Our recent mention of a Beetle Cat once owned by the Kennedy family (Jackie bought it for John and Caroline to sail in Europe when she was married to Aristotle Onassis) elicited a reminder from a reader that James W. Graham recently released a book about the role sailing played in the lives of Jack, Bobbie and Ted.
It's called Victura - the Kennedys, a Sailboat and the Sea, and is well worth checking out. Victura was a 25-ft Wianno Senior gaff sloop that Jack sailed often while growing up on Nantucket Sound in the '30s, and he returned to sail her many times, even as president. One of our favorite passages describes a windy race between Jack and his older brother Joe. Joe got a good start and led the pack to the first mark. On Victura, Jack and his crew had to replace a broken tiller just before the start, and by the time they fixed the problem, they were dead last. But by the final leg, they had worked their way up to second, hard on Joe's heels. Then a big gust rolled through, laid the frontrunners flat, and when the boats popped back upright, Jack looked up to see his gaff had snapped in half. Most sailors might have seen it as misfortune and retired. Jack saw it as an "instant reef" and pressed on, passing his brother's overcanvassed boat at the finish by half a boatlength.
That and other sailing adventures convinced the author - and the Kennedy family - that, were it not for sailing and the knowledge it imparted, JFK would probably never have survived the sinking of PT-109 and gone on to become the 35th President.
What's your unique, regional class of sailboats?
The story of the Wianno Seniors on Nantucket Sound reminds us of all the beloved, regional classes that exist around the world. In Maine there's the Friendship Sloop, the Christmas Cove 21 and the N10 or Turnabout. The midwest is famous for scows - A scows, E scows, C scows (and iceboats!), in San Francisco there's the Bear, Bird and Pelican. In Europe there's the Dragon and in Australia the Australian 18. There's hundreds (thousands?) of unique sailboats created for their own regional waters. If you want to share the story of your prized, unique, regional design make sure you sign up for Summer Sailstice and take some pictures of what your class is doing on the weekend of June 20th. We want to make sure every class is represented as part of the global celebration of sailing.
More on Wianno Seniors with this book review from Windcheck Magazine.
Find a copy of 'Victura, The Kennedys, A Sailboat and The Sea' here.
