DORADE
“Dorade has always been a trendsetter. She changed the way people looked at sailboats”
GREG STEWART
cabinets were changed to accommodate modern equipment. Though in the 1930s, Dorade had a coal stove, a smaller, propane stove is there now, and the engine is sited where the coal bin was.
The starboard quarter berth was extended to allow for a larger chart table. “The original drawings had a simple chart table,” says Stewart, “with a fold-up pipe berth over it where Olin supposedly slept.” Dorade was entirely re-measured this winter and she came in at 37,000lb (16,783kg). There were notes about her original launch that stated she was 4,000lb (1814kg) overweight, much to the fright of young Olin. Now she’s 800lb lighter than she was when launched, which came as a surprise to Stewart. “It’s amazing. You don’t really know if she was that much over back then.”
CARIBBEAN CONSUMMATION
Pam jokes that on certainly one occasion, her husband looked at the complications and dead ends within the refit and said, “sell the boat”. Ironically, his predecessor, Edgar Cato, was quoted as saying “donate it”, after discovering a series of cracked frames. But, what started out as a cross-country love affair, was finally consummated this winter in the Caribbean. “It’s been a long-distance relationship,” says Pam.
“We would read about the boat, read the blog, but we’ve only been able to spend a handful of days aboard her. The Caribbean has intensifed our feelings of affection and admiration. I’m awestruck.” The couple spent several
16 CLASSIC BOAT MAY 2012
blustery and sunny weeks driving the yawl between the islands. “We pulled into St Thomas and I was tired of cooking on the camp stove,” recalls Pam. “But Matt wanted to stay on the boat. He woke up one morning on the boat and said, ‘I’m having an affair!’” Dorade is making more headlines than ever, and a comprehensive book on her was published this year. She is racing in no fewer than three Caribbean regattas this spring in preparation for the Bermuda Race. More than anything, however, her new owners are hoping to continue the pace of success set by the Stephens brothers. “Dorade is a living, breathing vessel, not a static museum piece,” says Pam. “When you look at other forms of restoration, there are different camps. In the Williamsburg Tradition, they bring history back to life. You have a different appreciation for history when you see things how they were meant to be used.” Matt puts his current use of the boat into perspective. “Atkins’ book says that Dorade has always been a trendsetter. She changed the way people looked at sailboats,” he argues. “He makes a point in the 1960s and 1970s that no one wanted her. Then, with the Italian restoration, she was again setting a trend [legitimising the classic yachting scene], once again making history. I believe she is on the cusp of history again. She’s going to set a trend with the Bermuda Race. Even if she just finishes in good order, it will speak to what Olin did in 1929 and the Italians in the early 1980s. It will revolutionise how you look at these boats.”
Above left and top middle: Jim Titus of Mt Hope Boatworks completes Dorade’s second refit under Edgar Cato Lower middle: the skylights rebuilt Above right: the new rudder and offshore race- ready, faired hull
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