[alloyed2sea]

Thatz right - invasion yacht, "Granma" , si?
Well, that what the history books (channel) sayz.
60 or 65 feet in length, I'll leave it to the yachtsperts to identify the maker.
My guess would be Huckins - Fairform Flyer, no?
Well, here's the photo, some of the history and a couple relevant links:

"A leisure yacht named Granma was secured for the trip to Cuba. Although seaworthy, the ship was not in the best shape. Badly worn gears prevented the ship from achieving significant speed, and the radio could only receive, making it impossible to communicate with allies in Cuba. The craft was overcrowded with weapons, ammunition, and 82 soldiers. To make matters worse, the ship's tanks held 1,200 gallons of fuel, not nearly enough to reach Cuba, so an additional 2,000 gallons, in cans, were stored on deck."The departure was hasty," writes Matthews in The Cuban Story, "for the Mexican authorities were after him. There was little food; the boat--which could comfortably accommodate no more than a dozen men-was dreadfully overcrowded; the Granma's engines were bad. Everything seemed to go wrong. It had been arranged that his 26th of July followers in Santiago de Cuba would rise on November 30, the day Fidel and his band were supposed to land. There was a brave, but of course, futile uprising on November 30, with Fidel far out to sea."

On the last day of the journey, ex-navy lieutenant Roque fell overboard. "The Granma's search lights were turned on for the first time," recalls Faustino Pérez in Diary of the Cuban Revolution, "when it was more dangerous than ever. Nothing helped. Our comrade was being swallowed by the deep. Never willing to give up, Fidel ordered one more search. We heard the cry "Here!" again, weaker but inexplicably closer now. Pichirilo Mejías, our brave, efficient Dominican helmsman, saw him first and miraculously rescued him. His strength, his ability, his level headedness, as well as Fidel's faith and the efforts of his comrades had saved his life."

The landing of the Granma, in December 1956, was planned to re-enact the route that José Martí had followed to begin Cuba's War of Independence in 1895. The target landing spot was a town called Niguero, in Oriente province. Still waiting for them on December 2 was Celia Sánches, one of the founders of the July-26-Movement, with an assortment of trucks, jeeps, food, weapons and about 50 men.

Leaking and running days behind schedule, the Granma was spotted by a helicopter, and the rebels were forced to beach the ship at a spot called Playa de los Colorados, near the village of "Las Coloradas," about fifteen miles south of the designated spot. The new landing area was more of a swamp than a beach, and the rebels were unable to unload most of their weapons due to the muddy waters, the thick undergrowth plant life and small crabs.

"Just consider where the landing took place," says Celia Sánchez in The Twelve, a book by Carlos Franqui about the early days of the struggle against Batista. "If they had debarked right on the beach instead of at the swamp, they would have found trucks, jeeps, gasoline. It would have been a walkaway."

http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/granma.htm
http://www.rcgfrfi.easynet.co.uk/ratb/cuba/cuba_rev.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/~servando/cm0104.htm
Cheers!
Happy Nude Rear.
Yikes!!
Eric
PS - Batista did try hard to sink it:
http://espanol.geocities.com/aviacuba/Mil2-3-e.html
PSS- Now a museum piece:
http://muller.lbl.gov/cuba/Cuba-Pages/Image167.html
http://www.tiogaadventures.com/L23-Granmere.jpg

I hear Fidel still holds on to a sportfish after all these years. Either a Rybovich or a Cubavich - anybody have any pictures???

[MacMcL]

For a number of years Fidel fished on a Striker, which was confiscated when it drifted into Cuban waters.

[Les Paul]

http://www.davearcher.com/goodwill.html

I was on board her in 1967 for a tour. Our yacht, "The Locura", an old 70 foot Annapolis owned by my Dad had tied up behind her in San Diego on our way to Mexico that summer. I was 14 years old at the time.

The Goodwill was 161 foot long 2 masted schooner. She won the Trans Pacific race 2 times during the 50's.

Mr. Archer who writes of his experience with the ship in 1965 has captured what it must have been like with her alcoholic owner and sailing the seas with little or no experience.

Goodwill sank off of Sacramento Reef outside of Cabo San Lucas in 1969 taking everyone on board her at the time to a watery grave..

[YachtForums]

This 118’ Burger, "Chanticleer", was formerly owned by Ralph Evinrude (of the outboard motor fame). His widow, Ms. Francis Langford, kept the boat and used it frequently for fishing trips. She passed away in 2005, but Chanticleer remains docked in Jensen Beach, Florida. If her name sounds familiar, she was a famous actress and singer who accompanied Bob Hope during WWII’s USO tours. Maybe some of our senior members remember Les Brown and his band of Renoun?

[Les Paul]

More on the Goodwill

http://www.transpacificyc.org/histor...rief_hist.html

And the Trans Pacific Yacht Race.

The largest boat ever was the 161-foot Goodwill, whose best time was 10 1/2 days in 1959

That was the second and last time she would participate in the race.