The Fastnet Race of 1979 proved to be the most deadly ocean race of all time. Seventeen sailors lost their li ves when an unpredicted storm struck durin g the night, halfway into the race from Cowes, England, around the Fastnet Light off the southern tip of Ireland and back to England. The painting portrays the da wn after a night ofhigh drama as Tenacious roars downwind on her easterly course. The crew has lashed down the main boom enabling them to fly two jibs poled out. A storm trysail is sheeted loose-footed to th e deck to help steady the wild motion. Although the da wn has broken on a clear horizon, high winds and 30- to 40-foo t seas still dominate the scene. Helmsman Gary Jobson steers the perilous course as owner and alternate helmsman Ted Turner surveys the scene. At this point Tenacious was just hours away from winning the infamous Fastnet Race of 1979. "Fastnet ' 79 ," 18" x 43"
Th e schooner Kirin was designed by J. Beavor-Webb and built by George Lawley and Son in 1913 fo r Maximilian Agassiz of Cambridge, Massachusetts . She was a steel auxiliary schooner, 111 fee t overall with an 82-foo t waterlin e and a 23joot beam . By 1913 rhe big schooner days were f ading as rhe simpler, more weatherly sloops, cutters and yawls gained f avor with racing yachtsmen. John made sketches f rom a handsome model ofKirin at Th e Museum ofYachring in Newport and used them as the basis f or his painting, which depicts her slicing through an ocean swell, heeled on the starboard tack, sheers slightly eased to a good breeze. "Kirin," 22" x 46" I I
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SEA HISTORY 76, WINTER 1995-96
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