"I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it's because in addition to the fact that the sea changes, and the light changes, and ships change, it's because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, our sweat, and in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it, we are going back from whence we came."
~President John F. Kennedy to the America's Cup Crews, September 14, 1962, Newport, R.I.
As a child JFK started sailing small yachts and even won some events; the Nantucket Sound Star Class Championship Cup in 1936, the MacMillan Cup and East Coast Collegiate Championships in 1938.
We all know how it is to fall in love as a teenager, and how we carry that love for our lifetime. That kind of love fills much of our waking dreams; it can give us comfort during our darkest and most difficult times. President John F. Kennedy had a love, and her name was not Jacqueline, or Marilyn. It was Victura, a 26 footer and a gift from his parents for his 15th birthday that remained his favorite throughout his life. He loved the simplicity, intimacy and ease of handling that the good little sailboat provided. It was on Victura that he taught Jackie to sail, and it was that boat that captured and held his heart for the rest of his life.
JFK was in Houston the night before he died. That night he went to his room at the Rice Hotel to rest up for a busy schedule ahead in Dallas. The next day the hotel staff was cleaning the President's suite, when they learned of the shooting that killed him. They had tears in their eyes as they continued to strip the President's hotel room, and a piece of hotel stationary was found near Kennedy's bedside. The president had doodled an image as he drifted off to sleep that night before. It was of his simple little sailboat, his beloved Victura.
Here's another article about JFK's love of sailing.
Below are some wonderful photos courtesy of the JFK Library.
