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November 12, 2021  |  By Dorade Team

Highs and Lows of Classic Summer Sailing

The S&S-designed Dorade matched tacks with the Herreshoff-designed New York 40, Marilee (right) all summer, including at the Tiedemann Regatta on Narragansett Bay (above). Paul Todd/OutsideImages.com photo

Dorade sailed a full schedule of regattas in the second half of the 2021 season in Southern New England. There were victories to celebrate, a race or two the crew would like to forget, and in the midst of it all, a cancellation and hasty retreat to Newport when Hurricane Irma threatened Nantucket Race Week and the Opera House Cup. 

For Matt and Pam, however, the results weren’t important. “This year was not about winning or losing races,” Matt says. “Just being together again to sail Dorade after the Covid shutdown was fully rewarding, all by itself.”

Dorade 2021 Marblehead by Bruce Durkee
Trimmed for upwind work, Dorade sails off Marblehead in the Corinthian Classic Regatta. Bruce Durkee photo

In early August at the Corinthian Classic Regatta in Marblehead, Mass., which was sailed as pursuit-style racing on consecutive days, Dorade finished 1-2 in the Vintage Division to nip Trevor Fetter’s S&S yawl Black Watch. “We had idyllic conditions for Dorade,” says sailing master Kevin Miller, “a light seabreeze of 4 to 10 knots, building late in the day.”

Dorade and her crew arrived on Nantucket during the following week just in time for all sailing to be cancelled due to the projected track of Hurricane Irma. The crew sailed her straight to Narragansett Bay for a timely haul-out in Portsmouth at LMI before the storm shifted west and came through Rhode Island on Sunday that weekend; happily, it did so with less wind than advertised. 

Sailing in light airs, left to right, Matt, John Hayes, Pam, and Kevin Miller. Bruce Durkee photo

Before the next regatta, the Herreshoff Classic Yacht Rendezvous, the crew took the opportunity to touch up Dorade’s bottom and then headed for the Friday start of the Newport to Bristol delivery race, which was abandoned due to no wind. The main event, a two-race affair in Bristol on Saturday, brought stronger 12- to 16-knot winds, and Dorade finished fourth behind the Herreshoff 40 Marilee, the 12-Meter Onawa, and the 53-foot Herreshoff Neith. On the return race to Newport the following day, the team turned the tables and dusted the competition in very light conditions. 

Matt received a congratulatory note afterwards from Ken Colburn, owner of Marilee: “Congratulations on a well-sailed race on Sunday in very challenging conditions. We had to get out the binoculars to see you after the halfway mark! You sailed fast, consistently and seemed to have a remarkable knack for finding the wind (and making it count). Well done.”

Ken concluded: “We have enjoyed racing with Dorade throughout the season and respect your team as the boat to beat!”

Sailing in the New York YC’s Queens Cup off Newport, R.I., with mini-mizzen used for racing under ORC ratings. Onne van der Wal photo

The season finale at the Newport Classic Yacht Regatta was a bit of a letdown for the Dorade crew because both days featured a northerly wind and a sea breeze, fighting for control. On the first day, the race started in a dying northerly and the boats that started later came roaring up on the new southerly, relegating Dorade to a 10th place in the Vintage class. On the second day, neither breeze ever gained control, and while Dorade finished much better, her combined result was far below her usual standard.

But that’s sailboat racing, and if we knew the results in advance, we wouldn’t have many boats on the racecourse. It was good to see racing among vintage boats make a strong recovery at several regattas in 2021. Team Dorade will be ready for 2022!

Chasing a light shoreline breeze at the Corinthian Classic. Bruce Durkee photo
Black Watch Corinthian Classic Regatta Herreshoff Classic Yacht Regatta Marilee Nantucket Race Week New York Yacht Club Newport Classic Yacht Regatta Opera House Cup Queens Cup Team Dorade
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Mar 26

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“I was lucky: I had a goal. As far back as I can “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

“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
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doradesailing1929

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Mar 22

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Racing in rough water at Antigua in 2012. [📸: Racing in rough water at Antigua in 2012.

[📸: Tim Wright]

#doradeyacht #classicyacht #caribbeansailing #antigua @sparkman_and_stephens

Racing in rough water at Antigua in 2012.

[📸: Tim Wright]

#doradeyacht #classicyacht #caribbeansailing #antigua @sparkman_and_stephens
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Mar 19

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Team Dorade celebrates winning 1st overall in the 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

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
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doradesailing1929

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Mar 15

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Lucie, a 1931 Six-Metre built for Briggs Cunningha 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

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
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