One hundred eighteen years of Regatta excitement continues at Stevens
This weekend, with a grand history of sailing that dates to the post-Civil War America's Cup, Stevens Institute of Technology will once again be a contender for a prize finish. The Stevens Yacht Club will compete against three other college teams in a Match Race Open Regatta, March 31 and April 1, 2001. The vessels will traverse the waters between Liberty State Park in Jersey City, N.J., and the north end of Ellis Island in New York Harbor.
The Stevens team will challenge those from Kings Point-United States Merchant Marine Academy, Army-West Point and Georgetown. The racing will begin at 10 a.m. on March 31 and at 9:30 a.m. on April 1 at Liberty State Park. The public is welcome to observe. For further information, please call or e-mail the above News Service contact person.
The vessels used by the Stevens Yacht Club will be Solings, the fast day-racer/sailer craft designed in the 1960s by a Stevens' alumnus from Norway, Jan Herman Linge. The New York City Community Sailing Association will provide several of the craft to the Stevens team. The Solings will measure 26 feet 11 inches in length, with a three- to four-person capacity. Each vessel weighs in at 2,277 pounds. Pettit Paint Company, who will also sponsor the event, will provide protective coating paint for the Solings.
By participating in the race, Stevens will continue a tradition of intercollegiate racing begun in 1883. The university's picturesque harborside location evokes tales of water-racing lore flowing from the history of the Stevens family itself.
John Cox Stevens, brother of Edwin A. Stevens (founder of the Institute), established the New York Yacht Club aboard his vessel, the Gimcrack, in 1844. At that time, J.C. Stevens was also named the first commodore of the club. The first clubhouse was built in 1845 on Stevens' property in Hoboken, in what is now known as the Elysian Fields District near East 10th Street.
The yacht America, built by George Steers for the Stevens family, has gone down in history for its victory against 14 British vessels in English waters in 1851. For the Grand Prize, the Stevens family was awarded the Hundred Guinea Cup, and Queen Victoria was shown around the vessel by J. C. Stevens. The United States held the cup, thereafter known as the America's Cup, for 132 years. A plank from the America, salvaged by Bill Ryan, Stevens' Class of '34, is displayed in the Stevens Library today.
Numerous winning and challenging vessels to participate in subsequent cup races have been design-tested at Stevens' own Davidson Laboratory, now also known for coastal and port monitoring research.
The tradition of watercraft racing will continue with the students of Stevens this weekend, in waters not far from Stevens Institute of Technology.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.
Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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