thin

In a two-part magazine feature story, Morton Hunt tells the remarkable story of Olin and Rod Stephens rise to success, a story starring our favorite 52′ yawl

DORADE: S&S Design No. 7, 1929 – Minneford Yacht Yard, City Island, N.Y.


MISSION: Dorade was born to race in the open ocean. The goal for our current restoration and future sailing is to prepare Dorade to once again perform as a highly competitive ocean racer. To this end, I think it is essential that we work and consult with S&S, while continuing to rely on the advice, input and involvement of the current Dorade Team. By fostering active collaboration between Dorade’s original designer’s and her current keepers we will ensure that her history is honored and her lineage protected. We all acknowledge that Dorade is a very special craft, and all of us are committed to her preservation. 

GALLERY


“The scenario must be as old as sport. Competition builds along certain lines which suit the participants and thus a norm is established. From year to year marginal advances are the rule. Then along comes someone, something of an outsider and more single-minded in his efforts to win, who seizes an opportunity that is obvious to him though unrecognized by the routine participants. The new player exploits a new way that offers a winning margin. I have wondered whether this is good for the sport, yet I recognize it as part of the game. It keeps competitors on their toes. In 1929 I sensed the opening.”

-Olin Stephens

RECENT CAMPAIGNS


“I was lucky: I had a goal. As far back as I can remember I wanted to design fast boats,” writes Olin Stephens in the opening words of his autobiography, All This and Sailing Too, which we heartily recommend. Today you can read another take on Olin and his brother Rod in our latest blog post, at the link in our bio—a look back at the two-part feature story on the Stephen Brothers written by Morton M. Hunt for The New Yorker's September 1957 issue. In this excerpt, we pick up the story with the publication of Olin’s first design in Yachting magazine and the beginning of the partnership that became the pre-eminent yacht design firm of the mid-20th century, Sparkman & Stephens. A yacht named Dorade was soon to follow…

[📸: Unknown]

#doradeyacht #classicyacht #olinstephens @sparkman_and_stephens
...

Racing in rough water at Antigua in 2012.

[📸: Tim Wright]

#doradeyacht #classicyacht #caribbeansailing #antigua @sparkman_and_stephens
...

Team Dorade celebrates winning 1st overall in the 2013 Transpac at the trophy ceremony. A stunning achievement as part of her "Return to Blue Water Campaign," the crew took to the podium 77 years after Dorade won the race for the first time.

[📸: @sharon_green_ultimatesailing ]

#doradeyacht #classicyacht #transpacificrace #transpac @sparkman_and_stephens @transpacrace
...

Lucie, a 1931 Six-Metre built for Briggs Cunningham by the Nevins Yard on City Island, was the first of Matt and Pam's fleet of classic yachts. Designed by Clinton Crane, here is Lucie sailing upwind to 2nd place at the Newport Classic Yacht Regatta in 2016.

[📸: @silkenphoto ]

#doradeyacht #classicyacht #lucie #sixmetre #ncyr #clintoncrane #classicyachtregatta #IYRS @classicyachtoa
...

Owner Matt Brooks and bowman Steve Foraste kick back as the wind eases off in the otherwise windy 2012 Newport Bermuda Race. In retrospect, Dorade's sixth in Class that year (St. David's Lighthouse Division) was a warmup for the 2014 race in which she finished second. The race was part of the “Return to Blue Water” campaign, Matt and Pam's effort to repeat all of the major ocean races Dorade had won in the 1930s, including the Transatlantic, Newport Bermuda, Fastnet and TransPacific ocean races.

[📸: @johnstrong107 ]

#doradeyacht #classicyacht #newportbermudarace #yachtrace #bermuda #royalbermudayachtclub #newportri @sparkman_and_stephens @bermudarace
...

Silhouettes against the jib at the 2016 Marblehead Corinthian Classic Yacht Regatta. Dorade took second place in the Classic Wood Division.

[📸: @silkenphoto ]

#doradeyacht #classicyacht #classicyachtregatta #marbleheadcorinthianclassicyachtrace #marblehead @sparkman_and_stephens @classicyachtoa
...