Conversations with Classic Boats Tom Darling

Christina Brophy, Senior VP of Mystic Seaport Museum and Evelyn Ansel, Curator of the Herreshoff Marine Museum, and herself a Mystic native, join in a gam to explore how a marine museum curator comes to be. The two outline an exciting 2024 exhibition season. Go visit MSM and HMM this summer- and mention Conversations with Classic Boats!

In the late 1920s, competitive college sailing originated in keelboats. Through long-running events like the McMillan Cup and a range of college offshore regattas across the country, college sailors, from expert to novice, are enjoying the camaraderie and fun of sailing big boats. October 2023 saw the Princeton Offshore Team win its class during a weekend of wild weather at the Storm Trysail Club's Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta.

A five women team makes women’s sailing history. In September 1985, mastering an international fleet and Hurricane Gloria to take the inaugural Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Regatta and pointing to the inclusion of Women’s Sailing in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Bob Johnstone, Co-founder with his brother Rod of JBoats, founder of MJM Yachts at the age of 68. He holds a profound appreciation for boats, ranging from the 3-foot DF-95 to the 50-plus J Boat designs developed over the past 46 years. Now, as an author of Marketing Maverick, he continues to make waves in the industry.

We go cross-country in search of the iconic Six Metres of the 1930s. We find the crème de la crème, Goose and Llanoria, in the boatyard of this design's dedicated collector, Peter Hofmann, at Port Madison Yacht Club on Bainbridge Island, across the sound from Seattle. Photos from Peter Taylor tell the story of these beautiful keelboats.

We debut our Classic Conversations , The Sailors Log, talking to match racer, rules guru and overall great sailing guy Dave. Perry