At 91, Still Racing After All These Years

© Herb McCormick

At 91, Jack Sutphen, who served as Dennis Conner's sparring partner for multiple America's Cup campaigns, is still going strong.

The year was 1929, and Jack Sutphen's family had just moved from New Jersey to Larchmont, New York, a decision that was not sitting well with the matriarch of the clan. One can imagine that Larchmont wasn't a laugh a minute, particularly after the stock-market crash in nearby Manhattan, and Mom wasn't happy about that, or the fact that she had a long summer ahead of her minding her young son on a minute-to-minute basis. That's when she spied the newspaper ad with the incredible deal.
    
The Larchmont YC was offering sailing lessons for kids, six days a week, all summer long. All you had to bring was your sandwich. It didn't matter that neither Mr. or Mrs. Sutphen, nor young Jack, had ever been in a sailboat. It was six days a week! Just a sandwich! Jack Sutphen was going to become a sailor.
    
And what a sailor he became.
    
Today, Jack Sutphen is 91 years old. He is sharp as a tack. His sailing resume is incredible, but the figure that stands out most is his participation in nine America's Cup campaigns, seven with Dennis Conner, a feat that earned him induction in the America's Cup Hall of Fame. He's still racing sailboats, mostly his 31-foot Pacific Class (PC) sloop, as an ubiquitous member in good standing at the San Diego YC. And talk about coming full circle: He continues to knock around in a Herreshoff 12 ½, the same design in which he first set sail from the Larchmont YC all those years ago.