Ted Turner, the legendary “Captain Outrageous”, passed away on May 6 after a seven-year battle with Lewy Body Dementia. A larger-than-life personality and a fiercely competitive man, Turner made his mark on life in America and around the world in many ways.
The sailing community will remember him for his many achievements on the water. As a young man, he won the FW worlds, the 5.5 meter Gold Cup and the SORC. He is the only skipper to win the Pineapple Cup –Miami to Jamaica—three times and I was lucky enough to sail against him in the 1973 race.
In 1977, Turner won the America’s Cup at the helm of Courageous and brought irreverent flair to the otherwise staid event. Loud and forceful as a skipper, he earned the nickname the “mouth from the south” as his booming voice could be heard across any race course. And, he became the first sailor to be on the Sports Illustrated cover.
A winning skipper around a race course, Turner was also a consummate seaman and offshore sailor. He demonstrated this by winning the 1979 Fastnet Race in horrific weather conditions that caused several boats to sink and the loss of many lives. The only person ever named Rolex Yachtsman of the Year four times, he was later inducted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame in 1993 and the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2011.
But, Turner was much more than an accomplished sailor. His signature achievement was the founding of CNN which created the first 24-hour news broadcast and launched both a new wave of how news was delivered but also the cable television business in general. CNN and his other cable channels made him a billionaire.
But, Turner was not a normal billionaire. He had a big mouth and he liked to daringly put his money where his mouth was. He was devoted to conservation, anti-nuclear proliferation, and world peace and he donated hundreds of millions to his causes.
Turner bought up huge tracts of the American west and at one point was the country’s largest landowner. On these lands he rejuvenated large herds of American bison and replanted thousands of acres with native grasses and plants.
He was a strong supporter of the United Nations and the international rule of law and at one point donated $200 million to the organization.
But to list his accomplishments does not do the man full justice. As his ex-wife Jane Fonda said after his death, “I still loved him dearly. He was a generous, romantic swashbuckling pirate.”
Many sailors have stories to tell about Turner but Gary Jobson, who for many years sailed with him as a tactician and navigator, probably has the largest and deepest trove. The day after Turner died, Forbes magazine correspondent Bill Springer, a veteran yachting writer, called Jobson for an interview. It is revealing and well worth reading.
