Bernard Gotfryd, Library of Congress
America’s Cup legend and CNN founder Ted Turner passed away Wednesday, May 6. He had been living with Lewy body dementia for around seven years.
After a childhood spent sailing at the Savannah Yacht Club, Turner won the FW Worlds in 1965, the 5.5 Metre Gold Cup in 1970, and SORC overall in 1966. After conflicts with other sailing greats of the time including Dennis Conner and Lowell North, he earned the title of “Captain Outrageous” for his rockstar persona and brash, candid critiques.
After Courageous won the America’s Cup in 1974, Turner acquired her and put up a challenge against Ted Hood aboard the newly built Independence to represent America in the 1977 Cup. Turner won and then swept the Australian challenger in four races.
During the 1983 Sydney-Hobart, a boat sponsored by Fox New’s Rubpert Murdoch collided with the maxi yacht Condor, which Turner was skippering. Condor subsequently grounded just 6.2 miles from the finish line, and this collision, not politics or business interests, kicked off a decades long feud between the two cable news magnates.
Turner was inducted in the America’s Cup Hall of Fame in 1993 and the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2011. He is the only man to be voted Rolex Yachtsman of the Year four times.
In addition to a storied media career, Turner was also an active spokesperson for numerous causes he believed in, including funding United Nations Foundation, Nuclear Threat Initiative, Turner Foundation, Captain Planet Foundation, and the Turner Endangered Species Fund.
For more on Turner’s sailing career, click here.
