Synopses & Reviews
Reliance was a yacht like no other, built in 1903, at the end of the age of sail. A marvel of her time, Reliance's topsail yard towered nearly 190 feet above the water, with sails stretching 202 feet from the bowsprit to the boom's end. Many said Reliance, carrying more sail than any single-masted boat before, was simply too dangerous to sail, but the stakes were awesome. By the turn of the century, racing for the America's Cup had become more than a gentleman's game. In 1903 it was an all-or-nothing contest-fraught with political tension-between two great rivals, Britain and America.
Behind Reliance was a gallery of American greats. There was Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, America's greatest yacht designer, also known as the Wizard of Bristol. And there were the robber barons like J. P. Morgan, James J. Hill, William Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt III, who had made America an industrial force to be reckoned with. Such men spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to win the America's Cup, but they weren't willing to bankroll the contest indefinitely and endeavored to build a boat so powerful it would discourage the British for years to come. On the other side of the Atlantic, however, Sir Thomas Lipton, scrappy founder of the Lipton tea and grocery empire, was determined to win and put his personal fortune behind the construction of an equally bold challenger, his Shamrock III.
From conception to construction, through hair-raising sea trials-including fatalities during the testing of the yachts-to the grand finale of a race like no other, author Christopher Pastore brings to life this most beautiful and dangerous vessel, as well as the hearts it won and the hearts it broke. It is simply one of the most exciting sea tales ever told.
Review
"
Temple to the Wind is as expertly crafted as Nathanael Herreshoff's epic America's Cup yacht
Reliance. A riveting account of an enigmatic genius and the yacht race that was once as big as today's Super Bowl, Christopher Pastore's new book will fascinate sailors and landlubbers alike." --Nathaniel Philbrick, author of
In the Heart of the Sea and
Sea of Glory"Temple to the Wind is an intriguing study of the legendary Captain Nat, his colleagues, his competitors and the designs he crafted leading up to the largest of them all, Reliance. In the process, author Chris Pastore has compiled a revealing image of yacht racing for the America's Cup as it existed a century and more ago." --John Burnham, editor, Sailing World
"Reliance was exotic, fast, a marvel of engineering and frightening. Only a master designer/builder could make such a yacht work, in fact, excel. Christopher Pastore has meticulously researched this astounding American triumph. I learned something new on every page!" --Gary Jobson, tactician, ESPN's sailing commentator, and author of Winning America's Cup
"After conducting exhaustive research in America and Britain, Christopher Pastore has made the Reliance story even more remarkable and strange than I ever thought. One of the very few sailboats that deserve the label 'icon,' Reliance was the largest boat to sail for the America's Cup, and (until recently) the largest racing sloop ever built. Paid for by secretive millionaires, created by the mysterious Nat Herreshoff, and commanded by the diminutive and ruthless Charlie Barr, this was the highest-tech, the most fragile, and the best boat of her day - America's only hope to hold off Sir Thomas Lipton in his fanatical desire to win the Cup. How Reliance fulfilled that hope despite many obstacles is the stuff of Pastore's wonderful new book. " --John Rousmaniere, author of In a Class by Herself: The Yawl Bolero and the Passion for Craftsmanship; Sleek; Fastnet, Force 10; The Annapolis Book of Seamanship; The Golden Pastime
"An excellent, close-up view of the world of big yachts as sailing moved into the twentieth century." --Olin Stephens, eight-time America's Cup-winning naval architect and author of All This, and Sailing Too
"Readers will know from the start that Reliance will win the race, but they will want to be onboard all the way."--Booklist
“A fascinating read.”--Latitudes & Attitudes
Synopsis
One of history's most famous yachts, and the giants who made it.
About the Author
A freelance writer based in Prague, Chris Pastore has contributed articles on sailing or related topics to
Boat International,
Cruising World,
Newport Life,
Offshore,
Real Simple, and
Sailing World, where he worked as associate editor. He also served as editor of
American Sailor and
Junior Sailor, the official publications of U.S. Sailing, the sports national governing body. A native Rhode Islander, he grew up sailing and racing on Narragansett Bay. He holds an MFA in creative writing from New School University, where he currently teaches.