John Steven Dews b. 1949

The 1934 America's Cup is generally considered to have been one of Britain's best chances to wrest the trophy from the United States.  Thomas Sopwith's Endeavour was faster than Rainbow and won the first two races. However she was manned by an amateur crew due to a dispute by the professionals over wages and the Americans scraped home.

The narrow margin of victory could not be ignored and a new design was clearly required if Harry Vanderbilt was to defend the cup successfully three years later.  The result was Ranger designed by Olin Stephens and Starling Burgess; she would prove to be one of the most successful J-Class yachts ever built winning thirty-two out of thirty-four races.

The present work shows the fourth race of the series with the seemingly invincible Ranger already 3-0 up.  Vanderbilt employed clever delaying tactics at the start which paid off as Endeavour set off early resulting in a one and a half minute disadvantage for the challenger.  Ranger was not to be denied and celebrated a 4-0 whitewash.