April in Newport.

- Finally, this winter is over. And the boats are coming. The first one to appear is the three-masted schooner Atlantic. The replica of the majestic William Gardner design with the same name. My friend Doug Peterson, the yacht designer had the rare privilege to reconstruct the drawings from files, a dream come true to be associated with such a project. For historical memory, the original Atlantic won the Kaiser's Cup in 1905 by crossing the ocean for which she was named in twelve days a record held for 75 years.

The second boat to arrive at the Shipyard was the 73' Sparkman & Stephens design Bolero, after a season in Florida. John Nicholas Brown had her built in 1949, the largest ocean racer launched after WW11. He kept her for six years and after a long career, with a recent rebuild, this Classic yacht looks just as good as new. Mr. Brown's mansion is now the location for the New York Yacht Club Newport station since 1988.

- A little side story.

- Probably better described in an article I wrote a few years ago, about a design I wanted to rival with the best looking boats of the Bolero, CCA Classic era. But maybe, I ought to start with the following brief.

- Mr. M. commissioned the design. Preliminary plans were drafted for a carbon-deck construction, with the idea of using modern materials and techniques to build a Classic. So, what happened is that after receiving the results of several bids, the client became uneasy about the money and time involved. The project was halted altogether and the client took refuge in a smaller boat. Here is the published article describing the elegance of boat design of that era.

- Now it is late in May.
- More to come.

Carter Offshore 36' Texas One Ton.

                                           
- Going on with the Memories of an earlier Post.

-In a rare delirious moment, I bid on eBay for this Carter Texas One Ton. It did not happen. in the end, I did not get her.
If the anonymous buyer ever sees this writing, he can get in touch with me anytime.

- Storytelling about this production boat from Carter Offshore. Back in 1973, after winning the One Ton World Championship with the thoroughbred Ydra, we could not prevent to recognize the small yearling Ganbare. The Doug Peterson design coming in second place showed all of us a new direction. A lighter boat by 2500lbs. narrower lines, pintail stern, and superbly sailed; she got the attention. The influence of California started to be felt. For a new response to evolution within the very popular One Ton Class, the next move for Carter offshore was to design a new production boat.
- The Texas One Ton. Plastrend's Andy Greene, later Composite Technologies of Fort Worth was the builder, with molds crafted by Tom Dreyfus out of the new CFlex system by Seeman.
The boat proper was a crossover between Ydra and Ganbare, not as light because of the weight attributed to accommodation but with plenty of sail area to compensate. I recall that about 40 have been built.
- Andy Greene was an early guru about composite technologies. Previously known to build small boats, the fame came with the design of revolutionary race-car chassis for Chapparal Cars. Later he became a division of Turner Communications Corp.
Bill Seeman. Inventor. C flex. Also, if not the first, certainly the most successful in proliferating the Fusion system for the Marine Industry.
- Footnote. I believe Vendredi Treize, the Carter 128' single handed racer, built by Tecimar for Jean-Yves Terlain was one of the first using the method way back in 1971.
-Tom Dreyfus. A legend.

                                                 - Another beautiful rendering by Demi-Coques.

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