This was a man who knew how to sail a boat, and he sailed a variety of them to victory.

By the way, do you still sail?

No, I’m a fly fisherman. I’m your neighbor up in Montana. When are you gonna come see me?

So began the sailing segment of Ted Turner’s appearance on Late Night with David Letterman awhile back. When? I dunno. Letterman’s YouTube Channel reposted a portion upon Turner’s passing at age 87. You can look it up based on Turner’s book that was out at the time, “Call Me Ted.”

I saw it live when it first appeared. I got all excited, because I fully expected Letterman to tell Turner he was a sailor himself. How did I know this?

David Letterman went to our sailing school in the 1970’s! No, he wasn’t as famous then – it was “Late Morning with David Letterman” at the time, but everyone knew who he was. I was a kid, but I still remember him decked out in the yellow foul weather gear we sold at cost to students for wet weather, grinning after coming in out of the elements post-class one day. But, he never brought it up in the segment. Damn…

Turner had quite a life. “My whole life has been a sea of trouble,” he quipped on the show. It wasn’t without its trials and tribulations. But it was also peppered with success. A lot of it. Most people know he started CNN, owned the Atlanta Braves, etc. Everyone knows he wasn’t afraid to speak up. But, did you know he was quite the conservationist? As the 4th largest private land owner in the country, I’m sure a good chunk of that was purchased toward that end. And, yes – I’m sure he did some fly fishing on some of that land.

Turner’s sailing career started out inauspiciously, apparently. He sailed Penguin dinghies and earned the nicknames “Turnover Turner” and “The Capsize Kid.” That means he flipped the boat a lot and wound up in the water. But, he improved. Soon, he was successful at the regional and national levels, including a hot streak at Brown University, where he captained the sailing team.

Turner put together one of the most impressive racing resumes of all time. It wasn’t how many Olympic medals he won (none, and didn’t get to the Olympics). It wasn’t the number of world championships he won (a handful; impressive of course). It was the broad spectrum of sailboats he was successful in, and the types of races he won:

• Small dinghies (whatever he raced at Brown for example)

• Large dinghies (Flying Dutchman world champ)

• Small one-design keelboats (5.5 Metre Gold Cup/World Champ)

• America’s Cup semi-one design keelboats (won one of three Cup campaigns)

• Ocean racing: plenty of accolades here, but most impressive?

That would be the Fastnet Race of 1979. This is an annual offshore regatta off the British Isles. In ‘79, a bad storm popped up and caught the whole fleet by surprise. The goal becamse survival, and finishing the race was very optional. Fifteen sailors died in that storm. Many boats were rendered helpless. I forget what percentage of starters actually finished, but you can look that up for yourself. Two impressive finishers: John Rousmaniere, author of The Annapolis Book of Seamanship (a must-have broad-spectrum sailing reference in my not-so HO), and Ted Turner. “Captain Outrageous,” as he was sometimes called, won on corrected time in the yacht “Tenacious.”

I was in two storms that I wasn’t sure we’d make it.

-one was the NY to Hatteras, mentioned on the Letterman Segment. The other wasn’t mentioned, but was almost surely the ‘79 Fastnet.

The Americas Cup is the oldest contest in the wide world of sports. Turner won in 1977, making the cover of Sports Illustrated. He competed in the trials for the Cup events before and after this one, but didn’t win. No matter. He won in ‘77, and whether it’s a tough trials, a tough Cup, or both, it’s commendable.

Fun facts:

Turner was the 2nd to last American to successfully defend the Cup after we won the inaugural event in 1858. (Dennis Connor won in 1980, and lost it in 1983, then won it back and defended it another time. “Mr. America’s Cup.”)

Turner’s boat, Courageous, was the first built of aluminum. The naval architect? Sparkman & Stephens. Turner actually bought this boat off the 1974 campaign rather than commission his own boat.

It was also one of five or so consecutive America’s cup defenders built at Minneford Yacht Yard on City Island, former home to New York Sailing Center! S&S had an office on the Island for a time; it eventually became a hybrid of cafe and diner owned and run by a lifelong friend of this author before she sold and moved on to first running and then buying/operating another eatery on the Island. There aren’t many good places to eat on City Island, despite the rep, but The Black Whale is one!

America first lost the America’s Cup the first time the defending yacht was NOT built on City Island. Waa waa.

How great and important is the America’s Cup, really?

As Turner himself said (not in these exact words), the Flying Dutchman world championship was arguably a more competitive and noteworthy accomplishment than winning the America’s Cup. The FD was also raced at the top level by folks like Buddy Melges and Paul Elvstrom – arguably the two most successful sailboat racers in history. And, Turner won the worlds once. The FD is a beast of a dinghy; it’s so large it’s hard to think of it as a dinghy. It’s 20’ long; sail plan is main, genoa (not jib), and spinnaker; crew on a trapeze. The class was in the Olympics for a very long time. (Turner competed in the US Olympic trials in the FD but didn’t get a berth.)

He was also world champion in the 5.5 meter (another old and very competitive class of keelboat). He won several US national championships in the Y-Flyer class, which is less well known than any of the other classes listed above, but due to its sailing qualities and ongoing popularity, was selected for the US Sailing Championship of Champions invitational regatta in both 2018 and 2024. It’s a double handed dinghy that’s more like a scow than anything else (super flat with a wide bow).

Our local sailmaker from City Island, Mark Ploch, competed in this as crew in 2018 for his daughter who was on a hot streak in college racing at the time and earned a wild card spot! Ploch (rhymes with “low”) won the j/24 North Americans once when that meant something, and sailed all manor of boats including the world’s toughest – the Finn dinghy. So, all high-pedigree/good company.

What’s the expression?

8 bells for Ted Turner, whose many legacies live on as a education and/or inspiration for all.