SAD NEWS FROM L’HYDROPTERE
Between the writing of my story “Fly, Foiler, FLY!” and the piece actually going to press (The Multihull Issue, June/july), Chris Welsh, one of the story’s main protagonists, suddenly and unexpectedly passed away, sending shock waves through the sailing world. As well as being a central figure in the salvation and resurrection of the foiling boat l’hydroptere—the focus of the article—welsh was a longtime figure in West Coast and international sailing circles. He was beloved by many and always up to something when it comes to restoring and campaigning unique vessels. He’s perhaps best-known for purchasing and restoring the old Spencer 65 Ragtime and campaigning her in the Pacific, including in the Transpac race and in the Tahiti Race. Renowned sailor and marine photographer Genny Tulloch, who was a close friend of Welsh, reports that l’hydroptere is still at the Sugar Dock in San Francisco, where it has been passed over to Welsh’s partner, Tina Roberts. The foils and appendages had just recently been sent to the Airbus factory in France. Piece by piece, the boat is being refurbished and resurrected to fly once again.
Roberts is now at the helm and plans to continue to carry out Welsh’s visions with Ragtime, l’hydroptere and the Sugar Dock, among other things.
“If anyone is capable of doing it, it’s her,” Tulloch said. “Chris wanted to completely revamp Ragtime, and campaign it in the Med for some inshore, offshore and classic racing. Tina and [l’hydroptere partner] Gabriel Terrasse are figuring out what to do with l’hydroptere from here. Whether Chris’ long-term goal of getting the boat going and competing in the Fastnet is realized remains to be seen, but he really just wanted to get the boat resurrected and sailing with modern technology. And the Sugar Dock will continue to evolve into a world-class facility to work on high-performance racing yachts here on the West Coast.”
Chris Welsh, the central figure in the resurrection of l’hydroptere, recently passed away. Work on the boat continues, with hopes she’ll fly once more.