SIGHTINGS ragtime — looking back to the future One of sailing's most iconic yachts, Ragtime, the 1965 Spencer-designed 62-ft sloop first made famous for winning her first two Transpacs in 1973 and 1975, has a storied history like few others. It began in New Zealand and continues remarkably to this day in Southern California despite significant highs and lows. The passion infused among many owners and crew alike has kept Ragtime alive as she prepares for a new chapter, painstakingly restored under current ownership, smartly updated and ready to take on the Pacific Ocean once again. Ragtime's DNA was forged before she was even christened Infidel in 1965. Sir Tom Clark, a prominent New Zealand industrialist, commissioned yacht designer John Spencer to construct Infidel after having raced the Spencer-designed Saracen, a 36-ft C-Class yacht that became a testbed for the larger and faster Infidel. Initially intended for comfortable inshore and coastal racing, Clark's perspective shifted after witnessing her remarkable speed — she was considered a scratch boat in the local A-Class Series the day she was launched and went on to beat the iconic Ranger. Spencer's revolutionary lightweight design — she weighed only 26,000 pounds, half that of typical 60-footers — stunned the racing community. Built unconventionally, Spencer specified that two layers of 3/8-inch plywood be glued together and fitted to her wood frames; she was nicknamed 'Fletcher's Tram' after New Zealand's leading plywood manufacturer. Clark contemplated sailing in the 1967 Sydney Hobart Race. However, as Tom's son Geoffrey relates, "While the idea of entering Infidel into the Sydney Hobart Race was discussed, it was never seriously considered, never entered, and (she was) never banned. However, there was a lot of comment at the time that she would be banned — active threats to keep her in Auckland." Clark sold Infidel in 1970 to the Long Beach Consortium, who shipped her far north to California and renamed her Ragtime. During Ragtime's inaugural 1973 Transpac, she faced off against Ken DeMeuse's 75-ft Blackfin (1969 Transpac winner) and Robert Johnson's 73-ft Windward Passage (which set a Transpac record in 1971). She trailed Windward Passage for almost the entire race, but only days away from Diamond Head, Ragtime managed to overtake her competition and win the Barn Door Trophy. Her lightweight, long, narrow, hard-chined hull was precedent-setting and ideal for extended downwind surfing opportunities — a precursor to the ULDB designs that followed. By 2003, after a handful of different owners, Ragtime floated listlessly, languishing unmaintained in Long Beach Harbor with a lien on her title and an auctioneer's gavel waiting to determine her fate. Fortunately, Chris Welsh and a group of friends raised their paddle and put down $135,000, purchasing the boat in time to campaign her in her 13th Transpac in 2005. This would mark the beginning of an 18-year love affair between Welsh and Ragtime. He bought out his partners and in 2006 refitted her with a new carbon rig, sails, keel and rudder. A year after racing the 2007 Transpac, he entered the Transpacific Yacht Club's Tahiti Race. Despite numerous equipment failures that included a split mainsail, broken gooseneck and a leaky keel, Welsh and crew set a new L.A.-to-Tahiti record. Continuing south to Australia, Welsh entered Ragtime in that year's Sydney Hobart race (at last) and won her division. Soon after, she was reunited in New Zealand with Geoffrey Clark, who hadn't seen her since he was a young man. By 2013, Chris had relocated to Point Richmond and was living with his partner Tina Roberts. Docked in front of their waterside home, Ragtime patiently awaited significant upgrades. In 2018, she was put on the hard at his boatyard, Sugar Dock, awaiting long-planned upgrades. Further plans included even more weight-savings to improve performance — Welsh had already slimmed her down to 22,000 pounds. COVID provided an opportunity to strip much of her interior and exterior down to bare wood, including her epoxied topsides. A tremendous amount of work remained to be done. Devastatingly, Chris passed away suddenly in March 2021, leaving Ragtime unfinished and her future in limbo. "It took me a year after Chris's passing to choose to move forward," Tina said. "In my heart, I knew that selling the boat did not guarantee her refit. Over time, I began to feel very continued on outside column of next sightings page Page 36 • Latitude 38 • February, 2025
a record-breaking When Charlie Dalin finished the Vendée Globe on January 14 aboard his IMOCA 60 MACIF Santé Prévoyance, he shattered the prior record by almost 10 days. Just 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 49 seconds after the November 2024 start, Dalin had sailed 24,000 miles from and back to Les Sables-d'Olonne. (The previous record was set in 2017 by Armel Le Cléac'h, who finished the race in 74 days. Dalin took the lead in the South Atlantic, but relinquished it to Yoann Richomme after passing Cape Leeuwin, Australia. Dalin chased Richomme all the way across the Southern Ocean, rounding Cape Horn in second place just nine-and-a-half minutes behind. He passed Richomme, again