63' Motorsailor Misshief

This is a picture of the boat I did my first blue water sail on. I got on in Stamford, Ct. Thanks to Nigel Helps of then Newport Yacht Services to assist with the delivery.We sailed under the Brooklyn bridge and Past Lady Liberty under construction at the time. Our first stop was St. Georges in Bermuda. This turned into a week long diversion to rest before the final leg of the delivery to St. Thomas. I arrived with 52$ in my pocket and no job. 1 day later I was hired by the Captain of the Odyssey III (Blair Albert), a 93' Yacht Fisherman that turned out to be a very busy charter yacht.

A couple of weeks later I was voted the best Chef in the Show and Odyssey III was voted Best Power yacht . It was the 1985 International Charter Yacht Show in Saint Thomas USVI. As a result of that I was invited to compete in the First Annual international Yacht Chefs Competition in English Harbour ,Antigua.

I entered a Pate de Faisan En Croute Al'Ancienne. This was a very large Pheasant Pate similar to the one I did while competing at the Bicentennial Culinary Salon and Competition in NYC with the Johnson and Wales College Culinary team.**side note** Chef Paul Martin ** and i were selected to remain in NYC at the show and demonstrate how to carve fruit and vegetables , as well as speak to the shows attendees about Johnson and Wales College .More on the time spent in NYC later.

For this version I bought 12 fresh Pheasants from a game farm in up-state NY, along with a matched male and female pair of pheasants still in their feathers to use as decoration. I bought Orchids to match the colors on the birds,grapes in California were matched for bunch size, shape and color and one half pound of truffles from France.

Thanks to Chef Shelia Lukins for donating 200$ of Silver Palate Gourmet products and to Harry at the wine shop on Front street in St. Thomas, USVI.

Needless to say this made quite a splash as it was way over the top. I entered the Appetizer part of the competition. I received a second place due to one of the judging categories ( ease of preparation and availability of ingredients). For me it was not hard and just because the ingredients were purchased from California to France did not make them difficult to obtain,wells leas for me.No , most of the ingredients ere not available in the USVI but, difficult to get, no.

I served with the Pate several bottles of, Chateau Lynch Bages 67'...they only cost 34.00$ a bottle then.

Craig Claiborne, Lawrence Harvey,Zane Early Zakaroff, Fred Feretti were the judges. Craig Claiborne later told me it was " the best pate he had ever eaten" . A comment that I have remembered since.

I invited Zane Zakaroff and her husband Fred Feretti then editors of Gourmet Magazine on the Odyssey III for a few days of R& R. They accepted and I had the opportunity to pick their brains for Ideas and suggestions. We spent the time in St Croix, USVI.

What a few first weeks in the Caribbean. I was in heaven.

Thanks to all who made it possible. Bill Ponsoldt, the Odyssey III owner, Captain Blair Albert and to Bernadette Brennan and Linda Morris who worked for Cruising World Magazine and were responsible for asking me to enter the competition on such short notice.

Richard Lawton
ClassicYachtChef.com

Intrepid America's Cup winner 1967 and 1970

This is a beautiful picture of the America's Cup 12 meter - Intrepid sailing past the the Inn at Castle Hill. Newport,RI.

It was the first America's Cup boat I saw race. Skippered by Bus Mosbacher, it was 1967 and I was a VIP guest viewing from the deck of a carrier from Newport's' Navy base. My Dad was the Mayor of Middletown at the time.

Some years later I was employed by the Inn at Castle Hill as a Bartender. It was the summer of 1975' and one I will never forget. It was just before I went to Johnson Wales College as a Culinary Arts student and also the summer before I was married. I learned a lot about myself that summer; some of the lessons still have a bearing on how I live my life now.

Back to the boat and the race. I saw 2 heats in the finals, both from the carrier. We ate in the Officers mess and I got a great tour of the ship. I want to thank my Dads best friend Frank Booth who took me to see the races. Dad was working.

This was the event that began my love of the sea , the boats and the people that work on them.

It was not until may years later that I would combine my talents as a Chef and passion for boats into a career as a Chef on yachts.

Thank you to all that have allowed me to share in their lives on the sea.


Richard Lawton
ClassicYachtChef.com

New york Yacht and Ship Company ca 1928

I found this looking around this afternoon waiting for my daughter to finish her Ballet Summer Session. It looks like it was built the year prior to the MV/Olympus. It has an asking price of 135,000$ could be an interesting restore project...maybe a live a board for me.

Thanks,

Richard Lawton
ClassicYachtChef.com

The Yacht Senneca a Summer in the Great Lakes

Here is another Yacht I was the chef on. It is the Yacht Seneca. I did a single long trip as chef on this yacht. The trip consisted of leaving Fort Pierce, Florida , non stop to Newport, RI. We stayed for a few days then left next stopping in Gaspe' at the head of the Saint Lawrence. It is a wonderful place and I highly recommend it as a cruising location in the summer...way too cold in the winter. Getting there we saw Whales,White small whales, loads of Dolphins chasing our wake. I saw an Ocean Sun Fish and a Basking Shark. We passed the very beautiful Schooner Bluenose all this before seeing a couple of small early season Icebergs.
Water was still falling form the high cliffs some more than 1,000 feet or at least it looked like it.

As a chef the local seafood is incredible. Lobsters were $ 2.50 a pound, Mussels and Clams were the sweetest I have ever had . But the best was the Salt Cod. I call it salted but it was different than most in that it was only lightly salted then air dried. It was the most wonderful, sweet, firm and slightly salty. The crew and I ate it as a snack only having to rinse it just a bit. We bought 20 pounds before we left for the rest of the summer.

Our next stop was Quebec City. Seneca stayed a week. It was my first time in Quebec since college at Ricker College in Houlton, Maine in 1973. I was busy on the yacht every day and most nights. The food and night lift is decidedly French but for a Chef on a grand tour of the great Lakes WOW.....like being in France without the expense....leaving there we cruised through the Thousand Islands area stopping a couple of times for the evening. My first time with " Cuban Cigars" a love I still have 20+ years later.

I will write more on this later. ...detailing several stories about the Highlights and the Lowlifes experienced along the way. some names will be changed.

Here is a photo....one more thing, thanks Butch and Diane for a great summer.

Thanks,

Richard Lawton
ClassicYachtChef.com

Antigua Classic Yacht Races

http://www.antiguaclassics.com/09html/gallery00.html

Here is the link to the Antigua Classic Yacht Race Gallery. It is an amazing collection of mostly large sailboats in all sorts of configurations.
Ashanti of Saba is the boat in the background.

I was hired as the Chef on Ashanti of Saba in January of 1989. I was living in the USA . It was a Very Cold winter when I received a call from Nigel at Newport Yacht Services telling me about an opportunity on a Schooner that was in St. Marteen.It did not take much time to make a decision. I looked outside it was 10 degrees , snowing with 2 foot high snow drifts. I said yes and was on a plane in two days . I arrived in St Marteen at 11 pm. The next morning I was shopping with 20,000$ cash in my pocket. The only instruction I had was to stock the boat with enough food and beverages to last for a charter that included 14 German Sailors for two weeks. Needless to say Beer was a part of the supplies. I bought and the guests consumed 30 cases ( 24 each). It was an amazing couple of weeks with the group group of 14 from Germany... most were very experienced sailors. We had a great time.....I will tell more stories at a later time.

Thanks to Captain Uli Prusse, Marcel, Gary and the rest of the crew on Ashanti of Saba.It was an unbelievable experience. I will never forget setting the " Yankee Fisherman "tacking and going rail down at 17 plus knots .Gary I hope you and Christi are still happy.

Thanks

Richard Lawton
ClassicYachtChef.com

The Black Pearl and a few memories of her and my beginings as a Chef

		The article below is the best I have found with information on the Black Pearl. It is the first sailboat I ever had the pleasure of being a part of. I was very young , attending the Newport,RI YMCA summer camp. It was being held on the grounds of the Warburton property" The Glen" in Portsmouth,RI.....I was around 8 or 9 years old and was selected with a group of several others to go for an hours sail. The Pearl was moored in the Sakonnet river just off the shore. One of the Pearl's tenders came to shore to pick up our group. We were placed next to crew members and allowed to row the 100 yards to the Pearl. Soon aboard we set sail , did a couple of tacks and came back to the mooring. I did not know how this short sail would affect my life and I am now deeply indebted to Mr.Barkley Warburton III. I would be. My love of the sea, the fine ships sailing her oceans and the people that spend their lives on the waves. Many years later, I was 16 years old, I worked for the Black Pearl Restaurant in Newport,RI. just after it was purchased from Mr. Warburton by Tom Cullen. I worked as a busboy for the second half of the summer and learned a lot about the restaurant business. Mr Cullen remarked to me several times;"you are certainly paying attention to being on time". (Paraphrased)..today I find myself trying to live up to that standard.Anyone that knows me now wil say that I am never late and always am prepared for any situation. The other lesson I learned while working at the Black Pearl was that the chefs work harder than any other person in the restaurant.I swore to myself at that time that I would never, ever work in the kitchen. Heck the busboys made more money than the line cooks. In many cases that still holds true today 40 years later. I am now the Chef on a wonderful yacht the MV/Olympus. A beautiful Fantail Motoryacht owned by Diane Vanderbeek. I have been working in kitchens since 1975 when I was a freshman at the new Culinary School in Providence, RI Johnson and Wales College. I was in the second graduating class. I fell in love with french food and everything related to what I knew as Le Grande Cuisine. Thank you to Chef Lozier and my team mate Chef Paul Martin. The two of us were selected to demonstrate how to carve vegetables at the 1976 Bicentennial Culinary Arts Competition and food Show held in NYC that year. I will write more tomorrow and include the first recipe I have used over and over again since 1975. Thanks also to BoneYard Boats of Marbelhead Mass for putting together this fine article....many thanks. Richard Lawton ClassicYachtChef I will try and post the article later.it would not upload for now.

Classic Yachting in the Pacific Northwest

It was early in the 60,s when I had the opportunity to see the opening race of my first America's Cup Race from the deck of a carrier. My Dad was the Mayor of Middletown. We had just come from Festival Field where preparations were underway for the Folk Festival.
Dad told me that the next day I could stand on the deck of a carrier and watch off Newport's Ocean drive the first race with Bus Mossbacher at the helm of the Intrepid.....Wow what a race.My first race and from the deck of the largest carrier on the east coast...as a 12 year old I was in Heaven.

Many years have passed since my first introduction to the world of yachting.

I am now the Chef on the MV/Olympus in Seattle. The yacht is owned by Diane Vanderbeek of Mercer Island,WA. or I should say Diane is the current custodian.

The Olympus was built in 1929 in New York. it has has several owners and many important visitors over it's 80 years.

Please visit the website WWW.YachtOlympus.com for a great history of a very important boat.

This is my first post on a new blog dedicated to the Chefs and all of the " Foodies" that make it possible for me to cook the foods I love.

I work on a beautiful Classic fantail Yacht in the Pacific Northwest. I visit intimate romantic coves of Puget Sound and along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Native Cultural sites of British Colombia , important Maritime centers and many of the great Northwest Coastal cities like Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria.

I will be writing Recipes , posting Photographs and telling Stories of my past and present work as a Chef on Classic Yachts.

Stories will begin with my first sailing experience on the " Black Pearl" owned by Barkley Warburton in Newport,RI, move through my many years as a Chef on some very beautiful yachts in the Caribbean, New England, the Great Lakes and in the Pacific Northwest.

Thanks,

Richard Lawton
ClassicYachtChef.com