Newporter 40 Together

a beautiful boat should sail forever.

Internet search bits of Newporter trivia information.

A Newporter 40' once owned by Rock Hudson is currently up for auction on eBay. The owner of the boat, Christopher Chamberlin, has written a brief summary and history to share with everyone about the auction. A link to the auction is also located at the end of the article.
My wife and I just listed our 1956 Newporter 40' Ketch--the very same ketch that Rock Hudson bought in the late 1950s--for sale. According to "Rock Hudson His Story" by Rock Hudson and Sara Davidson, "In the summer of 1959, Rock (Hudson) moved from Malibu to Newport Beach and bought a sailboat, a Newporter, from actress Claire Trevor and her husband, Milton Bern. He changed the name from "The Lady Claire" to "Khairuzan," after the character he had played in "The Golden Blade." He spent a great deal of time with Claire and Milton, who became a surrogate father and taught him to sail."

I purchased Rock Hudson's former Newporter many years later on the East Coast, in 1986. The seller, a Connecticut charity, was unaware of its special provenance and so was I. I only learned of the vessel's famous prior owners, including Rock Hudson, from reviewing insurance records from Lloyds of London. Then, my "Lady Claire" sail bags made sense!

My wife researched the matter further and has found several references to our boat. For instance, a Web site referencing golden girls of film states: "The Burnetts (Gia Scala & Dan Burnett) spen[t] a lot of time with his old neighbor Rock Hudson at his ranch and go sailing to Catalina Island on Hudson's 40-ft ketch Khairuzan (Arabic for "good luck")."--This would be our ketch! Also, Rock mentions in our boat in an interview: "Regrets?" he asked in an interview not long before his death. "Oh, I have a few. I wanted to sail around the world in a big ketch I owned, but I was always too busy."

A few more facts about the ketch: it is the twelfth Newporter built, hull #12, in the line of boats built by C.E. "ACK" Ackerman in Costa Mesa, California, starting in the early 1950's. Later Newporters were built in New Jersey, where our ketch now resides in a boatyard in South Amboy. Newporters are famous for their style, grace, practical design, and sea-worthiness. She's a pleasure to sail and stay aboard. No wonder Rock wanted to sail her around the world!







Views: 2445

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

This book is about a couple that sailed a Newporter. Haven't read it yet to give a review but maybe someone else has and could say whether it is any good and if there is much information about the boat itself.

http://www.amazon.com/Voyage-Capricorn-Lady-Lost-Daniel/dp/1413476333#
Near Nine-Year Circumnavigation Terminates in Dismasting
June 15 - San Diego
According to an AP report, William Peterson, 56, of San Francisco, had to be airlifted from his 40-ft sloop Camerra after she was dismasted 800 miles from the coast of California in rough weather. The singlehander was reportedly on the last leg of a nine-year circumnavigation aboard his 50-year-old wood sloop.
Peterson set off his EPIRB and was picked up by the Navy destroyer USS Chung Hoon. When the ship got within a few hundred miles of the coast, a Coast Guard helicopter flew him the rest of the way to San Diego.


Today's dramatic Photo of the Day is of San Francisco singlehander William Peterson being taken aboard the USS Chung-Hoon 800 miles off the coast of California on June 10. On the final Panama to California leg of his nine-year circumnavigation, Peterson's 40-ft ketch Camerra, believed to be a Newporter 40, was dismasted in rough weather. He had to abandon the boat. The second photo is of U.S. Navy and Coast Guard assets coming to Peterson's rescue.





Abandoned Derelict Spotted on Transpac Route

Rick Gorman’s Swan 53, Incredible, from Long Beach reported sighting an abandoned 40-foot sailboat at 25-54N 134-35W Monday. It had been dismasted and the word “derelict” spray-painted on the topsides.

Alaska Eagle wrote: “We subsequently discovered an article in the current edition of Latitude 38 noting that the vessel was a Newporter 40 named Kamera abandoned by her skipper, William Peterson, after she was dismasted 800 miles SW of San Diego on June 10. The skipper was recovered by the USS Chun Hoon out of Pearl Harbor. Kamera appears to be on her way slowly to the South Pacific.”
http://www.ask.com/bar?q=Newporter+ketch&page=1&qsrc=2417&a...

Justine said:
This book is about a couple that sailed a Newporter. Haven't read it yet to give a review but maybe someone else has and could say whether it is any good and if there is much information about the boat itself.

http://www.amazon.com/Voyage-Capricorn-Lady-Lost-Daniel/dp/1413476333#
Ok for you boys :) Just incase you need a reason


Year : 1959
PLAYMATE: Yvette Vickers
COVER: Yatching "Mr. Playboy"
PICTORIALS: Tania Velia
FEATURES: Beat poetry by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso; Oscar Levant profile; Leonard Feather previews Playboy's First Jazz Festival in Jazz, Jazz, Jazz;three pages of cartoons by John Dempsey with captions by Francis D. Collins, Two's A CrowdFiction by Herbert Gold, The Incredible Adventures of Dino; single-page Jules Feiffer cartoon, Superman; 9-page Yatching article includes gear and photos of Chris-Craft 55-foot Constellation, Huckins Linwood 53 Fairform Flyer, Newporter 40-foot cruising ketch, Matthews 42-foot convertible sedan cruiser and others.
PAGES: 96
bob mitchell said:
ok -- so where is the foldout?

ROFL Well you are ure to know someone that has a collection. you so have to send me the Newporter ad ;P
Ok- we now have an OFFICIAL mascot, TACO, of Windsong III, who has cruised extensively in the Northwest -
April 20, 1959
Hail Newporter!
She's the most popular boat of her size ever in the U.S.
Thomas Atkinson


PRINT EMAIL MOST POPULAR SHARE

Two years ago, when SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (Nov. 5, 1956) introduced the Newporter to the general public, the beamy 40-footer was making a small splash in California. Since then, despite somewhat motor-boatish looks that scare off staunch traditionalists, an astounding total of 74 Newporters has been sold. Never in the history of pleasure yachting have so many so willingly bought a design of such size. The Newporter is now the largest class of family cruising sailboats in the world.

The reasons for her success, astonishing even by California standards, are her price ($27,500) and the fact that she was designed with more of an eye for cruising comfort than for racing speed. Careful and successful attention has been given to such design problems as space, e.g.: berths ranging from six-four to six-eight in length, six-foot four-inch minimum headroom throughout, a deep cockpit seating 10, a 22-inch-high mahogany taffrail to hold children in and a roomy and comfortable interior.

A huge doghouse amidships has caused some old salts to classify her as a motor sailer. However, more and more Newporters are finding their way into racing. In the last Ensenada Race, three sailed in the Ocean Racing class. Another has sailed from Los Angeles to Hawaii under working sails in 15 days and 20 hours, not fast, but not slow when you consider her rating (between 25 and 27).

But essentially the Newporter is a family boat built for the man with a carload of kids. She sleeps six, with a seventh berth optional. The Gray Marine engine has a 450-mile cruising range. With diesel, her range is extended to 1,200 miles. All exposed surfaces outside the cabin, except the mahogany trim, are fiber-glass-covered for ease of maintenance.

The man behind the Newporter is Clarence Ackerman, designer and builder in Newport, Calif. for the past 30 years. Ackerman wanted a strong and livable hull for his personal use in the South Seas. He has yet to own one of his own boats.

"So many friends wanted a boat like it I had to set up a production line," he complains, not very complainingly. "I even sold my first boat. Then I decided No. 18 would be mine, but I didn't get that one either. So I put my name down for No. 25, then No. 50. Now I'm down for No. 100. That one I am going to get."

Ackerman always had wanted to build a boat that had plenty of space and little upkeep. He keeps production costs down by using assembly-line methods, but even so considers the Newporter the most durable boat he has ever made. Until recently, Newporters were a phenomenon peculiar only to California's bustling boat-building industry. But distributors have been set up in Mexico, Hawaii, Seattle, Boston, Chicago and Georgetown, Md. And now Newporters are being constructed in the East. A New Jersey builder has a franchise to assemble and sell Newporters at about $1,000 more than what they cost on the Coast.

Ackerman still hopes to make his way down to the South Seas, but if business continues to be as good as it has been the chances are it will be Ackerman's customers, and not Ackerman, who will sail tropical waters in the days to come.
Here is a new listing I think. does anyone know who's boat this is please?

http://www.boatmall.com/Classifieds/BoatAds/Ads/0001713.htm
There was one for sale in Punta Gorda, Florida but it has no information now :(
Hi everyone,

I found this and was wondering when we were leaving :)

Skipper Available for Cruising



Posted: 01/30/2008

Boat
Boat Size 40 feet

Boat Type
Newporter ketch

I/We Plan To Cruise: (check as many as apply in all categories)
Boat is currently in
Moss Landing

I/we plan to sail to
Central-South America-South Pacific

On or about:
June-July 2008

I/We Are Looking For Crew:
Willing to share basic expenses such as food and fuel

Willing to bust butt preparing the boat

With more desire than experience
Newporter 40 Ketch Lost at Isla Isabella
February 14, 2005 - Isla Isabella, Mexico

"I regret having to report that Greg and Mae Goland's Newporter 40 ketch Maxine sunk in the southeast anchorage at Isla Isabella," writes Susan Meckley from Dharma in Paradise Village, Nuevo Vallarta. "It seems to be a case of the rock in the middle of the anchorage claiming yet another boat. The couple were rescued by a panga and taken to San Blas. Both of Maxine's masts are sticking above the surface, and she is a hazard to navigation.

"People need to be warned that the anchorage at the Pinnacles outside of the main anchorage has only six inches of sand on top of hard coral. I know because I dove on it recently. Not thinking it was safe as an overnight anchorage, we elected to continue on to Nuevo Vallarta."
Comfort and Character: Bridging the worlds of woods and glass, the Newporter 40 Ketch maintains grace in middle age
Article Abstract:

The Newporter boat is the classic pilothouse, with its big windows capturing light and breezes for lounging inside, and they offer a 360-degree view for comfortable, protected piloting. Newporters were built from the late 1950s through the late 1970s and are listed at prices from $49000 to $109000

author: Warden, Barbara Gail
Publisher: World Publications, Inc.
Publication Name: Cruising World
Subject: Sports and fitness
ISSN: 0098-3519
Year: 2004

Reply to Discussion

RSS

            LINKS ===============

THE ROSTER

Muf, our Keeper of the Roster, has updated it.  But he still needs information on boats out there that he doesn't have, like new owners, old owners, where any of the boats are.  We don't post the roster on the web site, it is only sent to owners.  Please send him anything you might have, or call him at:      

gmuf48@aol.com   

909 561 4245

===============

Captain Clyde's Newporter  sites:

newporters.blogspot.com

and  

newporter.ning.com

The Ning site has been given a reprieve.   I have  transferred my Ning site to the blogspot site and will leave it there. I am keeping my Ning site open as a home for my photos and drawings.

Many of my photos there do not relate to Newporters, but a search through my collection may prove useful for your studies.

My drawings are not accurate in many respects as a result of the PAINT program used to draw them, There is no accurate scale and at best they are only useful to indicate some specific detail.  Some are inaccurate because of my poor memory.  Use them to help you think, not as a detailed presentation of the subject matter.

If any of you want to start a web site I suggest you remember what has happened to both my Ning site and this site (which is a Ning site) and remember that my Blogspot site is free and Blogspot's owner (Google) has promised to keep it that way.

 

Clyde's email:

camgphil@msn.com 

Put 'Newporter' on Subject Line.  Email is the best way to contact me.  I do not regularly look at this site or its messaging system.  Email will get to me post-haste. 

===============

© 2024   Created by bob mitchell.   Powered by

Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service