“We all have a deep affection for Dorade, and great respect for Olin and Rod Stephens. We want to do the boat and her makers proud by sailing her well, and hopefully matching her performance when she was a brand new boat, back in 1931. But we also recognize that she’s an 85-year-old lady and an irreplaceable part of yachting history, so it’s essential to deliver her safe and sound to Cowes; that will be our biggest challenge: pushing Dorade right to her limits, and not one bit further, day after day.” – Matt Brooks
RETURN TO BLUE WATER CAMPAIGN:
The Transatlantic Race is the third in a series of four major ocean races in the “Return to Blue Water Campaign.” Conceived shortly after Matt Brooks and his wife Pam Rorke Levy bought Dorade in 2010, the campaign was initially called “Matt’s Crazy Idea,” but soon after the completion of a year-long refit Dorade began winning races, both offshore and in coastal regattas in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean and on the West Coast, proving that she could once again be competitive. The team silenced the campaign’s critics once and for all in 2013, when Dorade was the overall winner (on corrected time) in the 2013 Transpacific Yacht Race, 77 years after its first victory with the race. That was followed by an IRC class win in the 2014 Newport Bermuda Race. The campaign wraps up this August with the Rolex Fastnet Race, which Dorade won overall in 1931 and 1933.
DORADE BACKGROUND:
Dorade was designed in 1929 by Olin Stephens and built under his brother Rod’s supervision the following year in City Island, New York. Dorade’s 1931 Transatlantic victory helped the brothers launch their careers and established them as two of the sport’s most gifted innovators. Dorade went on to win many of the world’s most demanding ocean races, including the Fastnet and the Transpacific Yacht Race, and Olin Stephens became one of the most successful yacht designers of the 20th century, responsible for six America’s Cup wins. Brooks and Levy purchased Dorade five years ago; since then the boat has been restored to its original racing form, with the addition of modern safety and navigational equipment. The current campaign has adopted the rigor and discipline of a modern race program, continuously searching for ways to improve performance under all conditions, and relying on the combined strengths of a skilled and passionate team. For Dorade’s full history visit http://Dorade.org/history/