JFK’s yacht Manitou is restored and racing. We trace her star- spangled origins. Photos by Nigel Pert and c/o the White House

FROM CB294

The glittering twin scoops of Cannes Bay squat between the Mediterranean and the shimmering lavender hills of the Estérel mountains like a bum print in the sand. It is a place where life is slow enough to split the day with a siesta and fast enough to benefit in the thrilling warmth of the night.

The old port is surrounded by tall, dark streets where reassuringly surly waiters entice diners into their restaurants. It was fitting that I was in Cannes to join this particular boat, as one of the previous owners was so intrinsically connected with the film business that it is excusable to forget his political career entirely.

Manitou was built at the MM Davis & Son yard in Solomons, Maryland, in 1937. She was conceived by James Lowe of Grand Rapids, who was so determined to win the Chicago Mac Race (from Chicago to Mackinac Island, across Lake Michigan) that he commissioned the young naval architect Olin Stephens to design her specifically. She is one of Olin Stephen’s famous inboard yawls, a lineage that started with Dorade in 1930, many examples of which are still loved and raced to this day.

What he wanted was a performance cruising yacht that would race well under heavy and light conditions. So Stephens designed a 62ft (18.9m) cutter-rigged bermudan yawl with 44ft (13.4m) in the water, a 13ft 9in (4.2m) beam and a four-ton keel. She had teak planking on deck and mahogany on oak for her hull.

Manitou was launched in 1937 and promptly won the 1938 Chicago Mac Race in the cruising division (on corrected time), beating all previous records. She came a close second the next year and came back to win it again in 1940 and 1941. After these successes Mr Lowe sold her, and in 1955 she was donated to the US Coast Guard to be used as a training vessel.

It was while she was at Annapolis that Manitou was first spotted by a young Senator Kennedy. She obviously made an impression on him because, when he was elected, the presidential yacht at the time was the 92ft (28m) power yacht Honey Fitz (named after his own grandfather) and, as was customary, a fighting ship ready for naval action.

Being a keen sailor, however, and now the president, Kennedy sent naval aide Captain Tazewell Shepard Jr, to search out a suitable sailing yacht that could accommodate the equipment needed for him to keep in touch with the White House, and even the Kremlin.

One of the yachts on the list was Manitou and, in the style befitting of his entire career, the signing of her deeds was one of the first things he did sitting at the presidential desk.

She was promptly moved to Chesapeake Bay where engineers fitted her out as a working presidential office. Indeed she was soon given the nickname “The Floating White House”.

LOD: 62ft (18.9m), LWL: 44ft (13.4m), Beam: 13ft 9in (4.2m), Draught: 8ft 6in (2.6m), Disp: 60,000lb (27.2 tonnes), Sail Area: 1,778sqft (165sqm)

Although he never raced her himself, Kennedy and a friend, future America’s Cup winner Emil “Bus” Mosbacher, had an impromptu competition off Newport to see whether Manitou could beat his 38ft (11.6m) Weatherly. Sadly, the boats got so close approaching a mark that the secret servicemen in their RIB, nervous already at this sudden and unexpected turn of speed, intercepted Bus – much to the annoyance of the president.

During his time he not only used her as a presidential yacht, but also invited a bevy of stars and starlets aboard as guests, due to his fascination with Hollywood. The bathtub in the aft cabin, sunken under the cabin sole, is said to have been host to, among others, Marilyn Monroe.



Page 2: The star wanes