Fair American Sails Again

Preface: This July, American Yacht Club christened an IC37, Fair American, which will be the training boat for the AYC team training for the 2026 NYYC Women’s International Championship. The team chose the name to continue the legacy of a series of boats named Fair American raced by a group of sailors in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Here is some background on the earlier Fair Americans.

“Look over there – you’re getting beaten by a grandmother!” – A Glimpse at the Fair American syndicate at AYC

As the fleet raced downwind, the two boats at the front of the pack were particularly close. One boat, a bright red New York 36, was gaining on the leader, and seemed to be surging just a little bit forward with each wave. It quickly became clear that the red boat would – almost inexplicably – pass the leader to leeward. As the red boat – Fair American – pulled ahead, the leader’s tactician called out to the owner, “Bus, look over there – you’re getting beaten by a grandmother!”

The sailors on these boats were on vacation, but racing on the New York Yacht Club Cruise was, and is, competitive. In the 1980s, that cruise regularly included several former America’s Cup winners, so it might not have been a relaxing vacation, at least in that moment.

Yet, as Fair American, sailed by a group of American Yacht Club members, including their star spinnaker trimmer (and grandmother) Lorna Hibberd, zipped into first, Lorna was undoubtedly saying “Great fun!” On that particular day, they passed Sailing Hall of Fame inductee Bus Mosbacher, who himself had a boat stacked with talent, and ended up winning the race by several minutes. If you were racing on Long Island Sound, Narragansett Bay, or any of the waters visited by the AYC or NYYC cruises in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s, it wasn’t unusual to find yourself behind a speedy boat named Fair American.

This summer, AYC christened a new Fair American, a name chosen by the AYC team preparing for the 2026 NYYC Women’s International Championship, and we hope that the new Fair American will carry on the legacy that began with five boats owned by the Fair American syndicate and sailed out of AYC for over 20 years. That legacy is a legacy of winning on the race course, but also enjoying time on the water, passing the love of sailing onto the next generation, and of course exceptional women’s sailing at AYC.

The Fair American syndicate evolved over time, but its members included Commodore Dooie Isdale, Commodore Herb Hild, Commodore Bert Jamison, Commodore Eric Peniston, Skip Etchells, Rudy Schaefer, and, of course, their star spinnaker trimmer, Lorna Hibberd. The group owned five boats between the early 1970s and early 1990s; first was a one-tonner designed specifically for the syndicate by legendary naval architect Skip Etchells, followed by a Chance 32/28, a Tripp 33, boat No. 1 in the NY 36 class, and finally, a J44.

Speaking about the first Fair American, Commodore Isdale explained, “Fair American was to be a very fast, light downwind boat, and that she was, but she was not good upwind on the breeze.”

Indeed, the Fair American syndicate became known for sailing on the edge; as Isdale described, “It had things like aluminum stanchions, and of course, they got ruled out later on. A lot of the things that we did over the years have been ruled out because people thought we were stretching the rules. And you know, the rules are there to sail by, but if you can find an edge, you take an edge, don’t you?”

In 1988, the AYC News described Fair American as a “perennial winner,” and considering that Fair American was a force on the race course for more than two decades, it was certainly a valid description. During that stretch, the syndicate won their division in the AYC Fall and Spring Series, Stratford Shoal Race, the Fishers Island Overnight Race, and the NYYC Annual IMS Regatta. Fair American also dominated racing on both the AYC and NYYC Cruises.

At home, Fair American won the John B. Shethar Trophy for the Annual Overnight/Distance Race and the Edgar Palmer Memorial Trophy for winning Division I on the Annual Cruise multiple times. And the Fair American syndicate won the Scotch Caps Trophy for the Sunset Series eleven times in the stretch between 1981-94. Commodore Bill Ketcham, who won with his J/35 Maxine in 1993, noted, “They would crush us except in light air, then we could beat them on corrected time,” and recalled that the 1993 season had a lot of light air racing. And as you can probably imagine, when the Fair American syndicate didn’t win, they were usually close: the group also took home their share of second and third place trophies!

It might seem counterintuitive, but part of the Fair American syndicate’s strategy for winning was to invite younger sailors aboard and create opportunities for them to expand their knowledge and experience on the water. Though this required time and effort spent teaching, as well as a willingness to trust the boat to younger sailors, it paid off in developing a set of loyal and exceptionally talented sailors onboard. In the July 1984 issue of the AYC News, Commodore Isdale gave credit to the junior sailors onboard when asked about Fair American’s victory at the NYYC Spring Regatta.

The cohort of young sailors who sharpened their skills with the Fair American syndicate have continued to be active on the racecourse and at AYC. As Commodore Andy Giglia recalled, “My time aboard the NY36 started when I was 14 years old when I was invited to do the bow by Dooie, who taught me how to trim sails, navigate, repair engines, rigging and also introduced me to the top sailmaker talent of the day who would join us on the wide sailing schedule, which in those days was every weekend from Block Island Race to the Manhasset Bay Fall Series and everything in between, including AYC and NYYC cruises.

“There are many experiences I had during my teens and early twenties, but two that stick out and set me on a sailors course for life were the ‘kid only’ delivery to Maine and back aboard Fair American, with the Comforts’ NY 36 Cheap Red in company, and the 1989 Block Island Race Week, where Dooie lent and paid for Liz Isdale and five college friends to race the boat on our own.

“The deliveries to Maine were crewed by fellow JAYCers through the fog with limited instruments and little in the way of cash once we arrived. I recall out of fun and hunger digging for clams on a beach in Castine, Maine, that we cooked over an open fire from drift wood found on the beach.

“Block Island Race Week allowed a group of college-aged young adults, including Liz Isdale, Donny Dowd, Kim Comfort and a few other non-AYC members to sail unsupervised at arguably the most fun regatta in the East Coast. We all slept on the boat or pitched a tent on the beach at Paynes. We cooked aboard and found ourselves invited to a number of dinners and cocktail parties by other programs who knew there was a group of kids sailing Fair American. Our sailing each day was equally fun, and we ultimately won our division by one point over Doc Clarke and Dr. Deck who were sailing Diogenes, the Holland One Ton.”

One particular member of the Fair American syndicate who took a particular interest in younger sailors was Lorna Whittelsey Hibberd. In 1932, Yachting Magazine claimed that “Lorna Whittelsey needs no introduction to yachtsmen, particularly to those who have followed her across the finish line so many times that it would be embarrassing to make a count.”

More recently, Commodore Giglia described Lorna Hibberd as being “larger than life.” Her success in sailing began decades before she started sailing on Fair American. In 1927, at the age of 15, she won her first of five Adams Cups (US Sailing Women’s Championship), sailing for Indian Harbor Yacht Club.

When she married Fred Hibberd, who sailed out of Larchmont Yacht Club, the couple decided to “meet in the middle” and joined AYC. She took some time away from competition while raising her children, though Mrs. Hibberd certainly shared her knowledge of sailing and love for competing – and winning – with her children and other members of the next generation. She went out of her way to invite junior sailors out on big boats and was the driving force behind the AYC tradition of developing junior big boat sailors. When junior sailors were onboard, she ensured that they played active roles such as trimming jib or spinnaker, where she could gently guide them and share her wisdom.

Mrs. Hibberd always made sure that her children’s Lightnings were impeccably maintained and rigged flawlessly. As Commodore Isdale, who crewed in Sis Hibberd’s Lightning said, “She was a tough taskmaster and the thing she loved was seeing us win.”

In addition to her drive and attention to detail, her upbeat attitude was part of her persona; as Commodore Giglia described, “She was enthusiastic and always would say ‘great fun!’ no matter what was happening or what the weather was.”

AYC honored her contributions to the junior big boat program by awarding her the Commodore Starkweather Trophy in 1975. Beyond AYC’s gates, Mrs. Hibberd became a legend in the Rye community for founding the Adelpate Ski Club, which brought families from Rye and the surrounding towns north to ski – but not before everyone had developed sufficient stamina, by doing calisthenics in their ski boots on her front lawn!

Although she was not part of the initial group of owners in the Fair American syndicate, she started sailing with the group, became a fixture trimming spinnaker, and then officially joined the syndicate. Her love of red boats is why the two of the Fair Americans were red. She continued to sail – and win – well into her 80s. A generation after she led the children of Rye in physical conditioning before skiing, JAYC sailors in Optimists would watch her buzz by them on her windsurfer. And when the windsurfer became too much, she bought an Ideal 18, which today is part of AYC’s fleet, the red boat, Lorna.

All good things must end, and in the early 1990s, after a few successful seasons with the fifth Fair American, which included winning the 1990 J44 North American Championship, the Fair American syndicate decided to quit while they were ahead. As Commodore Isdale explained, “We decided to sell it while it was attractive to other people being a winner. The full-size Genoa jibs on those boats are the same size practically as a 12-meter and they just got too big for us to handle. There’s just a lot of sail, and of course the cloth was much heavier then. It was a lot of work, a lot of people, a lot of sandwiches.”

Nonetheless, the Fair American syndicate left a lasting legacy at AYC; as Mrs. Hibberd might say “Great fun!”

Special thanks to Clemmie Everett for producing this article.