Loke, was one of 11 Starling Burgess designed, Abeking Rasmussen built Eight Metres. They were all together designed and built for the New York Yacht Club as Olympic Contenders. Out of these 11 Eights, 4 still exist, 2 still race and 2 are restoration project played up in Ontario.taken form an post on sailing scuttlebutt nov 9th 2020 about 12m NyalaBuilt of the finest hardwoods at the famous Henry Nevins yard (City Island, NY), Nyala carried the unique identifier 12-US-12 (ie. the 12th 12 meter in the USA).Several sources note that she was a wedding present by F.T. Bedford to his daughter, Lynn (Lucie) Bedford (aka LuLu) and new son-in-law, Briggs Cunningham (yes, that Cunningham – winning 1958 America’s Cup skipper on Columbia).It’s also reported that FT and Briggs had previously owned an 8 Metre together (late 1920s), and Briggs is said to have credited his wife-to-be with teaching him to sail (Stars) at Pequot Yacht Club, so maybe a 12 Metre for them to campaign together is not as surprising a wedding gift as we might, at first, be tempted to surmise!As an aside, there are at least a couple of 6 Metres still sailing that are named for Mrs. Cunningham (Lucie and LuLu) which Briggs had raced to good effect.Briggs Cunningham: The Sixes SportsmanNo story of Sixes can be complete without a story or two on Briggs Cunningham. Born a year before Olin in Cincinnati, Ohio, he came from a family that could afford boats and cars, and he curated and raced both. His father was the chief financier of Procter & Gamble; his godfather was the founder.Cunningham is the only sailor I know who has a piece of sailing hardware named specifically for him, the Cunningham. (I’ve never heard anyone say, “Trim that Elvstrøm,” “Ease that Melges,” or “Get your foot off that Jobson!”)Cunningham was a driven sailor and an obsessed car racer, and was as proud of his many 24 Hours of Le Mans as his skippering of Columbia in the first 12 Metre win in the America’s Cup, in 1958. As a Yale undergraduate, he was sailing 8 Metres and S Boats and at his home club, Pequot Yacht Club in Southport, Connecticut, dipping into the early Star Class. In 1928, fresh out of school, Briggs came on the scene as part owner of an 8 Metre with his future father-in-law, E.T. Bedford, a Standard Oil executive and the original marketer of Vaseline. He married his partner’s daughter, Lucie Bedford, whom he would always claim taught him to sail and was a better sailor.The Six was his ride. In 1929, he bought the Crane-designed Akeba, which became Lucie I. After barnstorming Europe with her, he returned as one of the four members of the 1931 BAC team. His name is on the massive commemorative trophy for the team in the Seawanhaka dining room. His 1931 Lucie II was the “pace car” for the U.S. Six Metre team for years and is still winning races today under Matt Brooks, who owns a Picasso and a Matisse in the form of Stephens’ Dorade and Crane’s Lucie II.The Cunningham legend persisted into the 12 Metre era, when he filled in as helmsman on Columbia when chief Corny Shields, Sr. suffered a heart attack. The story is that after polishing off the British Sceptre in four straight races, he went to a pay phone and called his race manager at Watkins Glen, where his driver had just won the main race. As he was returning to his Columbia, a reporter approached him and commented, “Briggs, that was a fine race,” to which he replied, cars on his mind, “That is what I hear. I wish I could have seen it.” Classic and classy, Briggs would go on to adopt S & S’s schooner Brilliant for his own and eventually donate her to Mystic Seaport Museum.Pequot Yacht Club came to be through the efforts of Fred Bedford, in addition to Harold Lloyd, Johannes Schiott and Lawrence Craufurd. The first meeting of Pequot Yacht Club was held in the Greens Farms home of Fred Bedford on October 25, 1920. Arthur Knapp, P ’28, was the organizer of the first truly intercollegiate race series held in 8 meters at Pequot Yacht Club in June l928. Princeton beat Yale and Harvard, winning the George May Trophy.The McMillan Cup Regatta is the oldest collegiate sailing event. Originally, the McMillan Cup was known as the Oliver Hay Trophy. The latter was established in 1928 by Mr. Briggs Cunningham Jr as an event to honor a well-known Yale alumnus and sailor. It was retired in 1930. The McMillan Cup was donated by Mr. William McMillan of Baltimore, MD, but with the understanding that his name not appear on the cup.