Robert F. Kennedy steers Victura with plenty of
helpers. No youngster was turned away, no matter the
boat's crew capacity. AP Photo/Bob Schutz, July 30,
1961.
the ones most influenced by and enamored with sailing
still doing the same eighty years after they first went for a
were Jack; his older brother, Joe; and their younger
sail on Victura.
siblings, Ted, Eunice, and Robert. When they were
young, sailing was a topic of ongoing earnest
When Robert’s young wife, Ethel, joined the family, she
discussion, s ometimes led by their father.
perfectly blended in, not least because she brought her
own love of sailing. Jacque- line, enamored less with the
They would constantly ask one another, What made us
races and more with sailing’s beauty, wrote poetry about
lose a race? What gear needed replacing? At what
and drew pictures of sailboats years before she met Jack.
cost? What sailing instructors should we hire? What
Whatever the lofty position a Kennedy held, helicopters,
kind of sails? How do we launch the spinnaker faster?
airplanes, and motorcades all eventually pointed back to
Who can we get to crew? How fast the wind and how
Hyannis Port in time for sailing races.
high the waves?
Once together at sea the Kennedys riveted their attention
As they grew older and moved into independent lives,
on the race or, if just cruising, spent hours in conversation
they always came back to sailing, coordinating return
while watching sunsets; worrying over storm clouds; taking
trips to their seaside Cape Cod home, sometimes
drenching waves over the gunwale; shivering, almost
arranging their lives around regattas, making time for a
hypothermic; holding soggy sandwiches pulled from the
sail every day. Their children and grandchildren were
cooler.
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MARCH 2014 •LUXE BEAT MAGAZINE