Yachtsman

Richard Steele, 77, a yachtsman who helped found the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum. A native of Pittsburgh who was brought up in Pasadena, Steele graduated from Pomona College and served as a Navy captain during World War II. He was a lifelong sailor and won several trophies in the Trans-Pac Race to Honolulu. In addition to helping create the nautical museum, Steele became a major contributor and recently obtained its new location aboard the historic stern-wheeler Pride of Newport.

Police captured the last two suspects in the killing of Peter Blake, a yachting champion from New Zealand who was shot to death in Brazil, officials said Sunday. The suspects were detained on an island about 12 miles from Macapa, near the mouth of the Amazon River where Blake's boat was moored when he was killed Wednesday night, federal police agent Jose Araujo said. The suspects were found in a cabin with objects from Blake's boat, including a motor and his watch, Araujo said.

The capsized boat of a yachtsman long overdue after sailing for France was found at sea Sunday, but there was no sign of the sailor, the Coast Guard said. Michael Plant's 60-foot sloop, Coyote, was spotted by a passing freighter about 480 miles southwest of Ireland, his brother said. "We're told the hull looked intact," Tom Plant of Gaithersburg, Md., said. Coast Guard Petty Officer David Silva said the freighter came within 50 yards of the boat.

As he left the resort island where he spent the last five weeks detained on gun charges, Scott McClung on Saturday recounted instances of emotional torture he says he suffered at the hands of guards. McClung--who on Saturday boarded an airplane for Costa Rica, from which he will pilot his boat back to Newport Beach--said the guards would often barge into the hospital room late at night and threaten him.

On the stern was where A. Victor Stern stood, although 23 years ago he didn't know it from the bow. With an ear to the wind and an eye on the compass, this short, slightly bent-over man of the sea directed the boat he loved as if it were a symphony. Stern was the picture of a yachtsman--the real role he jokingly said he was destined for--as he raced his old white and beige catamaran, the Imi Loa, in the Speedsailing Grand Prix from Long Beach to Santa Catalina Island and back last Saturday.

After eight months of no news, no mail, no one "except my friendly interrogators," American yachtsman William Mathers was released Thursday by the Vietnamese government. Arriving here from Ho Chi Minh City, the balding, bearded Mathers said he was "very, very happy to be back." His 80-foot schooner and crew were seized last July 21 off the coast of Vietnam. Mathers, 41, a former New Yorker, now runs a diving and salvage operation based in Singapore.

American yachtsman Bill Mathers was released today by Vietnam, where he spent 8 1/2 months in solitary confinement on charges of espionage and violating territorial waters. Mathers, 41, in Bangkok on his way home to Singapore, denied he was spying or that his schooner, the So Fong, was in Vietnamese waters when it was seized July 22. Mathers had been sailing from Singapore to Hong Kong via the Thai resort island of Koh Samui.

On the stern was where A. Victor Stern stood, although 23 years ago he didn't know it from the bow. With an ear to the wind and an eye on the compass, this short, slightly bent-over man of the sea directed the boat he loved as if it were a symphony. Stern was the picture of a yachtsman--the real role he jokingly said he was destined for--as he raced his old white-and-beige catamaran, the Imi Loa, in the Speedsailing Grand Prix from Long Beach to Santa Catalina Island and back recently.

For the last 53 years, Cliff Tucker has had a love affair with Two Harbors, the sleepy isthmus hamlet on Santa Catalina Island where wild foxes roam unafraid and clear coves sparkle with brightly colored fish. The Long Beach yachtsman, who first visited the island in 1933, knows all the families in the village and has watched the children grow up to raise youngsters of their own.

My cousin Tom Blackaller, the champion sailor and America's Cup contender, died of cardiac arrest at Sears Point Raceway Thursday, getting ready for an auto race this weekend. Tom was a character straight out of a Damon Runyon story: funny, charming, disarming, blustery as any northwest wind that ever screamed through the Golden Gate and slammed into the St. Francis Yacht Club.