RATSEY, THE DYNASTY

Category: OTHERS

The firm of Ratsey & Lapthorn is a venerable institution. They are descended from the British Ratsey & Lapthorn, which in turn goes back to George Rogers Ratsey, who set up shop on the Isle of Wight in 1790 and made a name for himself by making better sails than anyone else. Back in 1815, for instance, the Ratsey-outfitted yacht Waterwitch made a monkey out of Pantaloon, a naval vessel of the same size.

Admiral Sir Putney Malcolm thereupon ordered Ratsey brought in for an audience: "I want you to tell me what there is in your sails that makes them superior to all the fleet."
As great-great-grandson Ernest now tells the story, old George Rogers smiled, cleared his throat and said nothing. "Hell," says Ernest in chuckling over his ancestor today, "they didn't think he was going to give away his patterns, did they?'"

Thomas Ratsey's career spans the classic era of the America's Cup. His entry into the family business at 15 heralded one of the most important contributions to America's Cup sailmaking made by a single individual. He was directly involved in seven challenges and the firm he controlled supplied sails for 10 challengers and four defenders during his lifetime.

At first, Ratsey's firm was in the shadow of the Lapthorn loft, but such was his promise that the latter initiated an 1882 merger to form the long-lived firm of Ratsey & Lapthorn. Tom Ratsey was then personally responsible for the sails of every challenger until Shamrock IV after his first involvement crewing on Livonia at age 20. His continuous involvement with the Cup began with the Thistle challenge of 1887 when his close friend G. L. Watson involved him in his designs at an early stage; his presence in New York during that challenge laid the foundations of many lifelong friendships and Ratsey & Lapthorn's US expansion.

Ratsey's attendance at the 1895, 1899 and 1901 Cup races became more than the now expected attendance of the challenger's sailmaker. On all these occasions he took home significant orders from American yachtsmen who recognized his unique talent. By 1901 many these were lobbying him to establish a loft in the US which he did within Robert Jacob's City Island boatyard in 1902. What resistance there was to the English invasion was effectively overcome with his firm's production of a near perfect mainsail for Cornelius Vanderbilt's RAINBOW..

George E. Ratsey (1876-1942), we see at work in his City Island shop in the right picture, succumbed on the day before Christmas1943 in New Rochelle Hospital. He was president of Ratsey & Lapthorn, Inc., City Island, well known sailmakers who have made practically all of the sails for America's Cup Defenders since 1920. He was born in Gosport, England, some 66 years ago and came of a family with generations of sailmakers behind them. Mr. Ratsey was a yachtsman as well as a sailmaker and raced numerous types of small sailcraft with considerable success. Mr. Ratsey was a member of the Larchmont Yacht Club, Cruising Club of America, Essex Yacht Club, New York Athletic Club, and the Island Sailing Club of Cowes, England.
His wife, Ethel Ratsey, and two sons, Ernest A. and G. Colin Ratsey, survive.

George Colin Ratsey, educated at Brighton College, was a British sailor and sail maker who competed in the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. He won the silver medal in the Star Class. Part of the famous Ratsey sailing dynasty.

After attending Brighton College, he served an apprenticeship as a sailmaker with his father's company, and was associated with Ratsey & Lapthorn, the oldest sail manufacturer in the world for over 50 years. The firm, whose sails adorned Lord Nelson's fleet at Trafalgar as well as numerous America's Cup contenders, was founded in England in 1690 www.ratseysails.co.uk. In addition to his Olympic silver medal in 1932, he won the Prince of Wales Cup in 1939 for 14-foot dinghies, and the Prince Philip Cup for Dragon class in 1959.

Ratsey sailed with two America’s Cup challengers, the English J-boat Endeavour in 1934, and the 12-metre Sceptre in 1958. He was also responsible for introducing the sport of frostbiting – winter sailing in small boats – to England. He eventually moved to the United States after his retirement from Ratsey & Lapthorn, and became vice-president of Yardarm Sailmakers in Needham, Massachusetts, and continued to be active in international sailing circles.

 

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