Curiosity, Connections, and Witty Banter

Last week I wrote about my latest Seahorse profile, which was sparked by a trivia question (and the witty banter* that followed). Today I’m going to dig into that origin story—because it’s a great example of two truths I find fascinating: the small world of sailing, and the contagiousness of curiosity. 

The Initial Query

Our tale begins twenty-odd years ago, when UK Sailmakers ran a full-page magazine ad celebrating Hound’s 2002 Newport Bermuda Race class win. I really wanted to include the ad in The Heart of Hound as an important documentation of the boat’s history, but the picture I’d been sent (of a framed picture) was definitely not print-worthy. The only solution: track down a higher-resolution copy.

I had an old email address for Butch Ulmer; when that bounced back, I asked Rich du Moulin for help—and he responded within minutes, copying Butch’s current address. The next day there was a response from Butch himself that began with memories of Hound’s second owner:

“Frank and I had a long and happy relationship. He was the kind of customer that made the sail business a pleasure. A good seaman/sailor, you didn’t have to repeat things 5 times to get a point across. He was also a decisive gentleman. His usual answer was a “yes’ or a “no”.”

*(Later, in response to a friendly taunt from Rich, Butch stated: “the Gutenberg printing press hadn’t been invented when I started sailmaking.”  Which is what inspired me to ask him for an interview.)

Bonus Discovery

Adam Loory had also been copied on the email thread since (as Butch put it), “he likely produced the ad and would remember better than me.” Adam later sent me another Hound ad from 2014—one example of contagious curiosity.

Where to Look Next

Butch didn’t know where I might find a better copy of the ad, but he did share a key piece of UK Sailmakers history: “The odds are that any ad was in SAIL Magazine.” So I sent off another email to SAIL’s editor, Wendy Clarke.

“As it turns out,” Wendy replied, “I just a few weeks ago went to Connecticut to gather the SAIL archive to keep it safe from dumpstering.” And even though I didn’t know exactly when the ad ran, she thought going back through back issues would be “a ton of fun.” (There’s a reason we get along so well.)

Sure enough, only a few days later she sent me a high-resolution copy of the ad. Wendy had enlisted the help of a mutual friend, and he’d found it almost immediately, deep in the January 2003 issue; perhaps a little of Hound’s fairy dust had led him to that page. It’s hard to imagine we SAIL readers ever had the attention spans to wade through such a word-heavy ad. . . but once The Heart of Hound is out in the world, it will be legible to all interested readers.

Wonderfully Interconnected World

As for the rest of the archives, Wendy says, “wow is there some wild stuff in there.” But she is no longer their guardian, thanks to the ongoing consolidation that has placed almost all US boating magazines under one company umbrella. I can only hope that future editors will keep SAIL’s archive intact—because we never know when we might need to go digging for a tiny piece of history. 

Meanwhile, I’m grateful to both the wonderfully interconnected world of sailing and the contagiousness of curiosity! Got a similar small-world story, or even some witty banter about old age? Share it in the comments below, or send me an email; I read every single one, with gratitude.

Thanks for reading, and see you next Thursday.