Running Tide - the incredible story of one boat

Running Tide - a yacht for the soul and racing

There are beautiful yachts, there are successful ones, and there are favorite ones. It is rare to find a yacht that combines all three of these qualities. Running Tide has always been that kind of yacht.

The S&S 61 was custom built for Jakob Isbrandtsen. Yakov was a great lover of sailing boats and a real racer. The yacht was launched in 1969. What set her apart from other yachts of her time was that she was designed to achieve the best possible racing performance, but with the least possible attention to comfort. Craftsmen from the Dutch company Huisman pored over the hull of the boat.

Running Tide began its victorious march almost from its first race. In 1970 she won the race in her class. Already in 1971 she won the overall victory in the SORC race, Florida. For a while, the yacht was leased to Ted Turner, an ocean racer. Ted was so taken with the yacht that he even tried to buy it, but was outbid by Al Van Meter.

Family business

The Van Meters family has raced on Running Tide for over ten years. To keep the yacht competitive with newer yachts, some changes have been made. Among them, the most significant was the change in rigging and the replacement of the type of sailing rig. Over time, both equipment and sailing equipment were returned to their original version. 

“I think we lived and breathed sailing with Running Tide,” recalls Bo Van Meter, Al's son. “That was what my father and I did together. Every day, every night we worked and sailed on this boat, and we just enjoyed it immensely.”

At some point, Bo had to sell the yacht due to technical problems. Over 30 years of Running Tide in the south of France, occasionally changing hands. Members of the former crew often spotted the yacht during events in France. 

unexpected return

Once Running Tide ran aground in Saint-Tropez and received very serious damage. The elderly owner wanted to sell her, so Beau Van Meter flew to France to see the yacht that played such a big role in his family's life. They found a yacht that had hardly been repaired since the early 1980s...

“Everything was pretty bad. Downstairs was the same Igloo Pearl fridge I bought 35 years ago. The pillows were the same, the sensors - you couldn't even see through them, they were all sweaty and cracked. The previous owners made some changes below deck and tried to add more cabins, which was just ridiculous. But otherwise it was the same old boat, only in much worse condition.

But I knew I would get her back. I didn't care what he looked like. I knew she was in a bad state, but I just wanted to see her firsthand and was shocked. I was very attached to the boat. And still attached,” Van Meter said.

In 2018, Running Tide was shipped back to the US and moved to New England Boatworks (NEB) in Rhode Island. There, the restoration project was led by Bob Sharkey. And so began the process of dismantling the yacht literally to bare metal.

“The hull was in very good shape, frames and aluminum everything except the deck. The deck cracked badly after the yacht ran aground. We practically gutted the yacht! Our team completely went through it, walked on all surfaces. The boat has been cleaned inside and out. Literally restored to its original state,” explains Van Meter.

Two years later, Running Tide brought to mind. Bo Van Meter was amazed at the result and noted that the boat looked exactly the same as when he and his father first came on board.

Running Tide is back on track!

Van Meter was very careful about the innovations in the restoration of the yacht. He turned down all proposals to open the cockpit to give a more modern look to the deck. The giant steering wheel was also carefully transferred to the updated boat. 

The color scheme of the boat has also been preserved. All basic shapes and lines of the hull have also not changed. The main motto of this epoch-making “rescue” operation was the phrase: “Why break something that worked so well?”

The entire interior has been redone, with bare teak replaced with glossy lacquered finishes. The only place where the influence of modern trends is noticeable is the salon. Van Meter says: “Now the interior is more like a yacht.

When my father and I raced, the interior was more like the holds of frigates from the era of Caribbean pirates. The yacht was in great shape, but compared to cars, it was more like a powerful pickup truck without much comfort inside.” 

Specifications

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21.10.2022