EVERYONE REALISED HOW FAST CARTER’S DESIGNS WERE BUT FEW TRULY ACKNOWLEDGED THE SUBTLE AESTHETICS AND BEAUTY THAT THESE BOATS HAVE. Carter, a complete unknown in the world of yacht design, hit the ground running when he won the Fastnet Race in 1965 with his very first own design, the small Class III racer Rabbit. The Fastnet, of course, was then and still is regarded as the most prestigious and competitive offshore race in the northern hemisphere, the southern counterpart being the Sydney to Hobart race. The established sailing world was astounded by this young American who was so different in every aspect – to the horror of the sailing gentlemen, he even fed his crew peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while racing offshore. DICK CARTER IS FROM A WELL-ESTABLISHED US EAST COAST FAMILY AND ENJOYED A CHILDHOOD OF SAILING IN THE WATERS IN AND AROUND BUZZARDS BAY FROM THE FAMILY’S SUMMER HOME IN CATAUMET, CAPE COD. His background is very much in competitive dinghy racing. During his years studying at Yale University, he joined the Yale Sailing Team, which won three intercollegiate national championships. »At Yale, my studies were concentrated in two areas: medieval sculpture and architecture; and the music of the Baroque, with an emphasis on J. S. Bach«, he explains and points out: »I’m not the first to say that Bach was the greatest composer who ever lived.« He only later found that he shared a passion with the great designer Olin Stephens: »In Olin’s biography, he mentioned that he loved Romanesque sculpture. To this day, one of my big regrets in my sailing life is that I didn’t know this until after Olin died, because it would have created a bond, to know that we shared the same love of Romanesque sculpture.« WHILE CARTER REGARDED STEPHENS HIGHLY, »a true gentleman«, their paths to yacht designing could not have been more different. Carter more or less stumbled into it when a friend suggested they design a new boat together for the Fastnet Race. When this friend dropped out of the idea, another friend encouraged Carter on and that basically is the genesis of the famous boat Rabbit. Carter had no formal training in yacht design, but more than made up for this with many creative ideas of his own. RABBIT PROVED TO BE A WINNER. AND, POSSIBLY, THE MOST IMPORTANT AND CONSEQUENTIAL SUCCESS FOR HER DESIGNER. »What I was trying to design was not just an offshore racing boat, but also the most comfortable boat for cruising that was possible to design. This meant that I had to have wider beam than most designers were doing at the time and here I give thanks to Bill Tripp, designer of the Medalist-type yacht that I owned. The interior was quite spacious. I also had the feeling from racing dinghies that beam was an important stability factor as well. THEN, THE LINES OF RABBIT WERE PUBLISHED IN »YACHTING WORLD« MAGAZINE. »During Cowes Week in 1965, before the Fastnet, the Editor of ›Yachting World‹, Bernard Hayman, came aboard Rabbit. He told me, ›Everywhere I looked I could see innovation‹, and I was quite pleased with that comment and then he ended up asking if it would be possible to publish the lines of Rabbit. The custom at that time was that no decent yacht designer allowed his or her lines of successful boats to be published. I had the opposite feeling. I wanted to develop a cruising boat that would be really comfortable AND that could win races because the cruising boats at the time were not very pleasant boats to sail or cruise in. So I gave him a go-ahead on the publishing of the lines because I felt I had designed an outstanding cruiser-racer and wanted to improve their design. At the time, I was not considering pursuing a career in yacht design. And as luck would turn out, I happened to win the Fastnet so the publishing of the lines of the Fastnet winner was very unusual. After winning the 1966 One Ton Cup in Denmark with Tina, which was my second design after Rabbit, Tina’s lines were published and for the same reason. I knew that I had designed an outstanding cruiser-racer.« DURING HIS YEARS AT YALE, CARTER HAD EXTENSIVELY TRAVELLED IN EUROPE WITH HIS ELDER BROTHER, DAVID: »While I was at Yale, my oldest brother David, who was working on a doctorate in art history, asked me if I wanted to join him on an art trip to Europe that summer of 1949. // »I’M NOT THE FIRST TO SAY THAT BACH WAS THE GREATEST COMPOSER WHO EVER LIVED.« John Carter und sein jüngerer Bruder Dick, 1950 // John Carter and his younger brother Dick, 1950 read more 30 31 Fotos: Archiv Dick Carter
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