Ted Hood

[alcodiesel]

Ted has always been something of a sailing and design hero of mine.
I just finished his autobiography, "Through Hand and Eye," and found the attached. What a shock- this never crossed my desk!

 

[Loren Beach]

I wonder what company he referred to as "we"?

 

[Christian Williams]

I don't know what that final sentence means. What are "copies"?

 

[bgary]

I don't know what that final sentence means. What are "copies"?

I'm assuming he means the number of production hulls built from his designs.

In his book, Bob Perry (e.g.) talks about "hundreds of designs and thousands of launched boats".... my guess is that his "launched boats" is analogous to Hood's "copies".

 

[bgary]

I wonder what company he referred to as "we"?

Hmmm.... IIRC, "Pacific American Industries" owned EY when the -39 and -46 were built (late 60s)

No idea whether Ted Hood was a principal or investor in PAI, and can't think of how one would look that up.

 

[alcodiesel]

I figured y'all already knew about this Ted Hood connection to Ericson, so I wanted you to do the enlightening.

I did a little. To wit:

In goldenstate's 2020 EYO post Tom Vilhauer writes about Ericson:

1971-1984
Purchase by CML group, corporate ownership, better than average financial backing.

and

Wikipedia states: In 1971 Ericson was sold to CML, Charles Leighton Chairman

I remember somewhere in this autobiography Ted writing about CML. I'll see if I can find the connection.

 

[Christian Williams]

CML was a sports-gear corp which at one point owned Hood Sails and Ericson, and dumped them both. As profit centers they apparently were in the same asset class as grandfather clocks.

"In this way two Massachusetts companies, Hood Sailmakers, Inc. and Madison & Sullivan, Inc., which sold kits to make grandfather clocks, were added to the CML Group in the early 1970s. Branching out from its New England base, the company soon added Kelty Pack, Inc., a backpack manufacturer; Sierra Designs, Inc., which made camping equipment; and Ericson Yachts....

"As it acquired SyberVision, CML also sold off Ericson Yachts. The company’s executives had decided that the yacht business was too cyclical to provide steady profitability.

From https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/cml-group-inc

 

[alcodiesel]

Encyclopedia? Are those things still around. Good job, Christian.

One more thing I found in Ted's autobiography attached