Celebrity Sailors--Who would you have liked to Sail with

[RGN]

William F. Buckley for sure. I would argue politics with him just to hear his eloquent replies. All the while learning everything I could about sailing.

Sterling Hayden, a man's man. Probably one of the last true independent guys. Gotta love a guy who would kidnap his own children and take them sailing (I suspect it was not much of a kidnapping).

As far as the YouTube bunch go: That crazy Norwegian Eric Anderson who sails around the North Atlantic in the winter, umm yeah just go in the summer though .

Fun subject.

[cooper1991]

Erik the Red (famous Viking raider and pillager or something like that)

[Bill Seal]

Go back in time and sail with Kauffman and Mefferd on Hurricane. They had WAAAY too much fun.

And of course William F Buckley, sharpest wit of all time.

[drewj]

The 'Mouth-of-the-South'. T. Turner....!

[SBS]

So no one mentioned Tristan Jones or Humphrey Bogart (S/V SANTANA)?
They are my top picks, along with Einstein.

And Einstein was a sailor. His boat was named "Tineff" which means "junk" in Yiddish.

Fair winds!
SBS

[MicHughV]

where is Robin Lee Graham's here....remember " Dove"....the youngest guy to do a circumnavigation back in the day...

[MicHughV]

and lets not forget Tania Aebi of "Maiden voyage " fame

[SBS]

And taking nothing away from Sterling Hayden, he learned everything he knew from sailing the Pacific in the '30s as crew with Captain Irving Johnson.
See video "Around Cape Horn" on the barque "Peking" for Johnson's resume.

[Brob2]

The Buckley's dinner parties were truly famous so WFB would be a top choice, but on the opposite side of the humility spectrum and with even more great stories I would have to say David and Peggy Rockefeller, who could speak to pretty much any leading human rights figure, political person, or world leader firsthand, both from a personal perspective, and often from a CIA perspective.
The sail of course be around the Maine coast on his Hinckley.

[zengirl]

Jack Kennedy and Humphrey Bogart!

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by OceanPlanet

Great thread. I'm lucky enough to have sailed with some of the esteemed names mentioned. Back in my West Coast days I raced again Stan Honey often, however I don't think we actually ever sailed together. So, I will put him and Sally Lindsay at the top of my personal sailing wish list.

Well hell, Bruce, I'd have to list sailing with you and with Skip Allen up there on my list. Might be a good day!

Jim

[BVLew]

I've never actually sailed with most of these people, but have met them in sailing situations or been on their boats -- this was all back in the 1970s, in high school and college:


BOATS:

Gordon Lightfoot, rafted outboard and had to step across his beautiful wooden boat after a Chicago-Mac race
Bill Lee, helped deliver the original Merlin from Santa Cruz to SF once (he wasn't onboard)



PEOPLE
Tom Blackaller, America's Cup helmsman, Star-class world-champion. He worked for a sailmaker in SF and sailed with us one day to check the new sails on the ~30-footer I crewed on.



Bernard Moitessier: During a year off from college, I was crewing on a family friend's boat from Hawai'i to French Polynesia. We stopped in Ahe, an atoll of 100 people where Moitessier was then living. He rowed over one day, asking if we had a doctor on board. One of his local workers had an infection and needed immediate treatment. Luckily, my skipper was, in fact, a doctor, and was able to help. I wish I'd taken a picture of the Joshua, which was also moored in the lagoon.



Princess Caroline of Monaco. OK, this one's a stretch. Same trip as above. I was now aboard Sorcery, a C&C 61 (this is a few years AFTER her famous rogue wave dismasting), after she completed the LA-Tahiti Transpac (I joined the boat in Papeete). We were moored off a resort on Moorea. A hurricane came through, and I was one of a few crew members who stayed aboard to monitor the mooring/respond if needed. It turned out later that Princess Caroline was on the honeymoon of her first, short marriage, in the resort-owners' suite just a few yards away. Since I'm just a few months from her age, this was the sighting that got away!


Now it's just me and my family on an inland lake....

[Pete7]

I would to spend a day with Jeanne, who is a member of the forum and listen to her adventures.

Jeanne Socrates

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by Pete7

I would to spend a day with Jeanne, who is a member of the forum and listen to her adventures.

Jeanne Socrates

I know Jeanne and have been on board Nereida in Victoria. Very nice lady and very accomplished. She is a customer at the marine store I worked at until recently. She is also tiny - I remember her trying out a survival suit in the store before her lap around and it was a feat for her to struggle and get it on.

Nobody has mentioned Commodore Warwick Tompkins who sailed around the Horn at age 4 on his father's schooner Wanderbird and has never stopped sailing. A few years ago I met him and his good friend Ramblin' Jack Elliott in Victoria - a couple of real characters it would be fun to sail with.

[Rackman]

John or Ted Kennedy
Ted Turner