When And If
WHEN AND IF was built for General and Mrs. George S. Patton and
was named for their plan to sail around the world "when and if" he returned from
the war he saw looming in Europe. Designed by respected marine architect John G.
Alden and built by F.F. Pendleton of Wiscasset, Maine, she was launched in 1939.
General Patton's world sail dream ended with his death in a freak jeep accident
in Germany shortly before the war ended, but fortunately he did get a chance to
sail WHEN AND IF before his death for several years.
The
Patton family continued to sail WHEN AND IF until the 1970s when they donated
the vessel to the Landmark School north of Boston. For
over 20 years, she was used in the Landmark sail training program for dyslexic
kids (Patton himself was dyslexic). She took hundreds of kids sailing, teaching
them the elements of seamanship, and a lot about life, in the finest traditions
of the sea.
In 1990 she broke loose from her mooring during a November gale and landed on
the rocks in Manchester By The Sea, Massachusetts. Her insurers declared her a
total loss and ordered the boat chainsawed, but the owners of the land on which
she was hauled knew and admired WHEN AND IF and refused to allow them to cut her
up on their lawn. Their refusal gave her admirers (and they were many) the time
necessity to secure her survival.
She was placed aboard a barge and brought to the renowned Gannon & Benjamin
Boatyard of Martha's Vineyard. Vineyard Haven Harbor has long been known as a
haven for wooden schooners and boats, and the island had the craftsmen and
skilled shipbuilders to repair her.
She remained in the boatyard for two years and was relaunched in June of 1994 to
much joy in the classic yacht and the sailing world.
In 2003, WHEN AND IF garnered the award for "the most dramatic finish" in the
Retired Skippers Race off Castine, Maine. She sailed in Foxy's Regatta sponsored
by the Corinthian Yacht Club of Marblehead, MA, the Gloucester Schooner Race
and, closer to home, the MOFFETT Cup out of Vineyard Haven.
She is now proudly owned by the Ruitenberg family, who manage her charter with
love and the thrill of a classic sailing vessel slicing through the Atlantic
waters again.
At 65 feet in length, displacing 43 tons with 1700 square feet of sail, WHEN AND
IF is a superbly seaworthy and comfortable vessel with long keel, gaff foresail
and Marconi main, 15-ft beam, a large cockpit, high
bulwarks, and a doghouse in addition to her spacious accommodations.
John
Gale Alden stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the great American yacht designers
of the 20th Century. He is ranked with such designers as Starling Burgess,
Nathaniel Herreshoff, Olin Stephens and Philip Rhodes.
Alden's contribution to yacht design is written in the lines of his yachts. Sea
kindly and comfortable, these ocean-going yachts were made for the real world.
He was critical of some of the overly tender cruising yachts of his day, of
which he said, they sail "on their ear."
Many of John Alden's designs show the influence of New England fishing schooners
and cargo carriers. When Alden was a young man, these sail-powered working
vessels were being built locally, with lines and proportions shaped for the
sea.
The Alden Design Office was founded in 1909 and became known worldwide due to
his design class of MALABAR yachts and their subsequent success dominating the
offshore racing scene between 1923 and 1932. Alden is best known for his fast
and seaworthy offshore boats but he also designed a broad range of exceptional
boats that have become true classics and still turn heads.