FAME

This yacht’s restoration had to meet a deadline—and  it did. In only a few months after being trucked from Chicago to San Diego, FAME was strengthened and spiffed up for relaunching on her July 10 centennial in 2010—quite a feat, considering her condition, which included a noticeably sagging stern, a rotted forefoot, weak floor timbers, etc., etc. FAME’s restoration followed that of the Q-boat COTTON BLOSSOM (now LEONORE) as the second such undertaking by Dennis Conner, the well-known AMERICA’s Cup skipper. For speed in the lighter airs of southern California, compared with the winds around Marblehead that FAME was designed for, Dennis fitted FAME with a staysail schooner rig.