Note from the Fleet Captain

Earle “Stubby” Stubbs, past commodore of Ida Lewis Yacht Club and past national champion of the Shields class, left us yesterday morning after several months of staving off an aggressive cancer.

For the last 42 years, Stubby owned and raced his gray-hulled Shields #59 Lisa each season at Ida Lewis. We could count on him to stake out a position near the dockhouse on race days to greet (or “razz”) each competitor as they came down the dock in turn.

A few fleet members sent along recollections of Stubby today.

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I am devastated to learn of Stubby’s passing.

Earle Stubbs started racing Shields in 1976 on Dan Hadley’s #168 Shamrock. In 1980, Stubby bought #59: a bright red Shields from the Chicago fleet which he promptly renamed Lisa to honor his wife.

I can remember one of the first races on Lisa (maybe the Shields New Englands in Marion), we pulled off a horizon job. Quite a sight—the red boat with the extra special spinnaker, which sported a huge galloping horse. It became one of our signature downwind tactics to start neighing and make hoof sounds by slapping on the deck while overtaking a competitor. Yes, we used to be fast, cocky and intimidating…

Stubby didn’t like the red, so the next spring we long boarded Lisa with fart rock, and Stubby sprayed Lisa the classy grey she is today. But in his true competitive fashion, he thought we could be faster. So the next spring he used the free enthusiastic labor from his devoted crew to longboard Lisa again!

So many races. Full of spirited racing, laughter, and camaraderie, Stubby will be missed by one and all.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. The photo with Dan Hadley, Pat Griffin, me and Stubby from the 1977 Nationals in Marblehead really sums it up for me!

May we all send our best wishes to his family and wish Stubby a safe passage with fair winds and following seas.

With a heavy heart,

Bill Rommel – Lisa #59, crew

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I remember when Stubby bought his boat and sailed in his first race. When he first set the spinnaker one of my crew looked back and started to laugh. The graphics was a knight with a shield and sword, riding on a rearing horse. We immediately named his boat “road apples.”  The name stuck for a year or so until he broke down and bought a new chute. 

One thing Stubby was famous for was he always did all the work on his boat. He painted the topsides, painted the bottom, and did all the teak work. We always joked he was too cheap to pay anybody else but he really was a talented guy.

He was modest about his abilities. Last time I talked about his 1985 Nationals with him, he seemed surprised that he had won!

Stubby was a good friend.  I’ll miss him.

Gary Lash – Bomba Charger, #156

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Stubby was competitive, and I guess knowing when to turn up the intensity and when to turn it down is the work of a lifetime for all of us. One Wednesday night during a Shields Nationals week, we were having an easy night of non-competitive sailing, racing inside the mooring field. Stubby was to leeward of us and suddenly, there we were getting yelled at as he tried to head us up into a moored boat. As time passed, he certainly mellowed. 🙂

Heather Shaver – Helen #181

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My greatest Stubby memory is him yelling across the water at Capt. Chris Withers as we were all sitting around waiting for wind, stating that he loved the fact that Chris was paying by the hour for a Navy boat to sit there and not sail.

Ron Oard – Glory #158

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In the late ‘90s I sailed a team race regatta with Stubby as his tactician. He was super fast and could always make the boat point. He wasn’t wild about boat-to-boat tactics, though, and I scared the hell out of him by having him do a close cross of a starboard tacker and then a crash duck to miss the next one. I’m not sure I ever lived that one down in his book; I know he was much happier sailing free and clear of other boats, catching the shift by the bridge, and passing most of the fleet that way.

I called and asked him about his 1985 Nationals win last winter, and he said, “It was our fifth year of owning the boat. We were pretty serious then. We used to go out and practice. Now I just enjoy being out there.

“We were in the hunt in the regatta, which was in Marblehead, and on the last day we said, ‘Let’s go right and stick to it.’ About 200 yards after the start, we peeled off and split with the fleet. We headed for a big black cloud to the right; a couple others tacked a little after us, but we had a pretty big lead at the first mark. Others slowly caught up, as they often do with us, but we won the race and the regatta!”

Describing his crew, Stubby said, “A key crewmember was Jim Schmicker. I wasn’t even going to go to the regatta. I told Jim if he wanted to go he had to find a car to tow the boat, and he did. We had to borrow a trailer, too. He was the brains. Fun to sail with and very relaxed. We also had Dave Aibel and Brian Sullivan, a former Ida Lewis launch driver who was then living in Marblehead and provided local knowledge.”

I connected with Brian, too, and he said there were more than 40 boats racing that year: “We were top five for many races with one race in double digits as our throwout. In the last race, we tanked the start—the line was short and we were forced to start late. They all went left, and we thought we wouldn’t catch them if we followed them. So we were hanging to the right and the wind was dying and lifting us. We laid the weather mark!”

Stubby and his team were the third national champions from Fleet 9 in Newport, after Gordon Benjamin and Chris Withers. I love the picture of Stubby steering Lisa last summer, proudly flying the gold Shields emblem on the mainsail.

Stubby! Whether you can hear me or not, I say to you, “Once a champion, always a champion. Fair winds, my friend!”

John Burnham, Grace #107

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Stubby was in the Army and went to Vietnam. Although I didn’t go, I was in the Army, too, and much of my company went over, so we had a Vietnam veteran thing and were pretty close knit. We did a lot of boat stuff together, too: I helped him buy some boats and do a few deliveries. 

When he got sick last fall, he told me what was going on, and I visited him often. I saw him last Thursday and he was pretty medicated, but I got a smile or two out of him. We talked about getting the Shields in the water and teaching the next generation to sail.

Stubby was larger than life and alway brought a smile to your face. I hope we can pay a tribute to him one Wednesday night this season.

Alan Bernard, Cuillin/Tantrum #166 crew

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My first recollection of Stubby was in 1977 when I came for the summer after my sophomore year at Babson College to work in Accounting at Pearson Yachts.  I had met Phil Lotz at Babson, and he was in Newport teaching sailing at Conanicut YC.  He had his friend, Robin Montgomery’s Shields for the summer.  I joined him as crew for the Wednesday night sailing.  This was back when George Winslow ran the races out of a whaler on his own.  Stubby was sailing on Dan Hadley’s boat.

I was in and out of a Shields with different boats over the years. When I moved to Newport for summers in the early 2000’s, I began  sailing with Chris Withers on Envy, 138.  Chris and Stubby had an interesting relationship.  On land they were friends but on the water they were fierce competitors.  Stubby knew how to get Chris riled up always calling him “You Squid.” My job was to calm Chris down. Only later did I learn that “Squid” referred to Captain Chris Withers’ Navy life.  Later, after Chris passed I took over the boat and had many crossings with Lisa, 59.

Phil and I really got to know Lisa and Stubby as friends when we rented one of their apartments for a few years while our house in Newport was under construction in 2005-2007.  Our black poodles would chase each other around.  When I told Stubby that Dillon crashed through our screen door to play he just shrugged it off.  He spent countless hours maintaining his beautiful, historic property.

My father, Wells Darling, was also a good friend of Stubby, both being past commodores of Ida Lewis.  When my parents lived on the boat at the club for a number of summers you would quite often see my father and Stubby chatting about the state of the club or some other yachting stories.

My condolences to Lisa and the rest of his family.  Our hearts and prayers go out to you all.

We will miss you Stubby.

Wendy Lotz, past owner Envy #138

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I was a relative newcomer to Team Lisa, a few years ago joining long-time Shields Nationals crew Bill Rommel, along with Bill Leatherman, Jim Estes, and Roy Williams. Stubby welcomed me aboard and I quickly felt at home with the culture of the Shields Fleet. Our discussions going out to the racecourse covered a myriad of topics, the least of which was talk of the actual race we were about to commence.

Stubby knew everyone in all the boats and was always yelling (mostly) good natured quips across the water before, during, and after racing.  While Stubby was always competitive, he made sure we always had fun. This was the primary goal, and we always succeeded in that. Most importantly, we had to get Lisa back into her mooring before all the lobster rolls were gone at grill night.

Commodore Stubbs was the consummate Ida member;  devoted husband, father, war veteran, accomplished sailor, gentleman, volunteer, teammate, and good friend to all. His last communication with me was about skipping the Spring Series, but could I be ready to go for the Summer Series?  I will miss him very much.

Rob Connerney, Lisa #59 crew

Send your memories and reflections about Stubby to shieldsfleet9@gmail.com