Posted August 26th, 2026
—John Rousmaniere, 82, August 8, 2026, Manhattan, New York. An author who specialized in yachting subjects, Mr. Rousmaniere is best remembered for his 1980 book Fastnet Force 10 (W.W. Norton, 1980), about the 1979 Fastnet Race in which 15 sailors died at sea. He was a crewman aboard a 48’ competitor, TOSCANA, in the ill-fated race, and the experience of facing heavy seas driven by sustained winds of more than 50 knots with gusts to 80 gave his account the immediacy of an eyewitness. Of the 303 yachts that participated, only 86 finished, 24 were abandoned, and five sank. For Rousmaniere, the experience galvanized a lifelong commitment to improving safety protocols and equipment for ocean sailors. In addition to Fastnet Force 10, among his 40 published books were several focusing on safety, including The Annapolis Book of Seamanship (Simon & Schuster, 1983) and After the Storm: True Stories of Disaster and Recovery at Sea (International Marine/McGraw Hill 2002). He also became a regular contributor to sailing and yacht-racing safety seminars. (Humbled before the wrath of nature, he also decided to return to college to earn a master of divinity degree in 1988 from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.)
A native of Nashville, Tennessee, he moved at age 11 with his family to Oyster Bay, New York, where he first learned to sail aboard a 13’6” Sparkman & Stephens–designed Blue Jay. It was an introduction to a lifetime of sailing and an initiation into the appreciation of well-designed sailing craft. Those pursuits were linked with his keen interests in history and writing. After graduating from St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, and Columbia University with a bachelor’s degree in 1967 and a master’s degree in 1968, he was drafted into military service during the Vietnam War. He was enrolled as an infantry officer but remained stateside to serve at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, as a history professor until his discharge in 1972. He went on to serve as a magazine editor with Yachting and Natural History before embarking on a freelance career in 1978.
His writing on yachting topics was wide-ranging, but it almost always focused on sail and often intersected with the world of classic wooden yachts. For example, he wrote The Golden Pastime: A New History of Yachting (W.W. Norton, 1986); The Low Black Schooner: Yacht America, 1851–1945 (Mystic Seaport Museum, 1986); Sleek: Classic Images from the Rosenfeld Collection (Mystic Seaport Museum, 2003); A Berth to Bermuda: 100 Years of the World’s Classic Ocean Race (Mystic Seaport Museum/Cruising Club of America, 2006); and The New York Yacht Club: A History, 1844–2008 (Seapoint Books, 2009).
He wrote a number of articles and book reviews for WoodenBoat, including an interview with the photographer Stanley Rosenfeld (No. 90); a salute to the restored Phil Rhodes–designed KIRAWAN and her return to the Newport Bermuda Race in 2000 for the first time since her win in 1936 (No. 158); “The Yacht AMERICA at 150” (No. 163); and a retrospective interview with designer Olin Stephens (No. 179).
He was inducted into the Bermuda Race Roll of Honour in 2024, was awarded the Cruising Club of America’s Richard S. Nye Trophy in 2009, U.S. Sailing’s Timothea Larr Award for sailing education in 2013, Mystic Seaport Museum’s W.P. Stephens Award for maritime history in 2014, and the Commodore Henry A. Anderson Jr. Award from the New York Yacht Club in 2014 for volunteerism.
“Whether you are a she-sailor or a he-sailor,” he wrote at the end of his preface to the Annapolis Book of Seamanship, “may your days and nights afloat be as happy and interesting as mine have been, and may you never make the mistake of believing that you know all there is about sailing. Nobody knows it all. Nobody can know it all, but here (I hope) you will learn at least a little.”
—written by Tom Jackson