life lessons. Chores such as dishes, making lunch, etc. were done in rotation. We were responsible for keeping our bunks, clothes, and gear clean and stowed. Every day after anchoring there would be a quick clean up, and we would do a ‘major clean up’ every couple of weeks (usually at a crew turnover) in Northeast or Camden or other major harbor.

“Pendleton taught us piloting/navigation and all aspects of sailing. We learned a lot about general maintenance. A kid learns a lot when he is put in charge of the day’s navigation, setting the anchor when everyone is relying on him.

Richard W. Pendleton, Jr.

“We also learned to grow up. One reason everybody loved sailing with Dick is that he kept us on a very loose leash, unlike the ones our parents kept us on at home. We were generally allowed to do things that we wouldn’t get permission to do for another few years at home. Older guys were allowed a beer at cocktail hour, and we thought that was cool. We could row off to adventure in most harbors with no real rules, except don’t bother other people and be back by dinner.

“We are now part of a somewhat exclusive club/fraternity. If I meet someone who has cruised with Dick, we have a lot to talk about and a lot in common. It doesn’t matter if I never sailed with them or even met them. Common jokes and memories include tonight’s “major salad,” the dreaded “major cleanup,” his three-martini limit (two if we made them too big) and ‘well past my bedtime!’

“Pendleton was one of the most unique and fantastic people I have ever known. He could spend the day sailing with a group of 4-5 15/16-year-old hooligans and then row over to a friend’s boat and discuss Mozart over cocktails. He fit in anywhere and did it with style and class.”

I know all of us will miss seeing and being party to Dick’s calm and dignified presence, his graciousness and quiet generosity, and his wry humor. The Cruising Club — and the world — has lost a true gentleman. May his example live long.

J C Hoopes, Jr.

James D. Phyfe

1942–2020

James D. (“Jim”) Phyfe died peacefully on December 21, 2020, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, just before his 79th birthday. Jim was born in 1942 in New York and grew up in Englewood, New Jersey. His family summered in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, where he learned to sail at the New Bedford Yacht Club. By the age of 10, he owned a red Beetle Cat, which his mother named Ak Sar Ben (Nebraska backward) and raced in and around Padanaram harbor. He traded up to a 110 with the same name and set about winning most of the local summer events in 1958 and 1959.

Jim graduated from the Kent School in 1960 and Harvard University in 1964. He received a master’s of public administration from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1971. He spent his entire career practicing corporate law at Davis, Polk and Wardwell in New York City. Before his retirement to South Dartmouth in 2006, he worked in the firm’s Hong Kong office.

Jim’s sailing career covered six decades, including 18 passages between New England and Bermuda, three transatlantic passages, and one transpacific passage. He began his offshore career as the captain on a series of Auks, owned by Charles Francis Adams, cruising and racing from Padanaram along the east coast to as far north as the Bay of Fundy and as far south as Chesapeake Bay. He taught himself celestial navigation on his first Bermuda passage at age 20 aboard Xanadu. From 1972 to 1984, he sailed Bonheur II to or from Bermuda 10 times and spent many summers cruising from Long Island Sound to Maine and back.

Jim bought a Swan 47, Aristea, in 1987, to expand his love of offshore sailing and shared that love with his children, James and Gaelen, his wife, Winnie, and her children, Robin and Trevor. In 1988, Jim, James, and Gaelen sailed Aristea to Bermuda for the first time, and in 1989, Aristea competed in the Marion Bermuda Race before visiting the St. John River for the CCA summer cruise. After her 1991 voyage from Connecticut to Bermuda, Aristea headed for Halifax.

In June 1992, Jim departed Padanaram on his first Atlantic Circle voyage. Eighteen days later, the crew arrived at Crosshaven, Ireland. They cruised the southwest corner of Ireland before heading to the Isle of Man, England, Spain, Madeira, and Puerto de Mogan, Gran Canaria. In January 1993, Jim and Winnie sailed from Gran Canaria to Barbados and cruised the Caribbean before returning to Connecticut in April.

In 1996, when work commitments threatened to scuttle the voyage, he encouraged James, then 22, and Gaelen, 24, to sail Aristea from New York to Kinsale, Ireland, with a group of their peers. They joined the CCA cruise, sailing up the west coast of Ireland as far as Westport before turning south to Vigo, Spain, and back to Puerto de Mogan. They re-crossed the Atlantic to join the CCA winter cruise in St. Martin. That spring, they returned to Rhode Island via Bermuda.

In 1999, Jim again turned the boat over to son James for the passage from Rhode Island to New Zealand, “checking in” in Panama, the Tuamotos, and Tahiti. While based in New Zealand, Jim and Aristea visited Norfolk Island (AUS) in 2002 and 2003 and Fiji in 2004. In 2006 and 2007, he and Winnie circumnavigated New Zealand’s North and South Islands, stopping in the subarctic Auckland Islands during the latter voyage.

James D. Phyfe

Jim’s final and longest voyage on Aristea took place in 2010 and 2011, when he departed New Zealand for a nonstop passage to Puerto Arenas, Chile, in the Straits of Magellan. He then sailed the east coast of South America, to Bermuda, and ultimately back to Padanaram.

On every boat he owned, Jim had a watercolor of the famous Wind in the Willows quote: “There is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as messing about in boats.” Back in the U.S. for good in 2012, Jim set about living up to that quote, messing about in several smaller vessels, including Dame of Sark (Concordia yawl), Silhouette (Herreshoff S-boat), Wisp (Beetle Cat), Piccolo (Herreshoff 12 ½), and Kiwi (Palmer Scott motor launch).

The CCA was important to Jim, who loved every part of being a member, from the cruises nearby to far-flung destinations to the newsletter, which he read avidly.

James and Gaelen Phyfe

John R. Pingree

1933–2021

John Pingree’s love of boats and yachting was passed down through generations of his family. His great-greatgrandfather started the Weld Shipping Company to service the China trade. His grandfather owned a steamship and built the coal wharf on North Haven island, Maine, to bring goods from the mainland to the island. A lifelong resident of Hamilton, Massachusetts, John R. Pingree, 87, passed away on January 19, 2021, at home.

Born in Boston, he grew up on his parents’ Flying Horse Farm. He learned to sail at their summer home on North Haven. He graduated from Brooks School before joining the Air Force, where he served as a meteorologist from 1952 to 1956. He sold Hatteras Yachts out of Gloucester and Beverly in the 1960s and 1970s, after which he took over running Flying Horse Farm. He embraced his family and wife’s passion for horses and organized and hosted multiple three-day events at Flying Horse Farm, which included Flying Horse Trials and three Young Riders Competitions.

An avid yachtsman, John was always happiest at sea. He did the Atlantic Circle first in the mid-1980s on Meridian, a 61-foot trawler that was built for him. His second Atlantic Circle was done in 1992 was on Great Admiral, a 55-foot custom trawler. Their 41-foot Hatteras, Majidy, provided wonderful experiences and fond memories for the family.

“John was very involved helping to start the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Penobscot Bay,” Peter O. Willauer (BOS/GMP) writes. “He was the business manager for the first two years, and volunteered yearround as a logistics manager, making things happen. He was very helpful and enthusiastic.”

John taught firefighting on Hurricane Island for two summers, having been a dedicated volunteer firefighter for South Hamilton. The Pingrees lived on Hurricane Island one of those summers and on Majidy, tied to the pier in Carvers Harbor, Vinalhaven, the other.

John later owned a 45-foot Hans Christian Trawler, Bufflehead, and a 46-foot Grand Banks trawler, Kernisan.

He became a member of the Cruising Club of America in 1990. In addition to his wife, Dianne, with whom he shared 51 years of marriage, he is survived by his daughter, Mary Fisher, and sons, Alex Pingree and John Pingree Jr. He also had a stepdaughter, two stepsons, 13 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. His descendants all have the “yachting bug” that has been passed down through the Weld and Pingree families.

Mary Pingree Fisher and Alex Pingree

John R. Pingree

Jon Alan Rolien

1935–2021

Jon Rolien was a sailor and an aviator, who made friends on the sea and in the air. A blue-water sailor and a good shipmate, Jon crewed on ocean races on eight races of over 2,000 nautical miles from California to Hawaii. During their 57-year marriage, Jon and his wife, Jean, owned various yachts, the last of which was Phoenix, a Catalina 32.5. During the five years that Jon and Jean owned Phoenix, they cruised San Francisco Bay and its main tributary, the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta.

Jon grew up on the Great Plains in the small town of Kerkhoven, Minnesota. Ocean voyaging was probably not something that he thought about much in his early years, but he did give a lot of thought to flying. After two years at a small college in Nebraska, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy to become a naval aviator. Recognized as an excellent pilot during flight school at Pensacola, Jon became a flight instructor upon graduation. Eventually, he was posted to U.S. Naval Air Station Barbers Point in Oahu, Hawaii, where, in addition to flying and other naval duties, he attended the University of Hawaii and completed his university education. Jon met Jean, and they began their sailing adventures.

Jon Alan Rolien

Jon and Jean moved from Hawaii to Marin County in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Jon continued flying as a Navy reservist and rose to the rank of commander before retiring. In addition to flying, Jon was engaged in entrepreneurial business activities, as a restaurateur and manufacturer, while he and Jean raised two children, daughter Karri and son Scott. Many happy days were spent sailing as a family on San Francisco Bay.

Jon was a 50-year member of the Presidio Yacht Club, in Sausalito, California, and a staff commodore. He became involved with the Pacific Cup Yacht Club that holds the Pacific Cup Ocean Race (Pac Cup) from San Francisco to Kaneohe, Oahu, on evennumbered years. The Transpacific Yacht Club holds its ocean race from Los Angeles to Honolulu on odd-numbered years. The Pac Cup bills itself as the “Fun Ocean Race to Hawaii,” and Jon had the fun of racing the Pac Cup eight times on several different yachts. The first ended in Hanalei Bay, when Jon raced aboard Swiftsure, owned by Sy Kleinman. He raced Pac Cup twice on Ghost, owned by Kim and Lou Eckler, and twice on White Caps, a Santa Cruz 50 owned by Dr. Bob Nance. He sailed one Pacific Cup Race with Steve Hunt (SAF) and Jim Antrim (SAF) on Steve’s yacht Triumph. Steve sponsored Jon for membership in the CCA San Francisco Station and was elected to membership in 2007. The station was happy to have Jon and Jean aboard.

Jon was happiest when he was behind the wheel of his yacht, and his love of sailing kept him there until well into his 80s. We wish Jon fair winds and following seas.

Bob Hanelt

Peter C. Ross

1923-2021

Dr. Peter Charles Ross, 98, died peacefully at his Vero Beach, Florida, home Thursday, Oct. 14, surrounded by family. No obituary can convey the breadth and depth of his long life: show-jumping horses, flying airplanes, racing and winning on his 38-foot sloop, Tynaje, remediating dental flaws and damage in his practice, and being the greatest dad ever at home — demanding, but fair and caring.

Peter was born in Long Branch, New Jersey. He was studying at the University Heights Division of New York University when the U.S. entered World War II in 1941. He was accepted into the Army Specialized Training Program, which enabled him to complete college and enter dental school. As a result, he received a bachelor of arts degree in 1943 and began studies at the New York University College of Dentistry. After being discharged from the Army in 1945 and awarded a doctor of dental surgery degree in 1946, he established a dental office in Manhattan and was a member of the teaching staff of the College of Dentistry and, subsequently, the New York Polyclinic Postgraduate Medical School.

In 1953, he joined the U.S. Naval Reserve as a lieutenant commander due to the urgent need for medical officers during the Korean War. He was assigned to the Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut. Discharged in 1956, he opened a dental practice in Groton, which is still in business today, and moved to Mason’s Island in Mystic with his wife, Janet.

He loved horses, horseback riding, especially show jumping. When he lived in New York City, he tested “raw recruit” horses as potential mounts for the New York Police Department. One of his favorite stories was about crossing Fifth Avenue atop a horse on its hind legs because it had reared up when a bus backfired. He also said that the benches in Central Park made for good jumps. He would go on to be a prizewinning show jumper on his beloved horse, Sheik. In the 1960s and 1970s, he owned a 16-horse stable in Mystic.

Nevertheless, ocean sailing, both recreational and competitive, subsequently absorbed him almost totally. He sailed up and down the East Coast (twice single-handedly from Florida to New England) and to Europe, the Caribbean, Bermuda, and Nova Scotia, surviving two tropical storms and a hurricane. He earned his pilot’s license so he could fly inter-island in the Caribbean and practice dentistry (and sail) there in the winter. He had a dental practice in Barbados for a few years in the 1960s.

In 1975, he created ICE, the Institute of Continuing Education, which offered programs on the latest in dental care for practicing dentists. He was president until 1985. His passion for the sea and entrepreneurial spirit

Peter C. Ross

spawned two charter businesses leasing comfortable cruising boats: Mystic Yacht Charters in Mystic and Miami Beach, and Divi-Divi Charters in Belize.

His Ohlson 38, a Swedish sloop, was well known at yacht clubs in New England and elsewhere. Most race competitors only saw its name, Tynaje, after his wife Janet, on its stern, often with Peter Jr in the crew. He was an active member of the Cruising Club of America, Ram Island Yacht Club (past commodore), Mason’s Island Yacht Club, Corinthian Yacht Club, Off Soundings Club, Storm Trysail Club, Essex Yacht Club, Wadawanuck Club, Stonington Harbor Yacht Club, Watch Hill Yacht Club, and last but not least, the Mason’s Island ROMEOs.

Peter’s wife, Janet, died in 1981. He married Joan Hagen in 1990. The Moorings Yacht and Country Club in Vero Beach became their winter home, with the remainder of the year spent on Mason’s Island or sailing.

One of my favorite stories about Peter was one day on board when he was going forward, Joan called out to him, “Be careful Peter, remember you’re not 80 anymore.” He won his last race at age 92!

Tommy Thompson

Diana Russell

1943–2021

Diana was an inspiration to me. I met her at Sparkman & Stephens when I was in college and had stopped by the naval architecture firm with a friend. She was the only woman in a technical position with the firm. Within a couple of years, I was a cook aboard a 47-foot yawl for the summer. The S&S “factory team,” including Rod Stephens, Bill Stiger and Diana, arrived for the Fastnet Race. She knew how to make a boat go and more importantly understood how to get along with everyone on board. She found humor in good times and bad, including a 12-hour stint becalmed at Bishops Light.

I raced with Diana on Newbold Smith’s Reindeer in a Halifax race. She recently had been on Reindeer’s passage to Spitsbergen, in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, in 1976, when a 43-foot yacht above 80 degrees north was stunning news. She was the only person I’d known to have taken a midnight sun sight. She invited a few of our race crew to fly from Halifax to Sydney, Nova Scotia, to visit her parents at their house at Pony Point on Maskells Harbor. The Bras d’Or Lakes were an awakening to me, and I understood why Cruising Club sailors would make the lakes the center of their sailing and why Diana would spend most every summer in this nearly ideal setting.

Diana owned a rambling old house on Center Island, Long Island, across the street from Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, where she could sail small boats between adventures. The space in and around that house allowed her to create custom sailboards, for which she held patents, and later highly refined small, efficient craft including, recently, an electric, wakeless judge’s boat for crew teams. A friend of hers told me that one day in winter he saw her driving her old four-wheeldrive vehicle with the windows down and wearing a full-face respirator. The explanation was that a bucket of resin had spilled in the car, and she had not had time to clean it.

Diana and I shared a rare privilege of being two of the first women admitted into the Cruising Club of America in June 1994. We were both honored to join the ranks of so many accomplished members who we had sailed with and learned from.

Diana was an extraordinary individual of breadth and depth and of apparent contradictions. She was downto-earth, yet had aristocratic roots which she mostly ignored. She chose to excel in a sport that, in the early 1970s, was not welcoming to the participation of single women on their own merits. She had been a math major at a women’s college who was hired by S&S to optimize their designs to the International Offshore Rule for handicap races — work that required complex analysis through developing a prototype of a velocity prediction program. She could think like an engineer, create like an artist, and perform like an athlete, earning the respect of influential friends and leaders of the sport like Harry Anderson and Olin Stephens.

She was perhaps the most empathic person I have ever known, giving strength to a changing cast of characters whose eccentricities put them out of step with the circumstances around them, and she happily indulged the canine chaos of rescued pets in her houses on Long Island and Cape Breton. She was happiest when faced by a challenge.

She was defiantly self-reliant and gently extroverted. Any boat that anchored in Maskells Harbor flying a CCA burgee would get a visit from Diana, often by windsurfer, with an invitation to climb the quarter-mile rutted road up to her house for a visit and a wide-ranging chat. She enthusiastically attended most every CCA dinner in New York for 25 years — even for the seven years after being treated for brain cancer that was supposed to kill her in six months. Her friends were not surprised and rallied around her as she had rallied for them over the years.

Diana Russell

In short, Diana personified many of the most desirable attributes of CCA members. Her good friend, Anne Glenn (NBP/BOS) shared Diana’s guiding creed, given to her by her prep school head mistress, Lucy Madeira:

Make haste slowly Function in disaster Finish in style

Sheila McCurdy

Charles P. Schutt

1943–2021

Charles “Chip” Porter Schutt Jr., 78, of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, peacefully passed away at home on May 23, 2021. He was born in Wilmington, Delaware, attended Cardigan Mountain School and was a graduate of Tabor Academy and the University of Delaware. Chip served in the Air National Guard prior to embarking on a 32-year career in financial management. He was a consummate family man who, with his wife of 48 years, Katharine “Puss” Draper Schutt, raised three children, never missing a game or a concert. That streak continued with their six grandchildren.

Chipper, as he was known to his closest friends, is remembered for his engaging smile and a keen interest in getting to know those with whom he shared watches. As a young man, he developed a blue-water sailor’s appreciation for voyaging offshore. Early in his sailing resume is a transatlantic voyage aboard his father Porter Schutt’s ketch, Egret. Porter was a longtime member of the Gibson Island Yacht Squadron, and Chip’s early years were a mixed legacy of star boat sailing and offshore racing, including Annapolis to Newport and Bermuda Races. In later years, summers spent sailing Safari to and from Maine and coastal cruising with the Northeast Harbor Fleet held great appeal.

Past CCA Commodore Tad DuPont (CHE) recalls a cruise that underscored Chip’s wide range of sailing interests. Tad had his Cal 33, Nichole, provisioned, fueled up, and ready to go. Chip arrived at the dock with an 11-foot 3-inch windsurfer, mast, boom, and a few bags of sails. Once the gear was stowed, there was some question about where Tad and Chip would sleep, but the adventure pressed on, and despite the tight quarters, all went well. Tad also knew Chip as a sailor with “good instincts,” whether it was a rough day on the bay, a fog-bound approach to Block Island or a Nor’easter off the Maine coast, Safari and crew prevailed.

Frank Hopkinson recalls how well Safari was fitted out and maintained: “She was one of the very few boats I knew in which everything always worked!” He also remembers the generosity of her skipper, a person who enjoyed those he was sailing with as much as he did the voyage itself. “Chip was even willing to share the extraordinary chocolate chip cookies that were present, but short lived, on every passage,” Frank says.

Chip played a role in the genesis of the CCA Suddenly Alone safety training program. It took root when Chip, Kaighn Smith, Ron Trossbach, Mindy Drew, Frank Hopkinson, and others began a dialog about engaging couples in sailing and the development of essential skills. Ron took the lead in curriculum development and program presentation. Chip remained a strong advocate of the program, and over the years it has developed into CCA’s Safety for Cruising Couples. He was also a member of the Northeast Harbor Fleet and the Vicmead Yacht Club.

Nearly all who knew Chip commented on his ever-present harmonica, and the virtuoso he was with the little instrument. The lingering sound of his “Sentimental Journey” riffs, and as the night progressed, his lilting Irish music ad libs made many an overnight anchorage even more memorable. Winning races was important to Chip, but how you recalled the passage held equal sway.

Charles P. Schutt

Ralph Naranjo

Kaighn Smith

1929–2021

Dr. Kaighn Smith, a former CCA commodore and a prominent Philadelphia obstetrician, died peacefully on September 18, 2021, at his home in Northeast Harbor, Maine. He was recently pre-deceased by Ann, his wife of 70 years.

Kaighn chaired the obstetrics and gynecology department at Philadelphia’s Lankenau Hospital. As the director of the residency program for over 20 years, he encouraged the use of the latest technologies and, in an early initiative, he brought a nurse/midwife into his practice. He created a safe and accommodating birth experience for his patients. I can speak from personal experience as he delivered our first child in 1980.

Kaighn grew up sailing out of Pocasset, Massachusetts, on his family’s yawl, Cherry Blossom. He cruised with his family extensively for many years on the Maine coast. His education included Chestnut Hill Academy, St. Paul’s School, and Harvard University. He studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and served as a physician in the Navy after graduation.

Kaighn Smith

He began racing Thistles while stationed in Florida, where the Navy encouraged him to enhance their sailing reputation locally. After winning a major Thistle regatta, the local press described him as “virtually unknown,” which became a humorous anecdote for him spanning his illustrious competitive sailing career.

He owned a series of boats named Gaylark, formed from the first letters of his three children’s names: Gay, Laurie, and Kaighn Jr. He owned a Hinckley Pilot from 1969 to 1974, and then purchased a new Swan 38, which he sailed for nearly 40 years. Elected into the CCA in 1951, he became the commodore in 1994. He participated in many CCA events and cruises from the Bahamas to Nova Scotia, in addition to offshore racing. He earned the respect of CCA members and other competitors for his humble demeanor, sense of humor, and integrity on and off the water. His memberships included the Corinthian Yacht Club of Philadelphia and the Northeast Harbor Fleet on Mount Desert Island.

As commodore, he became the driving force behind changing the culture to admit qualified women as members. Now women are taking an active role in all aspects of the CCA and its mission. Conscious of safety issues offshore, he was instrumental in ushering in CCA Suddenly Alone and Safety at Sea seminars. Keenly aware of the need to recruit younger members into the CCA, he encouraged young Gaylark crew members to gain the necessary experience to become CCA members by allowing them to use his boat for deliveries or cruises.

While commodore, he sailed Gaylark to a first-place finish overall in the 1994 Bermuda Race. He kept his lighthouse trophy prominently displayed in his house as a reminder of this achievement. Kaighn won the Monhegan Island Race (1975), the Annapolis to Newport Race (1985), and the Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race (1993), and many shorter races. His attention to detail, preparation, and focus became key to his success in ocean racing. The crew ate well aboard Gaylark even during the worst Gulf Stream weather. Kaighn successfully completed more than 10 Bermuda Races.

An example of the effort he put into the Gaylark program was his desire to increase the Swan 38’s speed and minimize her tendency to broach. He planted the boat in his front yard one winter, removed the keel, and recast it into a form he designed and built. He applied his surgeon’s skills using a chainsaw to remove the entire skeg and rudder! Then he patched up the hole and attached a more efficiently shaped skeg and rudder. Gaylark’s speed and handling vastly improved. He rounded out the refit with a carbon fiber mast to sail faster and more safely.

Kaighn, unsure of his knees, asked me to skipper Gaylark in the 2000 Bermuda race and be part of the CCA Onion Patch team. His generosity allowed some of us old-time crew to bring our high school and college aged kids aboard for their first offshore race. We won the family participation prize, the Thomas Fleming Day trophy, and the Swan East American Challenge Trophy. Kaighn met us in Bermuda to finish off the Onion Patch series. We exchanged kids in Bermuda and gave the remaining family members their first offshore delivery back to Northeast Harbor. Dr. Smith nurtured a generation of CCA children — Hansels, Smiths, Ills, and Watsons to name a few. He permitted me to return Gaylark from Bermuda on four occasions with family, friends, even his grandchildren.

He loved sailing in Maine waters, where Gaylark remained a summer fixture on her Gilpatrick’s Cove mooring in Northeast Harbor until 2012. Kaighn cruised every summer in Maine, to Roque Island and other iconic anchorages. His influence on all those sailors he inspired and mentored became his lasting legacy. James G. Watson

Gordon L. Thayer

1938–2021

Gordon “Chip” Thayer Jr., 82, a longtime resident of Wilmington, Delaware, crossed the bar on July 6, 2021. Born on October 10, 1938, he was a graduate on Middlebury College and earned a doctorate in organic chemistry from Cornell University. His career as a research manager for the DuPont Company kept him in Wilmington. As sailboat racing grew more important to family life, the Thayers turned to the larger fleets and more competitive sailing on the mid part of the Chesapeake Bay.

Chip, his wife, Joan, and their children cruised and raced a Columbia 30 and a C&C 34, both aptly named Rampage. As their children grew older and the family’s interest in racing sailboats increased, Annapolis became the epicenter of their sailing. Chip was both a skilled competitor on the water and a sailing rules guru ashore. He was chair of the Annapolis Yacht Club’s Race Committee for 20 years, transforming it from a good race committee into the best on the bay. By nature, he embraced technology, so it’s no surprise that he added GPS fixes and strategic use of mark and pin boats to improve racecourse management. And as Gary

Gordon L. Thayer

Jobson once said, “Chip was a really good sailor himself and brought that experience and knowledge to the AYC Race Committee.”

AYC Commodore Jonathan Bartlett, notes that Chip was equally effective on and off the water. He was a mentor to many fledgling race officers, engaged juniors and racecourse veterans alike with racing rules training sessions, and, as Bartlett says, “He just knew how to get the best out of each sailor.” Chip’s contributions to the club, US Sailing, and to all racing sailors up and down the Chesapeake Bay, have not gone unnoticed.

Chip was a member of the Chesapeake Station of CCA for 24 years and is recalled as a friendly sailing ombudsman who was always ready to share his racing rules expertise. But there was also an avid cruising side to his sailing that didn’t involve any mark placement or the starting gun signals.

Chip was a regular crew aboard Newbold Smith’s Reindeer, and Ted Parish recalls one particularly challenging cruise to Hudson Bay. An ailing transmission had given up the ghost while Reindeer powered through an infrequent Labrador calm. Newbold altered course and sailed into a small port where he hoped to resolve a big problem. A couple of the crew decided to head home about the same time Chip and a new gear box arrived via bush plane. As Ted recalls, “It was perfect timing. Bill Starkey and I were left alone to wrestle with the transmission, while Chip and Newbold could fine-tune our passage plans.”

Ted and Bill had just enough breathing room to get the job done. The installation required removal of the shaft and Ted’s plunges into the Labradorcurrent-chilled harbor left a lasting memory. Their engineering efforts went well: youth prevailed, and Chip kept the skipper fully engaged in the nonmechanical aspects of the voyage. This was just one example of how Chip seemed always ready to add what was needed to improve the dynamics on the racecourse or on whatever boat he was aboard.

In later years, Chip enjoyed days spent aboard his Down East Wilbur powerboat, Quickstep. He and his wife, Joan, a very proficient DRO, knew the local waters. And when they were not engaged in race management, they would often follow the fleet as very wellinformed spectators.

His love for the water and the many sailors in the bay area brought him great joy. When not on the water, he enjoyed building model boats and ships. He also enjoyed competing in ice dancing with Joan as a member of the Wilmington Skating Club, including in several Nationals. He earned his gold medal in ice dancing from the United States Figure Skating Association.

He was a wonderful father, loving husband, and friend to many and will be sadly missed. His contributions throughout his life will long be remembered. Sailing was a major part of Chip’s adult life, and he certainly gave back as much as he derived.

Ralph Naranjo

Frank H. Trane

1931–2021

Frank Trane was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1931. He attended Saint Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, and was admitted to Stanford University after his junior year. He attended Stanford School of Engineering and graduated cum laude in 1953, receiving the honorary engineering distinction of Tau Beta Pi. He earned a master’s in business administration from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1955. In 1985 he finally received his high school diploma from Saint Paul’s, ending his dropout status!

Frank was on active duty in the Navy from 1955 through 1958, serving as a submarine repair officer in the Charleston Naval Shipyard. He was responsible for the alteration and repair work on submarines in the shipyard and on subsequent test dives. He earned the permanent rank of full lieutenant and was in the process of attaining the rank of lieutenant commander when he finished his service. Frank was a life member of the Naval Submarine League.

Frank and his sweetheart, Allan Jean Farwell, were married in September 1951 while still at Stanford, and last year celebrated their 69th anniversary. Frank and Allan have three children, nine grandchildren, and 10 greatgrandchildren. Their granddaughter, Amy, was killed in a tragic car accident in 2007.

In 1958, the Tranes moved to La Crosse, and Frank worked as a manufacturing engineer for the Trane Company, which was started by his father and grandfather. He eventually held the position of general superintendent of the La Crosse factories and became the U.S. manager of branch plants. Frank was on the board of directors for 24 years. The Trane Company was sold in 1984 to American Standard.

In 1963, the Tranes moved to Newport Beach, California, where they continued to raise their family. Their children and grandchildren live in the area, and Frank and Allan’s home on Newport Bay has been the frequent family gathering place over the years. Frank had the pleasure of being “Bapa” to the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He kept them all laughing.

Frank H. Trane

Frank loved surfing 80 days a year and kept at it until he was 85. He loved skiing and took the family to Snowmass 45 Februarys in a row. He and Allan played golf and hiked in Palm Desert, where they had a home.

The first boat he and Allan bought together was a Cal 40 named Meleé. Next, they wanted a boat for all three children to enjoy and settled on a 41-foot catamaran with a stateroom in every corner. Once the boat was finished and outfitted at Sail Craft in England, Frank and a British crew sailed her across the Atlantic. Frank and Allan then enjoyed six weeks of cruising the Windward and Leeward Islands. They brought the catamaran home to Newport Beach and enjoyed her for 10 wonderful years.

Their next boat was a 50-foot Hatteras Sportfisher that they named Hallelujah. They enjoyed taking family and friends frequently to Moonstone Cove on Catalina from 1980 to 1985. Frank then bought a 60-foot Ocean Alexander, also named Hallelujah. In 1991 Frank, along with naval architect William Crealock, designed a custom 58-foot pilot house yacht, also named Hallelujah. Family and friends enjoyed three decades aboard her, cruising in Mexico, around the Channel Islands, but mostly at her mooring in Moonstone Cove at Catalina Island. Frank and Allan enjoyed CCA cruises in New Zealand, the Pacific Northwest, and Cabo San Lucas and two ski gams. They also enjoyed cruising in the Aegean Sea, the Ionian Sea, the Adriatic, the Caribbean, and parts of Alaska and Mexico. Frank became a member of the CCA in 1991 and also enjoyed friendships at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, and the Santa Ana Country Club.

Frank will be remembered for his love of God and family, his generosity, his wisdom, his many athletic abilities, his humor, and his limericks. He could fix anything — electrical, mechanical, and plumbing, be it in the house or on the boat, and his happy humming let us know where he was at all times. Frank always said that his true legacy was his beloved wife, Allan, and his family. All 29 members of the four generations of his family live within 10 miles of each other and enjoy spending time together. Their shared Christian faith continues to bond them together. Allan Trane (wife) and Byron, Cindy and Marty Trane (children)

Charles D. Whittier

1934–2021

Charles “Charlie” Whittier died peacefully on June 19, 2021, in Falmouth, Maine, a few weeks short of his 87th birthday. Charlie was born in Portland, and apart from attending college at the University of Rochester and Michigan State University, he spent his entire life in his beloved home state. Charlie lived on or near the water in Ellsworth, Bath, Yarmouth, Falmouth, and Cape Elizabeth, making lifelong friends who shared his love for boats and the coast along the way. As a true Mainer, he could always be seen proudly wearing his Sea Dogs baseball hat, Royal River Boatyard jacket, and L.L. Bean boots.

Charlie’s professional career was spent working at Hannaford Brothers, where he eventually ran their wholesale business. Outside of his family and friends, Charlie most enjoyed messing around in boats and boatyards and good snow days at Sunday River (and the eventful dinners that followed). He was an avid reader of Maine nautical history.

Charlie’s obsession with boating started early. Lobstering voyages off the Cape Elizabeth shoreline in his first runabout as a 12-year-old set the stage for a lifetime on the water. In 1947 he had his first sailing experience aboard a Lightning at Camp Hinds on Panther Pond. His first family boat was Lady Luck. His next boat as an adult was one that he shared with his Dad, the Blood Stone, a 45-foot doubleended pinky schooner that was lost in 1958 during Hurricane Helene. From the Blood Stone, he moved onto the first Sandpiper, which was a Hinckley Sou’wester, and in the late 60s he bought the second Sandpiper, which was a Hinckley Pilot. He sailed this boat every summer throughout the 1970s and 1980s, departing the last week of July from Harraseeket Yacht Club to Mount Desert Island, often with his wife and three sons.

He was a longtime member of Gulf of Maine Ocean Racing Club (now Gulf of Maine Ocean Racing Association) and raced up and down the Maine coast over the years. In Camden Harbor, circa 1973, after the Camden to Castine race, he engaged in some extreme spinnaker flying with his middle son, then 10,

Charles D. Whittier

in the boatswain chair. The flying was aggressive enough to be recounted in Sail Magazine and immediately became part of Whittier family lore.

In 1990 he transitioned to the third Sandpiper, an Alden 44. This boat took him on some terrific journeys: from the Marion to Bermuda race to sailing along the Maine coast into the St. John River in New Brunswick. His signature cruise was an Atlantic crossing between the Portland Yacht Club and Portugal in 1994. Once there, he thought it made sense to stay a while, so he set up shop in Mallorca and enjoyed all things Mediterranean for the next two years.

He became a member of the Cruising Club of America in 1999, and also belonged to Harraseeket, Kollegewidgwok, and Portland Yacht clubs. Charlie was an active supporter of the Maine Historical Society and the Maine Maritime Museum. He served on the board of directors for both organizations, relishing the opportunity to savor, promote, and celebrate Maine’s unique history.

While he loved his time on the water, at the mountain, and in his books, nothing trumped Charlie’s love for family. Particularly in his later years, his seven grandchildren were a tremendous source of pride and joy.

He headed into his last summer as member number 1 at PYC with high hopes of getting on the water. Toward the end of his boating days, he traded in his sails for some horsepower with the Sandowl, a Hinckley Picnic Boat. On August 4, 2021, his family, led by his seven grandchildren, took him on his closing sail aboard the Sandpiper, where his ashes were fittingly spread on Hussey Sound.

Mike Whittier