Jim Kilroy spent 40 years sailing his maxi-boats and setting records.
At 66, Kilroy’s wavy hair is snow white, but he is tall, lean, energetic and well established in style through 32 years of campaigning the Kialoas. At Long Beach, an onlooker was startled to see the 79-foot aluminum sloop leave the dock without him.
Later, on the 45-foot tender, Kilroy explained: “I never take over the boat until the sails are up. Allan takes the boat out and Allan takes the boat in.”
Allan is Allan Pryor, a New Zealander whose job it is to take care of Kilroy’s boat, wherever in the world it is.
“It’s Allan’s boat when we’re not racing,” Kilroy said.
His New Zealand crews were famous in ocean racing for many years. I was in a bar in Mazatlan in 1976, the first time I heard the Kilroy crew chant for good competitors. No, it wasn’t for me but I was there and heard it.
I knew him casually in sailing. Once, when he was building one of his yachts, he sailed in the Ensenada Race with Alan Puckett, who was the president of Hughes Aircraft Company and who owned Blackbird, an Ericson 46.
The Ericson 46 was not an easy boat to sail, especially if the wind was up, but Kilroy would rather crew for someone else than stay on the beach. Puckett, himself, was a well known sailor in an era when none of us were professionals.
Allen was an avid yacht racer and cruising sailor. Over the years, he raced on 4 boats of his own, including a Lapworth 36 “Alsuna,” a Cal 40 “Alsuna 2,” an Ericson 46 “Blackbird” and finally a Farr 55 “Amazing Grace.” When he was not skippering his own boats, he was also a highly sought-after master navigator, in the days when a sextant, compass, wristwatch, and paper charts were primary, and sometimes only, equipment used. When the first portable personal computers became available, Puckett was one of the first to develop software to assist in navigation and sailing performance analysis.
Vale, Jim Kilroy and Alan Puckett. Smooth seas and fair winds.