A friend sent us a short article that appeared recently in the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club newsletter about the very first frostbite regatta, and it revealed that Dorade’s original tender once moonlighted successfully as a racing yacht herself!
Seawanhaka member Bob MacKay tells the story:
The first frostbite regatta was held on Manhasset Bay on a frigid January day in 1932. The New York Times reported that three races had taken place, “one in dripping cold, the second in a hail spatter and the third in an unmistakable snow storm, with flakes the size of a quarter.” Two from Seawanhaka, W. Porter Buck and Robert L. Garland, won the first race in the dinghy from Dorade, the S&S yawl that had just won the 1931 Transatlantic Race.
Both men were associated with S&S during their careers. Porter was part of “Baruna’s” crew when it won the 1939 Bermuda Race and was later Commodore of Seawanhaka (1958-1960). Bob Garland’s name hardly appears in our histories but he was very involved at Seawanhaka and hard to beat in the Seawanhaka 21 and Shields Class. He had joined S&S in 1930 and was President of the firm when he retired sixty four years later in 1994!