Anyone who has ever been fortunate to have been in the presence of Bruce Dyson knows that he’s a force. International sailor, national gliding champion and sailmaker, Dyson is a legend. He is also a past commodore of the Eastern Yacht Club (2015-2016), and he built an international 8-metre sloop, Pleione, in his garage/workshop.
Dyson started sailing competitively when he was 16 and worked for Hood Sailmakers in Little Harbor during school vacations.
“We called it the Ted Hood Sail Loft Academy,” he said. After attending Northeastern University, he worked for Ted Hood for two years. In 1963, he founded Dyson Sailmakers on Sewall Street.
While at the helm of Dyson Sailmakers, Dyson formed a lifelong friendship with Norm Cressy, another well-known sailmaker and sailor in Marblehead.
“We were in competition with one another in the sailmaking business. When I ran out of material for sails, I’d call Norm. More often than not he had what I needed. And the reciprocal was also true. We would keep running ledgers. We’d always settle up at the end of the month,” said Dyson.
One of the highlights of Dyson’s sailing career was going to the World Etchells Championships in Australia to crew for David Curtis. “It was a big commitment to get there. It was a two-week contest and between traveling and sailing, it was a three-week affair. I had a blast down there.” Dyson finished first crewing for David Curtis in San Francisco, and the next year he finished second in Sydney, Australia.
After serving as commodore of Eastern Yacht Club, Dyson undertook a voyage of a different kind, building an 8-metre class yacht.
“I always wanted a 12-metre, but I realized early on that I couldn’t even afford the beer and sandwiches for the boat, let alone maintaining it. So the next thing down was an 8-metre, which I knew I could afford. I decided to build one with Leanne’s approval. Jim Taylor designed it. When I needed extra help, I’d call in my army of friends and away we’d go,” he said.
It took 6,000 man-hours to construct Pleione. On May 9, 2004, the 48-foot boat was launched. Dyson then went on to sail the 8-metre in two World Championships at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto.
Dyson is also an award-winning glider pilot. In the early 1970s, he took flying lessons in Salem, New Hampshire. “We had a regatta canceled in Marblehead in the Tempest class one Sunday afternoon, and we were bored so we went for a ride to New Hampshire. We saw a couple of gliders overhead and watched them land. We went into the office and said we’d like to go for a ride. The instructor said to put down $40 for a ride. I put the $40 down. I climbed into the glider with an instructor and had my first glider ride. From the minute the wheel was off the ground I was hooked. After winning several contests, I won the Nationals Championships in Hobbs, New Mexico, in 1990.”
Soaring in a glider over a mountain range is not for the faint of heart. “There’s no engine. It’s quiet. It’s powerful. You can go hundreds of miles without burning a drop of fuel,” said Bruce. “You have to be a little bit nuts to fly a glider. It’s a kind of feeling you can’t get from any other field of aviation. It’s unexplainable. But once you’ve done it, nobody can take it away from you,” he added. Dyson credits his wife Leanne for being instrumental in both his successful gliding and sailing competitions.
“She was a consummate crew in both sailing and soaring. Soaring is nothing more than three-dimensional sailing,” he said.
“Leanne and I would put the glider together, and she’d be on the outboard end of the wing. I’d be on the heavy, inboard end. Leanne was the wing runner when it was time to take off. They’d hook me up with a tow rope. She would run the wing until the plane got a little air speed so the wings wouldn’t drop to the ground and get scratched!”
Whenever Dyson was gliding in a competition and lost lift, when the glider wasn’t generating enough aerodynamic force to remain in the air, and had to land somewhere unplanned. Leanne would go get him sometimes miles and miles out of the way. “I would stand ready for the call that he landed in some field in such and such a town,” she said with a laugh. “We had a small motor home that we would tow the glider trailer with so we’d always have someplace to live.”
Dyson’s longest run was 600 miles up and down the Allegheny Mountains. “The good news is that Leanne didn’t have to drive 300 miles to pick me up at the bottom end of the run.”
After 30 years of winning national and regional gliding championships, Dyson raced his last gliding contest in Uvalde, Texas. “I started thinking of the people we’d lost in the sport from midair collisions and land-outs, and decided it was time to hang up my spurs. It was a big part of my life and a lot of fun to do.”
These days Dyson isn’t slowing down. He continues his successful cabinetry business, working in historic homes all over Marblehead. He learned his craft from his father. “My dad basically gave me one quick lesson in terms of using heavy equipment: Keep your fingers attached to your hand and go for it.”
Bruce and Leanne have always made each other their top priority. “I tell her every night I’ve
appreciated her assistance over the years. Leanne has kept me in line. Leanne is outstanding
because she was dedicated, flexible and willing to do it,” he said.
