EDWIN LEVICK COLLECTION, C/O MARINERS’ MUSEUM
Bystander alongside the J-class Ranger in 1937CLASSIC BOAT SEPTEMBER 2016 29Australian attempt was mounted by Packer’s compatriot,
the food industry giant Emile Christenson and his
syndicate. That contender, Dame Pattie, again failed to
break the American stranglehold. For all seven of these
campaigns, Bystander can be seen in old black-and-white
newspaper photos, ferrying sails and crew, seen here
moored to big private yachts and seen there corralling
her charges from her huge towing bitts.
“She’s always attractive and always useful” related
present owner Elizabeth Meyer from her farm in
Massachusetts, which in early April had still to shrug off
the blanket of snow it had been under all winter. If you
don’t know Elizabeth’s name, incidentally, let’s sum up
her long CV in five words: she started the J revival.
Elizabeth had long known about Bystander but in the
late 1980s she was tied up with the restorations of
Shamrock V and Endeavour, meaning she was a little
over-boated. But after selling Endeavour in 1999, she and
boatbuilder husband Michael McCaffrey (Naragansett
Shipwrights), as well as Michael’s colleague Chris Scott,
were ready to take the project on. At that point, Bystander
was afloat under the hot Australian sun and Dr William
Collier of GL Watson Design helped broker the deal. In
2002 Bystander returned to her spiritual home of
Newport, Rhode Island, to be resurrected to grandeur.