Together with her equally illustrious cousin BARUNA, the 57 ft sloop GESTURE – commissioned by Howard Fuller of the Fuller Brush Company – was described by Olin J Stephens in his autobiography as one of “the two most handsome boats that came out of our office”. Moreover he went on to say that yachts built by Quincy Adams were “among the handsomest of their time”.
GESTURE is fast too: sailing against famous names including BARUNA, HIGHLAND LIGHT, ESCAPADE, LATIFA and BRILLIANT, she won the first post-war Bermuda Race in 1946 after the period of slumber enforced by her launching into the year the USA joined the second world war – 1941. During Fuller’s ownership she became not only one of the internationally best known ocean racers of her day (fourth in Class I, 1953 Fastnet Race; missing out winning the RORC’s prestigious Britannia Trophy by three seconds on corrected time), but also one of the most modern: she is believed to be the first ocean racing yacht to be fitted with an extruded aluminium mast, made – possibly by Fuller Brush Company – from Alcoa Aluminum in the 1940s. Source: Sandeman Yacht Company
