My Passion for the America's Cup

On my first trip to Newport, Rhode Island, it was nearly winter’s end and with spring’s early airs not quite in reach, I remember crossing over to the island on an eerily dark evening. The wind that night provided a mournfully howling, as it ripped through the metallic tapestry of the bridge, like the climatic roar of a majestic symphonic crescendo.
With the restless churning waters of the Atlantic Ocean below and as the lights illuminated the darkness of the night from above, you could almost imagine the specter of ghostly yachts of the past and present, sailing across those wisps of wind, while cutting through the waves, towards some mythical adventure at sea.
On that particular evening, while feasting on the chateaubriand at Christie’s Harbor Restaurant, I was struck by all the pictures on the wall about the America’s Cup races that had taken place in years past on Rhode Island Sound. Images of Sir Thomas Lipton, “The Wizard of Bristol”, Nathanial Herreschoff; the lordly Vanderbilts and Sopwiths on their mighty J-Class boats, Ranger and Endeavor; graced the mahogany paneled walls as a testament of their magnificence.
Amongst the assembled patrons that night, there was an air of excitement and anticipation of the races scheduled to be sailed, and even though it would be months before the racing commenced, the seeds were being sown for a passion of this sport, that has held sway over me henceforth.
That night we stayed and played out at the Inn on Castle Hill, and as the spring slowly gave way to summer, it played host to the many who would come out to watch those magnificent 12-Meter yachts sail by, while listening to the jazz bands, sipping cocktails and picnicking on the finely manicured lawns which rolled down to Narragansett Bay.
Castle Hill became our front row seats on many an America’s Cup afternoon. Between hanging out at the Candy Store or at Christies, for me, on that summer and beyond, the yearning turned to learning as I crisscrossed between Newport and San Francisco catching that action over the next several years at every opportunity.
Lay days were spent on the beach at Narragansett or over at Goosewing under the ‘Cape, catching the surf as it rolled through those turquoise waters past the beach blonde….…. sands, on its way inwards towards the “Providence Plantations” that encompassed the inland marshes.
Those were great years to be in Newport, filled with passion and drama.And even with their own ongoing “trial of the century”, starring Claus and Sunny von Bulow, great jazz shows, the wild and wooly Australians, plus charismatic skipper Ted Turner in town, though primarily concentrating on launching CNN, rather than his bombastic follies aboard Courageous
It is in that spirit that this work was created and much that was represented in Newport and later out in San Francisco becomes the tapestry of the heritage of the America’s Cup that has been interwoven into the fabric of my life.