REMEMBERING GEORGE “I’LL GUARANTEE YOU TEN BOATS” GRIFFITH
George Griffith rocked my world. The man had a vision for a next boat, and he didn’t care about the doubters. The result was the Cal 40, arguably the most influential raceboat of the second half of the 20th century, and I have it on good authority that George, on his last day of sharing our Blue Planet, had a view of some very fine Cal 40s, moored at Catalina Island, gleaming as brightly as when they rolled off Jensen Marine’s production line in the 1960s.
George Griffith died this morning at about 5 a.m. aboard his motorboat Sarissa, with the family rushing him from the island to the mainland. His son David reports they were making 19.5 knots, and knowing Sarissa, that means that someone was trying to push the throttles through the housing. A few miles short of the beach, George simply fell asleep. The last two weeks however, had been full of family time, shared aboard Sarissa at Catalina with wife Mille, son David, daughter Mary, grandchildren, and a stream of admiring visitors from boats nearby.
As longtime members of the Los Angeles Yacht Club, George and Mille made great use of the club’s mooring field at Howland’s Landing, Catalina. They had mooring number three, and you couldn’t really say whether Sarissa was their second home, or Howland’s was their second home, but you could say without reservation that George was the patriarch.
Born May 9, 1921, George built himself a nine-foot dinghy in 1931. You do the math.
He sailed his first Transpac in 1941, sharing the 45-foot cutter Pajara with his brother, Dave, and finishing second on corrected time. World War II he spent in Houston, Texas building warships.
Caltech was the logical place for George’s higher education, feeding that hands-on, experimental bent that never left him. He worked with friend and naval architect Bill Lapworth on the design of a 36-footer, and then a 40-footer, but it was George who sketched out the shallow sections of what would become the Cal 40 at a time when “walking on the bottom of the boat wasn’t exactly normal.” He insisted upon the fin keel, spade rudder and light-for-its-time construction that would make this boat the original downwind flyer. It was George who boldly told the builder, “I’ll guarantee you ten boats.” Not that he had a way to back that up, exactly. David recalled that, as hull number one neared launch, “Dad drove the muffler right off our Studebaker station wagon and just kept right on going.”
Then, in the very next Transpac, 1965, Los Angeles to Honolulu, Cal 40s finished 1-1, 2-2, 6-3, and 5th-7th in Class C. Downwind distance racing has never been the same. George sailed the race on overall winner Psyche with a crew including skipper Don Salisbury, navigator Ben Mitchell, and builder George Jensen . . .
From George’s scrapbook: An exultant Psyche crew, 1965. George is far right in the crew photo.
Today, Psyche is yet another Cal 40 that is still as good as new and still pleasing to the eye, the nautical equivalent on the mooring of a ’65 Mustang in the driveway.
Many years on, Cal 40 owner Stan (“Cal 40s have no bad habits”) Honey inspired a fleet of 14 Cal 40s to race the Centennial Transpac, sailed in 2005. George’s son David joined the crew of Fin Beven’s Radiant, and the run down the Molokai Channel proved the whole concept all over again . . .
Photo by Geri Conser
The motorboat came about in 1985, when Mille put her foot down. George recalled, “I’ve always thought that if the wind is aft, a boat should have a spinnaker up. We got to a point where Mille declared that I had risked my neck too many times getting a spinnaker down when I shouldn’t have put it up in the first place.” And Sarissa, which wound up being built at Choate’s with George as yard boss, is a motorboat that a sailor could love.
There will be a memorial service at 5 pm on Sunday at the Los Angeles Yacht Club in San Pedro. Ashes will be scattered off the West End of Catalina, the last mark before Diamond Head. George had for years been Transpacific Yacht Club member number one, which he said, “Just means I’ve lost a lot of friends.”
So have we, George, so have we.
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8 Comments
As a skinny kid of 16 George asked me if I’d like to help crew on Persephone, Call-40 #1, and of course I jumped at the chance. “You’re little, go up and take care of the bow. Don’t fall off!” Were the first of many years worth of instructions that would make an ocean racer of me.
As years of long watches together flowed past George explained why the wind was over there, why the stern needed to mount the wave just so, and why ocean races were won in the wee hours of the morning when everyone else resembled shadows.
Years later, I’d repeat George’s advice to my son who would sail in school with George’s grand daughter, in the small closely knit world that is sailing. “Take care of the bow and don’t fall off.”
George, you touched so many of us. Thank you.
Beau
The 36 footer you mention in passing was the Lapworth 36. A revolutionary boat for her time there were 71 built, and the class became the preeminent One Design on the West Coast for more than two decades; nearly five decades later we still have a One Design fleet. My family has been privileged to own #71 since 1965; Leda is the boat on which I learned to sail and on which my boys are learning to sail so I don’t take this lightly.
We owe this all to George. I had the privilege to meet him and sail with him on a few occasions.
Fair winds and following seas. And thank you.
David James
I had the chance to sit next to Mr Griffith on a NHYC Opening day race on Pegasus (Cal 40). He explained the whole Cal 40 beginings, and did not realize how he REALLY made the Cal 40! my vote for the best boat of the century! I hope his Tombstone will say “Fin Keel and a Spade Rudder” RIP Mr Griffth!
I had the rare pleasure to sail with George aboard Allan Pucket’s Blackbird in many of the LAYC Whitney Series races. There was no finer sailor then George and I will never forget those races or George!
RIP George and keep watch over all of us that are still sailing!
George will always be fondly remembered for many things. For me a few standouts were opportunities free diving around Howlands with Emmet Harvey procuring some very tasty morsels, and watching him pick up his Guppy and ease it over the side down to the water, without slings or halyards – just muscle and technique. My first Transpac was aboard a Cal 40 as well.
As a little kid learning to sail at The Mole of LAYC, I fortunate to know George as a mentor. When cruising to Howlands on our family’s L-36 every summer, I was fortunate to know George like a dad. When racing to Honolulu in a Transpac, I was fortunate to know George as a crew mate. And just sitting in a cockpit sharing sailing stories, I was fortunate to know George as a warm friend. I will miss this extraordinary man. Fair winds, George.
Admiration for George –
As a teenage sailor (early to mid 1980’s) George’s way, came as a personal gift.
I was maintaining an IOR boat (Revenge) located in your back yard on the docks. You never hesitated to “show me the ropes” or lend me a tool when I needed one. I would always make sure to walk by your garage to see what cool stuff you were up to. I watched you build a gorgeous rowing dory and witnessed what I think was the maiden voyage. No fanfare, just you and your creation walking straight from the garage into the water, as if it was just another proven production hull No# XX. A mere feather in your cap following your L-36, Scud, Cal-40 accolades. I thought to my adolescent self, what a sense of pride and accomplishment that must be for you and a privilege for me to have been at the right place at the right moment. As you took the oars and rowed off across the bay, my thoughts were…… thanks George, I won’t forget this gift and hope I kick-off my golden years just like you do. Your next creation was “Sarissa” on the drafting table at that time and looks like it served you well, closing out the remainder of your golden years for more than a quarter of a century.
Thanks for the racing George, along with your talented immediate family in LAYC’s Whitney series races. You were the senior rock star who always had the invite to crew and seemed to ultimately choose the races around the islands. You defined for me in mostly un-spoken words, what an “accomplished sailor” is and what “local knowledge” means….. incredible.
Fair winds from one of many in the admiration for your accomplishments; designing, building and enjoying works of art.
Thanks George,
Dan Schiff
Hello,
I now own the Pajara and would like to contact anyone who can give me more information on this fantastic sailboat. I wish I could have met George.
Please contact me at rrlayne64@yahoo.com
or call me 314-249-7319
Thnak you,
Robert Layne