Lorna Whittelsey Hibberd started sailing at the age of six and had a very productive and successful career racing at all levels of the sport.  At the age of eight, Hibberd was the skipper of a 17-foot Knockabout. She won the Mrs. Charles Frances Adams Trophy (Adams Trophy) five times (1927, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1934) and was only 15 years old when she won her first Adams Cup in 1927 representing the Indian Harbor Yacht Club. This regatta was exclusively for women, considered the North American Women’s Championship. Hibberd’s sister Myrtle was a regular member of her crew.  The Adams Cup was a test of sailing skill as the crews rotated boats after each race.  Just qualifying to reach the championship required winning local and regional regattas.  The Adams Cup featured the top eight crews from around the United States and the trophy was retired in 2011.

Female skippers were rare in the 1930s.  In 1932, now 20 years old, Hibberd was at the helm of J Boat Vanitie when it beat rival Weetamore.  She was often at the helm of a variety of one-design classes including Stars, Atlantics and Interclubs. On one cold January day in 1932, she won three races in her first frostbite regatta. That same year, Yachting Magazine noted, “Lorna Whittelsey needs no introduction to yachtsmen, particularly to those who have followed her across the finish line so many times that it would be embarrassing to make a count.”  At the age of 21, she was a regular on the frostbite circuit.  When asked why she would go sailing in cold weather, Hibberd had an appropriate answer: “I sail most of the time to have a good time, but in a (frostbite) race I toss overboard the idea of fun and settle down to sailing.”

Hibberd joined the crew of Stormy Weather with skipper Arthur Knapp, Jr. for the Newport to Bermuda Race in 1934. One of her attributes was attention to small details; she even made sure her children’s race boats were in perfect condition.  American Yacht Club past commodore Andrew Giglia praised her focus, “In addition to her drive and attention to detail, her upbeat attitude was part of her persona.  She was enthusiastic and always would say ‘great fun!’ no matter what was happening or what the weather was.”

In 1935, Lorna married Frederick H. Hibberd. At their engagement party, the New York Times noted attendees Arthur Knapp, Jr. and Olin Stephens II, two National Sailing Hall of Fame inductees. The couple had three children: two sons, Frederick, Jr, and David, and a daughter, Elisabeth.

In the 1970s, a group of American Yacht Club members commissioned a new racing boat named Fair American.  The syndicate had a practice of including younger crew while racing. Lorna Hibberd was a member of the syndicate and raced on the boat, often as the spinnaker trimmer.  In one race, Fair American passed a competitor skippered by National Hall of Fame sailor Bus Mosbacher.  A sailor on Mosbacher’s boat quipped, “Bus, you are getting passed by a grandmother!”

The Hibberds successfully raced cruising boats on Long Island Sound out of the American Yacht Club in Rye, N.Y.  Lorna Whittelsey Hibberd spent her life encouraging and teaching young sailors to improve their skills on the water. Later in life while in her 70s and 80s, she took up windsurfing and racing Ideal 18s.

 ~ Gary Jobson