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May 4, 2017  |  By Dorade Team

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week Features Dorade

Press release from the event organizers: 

The world’s most successful yacht to compete at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2017

The world’s most successful ocean racing yacht over the past nine decades; the famous 16-metre long American yawl, Dorade, is to compete at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2017.

No yacht in the long history of the sport has won more of the world’s major races, nor covered more offshore racing miles, than Dorade. She has collected first place trophies for the Fastnet Race out of England, the Bermuda race, the Transpacific Race between Los Angeles and Hawaii plus many more.

All success, spanning more than eight decades, has come in the northern hemisphere, so Dorade’s owners, Matt Brooks and Pam Rorke Levy, have now decided it is time to give their yacht the chance to be a winner in southern hemisphere events.

Dorade was designed in 1929 by 21-year-old Olin Stephens and built at a cost of $28,000 under the supervision of his younger brother, Rod, at Minneford Yacht Yard in New York. When she emerged from the shed for her launching in 1930 observers were shocked by what they saw. The hull shape had her looking more like a day-sailing 6-metre class yacht rather than an ocean racer: she was certainly a far cry from the traditional American schooners of the day.

The design featured a deep keel with external ballast, a remarkably narrow beam of 3.1 metres, and a generous sail plan spread across a yawl rig. The method of construction was also different: the hull frames were steam-bent rather than sawn. Rod Stephens also received additional acclaim at the time when he unveiled the unique on-deck ventilators on the yacht. This concept, still used today, became known as a Dorade Box. It permits the passage of air into and out of a cabin while keeping rain, spray and sea water out.

Just months after being launched, Dorade was acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic following wins in the TranAtlantic and Fastnet races. This remarkable achievement resulted in the Stephens brothers and the Dorade crew being treated like heroes when they returned to New York. They were even given a ticker-tape parade along Broadway.

From that moment, yacht design across the world was transformed; Olin Stephens had taken naval architecture from being an art to a science while Rod had shown new ways to build a light and strong hull. The Stephens brothers were soon recognised as two of ocean racing’s most gifted innovators; praise that led to them playing significant roles in the development of America’s Cup yachts as well as ocean racers over ensuing decades.

Dorade was fully restored at an Italian yacht yard 20 years ago and has been maintained in superb condition since. After contesting this year’s Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, which is scheduled for August 19 to 26, the yacht will head south to Sydney and be prepared for this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Race.

The entry list for Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2017 continues to grow at a record rate. The 100th entry should be lodged within a week.

German luxury carmaker, Audi, is returning for the 12th year as principal sponsor, demonstrating the brand’s continued commitment to high quality, competitive offshore racing and a benchmark onshore social calendar that is as inclusive as it is exclusive.

For more information on the event, visit www.audihamiltonislandraceweek.com.au

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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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doradesailing1929

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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
...

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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doradesailing1929

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Mar 12

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Owner Matt Brooks and bowman Steve Foraste kick ba 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

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
...

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