Walt Walters

[bertsboat]

Here is Walt. Still good with a pencil. Looking at the Fino drawings.

[olredalert]

----Thanks, Bert!!! What a treat it was to go to Walts with you, Mark and Jeff that day. Im still blown away buy what Walt has accomplished during his life. He must have never slept. All that and just so humble, and a great life partner in his wife as well.......Bill S

[scippy]

That's a great picture!......he looks so vibrant!..........you guys are so lucky to share some time with such a major player in boat design!.......where does he reside?

[Morgan's Cloud]

We really have to appreciate the fact that so few of these guys are still around and try to do all we can to get everything historical out of them while we are still able to .
Besides Walt and Brownie how many are still left ?

It's so sad that when they're gone it's like loosing a great grandparent who grew up in the sticks without electricity and had nothing to their name at all , or were veterans of one of the World Wars but were the best people you ever knew. Then you realize that you never took the time to sit down with them and ask them all the details about their life.

[Lenny]

Walt signed a Donzi flag for me a few years back. Thanks to Cliff for that :)

haven't flown it yet

[smidgen too]

We only planned to stay for about 1hr with Walt but after opening a lost case of more of Walt's drawing 4hrs was not enuff. As much as I thought I knew about offshore I never realized Walt had so much to do with the boat designs we see & use today.

[gcarter]

Besides Walt and Brownie how many are still left ?

A contemporary and good friend of Walters, Sonny Levi, is still alive......at least he was six months ago, or so. He's about 88 years old.
If you're not familiar w/him, he was the Ray Hunt of Europe. His book, "From Dhows to Deltas" is a must read for aspiring performance boat designers. BTW, Hunt died in '78.
Michael Peters has said he is a student of sonny Levi, and to quote Peters:
" I’m not a naval architect. So everything I do relies on somebody to set me straight and interpret it. In revisiting these books I
realized the person I really learned everything from was Sonny Levi."
IF only Levi lived here in the US instead of Italy and the Isle of Wight.

[HallJ]

George,
Sonny is still kickin'. I had met him in Cowes this year at the awards ceremony.
He was kind enought to join us for a photo with the rest of the "Dry Martini"
Racing Team.
Jeff

[gcarter]

George,
Sonny is still kickin'. I had met him in Cowes this year at the awards ceremony.
He was kind enought to join us for a photo with the rest of the "Dry Martini"
Racing Team.
Jeff

Thanks Jeff!
Can you post the photo?

[HallJ]

Here you go George,


Jeff

[Ed Donnelly]

Can you put names to faces?
I am guessing Jeff far right
Didn't I meet you last year in Florida???

[gcarter]

Can you put names to faces?
I am guessing Jeff far right
Didn't I meet you last year in Florida???

Yep, you met Jeff at the antique boat show, and at my shop.
Sonny is to his right, and I don't know the other two.

[HallJ]

Hi Ed. We had dinner at the Mission Inn.

Mike Bontoft is on the left he owns and throttles the boat. Christian Toll is next to Mike and drives the boat.
Christian's Father used to own "Magnum Tornado" one of Don's race boats. He now has a Magnum 27 sport from which the green flag was dropped to start the race this year.

Jeff

[HallJ]

More Walt,

Here I am with Walt. We are holding our Cowes Torquay trophies.
That's two Minnesotans who have raced Cowes 50 years apart.
Walt Raced it in '63 with Tommy Sopwith in a 31' Bertram.
My first year was 2013 in "Dry Martini".
Did you know, Walt was the Chief Plastics Engineer at Bertram?

Jeff

[Lenny]

that is very cool. :clap:

Great pic and thank you for sharing the post.

Humbled ...

[Voodoocanoe]

More Walt,

Here I am with Walt. We are holding our Cowes Torquay trophies.
That's two Minnesotans who have raced Cowes 50 years apart.
Walt Raced it in '63 with Tommy Sopwith in a 31' Bertram.
My first year was 2013 in "Dry Martini".
Did you know, Walt was the Chief Plastics Engineer at Bertram?

Jeff

WOW :worthy:

[HallJ]

Here is Walt's custom family cruiser.
https://books.google.com/books?id=rzFlspOCeQoC&pg=RA1-PT106&lpg=RA1-PT106&ots=rurMINKusJ&focus=viewport&dq=houseboat+pachyderm&output=html_text

Jeff

[bertsboat]

My wife and I paid a visit to Walt and Iverna Walters today to deliver one of the Fino models. The smile on his face was priceless . Walt designed the Fino. He said the Fino was a sexy boat and his favorite of all time. He was born in 1924. Wow! He couldn't stop looking at it. It was a good for Walt, and us too.

Soon everyone that has a Fino will have a model. The first 7 came in last week and I just knew Walt would light up when I gave him one. He kept saying what a beautiful boat and he kept saying "this is for me?"
It made me feel good.82778827798278082781

[Ed Donnelly]

What a beautiful jesture. I bet his smile made it all worthwhile..Ed

[olredalert]

More Walt,

Here I am with Walt. We are holding our Cowes Torquay trophies.
That's two Minnesotans who have raced Cowes 50 years apart.
Walt Raced it in '63 with Tommy Sopwith in a 31' Bertram.
My first year was 2013 in "Dry Martini".
Did you know, Walt was the Chief Plastics Engineer at Bertram?

Jeff

----Jeff,,,Were you standing in a hole? When are you getting back to the US? Mark is having withdrawls!!!......Bill S

[olredalert]

----Bert,,,I didn't scroll down to this pic before posting to Jeff. What a great shot and memorable day. WOW!!! Wish I could have been there to see it. Every day when I look out the window at the Fino I think of Walt and how poor the boating world would have been without his vision. My model arrived and its just toooo cool!!! Thanks so much for all you have done! I need to do some serious catching up.......Bill S

[Greg Guimond]

I'm certain Walt paid it forward many times over decades. Nice to see him getting some back. Great pic :yes: