When and If was built in 1939 as a private luxury yacht for Gen. George Patton, who said, “When the war is over, and if I return, Bea [his wife] and I are going to sail her around the world.”
General Patton never got to fulfill his dream for his boat, and since his death in 1945, none of her private owners have had the means or the inclination to do so.
She is a beautiful blue-water sailing machine, designed by the famous John Alden to take a family on long ocean voyages with the maximum comfort and luxury combined with the ultimate in practicality and safety, according to a press release.
There is also a Vineyard connection. Gannon and Benjamin purchased the vessel and restored her after she was severely damaged in a 1990 November gale in Marblehead. She was launched in June 1994 before a large crowd of admirers gathered at the G&B shipyard on Vineyard Haven Harbor.
Fresh out of a two-year rebuild under the direction of Capt. Seth Salzmann, the When and If is expected to return Monday, July 29, and remain in the harbor until Monday, August 3, where she will be available for short day sails and private charters as part of a revenue-generating program intended to send her around the world.
For more information, call 305-587-3915, or go to sailwhenandif.com.
