Hello, Do you have any information on a book called “The Wind Calls”, by Carlton Mitchell (I believe). The author wrote about his adventures with several yachtsmen, including my father, Paul Hurst, who owned “Staghound”, a 42 foot Alden ketch. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Hi Paul: I don’t recall the book, but I surely remember Staghound. Didn’t she win Transpac on handicap twice in the early 50s? I think one year was 1955–when our schooner (under new owner’s) was second overall in the fleet to her. For old marine books check with Bert Flavell at Sea Ocean Book Berth–206 675 9020. If he doesn’t have your book, he will know who does. Good Luck- Steve
Another Reader had this to say:
Steve, there is a mention of “The Wind Calls”, by Carlton Mitchell. This in fact is The Winds Call, Scribners, 684-12559-5, 1971 and we have a copy on our shelves, so if we can help your corespondent….????
Fair winds,
Paul
formerly “Stormy Weather”
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Posted by Steve Dashew (November 30, 1999)
September 14th, 2010 at 4:46 am
This message is to Paul Hurst’s son. My father sailed on Staghound in the 1960’s with your father when he was in Papua New Guinea.
I’d like to hear from you if you get this message. You can email me on knop1@hotmail.com
February 29th, 2012 at 12:03 am
Hi Chris,
I happen to be doing a little research on my dad, and came across your post. My dad was the owner of the Staghound. I’ve been in touch with one of the men who sailed around the South Pacific with him, who is now in Hawaii. Would love any info you have, and would be happy to authenticate my relationship. Please feel free to reach out to me at PaulMHurst@cox.net. Thanks,
Paul Hurst
June 22nd, 2011 at 6:41 am
I was in the US Navy stationed at Yokosuka, Japan in the late 60’s. I had learned to sail and my Japanese sailing instructor by the name of Kay Inodomi took me and another base sailor out to Jogoshima to help with a shakedown sail aboard Staghound. He and Paul Hurst were longtime friends. Paul had new sails made in Yokohama after a yard period in Singapore. He was with an Indonesian woman who was a photographer. We took the Staghound out and checked out all the sails and later went to dinner at a local sushi bar restaurant. It was one of those highlights of my life and one of the reasons I later upon retirement from the navy bought my own sailboat and spent two decades sailing and having the best years of my life…
February 29th, 2012 at 12:07 am
Hi Dennis,
I’m reaching out to everyone who knew my dad, Paul Hurst. Saw your post on setsail.com. You can reach me at PaulMHurst@cox.net. Look forward to hearing from you.
Paul Hurst
June 22nd, 2011 at 7:19 am
Dennis – great to read your comments! If you have any photos I’d be grateful if you can email them at some stage. Sounds like you had a brilliant time on Staghound and then on your own boat. My email is knop1@hotmail.com
November 18th, 2011 at 5:41 pm
Chris and Dennis,
Paul and I circumnavigated Japanese archipelagos on Staghound. I knew Kei Inadomi (deceased) and his wife. We moored Staghound at
Aburatsubo Yacht Harbor in Kanagawa Prefecture. I have some pictures after Paul converted to Cutter and her sailing route on the
chart including Tahiti and New Guineas. The sail maker’s name is Yokosuka Sails and Ownings. Paul also met Hal and Margaret Ross,
author of “Two in the Ocean” in Japan.
I want to give some personal effects to his son, Paul Hurst Jr. But do not know where to contact.
My e-mail is: tuchino@sbcglobal.net
February 29th, 2012 at 12:06 am
Hello Toshiko,
I happened to see your post on setsail.com. I am Paul Hurst’s son, and you can reach me at PaulMHurst@cox.net. If you’re interested, I have info on where the Staghound is now.
Paul Hurst
March 1st, 2012 at 11:55 am
Paul… I am sorry I have no photos of that wonderful day. I never saw your father again but he was a great host and as I said, it was a highlight in my life.
It saddens me that Kay Inadomi is no longer with us. He was my mentor and friend.
March 3rd, 2015 at 1:18 pm
Gary W. Brookins here. I had no idea all of this conversation about Paul Hurst and Staghound have been going on for years. I am in periodic contact with his son and many others that knew Paul and Staghound.
I have been the owner and steward of Staghound since Paul Hurst Sr. through a “deed of gift …with a string attached” signed her over to me in May of 1977. Staghound, like Paul have ruled my life ever since ….literally ….and I couldn’t be happier for it! Staghound has been impressionable on more lives than I or anyone can count. She, and I, are honored by the non-stop ongoing interest in her. From Paul’s son and Mike, son of Ira P. Fulmor who put her in the Hall of Fame for the Transpac Race, to friends and family that walked her decks all over the Pacific, to the granddaughter of the builder, Tom Dittmar in 1937, I constantly awed by the love and lure of Staghound. She is truly a “hunting dog” that sniffs them out! ….just like her name-sake, the Donald McKay China Tea Trade clipper ship that first carried with name, and too, set maritime records and made history in 1851 …a century before John Alden’s Staghound outran vessels with spinnaker poles longer than she is in TransPac Races in 1951. 53, and 55.
The stories and lure are endless. I welcome any and all notes, comments, photos, and bits of her history if you are up for sharing them.
Here is my kick start note: I first met Paul while solo sailing a 17 ft. Jay Benford design Cape Cod Catboat I had restored on Okinawa in 1975 while stationed there with the US Navy. I was a shore based Cryptologist (CTR branch)…with a Morse code skill set that later enabled me to copy merchant shipping weather reports from Peking and Shanghai as I navigated Staghound from Okinawa to Hawaii with a wrist watch, sextant, and compass. Back to meeting Paul: Paul, from the cockpit of Staghound, through binoculars was looking for the entry channel to a small marina on the southeast side of the Okinawa …not far from White Beach. Sailing along side Staghound, I greeted Paul and said “follow me” to the marina….I had no idea how that moment would follow me the rest of my life. I was 27 years old. 39 years later I am reliving “the string attached” to Paul’s deed of gift ….i.e. “Make her see blue water again and she is yours.” He was in the fifth year of his struggle against bone and prostrate cancer …the doctors had forecast only 18 months at his initial diagnosis. I have met his commission once already, putting 11,200 miles under her keel across the mid and south Pacific, arriving in Hawaii in Feb of 1982, and am gearing up to do it again.
There are things I coulda/woulda/shoulda done during my 1977-80 restoration but did not …not intentionally but mere choices of my youthfulness that challenged God’s plan for a fallen tree ….they have caught up to me. You see, when a tree falls, God had has a plan for recycling it with spores, dry rot, and dehydration, etc.. Men fall trees by design to build boats …but they are not exempted from God’s plan for recycling his trees. Staghound is made of trees. Hence a well known cliché applies ….”Wooden boats live for ever ….you just change them out one piece at a time.” Well boats are a bit more complex that “the family axe” that has been in the family 150 years ….second head ….third handle! Staghound needs many pieces …a “few handles of lumber” to whittle, shape, and fasten before heading off to blue water again …a story in of itself ….one if a couple dozen I have been documenting for nearly 40 years.
I sit writing while this while looking out the window of my boat-shop office at Staghound’s lovely apple bow, patiently waiting and pointed South towards Tahiti ….where the adventures of Paul Hurst’s Chief Stewardship of Staghound began in 1959. From her decks on a passage from Tahiti to Bora Bora with Paul, Carleton Mitchell wrote Chapter 14 of his book THE WINDS CALL …it was originally published as an article for National Geographic’s. I have the signed copy from Carleton to Paul Hurst. While reading Chapter 14, it takes little to no imagination to live and feel the vibrancies of Paul’s life and this little yacht that has left irascible impressions and footprints on the lives of Paul and everyone that has seen, sat in the cockpit of, or sailed onboard Staghound …be it a day sail, inter-island passage, or a long distance voyage. She is the choreographer and choreographer of so many lives.
They say what goes around comes around. Well Staghound is due for my second restoration of her in 38 years and I can’t wait to post more notes and some photos of the process along with her history with Paul and others. She is about to undergo a “boattox” treatment that will be the subject of maritime periodicals on the wooden boat art form for sure …she is the lead character of a book. In the meantime, any notes, bits of history, and photos are welcomed and appreciated …and they would be duly accredited if shared.
Looking at the dates of the postings above, I am hopefully that time has not obscured the Spirit of Staghound …my SOS. She was in hibernation from 1941 to 1948, and is about to raise from a second one with me. She is about to stir the hearts of generations to come once again. I look forward to sharing moments of the process, and at her helm with any and all who step onboard during my stewardship.
I can be reached at info@makauboats.com
Aloha, Gary Brookins aka Mr. B.