Southland Sailing : New Trophy Will Honor Late Sailmaker Watts

Racing yachtsmen in the Southland will soon be competing for a new perpetual trophy, the first offered in a number of years.

The Kenneth Watts Perpetual Trophy has been dedicated by the Watts family and Los Angeles Yacht Club. It will be awarded in recognition of a season of excellence for International Offshore Rule (IOR) yachts entered in a number of events.

The trophy was put up by Polly Watts, widow of the late nationally recognized sailmaker, and her two daughters, Mrs. Donald Baker and Mrs. Jerry Lineneau. Friends of Watts may also contribute to the award, the family said.

The award will be given to vessels representing “the leading edge of ocean racing.” Events in which they must sail, starting in 1987, are LAYC’s seven-race Whitney Series and Long Beach Yacht Club’s Race Week, a four-race-around-the-buoys series off Long Beach in June.

This first year, however, the trophy will be awarded to the IOR yacht placing first on corrected time in Los Angeles-to-Cabo San Lucas race which will start Nov. 8.

Starting next year, a variable scoring system will be used to weight longer races more heavily than around-the-buoy races. The boat with the highest score will be the winner. There may be as many as 12 races or as few as one race designated for the series in any one year.

Kenneth Watts, one of the West’s pioneer sailmakers, began cutting sails in his mother’s garage during the late 1930s. After World War II a boating boom catapulted Watts into a national business.

Watts was known for his affability and creativity. He raced on virtually every ocean in the world, usually with owners and skippers for whom he had made sails.

His Torrance facility, Sails by Watts, was founded in 1946. In 1955 he set up Texlan Corp. to weave his own sailcloth. Watts died last December after a long battle with leukemia.