36mmthick

UISERStanley Livingston is an Old SaltB Y R O G E R V A U G H A NThe first in a series of owner profiles by ContributingEditor Roger Vaughan.It was October. The temperature was in the 40s and it was raining at HinckleyYacht Services in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. The wind gusting off the SakonnetRiver made winter seem just around the corner. Manukai, Stanley Livingston’sOyster 46, had been stripped of all comforts below in preparation for beinghauled for the season, a stark condition that did nothing to temper the chillinvading the bones. At 84, Stanley seemed oblivious to the weather. He hadpulled up enough floor boards to completely expose his big blue Perkins diesel,and was standing waist deep in the dry bilge, arms extended to the sides in agesture indicating space."When we ordered this boat, my wife Martie and I each made lists of what wewanted," Livingston said. "On the top of my list was enough room to walkaround the engine." The stern end of the Perkins nearly butts against a beam.Otherwise, he got what he wanted. He climbed out of the bilge, replaced thewell-insulated floor boards, and started the Perkins. He beamed over how quietlyit ran. "When I told Richard Matthews I wanted it quiet, he said to me, “Howquiet do you want it? For another $5000 you won’t hear a thing.” Stanleylaughed, and turned off the engine.He settled himself in the helmsman’s seat in the steering station below, flipped alever, un-weighted the chair, and rose three feet. His was the first Oyster to havesuch an arrangement, item three on the list. His view out the forward saloonwindow is unobstructed. "This is my grandchildren’s favorite thing on the boat,"he said with a grin as he pulled the lever and rode the chair down. He obviouslyrelished being on the boat, and seemed in no hurry to leave for a warmer place. Ichalked that up to his New England heritage. Surprise, his origins are Hawaiian;hence the Polynesian boat name, Manukai (sea bird).Livingston’s father took a teaching job in Honolulu after graduating from Oberlincollege and spent the rest of his life in the islands. Stanley’s mother was fromOrange City, Utah. Because her fiancé had become the school’s businessmanager for an additional $400 a year – big money in 1904 -- she traveled toHawaii by train and boat to get married. Stanley still marvels over what anarduous trip that must have been. He is one of six children born, raised, andeducated on Oahu until he left for Yale University to study economics.He started sailing as a result of a summer job teaching two boys to swim and sail.The family’s "trainer" of choice for the boys was an infamous Brutal Beast, a 14-foot, V-bottom cat boat designed by none other than Starling Burgess, betterknown for his three America’s Cup winners. "The job was a challenge," Stanleysays. "I had to learn to sail myself, then keep one step ahead of the boys."He learned well. The boys’ family praised their sons’ tutor to a friend, HarryNoyes. The following summer, at the age of 22, Livingston landed the skipper’sjob on Harry Noyes yacht, Tioga Too, a 50-foot yawl designed by Carl Arlberg andbuilt by Noyes’ Quincy Adams Yacht Yard in Massachusetts. Quincy Adams wasknown for building the two classic Nathanial Herreshoff designs, Tioga, andTiconderoga. Noyes’ father had owned Seyon, a 99-foot power boat that hadwww.oystermarine.com 21