signed 'J. Steven Dews' (lower left), inscribed with title on the reverse
oil on canvas
101.6 x 152.4 cm. (40 x 60 in.)

FOOTNOTES
Provenance :- acquired directly from the artist.

From left to right, the vessels depicted are: 'Endeavour', 'Shamrock', 'Velsheda' and 'Cambria'.

The immortal race which spawned the ‘America’s Cup’ took place on Friday 22nd August 1851 and, to commemorate its 150th anniversary, a grand Jubilee Regatta was held in its honour at Cowes in 2001. Amongst the heavy racing schedule for the week of 18th-25th August, the organisers planned several outings involving the only three surviving yachts from the legendary J-Class, created in the early 1930s and defined as follows by the modern yachting historian Ian Dear:-

“Only ten J-Class yachts were ever built and they raced for the America’s Cup and other trophies in British and American waters for a mere eight seasons between 1930 and 1937. There have been many yachts that have been larger and still others that have been faster but no one sailing class has ever gripped the imagination of the public at large as much as the ‘Js’ did…… In fact the ‘Js’ were unique for their combination of size and speed, and for their owners and the social ambience in which they flowered and died so quickly. They dominated the yachting scene on both sides of the Atlantic for less than a decade before their fantastic cost, the death of England’s ‘Sailor King’ and the approach of World War II banished them for ever.”

Of the ten original yachts, three – miraculously – have somehow survived and were invited to participate in the festivities, along with another ageing celebrity from a rival class, the “Cambria”. All three of the surviving true ‘Js’ had been built for the yachting moguls who dominated the 1930’s racing scene – “Shamrock V” (in 1930) for Sir Thomas Lipton’s fifth and final challenge for the elusive America’s Cup; “Velsheda” (1933) for Mr. W.F. Stephenson, the Chairman of Woolworth’s in Britain; and “Endeavour” (1934) for Sir T.O.M. ‘Tommy’ Sopwith, the aeroplane manufacturer’s first America’s Cup challenge. “Cambria” however, built for Sir William Berry, later Lord Camrose, the proprietor of the Daily Telegraph newspaper, was actually rated at 23-metres but, under recently revised rules, had become eligible to race from the same start-line as the celebrated ‘Js’.

In fact, the three ‘Js’ had, for the first time in over sixty years, shared a start-line only two years before, at the Antigua Classic Week Regatta in April 1999. Over three days on that occasion, “Shamrock” had emerged victorious, with her achievements captured by Dews in a splendid trio of paintings, one of which was sold in these rooms (14th. September 2004, lot 115, £86,000). Equally anxious to record these magnificent yachts once again, the Cowes Jubilee Regatta proved unmissable for Dews, with the present painting evoking all the spectacular excitement of the event along with the timeless elegance of these classic veterans.