Timothea "Timmy" Larr is a naval architect and three-time winner of
United States Women's Sailing Championship. She was inducted into the
National Sailing Hall of Fame The National Sailing Hall of Fame is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes sailing and racing by recognizing individuals who have contributed to the sport, highlighting sailing's contribution to the American culture; and demonstrating i ...
in 2013. She is also known for her work in developing training programs for sailors in the United States.
Education and career
Larr is an alumna of
Friends Academy
Friends Academy is a Quaker, coeducational, independent, college preparatory school serving students from nursery school through the twelfth grade, located in Locust Valley, New York, United States. The school was founded in 1876 by 78-year-old ...
and the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
where she earned a degree in naval architecture in 1964. Following college, she worked at MacLear and Harris, a yacht design firm.
She described some of the boats she helped design, including a 72-foot double centerboard ketch and a 72 foot catamaran, in a 1966 article in the ''New York Times'' that profiled Larr.
Sailing history
Larr started sailing when she was around ten years old, and as a junior won championships in a Seabird.
In college, she sailed on the varsity team at the University of Michigan for all four years.
Larr has raced multiple types of boats. As a member of
Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club
The Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club is one of the older yacht clubs in the Western Hemisphere, ranking 18th after the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, New York Yacht Club, Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, Mobile Yacht Club, Pass Christian Yacht Club ...
, she sailed her sister's boat to win the
Raven national championships in 1961
and 1965.
She also won Manhasset Bay Yacht Club's Race Week in the Ravens in 1965. Larr won the Syce Cup, the Long Island Sound women's sailing championship in 1961, 1965, and 1973.
In 1962, she switched to sailing in the
International One Design
The International One Design (IOD, International) is a class of sail boat developed in 1936 for yacht racing. It is a 33-foot open-cockpit day sailer used for day racing, rather than for overnight or ocean races. Popularised prior to the Second ...
class
and, in an article in the ''New York Times'', she described how she was the only woman skipper in the fleet where she enjoyed the longer season and tougher competition in the class.
At the conclusion of the 1965 Larchmont Race Week, Larr received the Anne Kathleen Cullen Memorial Trophy for "the helmsman over 18 years old who, in the opinion of the race committee and flag officers, had achieved the best record against the strongest opposition in class with a substantial number of starters".
She had raced in the International One Design class that week, and the committee commented on the consistency of her results throughout the week.
In 1969, Larr was the inaugural winner of the
Etchells
The International Etchells Class is a racing class of one-design sailing boats, designed by American Skip Etchells.
Production
The first 36 boats were built by Skip Etchells and the Old Greenwich Boat Company between 1967 to 1969. In the ea ...
national championship; her husband, David Rea Larr,
crewed for her. She went on to win the Etchells national championship again in 1970 and was a two-time winner of the Etchells' North American Championship. In 1972, Larr won an Etchells race at the
American Yacht Club where she beat
E. W. Etchells, the designer of the boat.
Larr won the US Sailing Women's Championship, the
Mrs. Charles Francis Adams Trophy The Mrs. Charles Francis Adams Trophy, or Adams Cup for short, was the competition for the United States Women's Sailing Championship. The donor of the award was Francis Lovering Adams the wife of Charles Francis Adams III, former Secretary to the N ...
, three times (1961, 1965, and 1973).
Sheila McCurdy, the first female Commodore of the
Cruising Club of America The Cruising Club of America (CCA) is an international organization of cruisers whose objects are to promote cruising and racing by amateurs, to encourage the development of suitable types of cruising craft, to stimulate interest in seamanship, navi ...
, describes the summer she spent sailing with Larr in Solings while training to go to the Adams Cup which they won together in 1973.
Contributions to training
Larr has made multiple contributions to training new sailors and standardizing the sail training program in the United States. US Sailing annually presents the TImothea Larr Award for "outstanding contribution to the sport". Larr has written articles and books that train sailors and power boaters, worked on the National On-Water Standards for boating safety, and served as chair of the Junior Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound (1976-1979). In 1983, Larr participated in the discussion about
winged keel
The winged keel is a sailboat keel layout first fitted on the 12-metre class yacht ''Australia II'', 1983 America's Cup winner.
Design
This layout was adopted by Ben Lexcen, designer of ''Australia II''. Although Ben Lexcen "had tried the winged ...
s on the America's Cup boats in the
12-Meter Class
The 12 Metre class is a rating class for racing sailboats that are designed to the International rule. It enables fair competition between boats that rate in the class whilst retaining the freedom to experiment with the details of their designs. ...
, thereby bringing her training in naval architecture into the realm of competitive sailing. In 2016, Larr and Bill Simon collaborated to establish the Clagett/Oakcliff Match Race, a match racing competition for adaptive sailors. Larr was a college council member of State University of New York Maritime College and a member of committees within the United States Yacht Racing Union.
Awards
In 1992,
US Sailing
The United States Sailing Association (US Sailing) is the national governing body for sailing in the United States. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Bristol, Rhode Island, US Sailing is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. US Sailing offers t ...
awarded Larr the Nathanael G. Herreshoff Trophy for "outstanding contribution to the sport of sailing in this country in any associated activity", and in 2013 she became the second woman inducted into the
National Sailing Hall of Fame The National Sailing Hall of Fame is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes sailing and racing by recognizing individuals who have contributed to the sport, highlighting sailing's contribution to the American culture; and demonstrating i ...
. In 1993, Larr became the first recipient of the Luray Award which is Community Sailing's highest honor and recognizes someone who has furthered public access to sailing. Larr was named
US Sailor of the Year
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...
first in 1961, the first year the honor was named, and again in 1965.
References
External links
US Sailing's Timothea Larr Trophy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Larr, Timothea
University of Michigan alumni
American female sailors (sport)
Living people
1940 births
Naval architects