Former World's Largest Sailmaker Dies at Age 86

The world's largest sailmaker during the 1960s and 1970s, Frederick E. “Ted” Hood of Portsmouth, died Friday, June 26, 2013, at age 86, reports EastBayRI.com. 

Born in Beverly, MA, in 1927, the son of Ralph Stedman Hood and Helen Emmart Hood, Ted grew up in the nearby towns of Danvers and Marblehead. He attended Marblehead High School and Wentworth Institute. He served in the Navy during World War II, according to the Ted Hood website. 

In 1955, he founded Hood Sailmakers in the back of Maddie's Bar in Marblehead, but later moved the operation to the nearby Little Harbor section of that town.

With his father's help, Ted was the first sail maker to weave his own sailcloth, revolutionizing the process to enhance the strength and durability of his sails. By the 1970s, Hood Sailmakers had grown into a worldwide network of service and production lofts, with his sails ubiquitous on winning yachts, including all the Americas Cup winners from 1958 to 1977.

In 1959, his career took off when he won the New York Yacht Club Annual Cruise in his first Robin. He did so, not only as skipper, but as designer, builder and sail maker. In 1962 and 1964, he repeated the feat with Nefertiti in the America’s Cup trials, according to the Ted Hood website. 

Ted’s many victories on the water were highlighted by the Mallory Cup (1956), the Marblehead-Halifax Race (1961,1971), Newport-Bermuda Race (1968) and the SORC (1974). Also in 1974, as skipper of the Sparkman & Stephens designed Courageous he won the America's Cup sailing away from Australia's Southern Cross, 4-0.

In 1986, Ted moved his businesses to Portsmouth, transforming an old World War II Navy fuel depot into one of the largest yacht service, design, brokerage and building operations on the East Coast. His business thrived in Portsmouth until its sale in 1999. 

To read more about Ted Hood, visit his website here. 

His burial will be private. A celebration of his life will be held in Newport at a later date.