A July weekend celebration of Ted Hood's boats

By Bruce Burdett
Posted 6/24/17

Ted Hood had a hand in the creation of countless boats — sail and power — and the Herreshoff Marine Museum invites owners of Hood-designed boats to a three-day rendezvous at the museum in …

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A July weekend celebration of Ted Hood's boats

Posted

Ted Hood had a hand in the creation of countless boats — sail and power — and the Herreshoff Marine Museum invites owners of Hood-designed boats to a three-day rendezvous at the museum in Bristol.

The first in the museum’s Designer Series, a new type of boating rendezvous meant to celebrate the sport’s iconic designers, will launch with a celebration of Ted Hood, former Portsmouth resident and founder of Portsmouth’s Little Harbor marina, Hood Sails and other ventures.

The museum hopes to attract a fleet of his designs for a July 21-21 weekend of water and land-based events.

The list of those eligible is long. In addition to America’s Cup and custom ocean-going yachts, he designed boats for companies including Little Harbor, Bristol, Hood, Hinckley, Tartan, Black Watch and more.

“The Designer Series puts a new twist on (the rendezvous) formula by creating an event that is inclusive to all including owners of Ted Hood designs and their crews; marine industry members whose careers touched Hood’s successful business ventures; and members of the public who enjoy summer socializing around beautiful yachts.”

"Everyone who shares in the love of yachting should be at the inaugural Designer Series,” said Andy Tyska, president of Bristol Marine and the creator of the series’ concept. Tyska got his start in the marine industry by working at Hood’s company after getting his degree in naval architecture.

The weekend begins with an open-boat party on the docks on Friday evening. Saturday’s events include a race around Prudence Island for sailboats and a Log Race for powerboats, followed by an evening clam bake featuring the local band Sugarbabies. Sunday will feature a boat parade along the harborfront. Attendees who are not bringing their own boat have the option of booking a crew spot on the Hood-designed 12-meter Nefertiti and attending all social events.

Hood was a sailmaker, rigger, yacht designer, and yachtsman who skippered the 12-meter Courageous to a win in the 1974 America’s Cup. A Massachusetts native, he founded Hood Sailmakers in Marblehead; in the mid-1980s he moved his business to Rhode Island and transformed a stretch of Portsmouth coastline once occupied by the Navy into one of the largest yacht service, design and building operations on the East Coast.

Hood changed the sailmaking business when he created a process for making his own Dacron cloth, and his sails were used by every America’s Cup winner from 1958 to 1977. When he passed away in 2013, he left behind a fleet of some 1,500 boats built from his designs including America’s Cup 12-meters, to the 60-foot American Promise in which Dodge Morgan set an around-the-world solo record. His family said he was marking design drawings up until his final days.

A diverse fleet of Hood designs is expected including the 12-meter Nefertiti, Hood’s first America’s Cup design, and the original Robin, the first of Hood’s personal string of winning sailboats beginning in the late 1950s.

Owners may contact Event Coordinator Carol Beecher (saltwatereventsri@gmail.com / 360-927-8555) to make arrangements. 

For more information, visit designerseries.org or call 401-253-2200.

2024 by East Bay Media Group

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.