DAN HOUSTON ON THE RESTORATION OF BARUNA
Baruna is a 1938 S&S yawl that was relaunched this summer by owner Tara Getty after a sevenand-a-half-year restoration to return her to as close to original as possible.
Designed by Olin Stephens in 1938, at 72ft LOA Baruna was at the top of the size limit permitted by the Cruising Club of America (CCA) to race offshore. The year of its launch, Baruna took part in and won the biennial 635-mile Newport Bermuda offshore race, creating a storm of publicity on both sides of the Atlantic. Olin was the navigator, and Baruna got in eight hours ahead of the next boat.
Seven years previously Olin and his brother, Rod, with their crew had won the 1931 Transatlantic Race, as well as that year’s Fastnet in their revolutionary new 52ft (15.8m) yawl Dorade. Olin was then just 23, and America was so pleased with him, his crew and his design that they got a ticker tape parade in New York on their return.
Sparkman & Stephens, Olin and his brother’s company, went on to dominate yachting, from the early Corinthian days of the 1930s to designing six out of the seven successful 12-Metre America’s Cup defenders between 1958 and 1980. Dorade was followed by a series of highly successful yawls, including the famous Stormy Weather (1934). Olin was a rulesbeating designer over a wide range of developing hull shapes, but when I interviewed him at the age of 80 in 1998 he maintained that Dorade and her type of hull and rig were still the best mix While these yawls are all slightly different and vary in size they can nevertheless be considered as a kind of special class boat. Being superbly comfortable and stable at sea they remain very popular with yachtsmen who want a great seaboat. This year at Les Voiles de Saint Tropez the Rolex Trophy was awarded for the yawls – 12 raced, of which seven were S&S designs, including Baruna.
TECH TEST BED
Baruna was built at Quincy Adams yard in Massachusetts for the New York textile agent Henry C Taylor, with a twin skin of mahogany over cedar planks on oak frames. Taylor, an ex-wartime naval officer who served his country in both World War I and World War II, wanted a large yacht within the CCA rules to race offshore. But he also wanted a comfy cruising boat for his family. He’d gone to S&S and ordered her after spending a bumpy family night aboard his yacht in Massachusetts Bay; Taylor told Olin it was a matter of either giving up cruising altogether or getting a better boat.
The boat went on to win the Newport-Bermuda race again in 1948 – booming along at nine knots with Henry’s oldest son, Stillman, in command. Taylor owned Baruna, notching up a distinguished racing record
