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The Six Metre, the oldest development keelboat design, comes back  to America for the World Championships

In September, 2025, we revive a 38 year old design, one of the first with the controversial winged keel configuration, and do battle  in Long Island Sound with the pro crews and their ultra-modern boats

Ep 33 - The Sixes Finale

Conversations with Classic Boats

The One Design Six Metre, first launched in 1935, still sailed today, seen here at Marblehead

The start of the Classic 6 Metres at the 2025 Six Metre Worlds at Oyster Bay

The Modern Sixes on the starting line, USA 111, with the Blade Crew powering up

Momo. II, winner of the 2025 Worlds, skipped the last race and dominated the field

Blade going downwind

Bribon, winner of the Classic Division, with the former King of Spain,' El Rey', in the cockpit

Local Oyster Bay crew headed by Will Meyer and Bill Mooney work their 1928 Saleema upwind

Even the whales come out to play when classic raceboats are about

From left to right: Wendy Darling Lotz, Tom Darling, Cormac Murphy

Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff

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Ever wonder what that glamorous, gleaming, mahogany-sided boat James Bond was driving on the Côte d'Azur was?

Most likely, it was a Riva Aquarama—the Italian luxury runabout built in Sarnico, Italy, for the past 62 years. Now owned by the luxury yacht builder Ferretti Group, Riva has been the choice of film stars, race car drivers, and fashion moguls. Riva is the pinnacle of Sixties speedboat style. As one owner said, "The Riva Aquarama is the most stylish boat of all time."

Ciao, Riva!

Ep 32 - Riva: Speedboat to the Stars

Conversations with Classic Boats

Forza Riva! Introduced at the 1962 Milan Boat Show, the Aquarama redefined cool.

Riva's being built in the 60's on Lake Iseo

The pinnacle of Sixties speedboat style

Mr. Lamborghini, Italian car entrepreneur takes delivery of his new Riva in 1968

With twin Lamborghini V-12s gulping aria e benzina through a dozen Weber sidedraft carburetors, Ferruccio’s Aquarama must’ve made operatic thunder.

Britt Ekland and Peter Sellers enjoying La Dolce Riva in Monaco, 1966

Anita Ekberg, who chose zebra-pattern upholstery for her Riva, took care of her alabaster skin in the Mediterranean sunshine.

Brigitte Bardot cruising with friends

Boat of the Royal family of Monaco, sports the red & white heraldry of the Principality

Now owned by The Ferretti Group, Riva remains the ultimate in speedboat style.

Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff

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Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club in Oyster Bay on the North Shore of Long Island was the birthplace of International Rule Six Meter boats. In 2025, the "Santa Claus of 6 Metres," a Swiss-Canadian named Rainer Muller, hopes to bring his Sixes collection to anchor the 2025 World Championship in Long Island Sound. Over 20 Six Metres, dating from 1924 to contemporary, are expected to be on the line.

Ep 31 - Six Meter Pre-Words Test Long Island Sound in September 2024

Conversations with Classic Boats

Overpowered Six Meters dual downwind

Madcap & Saleema, the two veterans steam upwind

Madcap Hugh Jones early 20s design holds off two moderns

Saleema, like older boats, flies in the lighter winds

Wildcat winner of the Pre-Worlds

Tempest sets at the offset

Madcap reaches west

Saleema ready to hoist

Saleema reaches hard with the chute up

Saleema's 1928 design showing her heritage

Action downwind

The two moderns charge up

Tight racing on the run

15 Tons of Six jockeying at the start

...and the veteran Saleema takes it

right to left Tempest(125) Wild Cat(94) Peter Wealicks Blade(111)

Hugh Jones Madcap claws up-wind

Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff

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A husband and wife team sail a revived famous 1960s offshore design, the Cal 40, to victory in America's venerable Newport to Bermuda Race. Stan and Sally Honey, along with their friend Olympian Carl Buchan, sailed the boat as it was intended—like a canoe-shaped, 15,000-pound dinghy.

Sailors Log #3 - Stan & Sally Honey

Conversations with Classic Boats

The new Illusion, originally an all-black vessel, showcases her West Coast surfing style prowess in the Atlantic.

An ace navigator and a top sailmaker team up as a couple to win the St. David's Trophy in the 2022 Newport to Bermuda Race.

Stan Honey, navigator to the stars, and Sally Lindsay Honey, an expert in offshore and dinghy sails, take corrected time honors in the "Thrash to the Onion Patch."

Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff

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Click to visit the Herreshoff Marine Museum’s Website

Christina Brophy, Senior VP of Mystic Seaport Museum and Evelyn Ansel, Curator of the Herreshoff Marine Museum, and herself a Mystic native, join in a gam to explore how a marine museum curator comes to be. The two outline an exciting 2024 exhibition season. Go visit MSM and HMM this summer- and mention Conversations with Classic Boats!

Click to visit Mystic Seaport Museum’s Website

Ep 30 - Two Curators Have a Gam

Conversations with Classic Boats

The powerful image from the "Entwined" exhibit at Mystic Seaport Museum( MSM) - exploring maritime history through the perspective of black and indigenous peoples

"Spineless" show at Mystic, a glass invertebrate model from a collection of Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology and Boston Museum of Science objects

Herreshoff Marine Museum(HMM). Showing models of the original schooner- the yacht and the Cup that took its name

Floor level at HMM, Capt' Nat's classic keelboats; the 1870s multihull ,Amaryllis, first of its kind in America, hangs from the ceiling

Senior Vice President of Curatorial Affairs and Senior Director of Museum Galleries at MSM, Christina Connett Brophy, PhD is a lifelong sailor who loves riding the breeze on both water and land.

A third generation boatbuilder and Curator at the Herreshoff Marine Museum & America’s Cup Hall of Fame in Bristol, Rhode Island, Evelyn Ansel is preserving maritime history and loving her work.

Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff

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In the late 1920s, competitive college sailing took root in keelboats, setting the stage for iconic events like the McMillan Cup and an array of college offshore regattas nationwide. Sailors from expert to novice revel in the camaraderie and thrill of sailing big boats through these long-standing competitions. In October 2023, the Princeton Offshore Team triumphed in its class amid a weekend of wild weather at the Storm Trysail Club's Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta.

Ep 29 - College Sailing Goes Offshore— 1928 to 2023

Conversations with Classic Boats

The collegiate crew pushing downwind in their purple chute

The offshore college team has to adjust to unfamiliar and demanding conditions

Princeton's afterguard puts the hammer down in a freshening breeze

The authors legacy, trophies from the Corinthians and college big boat's grandaddy, the McMillan Cup

Safety officer Gary Myer and Magic helmsman Jasper Walkman on a break between race days

Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff

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A five women team makes women’s sailing history. In September 1985, mastering an international fleet and Hurricane Gloria to take the inaugural Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Regatta and pointing to the inclusion of Women’s Sailing in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Ep 28 - Trailblazers and Triumphs in Women's Competitive Sailing

Conversations with Classic Boats

A tough week of sailing in Newport , RI, a hurricane, all taken in stride by Team Softsail, winner of the first Rolex International Womens Keelboat Regatta, aka "The Womens Worlds"

Alison, Sertl, Shore, Pitchie and Lotz, aka Team Softsail

38 years after the first Womens World win,Betsy Alison overcomes all odds to win the gold medal in singlehanded sailing in the August 2023 World Para Athletic games... always a champion

August 2023

The first Womens Worlds attracted rare media attention to this groundbreaking regatta.

Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff

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Welcome to the second edition of the Classic Conversations Sailors Log, featuring Bob Johnstone.

Bob Johnstone, Co-founder with his brother Rod of JBoats, founder of MJM Yachts at the age of 68. He holds a profound appreciation for boats, ranging from the 3-foot DF-95 to the 50-plus J Boat designs developed over the past 46 years. Now, as an author of Marketing Maverick, he continues to make waves in the industry.

Sailors Log Ep. 2 - Bob Johnstone

Conversations with Classic Boats

A "half model" of the original J-24. Newport. Museum of Sailing

Half a J-24 at Newport Sailing Museum

Bob is an innovator in the smallest -his ride a DF-95 RC craft

Bobs favorite JBoat, the J111

Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff

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We go cross-country in search of the iconic Six Metres of the 1930s. We find the crème de la crème, Goose and Llanoria, in the boatyard of this design's dedicated collector, Peter Hofmann, at Port Madison Yacht Club on Bainbridge Island, across the sound from Seattle. Photos from Peter Taylor tell the story of these beautiful keelboats.

Ep 27 - Sixes in Seattle: The Search for the Lost Fleet

Conversations with Classic Boats

Sixes in the Solent

The Six Metre bar area. Seawanhaka Corinthian YC. Oyster Bay

French model builders version of Goose

Djinn. Another magical S&S Six of 1938

Saga in the 1930s. off Bermuda

Saga slumbering in Seattle

Bob Bavier sailing his family IOD on Long Island Sound

Bevier with the Stephen's Brothers Rod (left) Olin (right)

Port Madison Yacht Club on Bainbridge Island, Seattle

Goose in the shed being painted

Transom of Goose

Goose up on the lift

Goose and Llanaria nesting on the Hofmann yard.

Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff

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Welcome to the first edition of the Sailors Log.

We debut our Classic Conversations, The Sailors Log, talking to match racer, rules guru and overall great sailing guy Dave Perry.

Sailors Log Ep. 1 - Dave Perry

Conversations with Classic Boats

Audio & Visual Production by Griffin Bengraff