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In the principle competition to see which yachts would become the leading contenders to defend the America’s Cup each season, the Goelet Cup Races off Newport Road Island were an annual event of the New York Yacht Club and invited competitors. The first was held in 1882, and they raced for a perpetual trophy held by the Club, and annual custom trophy cups designed by Tiffany & Co. of New York with a $1,000 prize for the winning sloop and schooner.

The 1887 race saw a large fleet sail the race. Here, STILETTO, PURITAN, VOLUNTEER, AMERICA, MISCHIEF, NORSEMAN and ELECTRA break the starting line between Fort Adams and the aptly named “Dumpling Rock” of Newport Harbor. VOLUNTEER proved to be the class yacht of the race and 1887 in her maiden season, winning the race by more than 8 minutes and losing only one match the entire year. Shane Couch’s historic research is a strong asset to what may only be labeled a superb artistic painting. Technically precise, his yachts hold all of their design excellence and grace, while noting if found wanting in the sea and sky atmosphere.

VOLUNTEER won the right to defend the America’s Cup in 1887 by defeating a Boston syndicate’s MAYFLOWER and proved a good choice, as she handily defeated the English Challenger THISTLE in the series over the New York Yacht Club’s harbor and outer courses off Sandy Hook. She and her contemporaries are well remembered herein.

The New York Yacht Club flagship schooner, PHANTOM, is leading the fleet around the Sandy Hook Lightship in its annual regatta. The year is 1867, and the fleet includes such stalwart members of the Club as Richard Loper onboard PALMER, and J. Gordon Bennett Jr.’s DAUNTLESS, two of the period’s most renown schooners. Sailing also is the first successful America’s Cup defender, MAGIC, and fresh on the return from the first Transatlantic yacht race, VESTA, owned respectively by William H. McVicker and Pierre Lorillard. The superb artistry of Shane Michael Couch has never been more detailed nor layered with such delicate precision, as he capably shows the seven vessels here: five racing, the famous lightship and a two manned digny enjoying the view.

The newly establish event, scheduled in the peak of summer, was based on a simple principle. If you sail two boats together, they’ll race to their destination. Soon private wagers led way to offered prizes, stakes wagered, and trophy cups. PHANTOM’s owner, Henry Stebbins, started the schooner’s very successful career at this event, here rounding the Lightship with a fresh southern breeze on a light and variable day, to lead the final leg back to the Staten Island starting line. PHANTOM, built by Joseph Van Dausen as a modified version of Archibald Cary Smith’s design for SILVIE, would be kept in prime condition and sailed with the club until 1900. She would win the Vice Commodore’s Cup in 1868, a Sweepstakes against CAMBRIA and MADELINE in 1870 and the Citizens Cup that same year.

The proclaimed “yachting capital of America” and home to prominent designers, builders and notable racing yachts of lore, Marblehead, Massachusetts is herein a backdrop for the grace and beauty of the Schooner ARIEL and the artistry of Shane Couch. Fresh launched into her maiden racing season, ARIEL would dominate the schooner class this year for her owner, Commodore George G.B. Hill of the Seawanhaka Yacht Club and her designer, the renown A.C. Smith.

The compositional mastery of Couch is to be marveled at, and his accuracy and attention to detail rivals marine artists of any age. The city itself is well featured, with the risen tower of Abbott Hall, Marblehead’s seat of government, clearing the layer of forested hillside. Many waterfront establishments are clearly in view, as are other schooners, a steam launch and a couple at leisure. It is ARIEL and her active crew that captures the eye and comes forward in motion. Her black-burnished sides and graceful lines drew many admirers. ARIEL measured 109' overall, 79.85' at the waterline with a beam of 13.9' and a 10.5' depth.

The large schooner would be immediately challenged for dominance with the arrival of J. Rogers Maxwell’s EMERALD the next year. Interestingly she would retire for five years to cruise and enjoy non-competitive sailings, only to race again in 1899 under ownership by New York Yacht Club’s F.L. Leland.

Oil on Canvas

Signed LL: Shane Michael Couch

The third of Nathaniel Herreshoffs’ Americas Cup yachts, COLUMBIA, is in a head-to-head match with the racing schooner CORONA, owned by Commodore Lewis Cass Ledyard of the New York Yacht Club. Taking place off Beaver Tail Lighthouse in Narraganset Bay, the N.Y.Y.C. yachts had stopped in Newport just prior to the Astor Cup Race of July 29. They are escorted by Steam Yacht flying the N.Y.Y.C. burgee as the primary observer. Couch masterfully puts a present feeling on yesterday’s greatest yacht races. He excels is his dynamic realism of the structure and function of the racing yachts, with everything in strict accordance to the actual yachts. Beautifully proportioned, these are not lifeless structures, but ships of fluid, moving souls set upon oceans that portray the element as fine as any artist ever has. Painstakingly researched, the event details come back to life on his painted canvas. The complete composition holds the eye and has everything to be desired. It is a rare artist who can blend the concrete and the ethereal in such a manner, to painting a sophisticated and aesthetically pleasing work of art. When combined with the portrayals of such great racing yachts, he rises above the crop of contemporary artists. American yacht racing reached its pinnacle in the late 19th Century, and if you weren’t there, you can be now.