Skip Sheldon, 87

Shelburne, Vt.

Dr. Huntington “Skip” Sheldon passed away on Friday, Dec. 29. Skip’s medical career spanned four decades and was distinguished by his work in research and teaching. Skip also lived a long and diverse sailing life, accomplishing much in both racing and cruising. He got his start in sailing at the Devon Yacht Club in Eastern Long Island. Skip’s experiences sailing as a medical student on the schooner Baleen, and racing-cruising Maine and Scandinavian waters, would provide the foundation for his pursuit of lofty ocean-sailing goals. In the 1990s he and his family sailed the Baltic, Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas before heading for high latitudes, where they eventually reached Spitsbergen in the Arctic.

Aboard two American-designed and -built offshore race boats, Aurora and Zaraffa, he competed in many of the world’s great offshore races, including the
Newport Bermuda, Sydney Hobart, Transatlantic, Miami to Montego Bay, Gotland Round and the Middle Sea Race.

The 2003 Transatlantic campaign was an epic high-latitude adventure – 3,600 miles from Newport to Cuxhaven, Germany. Zaraffa (a Reichel-Pugh 66) jumped to an early lead in the Gulfstream and never looked back, claiming first-to-finish and overall honors. Days later the Sheldon family boarded Zaraffa for an extended cruise in Scandinavian cruising grounds.

Even while leading his team’s offshore racing campaigns, Skip managed time for coastal sailing. Maine’s famed Eggemoggin Reach Regatta was a favorite of the Sheldon family, which they regularly entered with their Aage Nielsen 44 Patience.