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EIGHT BELLS: Carl Paxon “Bunky” Helfrich 		click for details

 
 


The Publisher
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Sep 5, 2008, 5:49 PM

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EIGHT BELLS: Carl Paxon “Bunky” Helfrich Log-In to Post
Submitted by Gary Jobson:

Carl Paxon “Bunky” Helfrich



Carl Paxon “Bunky” Helfrich, architect, yachtsman and CNN Original, died peacefully at his home on Hilton Head Island, SC, surrounded by his beloved family, on Wednesday, September 3, 2008. Bunky was born November 5, 1937, in Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in Savannah where he first became passionate about sailing and architecture.

Bunky graduated from Savannah High School and earned degrees in architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology and L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Fontainebleu, France.

He worked for the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers, and then became a partner in the architectural firm of Helfrich, Grantham & Helfrich in Savannah where he was instrumental in the design and restoration of many homes and buildings in Savannah and the Low Country. He was also a partner in Palmetto Bay Marina on Hilton Head. Bunky was with Turner Broadcasting System for 25 years, where he was chief architect and vice president of Planning and Development, also overseeing the design of Turner’s business and personal properties world wide. Some of his many architectural accomplishments include supervising the design and construction of CNN’s original headquarters in Atlanta, the conversion of the Omni complex into CNN Center, and the consequent master plan for TBS and CNN. He steered the design of the 1996 Olympic Stadium and its later conversion to Turner Field, as well as the construction of Phillips Arena in Atlanta. After retiring from TBS, he became owner and principal in Carl P. Helfrich Real Estate.

Sailing was Bunky’s great love. He took to the water as a boy at the Savannah Yacht Club where he won many regattas. Other memorable races in which he participated include winning the Miami to Nassau Yacht Race with his father Carl aboard “Geechee” and the SORC in 1982 as navigator aboard “Windward Passage”, his twentieth SORC in a row. Over the years Bunky sailed with Ted Turner aboard his many yachts, sailing in four Admirals’ Cup regattas, winning the World Ocean Racing Championship on “American Eagle”, and their spectacular 1977 America’s Cup victory on “Courageous” in Newport, R.I. More recently, Bunky enjoyed racing with his son Teddy and coaching young sailors in the Y-Flyer and Thistle classes at the Atlanta Yacht Club.

Some of Bunky’s club affiliations include the New York Yacht Club; Carolina Yacht Club, South Carolina Yacht Club, Atlanta Yacht Club, Storm Trysail Club, Oglethorpe Club in Savannah, Capital City Club in Atlanta, Sea Pines Country Club on Hilton Head and the Sons of the Revolution.

Bunky is survived by his wife Andrea Carter Helfrich, two daughters from Savannah, Holley Morgan Helfrich and Bernice (Bonnie) Helfrich Frady, son Carl Edward (Teddy) Helfrich, currently a Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland; and two grandsons, Edward Paxon Frady and Steven T. Frady, Jr.

Donations may be made to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Mission Fund, 50 Pope Avenue, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928; or Carolina Sailing Center, a 501(c)3 corporation, P.O. Box 6254, Hilton Head Island, SC 29938.

Arrangements by Fox & Weeks, Savannah. (912) 352-7200




The Publisher
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Sep 5, 2008, 6:26 PM

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Re: [The Publisher] EIGHT BELLS: Carl Paxon “Bunky” Helfrich [In reply to] Log-In to Post
Submitted by Gary Jobson:

Recent Interview with Bunky Helfrich



* What does it mean to be part of the Courageous crew?

Helfrich : Well being part of the Courageous crew was something very special. Ted started organizing that crew well over 30 years ago. It was a group of guys that got together that all liked each other. They were very good sailors in their own rights which you never would have known it, they never tooted their own horns. Our goal that summer was to win the America's Cup, which we did. But I think we did something far above that. We were able to form a bond with that crew that was something I think that will never be surpassed. We had 11 guys on the boat. 15 of us were doing all the other work. We were all amateurs. We sanded the bottom of the boat and we did all the work ourselves. It was a group of guys that never placed individual blame on anyone. If somebody messed up there was always somebody there to pick up the slack. I think it is one of the finest things that has ever happened to me.

* What was special about that particular group? What made them special? What made you bond the way you did? How did that all come about. You were friends before?

Helfrich : We were friends for, I guess the first people that got started in that group were about 1969, it must have been 37 years ago. We all had experience ocean racing together so we knew what everybody could do. Ted never put pressure on anyone. It was not like some of the racers today where your position, you weren't sure of your position, you knew you had that position and you were going to be able to sail on the boat. It caused you to do the best you could, even better than you could. As I say the friendships that we had made it even more important. I think that it was, number 1, a group of great sailors. I think that Ted was probably the, well I think that Ted is the greatest amateur sailor of our time. I wrote him a letter and I said that I hadn't done the research on it but I'm willing to bet that there's not been any amateur sailor that's won more races than Ted. And along that way we helped him win a lot of those races and he always made the crew a part of the races that we won. It was a full team effort.

* Tell me a little bit about Ted as a leader?

Helfrich : Ted is an unbelievable leader. He once said that he wasn't that good in small boats because his primary talents were organization. So the larger the boat got, the more his talents came into effect. He set goals for everyone and then he left you alone. He would say let's get this accomplished and that was about it. You accomplished it and you went on from there.

* What is the greatest sailing moment of your career?

Helfrich : Well the greatest sailing moment of my career was crossing the line in the America's Cup and winning the America's Cup. That was an unbelievable experience. I liken it to winning the World Series. I happen to be in Atlanta when the Braves won the World Series and it was nothing like winning that America's Cup. We crossed the line and we headed back to the dock. There was probably a fleet of 150 to 200 boats blowing their horns. I’m sure it is an experience that not many people, it doesn't happen to many people.

Loyalty is one of the biggest parts and that's what I said earlier in that you know there was always somebody there to pick up for you. It was a full team effort. It didn't have anything to do with the individual. Nobody was trying to move up in the ranks and get a better position. They were there to win those races and the way to do that was with a team. I think that that is one of the major differences between the time that we sailed and the time that the people are sailing now in this professional era. They're all out there protecting their jobs, protecting their salaries. They don't really give a darn about the guy that is standing over there next to him. They just want to make sure that they're doing to be there to get their pay check.

* Talk about the uniqueness of the team building, it was a special, cosmic time with all this energy and everything came together like that.

Helfrich : It was a special time, that's for sure. We were very, very lucky to come up in a time where the amateur sailor was there. We came up while the SORC was going on, ocean races were at their prime. We were able to form this crew that sailed together for 30 plus years as amateurs. We didn't get paid for doing that. We did it for the love of the sport and we formed this friendship that has just gone on for the 30 years. The guys are very, very loyal to one another. If anything happens to anybody else on the crew, they're there instantly to try and lend a hand and find out what it is that they can do to help.

* Any other special memory, funny story?

Helfrich : There are a lot of funny stories. After one race we were sitting in the living room and they were reviewing our, Independence was reviewing a race that we had with them. One of the Independence grinders who was a big, old burley got asked a question, how our grinders, who were really 160 pounds, could turn their handles faster than they could? The big old burley Independence grinder says, well, their handles are shiny and ours are dull so they're not turning them faster, it looks like they're turning them faster.

* What about the electronics back in 1977?

Helfrich : We didn't have electronics. We didn't have GPS. We didn't have any of the things that these guys have now. Bill Jorch just navigated by the seat of his pants. We never missed a mark. We were always on them. Gary Jobson had a little puck that he went around sighting the wind and the other boats and never missed a windshift. We never missed a tack. It was, again, just a wonderful group of guys.

* So you didn't have the read outs from 150 different weather buoys?

Helfrich : We didn't have weather. We didn't have the chart tracks to see where we were in comparison with the other boats. Ted said it a couple of times that we were just out there, we were just doing seat of the pants sailing and that's what we did. We concentrated on sailing the boat. We didn't concentrate on technology. We didn't concentrate on new sail fabrics or anything like that. Robbie Doyle was amazing on the boat in that in July our sails had been completely worn out and he was able to patch the sails back together so we could complete the July trials and then luckily one of our friends from Texas bought us some new sails for the August trials. And then we went on again to start winning and that was when we were selected to be the defender.

* So you guys really had your hands out didn't you? Just like could you give us a little hand here?

Helfrich : In '77 we weren't the prime boat. In '74 we were the prime boat when we had Mariner. In '77, Ted Hood, on Independence, was the prime boat so most of the money went to Ted Hood. We had a group from Texas which included Perry Bass, O.L. Pitts, Lee Smith and some of those guys that were helping us buy our stuff. Our money had run out in July. We only spend $1 million on our campaign, on our boat, versus the $150 million that was spent on this current campaign so you can see the difference in campaign funding. Now they measure the life of a jib on how many tacks it can make. We had three months wear on our jib.

Gary did a wonderful job too because Gary was in charge of, you know you asked if Ted had any temper tantrums. Well Gary kept Ted from doing that. He walked, every morning they would walk down from Conley Hall where we were staying and Gary would just talk Ted through the day, calm him down, get him ready for the race. That was a primary effort in doing that and keeping him where he was going to sail the best.

* It is a bunch of friends under a lot of pressure. That can break any relationship can't it?

Helfrich : Yes but we never had that pressure among ourselves. It was a bunch of friends and we'd been sailing so long together that we didn't feel any pressure. Some how our sailing came together that summer and we sailed near a flawless summer. Our sets were pretty near perfect. Our tactics were unbelievable and it was just something that came together beautifully.

* You just knew each other didn't you?

Helfrich : We knew each other and knew what everybody's talents were.

* Because back then you didn't race three years before like you are now with the America's Cup. You raced that summer correct?

Helfrich : We spent 8 months prepping for the America's Cup. But you've got to remember that we'd been sailing together 10 years before that. Although we didn't just race three years in a row, we'd been racing a long time together as a team.

* When you see the new guys that are coming up and they look back at the old days and say, what was going on back then? What was the average age of the boat?

Helfrich : Our average age was about 41. The only thing I can say to the new guys is they sure missed a lot of fun. It was really a lot of fun to sail back then. It was, I'm sure, much much more fun than what they are doing now.


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