Legends of Sailing at Southwestern YC

Last night we showed up at the Southwestern YC’s pre-Little Ensenada Race (San Diego to Ensenada) dinner expecting to enjoy nothing more than a cocktail and some chow. We got both of those, but we also got one of the biggest legends in sailing introducing one of the previous generation’s biggest legends in sailing.

The presenter was Dennis Conner, who needs no introduction to sailors. Even at 70 years of age Dennis is still a terrific sailor. We were interested in how Dennis would come across in front of a crowd, because he’s got a new-to-him S&S 44 sloop near Profligate at Driscoll’s Boat Yard, and he’s been talking some trash around us lately. For instance, when we congratulated him on winning a recent 12 Metre event a couple of weeks ago in Newport, RI, he dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "It was nothing. They’re just a bunch of rich guys who don’t know how to sail their boats." And when Doña de Mallorca complimented Dennis on the new color — periwinkle — he had chosen for the top of the house of his new boat, Dennis sarcastically said something to the effect of that was nice coming from someone who owned a big, fast catamaran while everybody else like him only had little monohulls. We’re never sure if Dennis is trying to be funny or not, but he really makes us laugh.

If Dennis’ trash-talking around us cracked us up, his introduction of the main speaker at the Southwestern YC was absolutely hilarious. Dennis easily went on for about 15 minutes of off-the-cuff remarks, dropping a million names of both the famous and the unknown, telling great stories, and displaying a surprisingly fine sense of dry humor.

Jim Kilroy of Los Angeles is the legend that Dennis introduced. Now 90, the slim and trim Kilroy may not be known by a lot of younger sailors, but he was a pioneer boatowner like no other. It was in the late ’60s and even more so in the ’70s that Kilroy invented the concept of taking one’s maxi boat around the world to take on the best competition and smashing records. And with all amateur crew.

Although Kilroy would eventually own five Kialoas — three of them maxis — his favorite was always the aluminum S&S 79 Kialoa III. She was a boat he campaigned rentlessly all over the world — including at a number of St. Francis YC Big Boat Series — and owned for 30 years before donating her to the Orange Coast School of Sailing & Seamanship. Kilroy set the Sydney to Hobart record with Kialoa II, a S&S 72 ketch later owned and sailed around the world by Frank Robben of Berkeley. Kilroy returned to Australia to smash the record with Kialoa III, a record that stood for a remarkable 21 years. Kilroy told the Southwestern YC crowd that after a few years, the Aussies put together an ever increasing reward for any boat that could break the record. The bounty got up to $300,000 before Russell Coutts beat it with a much more modern maxi. In the mid-’70s, Kialoa III set a series of international records and finishes that Kilroy believes has never been bettered. He even asks anyone who thinks differently to contact his website so he can correct it if not true.

When asked which races were his favorites — Kilroy’s done them all — he pulled out two surprises. Not the Fastnet Race, not any of the SORC races, not Antigua, not the Transpac, not the Transatlantic, but the seemingly never-ending Los Angeles to Acapulco Race, which tended to feature very light air for the last hundreds of miles. Kilroy said he developed some non-rhumbline strategy that enabled him to do well. He really liked that. Then he mentioned the largely unknown and rarely held Tasman Sea Race, from Hobart to New Zealand.

When we asked Kilroy who his biggest rivals were, he quickly mentioned Ted Turner and then Dennis Conner.

Kilroy was doing the presentation in support of Kialoa, a book he and associates took three years to write. It’s a fat one, and all the proceeds go to a foundation that supports both youth sailing and teaching kids the science that goes with sailing.

Kilroy will be making a Yachtsmen’s Luncheon presentation at the St. Francis YC on October 24. We recommend that you try to make it.  And if Dennis — who was headed up to San Francisco to do pre- and post-race commentary on this week’s America’s Cup World Series — happens to be there to introduce him, so much the better.

Before wrapping up his remarks, Kilroy mused that perhaps he never should have sold Kialoa III. She’s currently for sale in Southern California, so you never know.