All this and Sailing, Too

Book excerpt: Olin Stephens is the most successful racing-yacht designer of the 20th century, a legend in his own time almost from the day in 1931 when he and his brother Rod and father Roderick, Sr. finished a transatlantic race to England in the revolutionary 52' yawl Dorade a full two days ahead of the competition. His autobiography begins with youthful family sailing, moves on to Six-Metre designs and victories, to J-Boat experience in the 1930s, to war work in the 1940s, to American Cup design and sailing from 1958 to 1983, and to a fleet of great cruising and racing yachts in between. This personal history of Olin and his brother, Rod, of the renowned design firm of Sparkman and Stephens, and of international yachting in this century, is informed, introspective, eloquent.