Now available, Project Cheers is a candid tale of single handed Trans-Atlantic racing in the 'early days'. (ON AMAZON - Or directly from PT Watercraft)
Project Cheers is a narrative by the late Dick Newick, Tom Follett and Jim Morris about their American entry into the 1968 OSTAR (Observer Singlehanded Trans Atlantic Race) Things were very different in 1968 in the world of yacht racing. Newick's unusual design, Cheers, a proa, shook things up a bit and forever changed certain ideas about ocean racing.
See our new website to compliment the book.
The book was only ever published once in England in 1969 and original copies are hard to find and precious. With multihulls in the spot light in the America's Cup and breaking records at an astonishing pace, we wanted to honor Cheers and the three men who created and raced the boat, for their vision and perseverance. The story is an inspiration to anyone attempting the "impossible".
Over the last 2 years, I have acquired permissions from the publishing house of the original book, and worked with the copyright heirs to obtain original photo scans and feedback on what direction we would take in re-publishing the book. (Nothing about the book had ever been saved digitally) I also nearly checked myself into a loony bin trying to work on MS WORD but was saved by MAC's Pages to format the book. Many pictures were not found in originals. It took a special scanner to get scans of them that did not produce Moire distortion when printed. We even had the photo curator at the Mariner's Museum in Newport News VA looking for original pictures. The museum hosts an extensive multihull collection.
While I would have liked this to be a glossy hard cover, my budget did not allow it. If there is interest, I can work on it. I did choose to print it with slightly larger print, and created a new cover to distinguish it from the first edition.
Profits from book and poster sales will benefit the Newick family.
Special thanks to everyone who participated in this republishing project. You know who you are. Besides the unusual grammar in the book, (we left all of that as per original text) any major mistakes can be corrected if you find them. I almost published the book with a super big boo boo (thanks to MS WORD auto format) but that was caught, (Thank you Katrina for your expert proof read!) just before going to press. Yay!
Finally, I have digital videos produced in 1968 by the BBC and CBS. (Not to mention reels of 16mm film!) Permission to upload these to the internet is still in question. These would be extremely fun to share and it seems like after more than 45 years, it should not be a problem to do so. I am working on it and if anyone has connections to those agencies, that could be helpful.
Please check out the book, poster, and website!
Enjoy a little clip that I think is from the 1960 (first) OSTAR race. The BBC has been very reserved about releasing such features to the public domain.
Thank you!! Ashlyn Brown 😉
info @ ptwatercraft . com