Yachting
Book Excerpt
by Olivier Le Carrer
T
his rather classy town on
th t anti oa t in th ma
state of Rhode Island is to the
United States what Cowes is
to Britain. It is, of course,
more spectacular and more
demonstrative, because we are here
in the land of excess. There is no royal
family on Narragansett Bay – where
m ri a
ra
r r n nti
the fateful year of 1983 which saw
th ir t m ri an
at in th
race’s history – but
some regulars in
this place are more
powerful than
royals...
It was in Newport
that John Fitzgerald
Kennedy and
Jacqueline Bouvier
were married in
September 1953. The
Kennedy compound at
Hyannis Port is just
a few hours away by
boat, in the direction
o a
o
r at
amateur sailor, JFK did
not miss a single
m ri a
r atta
Just as the British
ari to ra y nan i r
and politicians made
the Solent their holiday
tination m ri an
men of power took their
breaks in Newport from
the 19th century on.
ith o
th
proximity to the centres
of power played a
determining role as did
the development of the
railways. From 1833 it
was possible to reach
Newport by train from New York.
The new arrivals added a certain
ostentation to the typical New
England charm of Newport with
incredibly luxurious buildings copied
from other continents. Perfect
examples of this include Marble
House, the residence of the
Vanderbilt family, which was inspired
by the Petit Trianon at Versailles,
and The Breakers, a
70-room mansion in Italianate style,
commissioned by another Vanderbilt.
Needless to say, all these properties
were surrounded by lavish grounds
and faced the ocean.
Newport naturally has its own club,
t th to n in
n in t rm o
yachting is closely linked with the
history of the New York Yacht Club.
When John
Cox Stevens founded the New York
club in July 1844, together with
eight friends on board his schooner
im ra
th r t
i ion h too
was to organise an annual cruise to
ort Th r t m ri a
races – hosted by Stevens and the
New York Yacht Club after the victory
of the eponymous schooner
– logically took place in
New York waters, but the
transfer of the race to
Newport in 1930 gave the
nautical development of
the town a big boost.
So much so that the
prestigious race was at
one point inseparable
from its port in the eyes
of sailors around the
world. Who cared if
Newport was not
the most appropriate
stretch of water for
beautiful regattas
with its fog and
unstable winds...
In the 1960s there
was an additional f
illip to the myth of
Newport. By choosing
the port for the
arri a o th r t
single-handed Transat
race, Plymouth’s Royal
Western Yacht Club
made it the only
place in the world
where the opulence
of large-budget
regattas meets
happily with the
more informal
world of high sea
adventurers.
185