Member Spotlight

NBYC Member Spotlight

The NBYC History and Fine Arts Committee (HFAC) is pleased to introduce our “Member Spotlight” series. The series is the result of a year-long project that involved asking members to send in information about their yachting experiences and accomplishments. We are just starting to reach out to the responders who have sent us a trove of information, from winning national and world sailing competitions, to building their own boats, to cruising all around the world. Our first article is on Dr. Arthur Burke, a high-performance sailboat racer, who has done an amazing job promoting sailing by training dozens of youth to crew in offshore racing. We plan to feature different club members on a regular basis, and we encourage people to check out our spotlight section under “My Club” when visiting the NBYC website. Also, if you have not been contacted and would like to send in your own information, please do so!
Sherri Swainamer is collecting the information, and her email is [email protected].
It is our hope that the profiles will help capture some of our members’ accomplishments that occurred since the the last publication of NBYC history, by Llewellyn Howland III, which covered yearly history through the 1970s. Also any comments or suggestions you have are welcome.
Thank you!
The History and Fine Arts Committee
Betts Howes Murray, Chairperson
Candace Perry Hall, Member
Vicki Bancroft, Member
Julianne Stevenson, Member
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January 2024 - Donald "Don" Watson
- January 2024
  Click here to read the article: Donald "Don" Watson
  
  New Bedford Yacht Club Past Commodore Donald Watson, 2017-18
  
  Don on staging while building Kodiak, at Concordia Company, 1987.
  Boat designed by German Frers.
  
  The marine railway at the former Concordia boatyard
  (located next to the New Bedford Yacht Club),
  where Don Watson worked in the 1970s.
  The photo is from a postcard made by Tim Sylvia.
  
  Wallygator leaving Concordia's shed on Gulf Road, 1993.
  
  Wallygator was launched off the Padanaram Bridge during a snowstorm, 1993.
  
  Wallygator shakedown sail.
  
  Toshiba, built by New England Boatworks for Team Dennis Conner, 1996.
  Designed by Bruce Farr for the Whitbread Round the World Race.
  
  Surf designed by Hunt Associates. Built by New England Boatworks, 1998.
  
  Build crew, Stars and Stripes, 2000. America's Cup challenger for Team Dennis Conner.
  Designed by Reichel/Pugh. Built by New England Boatworks. Don is on staging at left.
  
  Don sailing Swamp Fox.
  
  Swamp Fox heading out of the harbor.
  
  Swamp Fox heading out to race at the 2019 Buzzard's Bay Regatta just before getting t-boned at the start of the race,
  which resulted in a hole in its port hull. Don did all the repair work, and the boat was back on the water later that year.
  
  Don as part of the race committee, on Jonah.
  
  Don at an NBYC Executive Board meeting.
  Also pictured: Past Commodore Spyder Fortier, Past Commodore Kenneth van Colen and current Commodore Blair Tracy.
  
  Don sailing Swamp Fox.
August 2023 - Jim "Sham" Hunt
- August 2023
  Click here to read the article: Jim "Sham" Hunt
  
  HARRIER during Cowes week with Jim tending the spinnaker.
  
  Jim Hunt's official Olympic photo.
  
  The 1960 Olympic medal ceremony in Naples, Italy. Jim Hunt is in the back, on the top podium.
  
  MINOTAUR leaving the harbor with Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii in the background.
  
  The winning team of the 1968 Mallory Cup:
  Josh Hunt, Bourne Knowles and Jim Hunt (at the helm) sailing in Padanaram shortly after their win.
  
  Jim Hunt at the wheel of a Bermuda Race on a Cal 39 in the Gulf Stream (third place).
  Walter Fink, an O'Day employee, is behind him.
  
  Nina on the bow of WHALE & THE BIRD catamaran,
  sailing from San Diego to Cabo, San Lucas, about to round the Baja peninsula.
  
  WHALE & THE BIRD catamaran in the Pacific Northwest.
  Jim Hunt: "After launching absolutely the best sea boat I have ever been on,
  we spent a beautiful summer cruising up the Canadian coast in spectacular weather before we headed home to Padanaram in September."
  
  WHALE & THE BIRD O'Day 40 anchored next to the island of Mallorca, in the Mediterranean Sea.
  
  Nina steering WHALE & THE BIRD in Buzzards Bay.
May 2023 - Arthur Burke, M.D.
- May 2023
  Click here to read the article: Dr. Arthur Burke
  
  Shindig in the NBYC Whaler's Race.
  
  Crewmembers on Shindig represented a great range of ages and sailing experience.
  NBYC members include TJ Scott (front), Dr. Arthur Burke (center), Lauren Burke (to his left),
  John Sheehan (far right back row), and Ted Scott (second to far right, back row).
  
  Kodiak takes off at the beginning of the Newport to Bermuda Race, in 2012.
  
  Burke and crew members sailing in the Figawi Race in 1998, in Spice, a J-44.
  
  Burke sails in a 210, designed by C. Raymond Hunt.
  
  Burke received the Admiral's Circle Platinum Medal for his contribution to
  the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
  He donated his 70-foot racing yacht to the academy and volunteered as an onboard advisor to the cadets.