I had the pleasure of meeting Ted Hood on several occasions and was always struck by his humble attitude. Ted did it all from building up what has probably become the biggest sail making business in the world, to winning the 1974 America's cup aboard Courageous, designing and making the very successful range of Little Harbor yachts and power boats. He seemed to be good at it all and so it was with sadness that I learned of his passing last week at the age of 83.
Marblehead, Massachusetts has often been called the sailing capital of America and Ted probably had a large and in making that so, although born in neighboring Beverly he attended school in Marblehead when his family moved there when he was a a young child. He started making boats at very young age found out what worked and what did not and constantly strove to improve on a boat performance. That quest for performance lead to him setting up Hood sails where he started weaving his own sailcloth which revolutionized sailing by making sails vastly superior to other products available at that time. He rose to become an almost household name when he sailed Courageous to victory in the 1974 America's cup and at about this time he started to move away from sail making and concentrate on boat design which he proved gifted at and apparently he was still marking up drawings just a few days before his death. So long Ted you will be missed.
The video is taken from the internet and is from Boating Today TV. The quality is rather poor and it seems to finish rather abruptly but even here Ted charm shines through.
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