Matt and his wife, Pam Levy, were intrigued by antique yachts after years relaxing aboard their friends’ stately S&S yawl Santana. This majestic yacht, formerly owned and raced by Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, was the showpiece in front of the St Francis Yacht Club. Once he started the usual addictive online search for an S&S of his own, Matt serendipitously stumbled upon Dorade, and the couple were hooked. They first sailed the boat as Cato had left her, in October 2010, in Sail for Hope, a charity race around Conanicut Island off Newport. Though the northerly that day died, Dorade and fellow S&S-designed cutter Sonny had a neck-and-neck battle to the finish. After immersing himself in the history of the boat, Matt, a mountaineering guide with several global aviation records, made his decision to take her far. “I’ve been told that these boats are fine pieces of antique furniture and you would ruin them by taking them offshore,” he said. “My response is that Dorade is designed and meant to be sailed offshore. Hopefully I will be making this point with the Bermuda Race.” In the winter of 2010/11 he set about preparing
Dorade for her first challenge, the Transatlantic Race from Newport to Cowes. It would be the 80th anniversary of her win. “Matt was originally just going to put a new engine in her,” says Greg Stewart, of Nelson Marek Yacht Design, who had been involved with the boat when Cato owned her. Cato had removed the engine, making her as original, and used a large RIB
to manoeuvre her in and out of the slip. “Then we found cracks in the mast and measured it. The dimensions were less than original spec. Stiffness was 15-20 per cent lower from sanding over the years.”
A massive undertaking ensued, involving S&S’s president Bruce Johnson, the sailmakers from North Sails and countless shipwrights, machinists and even metallurgists. The July Transat deadline was missed, but the refit was a model of perseverance and minutiae.
THE REFIT
“After the first season, it became clear she needed a manoeuvring engine and a stem repair,” says Matt. “We got the boat on the hard and found, in getting her ready for ocean sailing, there was more.” The mast, the boat’s third, fitted in the late 1930s, was not worth salvaging, according to Matt. The stem had been leaking and had multiple repairs with a “Swiss cheese approach”, and the rudder, which had a plug where the propeller aperture had been, had multiple damage. With a spotty electrical system, Matt adds that Dorade “needed different systems for offshore, too”. After discussions with S&S, and others who had worked with Olin Stephens before his death, there was some thought put into bringing the boat back to her original arrangement, bowsprit and all. But Matt’s drive towards ocean racing, and contemporary offshore requirements, led to a subtle re-thinking of Stephens’ original breakthrough design.
CLASSIC BOAT MAY 2012 11
Previous spread and above: Dorade stretches her legs in Sail for Pride off Newport in September 2011
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