Word: vanderbilt
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Victim of this innocent crotchet last week was Mrs. Harold Stirling Vanderbilt. it was caused by her eagerness to perform creditably at the launching of her husband's newest yacht. Last week, in the salty little city of Bath, Me., the moment lor which Mrs. Vanderbilt had been nerving herself finally arrived. Taking a firm grip on a ribboned bottle of champagne, she swung it briskly against the bow of what, in the Bath Iron Works, had theretofore been merely Hull No. 272. Cried she with faultless diction: "I christen thee Ranger." The hull slipped smoothly down its chute...
Three days later, Ranger started for Newport, towed by the Vanderbilt yacht Vara. Off Seguin Island, a heavy sea was running. The roll caused a turnbuckle to break on an upper shroud. This tiny mishap put additional strain on the other stays, which snapped one by one all through the night. Soon after dawn, off Gloucester, the towering mast finally crashed over the side, carrying all the rigging with it. Said Harold ("Mike") Vanderbilt: "Bad luck!" At Bristol, R. I., workmen prepared to fit Ranger with the mast that used to belong to the old Vanderbilt yacht Rainbow...
...curing of Mrs. Vanderbilt's crotchet and its consequences were easily last week's biggest sport news. One of the top sport events of 1937 will be the yacht races for the America's Cup, off Newport, starting July 31. For the past nine months, the America's Cup races have been a matter of formal correspondence, long-winded argument about rules, scale-drawings and fabulously costly boatbuilding. For the next three months all this will be replaced by sailing...
...exhibition flights over Long Island in one of his own planes in 1911, Skipper Sopwith applied his technique as an aeronaut to sailing when yachts became his hobby in 1928. Having taught himself to navigate, he equipped Endeavour I with every conceivable mechanical gadget except an altimeter. Like Mrs. Vanderbilt, Mrs. Sopwith shares her husband's hobby. In addition to christening his boats, she also sails them. In 1934 she acted as timekeeper, often took the helm of Endeavour before and after races. Endeavour I proved herself much faster than Rainbow by winning the first two races...
Like Rainbow, which Skipper Vanderbilt sold last winter, Endeavour I has changed hands since 1934. Her new owner. H. A. Andreae, loaned her to her old owner for this year's trial series with the understanding that if she proves faster than Endeavour II, Skipper Sopwith can buy her back. Endeavour II, blue like her predecessor, is 87 ft., 164 tons-4 ft. longer on the water line and 20 tons heavier than Endeavour I. Last summer she won nine races out of 18 starts, lost her mast twice, proved better in calm than stormy weather...