Turning heads and tugging at hearts
One glance at the photograph tells the story: a beautiful autumn evening, the air crisp with the smell of wood smoke, and the last warm light of the sun gilding the horizon. Photographer Jody Dole and Soundings editor-in-chief Bill Sisson had just finished a shoot in Essex, Connecticut, and were motoring home along the Connecticut River when they spotted a small tugboat heading for open water. Dole, quick and professional, managed to capture a single, perfect frame before the salty-streaked vessel slipped from view.
That lone image became an irresistible cover candidate for our trawler feature, but it left us with questions: who owned the Lord Nelson Victory Tug in the photo? A little digging led to Peter Reich, co-owner of the 37-foot Teddy Bear. Calling him at his Shelter Island, New York, home, I was quickly drawn into his easy, seaworthy storytelling — wishing, for a moment, that we were sitting in his pilothouse bound for Montauk.
Reich’s recent months have not been easy. After a rapid decline in health last summer, he was admitted to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in October and diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic lymphoma. An experimental treatment has cleared the disease, but his doctors have recommended a stem cell transplant to reduce the chance of recurrence. For someone who lives for hands-on time on the water, this has been a difficult interruption.
Despite that, Reich was eager to talk about Teddy Bear and the strong community of Lord Nelson Victory Tug owners. He had intended to take the 37-footer to a fall rendezvous but had to cancel when he was hospitalized. When he returned home after 17 days, the first piece of mail he opened was a handmade card from the club, complete with a photo of Teddy Bear and signatures from everyone at the rendezvous. “Lord Nelson tug owners are just great,” he said.
Reich and his father, Dan, bought hull No. 15 in 1985, making them the longest-recorded owners of a Lord Nelson Victory Tug. Their boat had been a dealer model with only about 90 engine hours after showing at several New England boat shows. In 2008, they repowered Teddy Bear at Coecles Harbor Marina and Boatyard on Shelter Island. The original BMW engine was replaced with a reconditioned Cummins ReCon 4BT-3.9M diesel, paired with a Borg Warner 72 Series transmission, new Nibral propellers and a Centex muffler. Two new aluminum fuel tanks now hold 135 gallons, and a Walker AirSep was added.
Reich credits John Needham and the Coecles Harbor crew for expert work and calls the repower the best thing to happen to Teddy Bear. Although the Cummins has two fewer cylinders than the old engine, he says it’s smoother and more responsive. Where 2,150 rpm once barely produced 7 knots, Teddy Bear now reaches 7.2 knots at 1,900 rpm and 8 knots at 2,000 rpm. Starting is immediate without preheating, even after long winter layups, and fuel burn is economical — roughly 1.7 gallons per hour at 7.4 knots.
The Lord Nelson Victory Tug itself began as a concept from Loren Hart, owner of Admiralty Ltd., Lord Nelson’s parent company. Between 1983 and 1989 a total of 76 of the 37-foot Victory Tugs were built, the first 19 at Hai O Yacht Building and the rest at Ocean Eagle Yacht Building Corp., both in Taiwan. Designer Jim Backus set out to create a boat with an efficient displacement hull for excellent fuel economy, fine tracking and steering, a true tugboat profile both above and below deck, a spacious interior, and compliance with ABS standards.
The Victory Tug’s profile borrows from several commercial tug designs: a bold sheer for seaworthiness, high bulwarks forward for safety, and a hull form inspired by New England lobster boats — fine entry forward with a flat run aft — to deliver efficient displacement performance. The hull is solid fiberglass, built stoutly with 11 layers below the waterline and seven above. Victory Tugs were intentionally “over-built” to meet American Boat & Yacht Council and Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers standards.
Teddy Bear has explored much of the waters around eastern Long Island. Reich recalls a week cruising Penobscot Bay after leaving the boat at Atlantic Boat in Brooklin, Maine for winter work, and a single 36-hour run that took the tug more than 50 miles offshore. She has visited harbors from Shelter Island to eastern Connecticut, Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts, and Reich estimates he’s taken her to Block Island more than two dozen times. In 2006 he and his wife were married on Block Island; Teddy Bear transported them to the Sullivan House, and the couple honeymooned aboard with stops in Cuttyhunk, Menemsha and Newport. For several summers he has also lived aboard while renting his home.
Reich is no stranger to other kinds of boats: by trade a homebuilder and a graduate of SUNY Maritime with a degree in naval architecture, he built an Odyssey 16.5 rowboat and sails with his children. He also remembers a harrowing 1980 passage to St. Thomas by way of Bermuda, when his family’s Moodus 33 was knocked down repeatedly in a storm and ultimately abandoned. They spent five days in an Avon life raft and were rescued by a Polish freighter on Halloween of that year — a dramatic episode that still informs his respect for seaworthy design and safety.
When asked why he chose a Victory Tug, Reich listed practical reasons: a comfortable ride even in heavy seas; exceptional tracking and minimal helm corrections in following seas; mechanical simplicity with no generator or complex systems; the ability to be underway in minutes; and low fuel consumption — a three-hour cruise burns less than five gallons of diesel. He appreciates that the tug’s slower cruising speed discourages risky behavior and encourages relaxed, safe passages. And, of course, she draws smiles and conversation wherever she goes: “Everywhere you go, people want to know the story behind your boat,” Reich says.
Today roughly 75 Victory Tugs continue to ply waters around the world, each offering the kind of unmistakable profile that stops drivers on the road and photographers on the riverbank.
SPECIFICATIONS
LOA: 36 feet, 10 inches
BEAM: 13 feet, 2 inches
DRAFT: 3 feet, 6 inches
WEIGHT: 20,500 pounds
POWER: single 155-hp Cummins ReCon 4BT-3.9M
TANKAGE: 135 gallons fuel, 120 gallons water
BUILDER: Lord Nelson, Hai O Yacht Building Corp., Taiwan
May 2014 issue