When Matt Brooks and his wife Pam Rorke Levy bought the 52ft yawl Dorade in 2010, they decided to attempt to repeat all of the races the S&S designed yacht had won in the 1930s, including the Transpac, Rolex Fastnet and the Transatlantic Race. The campaign was initially referred to as “Matt’s Crazy Idea,” but subsequently dubbed, the “Return to Blue Water” campaign.  They have now reached their goal with the sailing of the 2015 Fastnet.  They have also demonstrated that the 85 year old classic can still win races and break records.

Two years ago, we posted about Dorade‘s amazing victory on corrected time in the 2013 TransPac.  Dorade had won the Transpac once before in 1939. In this year’s Transatlantic Race, Dorade placed second in her class. While she did not lead the fleet, she beat her own race-winning 1931 time by more than 2 days.

Likewise, in Fastnet 2015, Dorade cut more than 24 hours off Rod and Olin Stephens’ original time when they won the Fastnet in 1931.  She also took home three of the event’s most prestigious trophies: the Sparkman & Stephens Trophy, the Iolaire Block, and the Coates Schofield Trophy. Dorade was the oldest boat to compete in this year’s Fastnet race.

Congratulations to the entire Dorade team. An impressive campaign.