"If we can fly today in the San Francisco Bay, this is because there have been "adventurers" like Walter Greene and Mike Birch.
To understand the future, we must know and respect the past."
Loïck PEYRON (Voiles et Voiliers July 2014)
The RYS Minutes of 9 May 1851 record the decision to hold a race on Friday 22nd August, during the club's Regatta, which would be open to yachts of clubs of all nations. This first such race was arranged so that America could take part if she came to England. Squadron races were normally open only to their own yachts.
FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1920 - Yesterday's international yacht race victory will go officially to Shamrock's credit.
It was feared by many that the Dunraven affair would result in a permanent cessation of contests for the America's cup, and such might have been the case had not Sir Thomas J. Lipton, an enterprising tradesman, profiting by an era of good feeling between the United States and Great Britain, issued a challenge through an Irish yacht club of which he was a valued member.
Sir Thomas Lipton bequeathed his collection of photographs, newspaper cuttings and memorabilia to the Mitchell Library where it is still housed. In 1999, the collection was showing signs of degradation and conservation was required. Unilever, who now own the Lipton brand, were approached and funded the conservation and digitisation costs.
Captain Sycamore and Captain Barr are emphatically men of the day and men of the week, though they may have no mention as yet in “Men of the Times.” Their names have gradually displaced, on the popular tongue, the names of Shamrock II and of Columbia, and we have had a duel in New York waters ...
John Mecray's paintings and limited edition prints have earned him an international reputation for excellence. He is firmly established as one of the world's finest marine painters.
Mecray grew up in Cape May, New Jersey, a block from the Atlantic Ocean. Upon completing high school he was accepted at the Philadelphia College of Art where he majored in illustration and painting.
Having spent time producing a family, completing his National Service within the British Army, going around the world by sea, living in England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Gozo, Tom has progressed a lifelong talent for painting and sculpture and steadily developed the technical side of his artistic abilities.