Friday, September 26, 2008

Scarlett O'Hara (Sail #18950)


Scarlett O'Hara (sail #18950) is owned by John and Renee Prentice, 18950 and sails out of San Diego YC. The side-picture is from the 1983 SORC.

"Scarlett first raced in the 1982 SORC with Tom Blackaller at the helm. Tom was involved in the project starting in the design/construction phase, but he only stayed one year and did not win the SORC on this boat. Scarlett O'Hara was the SORC overall winner in 1983 with Chris Corlett as skipper." - David Wingate, son of Monroe Wingate, original owner of Scarlett O'Hara (thanks, David!)

(Per David, Dee Smith was tactician on Scarlett O'Hara for the 1983 SORC. Corlett, Hulse, Smith...a formidable team, to say the least!)


"There's Google for you. you're right about Dee Smith and guys winning the SORC on Scarlett. You can even buy the video on E-bay SORC83. "

5 comments:

wingssail said...

John and Renee sailed Scarlett across the Pacific in 2008. Here is their account.
"We left March 17th and had wind right from the anchorage at Tenacatita, Mexico...too much wind and seas, WOW, too big! We left after a huge Alaskan storm had come down the coast all the way to Socorro Island, with 16 foot seas and 40+ knots of wind. We saw 35+ and big seas for two days. I was seasick (Renee) and John had to do all the watches etc...Then the wind died for
two days, then weird stuff. No regular trades, as the wind seemed to die at night. Only had one big squall, and the ITCZ wasn't that bad. No speed records broken this year. We motored for about 30 hours. We did it in about 18 3/4 days. Our buddy boat, a modified J-44, now 47 feet long, made it in 17 3/4 days, with a broken shroud! Both our buddy boats had rigging failures and both boats were in almost PERFECT condition. With that in mind, we reefed and reduced sail the last 3 days to slow
us down and try to keep this old boat together. We had our Monitor windvane break, but John fixed it by thru bolting it back together. Other than a block exploding and losing a shackle, no other issues. We did have to work on our jib, mid crossing, as the Sunbrella cover was coming off...then hand sewed it (3 full days!) after we got to a calm anchorage, Hamnoemanoa. We rocked and rolled most of the way, and it wasn't anything like the nice passage John had in 2002! Oh well, we made it safe and
sound."

Last word from them was from Huka Hiva.

Anonymous said...

Interesting to read about Scarlett O'Hara on this blog. As someone with first hand knowledge of the boat I'd like to point out a couple of errors in the article, 'A Long and Interesting Life.'

Scarlett's first owner was Monroe Wingate (my father) and I'd like to point out that Monroe is his first name. I believe the boat was commissioned in 1981.

Scarlett first raced in the 1982 SORC with Tom Blackaller at the helm. Tom was involved in the project starting in the design/construction phase, but he only stayed one year and did not win the SORC on this boat. Scarlett O'Hara was the SORC overall winner in 1983 with Chris Corlett as skipper.

Matt said...

Thanks very much for the clarification, David! If you have additional information or pictures, please feel free to send along to mattdrayer (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Larry Moran said...

I have a few other photos of Scarlett in addition to the one you've posted here, which I took over the Straits of Florida that day during the Miami to Nassau Race in 1983.

wideorbit said...

I put up a video on youtube of Scarlett under construction - Serendipity was my dad's company and I worked on this boat.
I have first sail videos as well.

http://youtu.be/36Cl5Ic_gaM