The relaunch of CHEERS
GALLERY | Click images to enlarge
The French love all things historical and nautical, so it makes perfect sense that they have become the curators of the first Atlantic proa in the world: the “giant killer” CHEERS. Today, he is kept in Port Saint Louis by Vincent Besin and the French government, which has declared him a “monument historique”, one of less than 100 small craft, and the only multihull. CHEERS was relaunched last week, at a ceremony that included his barefoot designer, Dick Newick.
40 years ago, CHEERS arrived third in the 1968 Observer Single-Handed Transatlantic Race, beaten by only two monohulls, the 56’ Sir Thomas Lipton and the 50’ Voortrekker. It was a bellwether moment for multihulls, yet ironically, the proa has been virtually ignored in what became the Great Multihull Takeover, with greyhound trimarans dominating the race course and charter cat galleons dominating the “gold run”.
CHEERS was the inspired production of three men: the designer Richard C. Newick, called the “Wizard of Maine”; the sailor Tom Follett; and the financier, Jim Morris. The Dreamer, the Doer, and the Patron - a frequently successful trinity.
The French interest in such a uniquely “American” enterprise is not without precedent, consider the Statue of Liberty. Vincent Besin, you are a keeper of the flame, and for that, I salute you!
“I notice that you are taking steps to enable the crew to right the vessel when it has capsized, but my committee are more interested in any steps you may take to stop the capsizing in the first place. We are still of the opinion that to race along at 25 knots in between periodically capsizing is not a proper way to cross the Atlantic…”
—Race Committee letter, October, 1967: Royal Western Yacht Club of England
