Meet Chris Stone, architect, husband and longtime sailboat racer. Few people have been active in the J/24 Class longer than he has. It was back in the late ‘80s when Stone started racing these boats, a time that many regard as the heyday of the class. He stayed active for about five years and then took about a decade off to get married and focus on his career. In 2003, he jumped back into the class, and he hasn’t stopped since.
Stone has actually been racing sailboats for the better part of four decades. It’s no surprise that he’s a veteran Charleston Race Week competitor. He’s been here six times before to compete in the J/24 Class, all but one of those on his own boat. “I had a fabulous new J/24 built for the 2011 Worlds in Argentina (by J-Boats Argentina) and that’s the boat we’re racing these days,” he explains.
So, what brings him and Team Velocidad back to CRW so regularly? “I like that the current, wind, land masses, water depth, and multiple rivers all play a part. The confluence of all of these factors out on the race course makes for a multilevel chess game. For me, that’s extremely challenging, but also very exciting.”
When he’s not traveling to regattas, Stone is fond of participating in the Wednesday evening races at his home club – Atlantic Highlands YC. He says he customarily travels to about a half dozen regattas each year. “We always start the year with the J/24 Midwinters in Florida, then the Easter Regatta on Lake Murray in South Carolina, and finish up our Southern sojourn with Charleston Race Week before bringing the boat back up north for the spring regattas.”
Stone, who is an architect specializing in high-end residential design as well as historic cornices and building facades, says his regular traveling crew consists of current or former Thistle racers. “Brad Russell from Charlotte, N.C. is my tactician; Doug Toney from Nashville, Tenn., trims for us; Ouida Oliver (my wife) is on the mast and then we rotate a number of people through the bow position. We’ve had Tim Fitzgerald from Charleston; Kyle Fast out of Stonington, Conn.; and Emily Aspland from Washington, D.C. up there. They’re all very smart sailors and I’m fortunate to have them on board when I do.”
Making the trek to Charleston for Race Week, says Stone, is pretty easy and there are ample enticements. “We like it because many of the top boats in our class participate, but also, the camaraderie and the parties are excellent. And, we all love the on-the-water challenges of the current and wind; those are excellent. Also, we love the town of Charleston. Our crew always makes it a point to have dinner in historic downtown Charleston at least once. And my wife always gets in some shopping downtown. So, there’s a lot to like here.
