Conversations with Classic Boats: Recent Episodes
Tom Darling
Episodes & Galleries RSS Ever wonder what that glamorous, gleaming, mahogany-sided boat James Bond was driving on the Côte d'Azur was?
Most likely, it was a Riva Aquarama—the Italian luxury runabout built in Sarnico, Italy, for the past 62 years. Now owned by the luxury yacht builder Ferretti Group, Riva has been the choice of film stars, race car drivers, and fashion moguls. Riva is the pinnacle of Sixties speedboat style. As one owner said, "The Riva Aquarama is the most stylish boat of all time."
Ciao, Riva!
Forza Riva! Introduced at the 1962 Milan Boat Show, the Aquarama redefined cool.
Riva's being built in the 60's on Lake Iseo
The pinnacle of Sixties speedboat style
Mr. Lamborghini, Italian car entrepreneur takes delivery of his new Riva in 1968
With twin Lamborghini V-12s gulping aria e benzina through a dozen Weber sidedraft carburetors, Ferruccio’s Aquarama must’ve made operatic thunder.
Britt Ekland and Peter Sellers enjoying La Dolce Riva in Monaco, 1966
Anita Ekberg, who chose zebra-pattern upholstery for her Riva, took care of her alabaster skin in the Mediterranean sunshine.
Brigitte Bardot cruising with friends
Boat of the Royal family of Monaco, sports the red & white heraldry of the Principality
Now owned by The Ferretti Group, Riva remains the ultimate in speedboat style. Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff
Episodes & Galleries RSS Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club in Oyster Bay on the North Shore of Long Island was the birthplace of International Rule Six Meter boats. In 2025, the "Santa Claus of 6 Metres," a Swiss-Canadian named Rainer Muller, hopes to bring his Sixes collection to anchor the 2025 World Championship in Long Island Sound. Over 20 Six Metres, dating from 1924 to contemporary, are expected to be on the line.
Overpowered Six Meters dual downwind
Madcap & Saleema, the two veterans steam upwind
Madcap Hugh Jones early 20s design holds off two moderns
Saleema, like older boats, flies in the lighter winds
Wildcat winner of the Pre-Worlds
Tempest sets at the offset
Madcap reaches west
Saleema ready to hoist
Saleema reaches hard with the chute up
Saleema's 1928 design showing her heritage
Action downwind
The two moderns charge up
Tight racing on the run
15 Tons of Six jockeying at the start
...and the veteran Saleema takes it
right to left Tempest(125) Wild Cat(94) Peter Wealicks Blade(111)
Hugh Jones Madcap claws up-wind
Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff
Episodes & Galleries RSS A husband and wife team sail a revived famous 1960s offshore design, the Cal 40, to victory in America's venerable Newport to Bermuda Race. Stan and Sally Honey, along with their friend Olympian Carl Buchan, sailed the boat as it was intended—like a canoe-shaped, 15,000-pound dinghy.
The new Illusion, originally an all-black vessel, showcases her West Coast surfing style prowess in the Atlantic.
An ace navigator and a top sailmaker team up as a couple to win the St. David's Trophy in the 2022 Newport to Bermuda Race.
Stan Honey, navigator to the stars, and Sally Lindsay Honey, an expert in offshore and dinghy sails, take corrected time honors in the "Thrash to the Onion Patch." Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff
Episodes & Galleries RSS Click to visit the Herreshoff Marine Museum’s Website
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!
Click to visit Mystic Seaport Museum’s Website
The powerful image from the "Entwined" exhibit at Mystic Seaport Museum( MSM) - exploring maritime history through the perspective of black and indigenous peoples
"Spineless" show at Mystic, a glass invertebrate model from a collection of Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology and Boston Museum of Science objects
Herreshoff Marine Museum(HMM). Showing models of the original schooner- the yacht and the Cup that took its name
Floor level at HMM, Capt' Nat's classic keelboats; the 1870s multihull ,Amaryllis, first of its kind in America, hangs from the ceiling
Senior Vice President of Curatorial Affairs and Senior Director of Museum Galleries at MSM, Christina Connett Brophy, PhD is a lifelong sailor who loves riding the breeze on both water and land.
A third generation boatbuilder and Curator at the Herreshoff Marine Museum & America’s Cup Hall of Fame in Bristol, Rhode Island, Evelyn Ansel is preserving maritime history and loving her work. Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff
Episodes & Galleries RSS In the late 1920s, competitive college sailing took root in keelboats, setting the stage for iconic events like the McMillan Cup and an array of college offshore regattas nationwide. Sailors from expert to novice revel in the camaraderie and thrill of sailing big boats through these long-standing competitions. In October 2023, the Princeton Offshore Team triumphed in its class amid a weekend of wild weather at the Storm Trysail Club's Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta.
The collegiate crew pushing downwind in their purple chute
The offshore college team has to adjust to unfamiliar and demanding conditions
Princeton's afterguard puts the hammer down in a freshening breeze
The authors legacy, trophies from the Corinthians and college big boat's grandaddy, the McMillan Cup
Safety officer Gary Myer and Magic helmsman Jasper Walkman on a break between race days Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff
Episodes & Galleries RSS 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.
A tough week of sailing in Newport , RI, a hurricane, all taken in stride by Team Softsail, winner of the first Rolex International Womens Keelboat Regatta, aka "The Womens Worlds"
Alison, Sertl, Shore, Pitchie and Lotz, aka Team Softsail
38 years after the first Womens World win,Betsy Alison overcomes all odds to win the gold medal in singlehanded sailing in the August 2023 World Para Athletic games... always a champion August 2023
The first Womens Worlds attracted rare media attention to this groundbreaking regatta. Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff
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.
Episodes & Galleries RSSWe 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.
Sixes in the Solent
The Six Metre bar area. Seawanhaka Corinthian YC. Oyster Bay
French model builders version of Goose
Djinn. Another magical S&S Six of 1938
Saga in the 1930s. off Bermuda
Saga slumbering in Seattle
Bob Bavier sailing his family IOD on Long Island Sound
Bevier with the Stephen's Brothers Rod (left) Olin (right)
Port Madison Yacht Club on Bainbridge Island, Seattle
Goose in the shed being painted
Transom of Goose
Goose up on the lift
Goose and Llanaria nesting on the Hofmann yard. Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff
Episodes & Galleries RSS Welcome to the first edition of the Sailors Log.
We debut our Classic Conversations, The Sailors Log, talking to match racer, rules guru and overall great sailing guy Dave Perry.
Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff
Episodes & Galleries RSSFrom England to Canada to America, Uffa Fox and Bruce Kirby are the 20th century pioneers of the planing dinghy. This episode features an exclusive interview with Nathaniel Philbrick, an American author and historian, winner of the National Book Award, and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
For more information about Philbrick, visit his website here: https://www.nathanielphilbrick.com/
A model of a 1950s Thistle, #1079, Nautigal, the Darling boat
The Flying Fox, Uffa Fpx. godfather of the modern high performance
The lines of Avenger, Uffa Fox's breakthrough design
The Uffa Fox International 14- the breakthrough to the planing dinghy
Ottawa River, International 14, wild and windy
Launching Torch, the Orange Mark I that started it all
Torch, KC 205, classic
Bruce Kirby goes racing in Torch, his breakthrough Kirby 1
The lines of the Kirby Mark IV International 14
The Gold Standard of the International 14. Kirby IV
The RC Laser ready to frostbite
Its a beautiful day sailing RCs at 10 degrees F
Hundreds of thousands of Lasers, thousands of RC Lasers like these, raced year round by Bruce Kirby fans Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff
Episodes & Galleries RSSOur featured long distance solo sailor - Clay Burkhalter, tells the tale of his 2007 Transat Race in Acadia, his J Boats designed 21 foot offshore boat.
Clay Burkhalter of Stonington, CT, sails a JBoat Transat design for the France to Brazil MiniTransat
Deck of Acadia, CT built Mini-Transat race boat. 21 feet of racing machine
Clay and Uncle Rod Johnstone-designer- testing Acadia in Southeast CT
Acadia waiting on the hard before the start in France Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff
The 50th running of Nantucket's Opera House Cup attracts the elite classic boats to race and be seen at the Classic Yacht Exhibition
Jesse Terry prepares his Alden classic, Abigail for the Thrash to the Onion Patch, the 2022 Newport to Bermuda Race, the iconic American offshore contest.
Mystic Seaport Museum presents "Story Boats: The Tales They Tell", a fascinating collection of historic watercraft and the tales that go with them. From May 28 to August 14, the show presents eighteen boats & the intimate stories and adventures of the people behind them.
Carleton Mitchell, blue water racer, writer, photographer, loved to portray the native designs of the Americas. One of his favorites, the sailing log canoe, is iconic to his home waters of the Chesapeake.
A wild concoction of wood and canvas, the log canoe has skimmed across the Bay for almost 150 years.
We visit three radiosailing racing venues to answer the question:" Who frostbites model yachts in NJ?
Larchmont Winter Sailing has brought out the best in frostbiting for generations. This episode features two exclusive interviews from Crissie Klingler and Butch Ulmer who talk about their history frostbiting in Larchmont
Winter sailing pioneer and author of Race Your Boat Right, Arthur Knapp, led the way for modern frostbiting at Larchmont YC. A new kind of racing-cold!
Barnegat Bay and the sailing haven of Mantoloking are our sites for exploring the home-grown Bay classes, Sneakboxes and Duckboats, timeless designs from the 19th century brought forward to the modern running of the Duckboat World Championships
This episode, we go down south to the Jersey Shore, where watermen have plied Barnegat Bay since the European-invasion of the 16th Century. These episodes show a all star cast of the boats that Tom fell in love with: The EBoat or EScow, A Cat, Sneakbox and the Duckboat.
A 1914 design, the Hickman Sea Sled, re-emerges in 1957 via the hand of C Raymond Hunt, as America's iconic runabout. It is the Boston Whaler, 13 footer.
HHH. Herreshoff, Hickman, Hunt. 100 years of the American personal powerboat: the launch, the American runabout, the American speedboat
We help a good friend in his quest for the perfect wooden International One Design (IOD)
In 1977, two brothers channeled Nat Herreshoff and started a boating phenomenon that produced a string of iconic modern keelboats. Bob and Rod Johnstone tell the creation story of JBoats.
In 1977, two brothers channeled Nat Herreshoff and started a boating phenomenon that produced a string of iconic modern keelboats. Bob and Rod Johnstone tell the creation story of JBoats.
The International Six Metre reaches its design peak with S & S designs like Fun, Goose, Djinn and Llanoria as fear of European conflict postpones international competition until 1947's Seawanhaka Cup
In the Golden Age of the Sixes, designers, builders, owners, and skippers strive for the winning package as Seawanhaka becomes the epicenter of international Sixes competition
The Second International Rule and the British American Cup ignites international competition between designers and sailors alike in the Six Metre. Class. Designers like Olin J Stephens arrive on the scene.
The International Six Meter, with its rich history of match and team racing, traces its roots back to America's oldest yacht club, founded 1871, Seawanhaka Corinthian in Oyster Bay, New York
The story of Finisterre, the famous three-time winner of the Bermuda Race under legendary yachtsman Carleton Mitchell, pioneer of cruising the West Indies and her twin design, Fidelio, built two years later, a gem of a classic design, winner from Block Island to Maine
We go throughout New England in search of the perfect little boat. Featuring a talk with the people behind the most famous dinghy brand of all time, Dyer Boats.
Model boats have captivated serious sailors for centuries.
From the 1920s to today, model yachting in vintage wooden craft has become the fast growing field of radiosailing with high tech, carbon fiber sparred performance miniature yachts. We capture the latest multi-colored DF-95 model yacht in the inaugural Nantucket Regatta
The personal boat of Captain Nat Herreshoff has taken on many identities over more than 100 years. That includes being the design of choice for the largest classic wooden keelboat fleet in America
Dolphin, the winningest boat in American history, has a history of colorful owners since its 1914 birth . Her skippers tell the tale of this Newport 29 and its siblings alive today