Star and namesake of the TV Series "Riptide" (1984-86) - she's a 1939 Elco MY 54. Once the
flagship of
Boston Yacht Club, she was first shown by its builder at the
1938-39 New York Boat Show, where she was purchased by Howard Johnson. He in turn sold her in 1941 after a losing a fortune on a boat race (go figure). Eventually
"Riptide" was shipped to the west coast and later restored for the first time during the 1970's. After her starring role on television however, the boat again fell into disrepair, and was only recently (1997) restored by Peter Riess and Dennis Ballard - members of the
The Classic Yacht Association (
http://www.classicyacht.org). Now named
"Southwind" she is undoubtably the most famous member of CYA's Southern Fleet.
Renaming this boat however, may not have been such a great idea, as she was supposedly a cursed ship during her TV Series - one who's former owners had all been killed!
I'm afraid you'll have to rent out the episode of "The Curse Of The Mary Aberdeen" to find out why.
