While we do not ask Marblehead to Halifax racers to provide their ages, probably one of the oldest competitors this year may be BYC member Bob (Otis) Redding who will be competing in his 19th race. He knows this is not a record though as his friend, Bobby Cragg, who lives in Nova Scotia stopped after competing in the race 25 times!
Redding grew up in Lowell and started sailing at summer camp on a lake until his best friend’s father bought a sailboat and he got hooked. This was also the start of his BYC connection as the owner of the Dorothea, Dr Paul Burke, was also a BYC member.
His first race was in 1977 on Desperado, a 39ft Ericson owned by John Tuttle. “It was a typical Marblehead to Halifax experience,” he said, “we had a crew of 10 and it was cold, wet and foggy with light winds”. In 1979 he raced on Patriot, the Naval Academy boat.
In 1985 and 1987 he sailed on Cara, a Swan 57 with skipper Mike Kettenback. and then switched to a 46ft Swan, Clover, which was skippered by Neal Finnegan. “Neal was a great skipper and a kind and generous man”, Redding said. In 2001 they came second in their class, then in 2003 and 2005 sailed in a 56ft Swan, Clover III which in 2005 came second in class, beaten only by Valiant.
In 2007 his brother in law Stuart Hebb brought Thin Ice up from Miami and they were chosen to represent the international team along with Wischbone
and Bob Towse’s spectacular 66 foot Reichel/Pugh boat Blue Yankee. They swept the board as all three took first place.
Redding (Inset) and Clover III
2009 was another Clover III race then he switched to Eben Moulton’s Aerodyne Revolution which took first place in 2019 finishing the race in under 64 hours, one of the fastest times Redding has done it.
“Even though its only 360 nautical miles, it usually takes two and a half to three days because of the fickle winds and the tides in the Bay of Fundy, which has the highest tides in the world”, he said. “The Bay of Fundy is really challenging, with up to 32 feet of tide coming out and really dictates your race. You need to check on the tide first and then plan tactics to get around Cape Sable”.
Not surprisingly when he started racing there was no GPS but they had a system called Loran A which was challenging to use, then Loran C was not bad but useless if you were far from shore. Now with GPS it really changes the navigation equation and plus the AIS system enables you to keep track on the others.
While he used to do the bow, Redding now is back in the pit of the boat. Now retired, after 35 years teaching English literature at Greater Lowell High School, Redding has more time to sail which is also when he uses the nickname Otis, acquired in junior high!
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