Beautifully restored schooner, Summerwind arrives at US Naval Academy
In October the U.S. Naval Academy welcomed the sailing vessel Summerwind, a beautifully restored 100-foot schooner to its fleet.
Designed by the internationally acclaimed John G. Alden Company and launched originally by the C.A. Morse yard in Maine, Summerwind brings to Annapolis a long and storied history. The 86-year old schooner was built in 1929 for a wealthy Wall Street banker who reportedly lost the vessel in the infamous stock market crash of that same year. Originally christened Queen Tyi, over the years the vessel has changed names twice and had many owners. During World War II she served as a sub hunter in the coastal Picket Patrol in the waters off New England, but mostly she was a private cruising and racing yacht in the New England area. In the 1980s she crossed the pond and was operated as a charter boat in the Mediterranean.
In 2006 Summerwind was purchased in Spain for a reported $1 million by J. Don Williamson, a Texas oilman with an appreciation of wooden boats. Under his direction, the boat was transported to Palm Beach, FL, where she underwent major restoration, at a cost estimated at eight to 10 million dollars. All structural elements were restored or replaced; the engine system was redesigned, and the sail rig updated. She was christened in Newport, RI, in 2009 and shortly thereafter won the 2009 Newport Bucket Race.
Summerwind’s next home was the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY, a gift from Williamson to the USMMA Foundation in November 2009. For three years the Midshipmen trained aboard the schooner, sailing her along the East Coast as far south as the Potomac River, north to the southern part of Maine.
In 2012 Summerwind arrived on the Chesapeake, when yachtsman James Grundy purchased her and brought her to Oxford, MD. Under Grundy’s direction, the entire rig, including both masts and booms, was replaced in carbon fiber. In 2014 he entered Summerwind in the 2014 Annapolis Bermuda Race (and just weeks later raced his Carkeek 47 Grundoom in the Newport Bermuda Race) and the 2014 Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race, in which she took home first in class. The following year Grundy donated Summerwind to the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation. Navy sailors wasted no time getting her out of the slip, using the October 15 Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race as a shakedown cruise, prior to her official commissioning ceremony October 28, at the National Sailing Hall of Fame.
