Whisper Owner: Bob Dodds Newport Beach, California 1960 Rhodes 29, 42 ft. Sloop

Whisper's specs are; LOA 42'3", LWL 29', Beam 10'6", Draft 6'10" full keel, Displacement: 23,000 lbs., Sail Area 720 sq. ft. with 100% fore triangle. Whisper is a full keel, masthead, staysail sloop designed by Philip L. Rhodes. She is supplement # 4 of 12 (but only 11 were built). This particular "Rhodes 29" design was drafted in New York City in 1955. Whisper was built in 1960 at the Matthiesen & Paulson yard in Arnis-Schlei by Schlezwig Holstein in West Germany for Milton O. Cross of Gross Point, Michigan, who owned the world's largest machine tool manufacturing company at that time. Mr. Cross actively raced Whisper on the Great Lakes when she was new. In later years she was berthed in San Diego for a while and now her home port is Newport Harbor.  Her present owner is Bob Dodds. Dodds actively races her and she took first overall in the 2002 Angelman Series and second in class, third overall in the 2002-2003 Sunkist series. The auxiliary power is a Westerbeke 4-107 diesel, 50 hp. with a solid two-blade propeller. She is built with double-planked African Mahogany on oak frames, bronze fastened; with bronze knees, floors, strapping, overhead arch, and massive mast support in the bilge. The screws are lined up parallel in patterns according to Lloyds specs for that period. Since her inception, she has always had varnished topsides, cabin trunk and cockpit combing.

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