February 16, 2013. After we posted our February 15 update, and faced with lingering doubts about the name of this boat we searched for, found, and spoke with Paul Cox III, whose father, also Paul, owned Peach Blossom - except she never was named Peach Blossom - her name has always been Porpoise, and her hailing port was Peach Blossom Creek, the Cox family home. Paul Cox II, passed away in 2007. The tortuous way we got here is documented below - here is a short summary of your webmaster's conversation with son Paul.

Paul's dad was probably the first owner of Porpoise - his recollection was that the boat was bought in 1960 or 1961. Paul's dad was involved in MORC racing in the Chesapeake Bay area. The boat was originally based in nearby Oxford, on the eastern shore of Maryland, and travelled by a trailer Paul's dad built to many far off sailing areas including Maine and the Great Lakes (see below). Around the mid 1970's the family began to summer at Fishers Island and so did Porpoise. To Paul's knowledge she always made this trip by road. The boat was sold in 1992 to Terry Glenn and Nancy Broeckl who, with Paul II's help, took her to Chicago. Click here to go there.

	Paul sent in the picture of Porpoise at left. He said the sail number 201 was issued when the boat was measured for her MORC certificate. His dad is at the helm and Paul is trimming. We hope that, after review of his files and what's on the website Paul can help us clarify details, correct errors, and add more to this story. Stay tuned

February 17, 2013. Paul Cox followed up with more details and a chart of Porpoise's homeport - emails minor edits and consolidated

Dear Ron,
What a treat to speak with you yesterday – kudos for your efforts chronicling the story of the Dolphin 24. Our Dolphin was an integral part of our family for more than 3 decades.

I will share your email, with all of its wonderful links, with the rest of the Cox family – I hope that together we can add stories of interest to your wonderful web page.

Here is the chart showing “Peachblossom Cr” off the Tred Avon river. My mom and dad moved there in 1972 and Porpoise was docked there until she was sold to the ladies in Chicago.
Paul Cox

This area is Dolphin Country - St Michael's is where Cove Dweller, Yankee #111 called home; Don Dunker's Dolfyin is at Severna Park, Annapolis; Lowell Baier's Equinox, Yankee #237 also calls Annapolis home; Bob Hancock's Pippin, Yankee #198 is on the Wye River which is up near Chester. Robert du Gast, who once owned Timesweep, Yankee #214, 'wrote the book" about circumnavigation of the DelMar Penninsula Western Wind Eastern Shore, A Sailing Cruise around the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. He left from Annapolis in May, 1974, north up the Chesapeake, through the Delaware Chesapeake Canal, down Delaware Bay, down the outside and inside passages on the Atlantic side, up the Chesapeake, and finishing back at Annapolis 24 days later.

February 18, 2013. David Cox, brother of Paul checked in with the following email

Just for further clarification, I am David Cox, son of C. Paul Cox II (Paul) and brother to C. Paul Cox III (also Paul). Porpoise was originally owned by C. Paul Cox II and was actively raced many times up and down the Chesapeake Bay. Based in Oxford originally, my father acquired a house on the Peach Blossom Creek (on Old Country Club Rd.) outside of Easton and he was fortunate enough to have a dock where he could keep the boat, hence he claimed the home port to be Peach Blossom Creek.

I grew up sailing Penguins (as did my brothers and sister), but I was the one who was sailing the Penguin and ran the regatta in Oxford (not my father).Webmaster Note: David is referring to a Penguin regatta that the future owner of Porpoise, Terry Glenn, sailed in and comments on, here.

When the boat became dated and not competitive in the MORC class, my father consulted with Sparkman and Stephens and designed a way to reinforce or replace the bulkhead so it did not need the supporting post that was always there at the base of the vee berth. I found myself when sleeping on the bunk unconsciously avoiding a post that was no longer there.

When my father C. Paul Cox II and my step-mother were delivering the boat to the new owners Terry Glenn and Nancy Brockyl, my father suddenly noticed that he could no longer see out of his right eye. It did not hurt and they were almost to their destination so he did not say anything until he arrived. Eventually he called the optometrist who said he had a detached retina and to get to the hospital right away. Unfortunately he had waited too long and he was virtually blind in his right eye from then on.

I sailed in many races on Porpoise and she won many trophies. In her later years my father and step-mother did extensive cruising.

As a final note, My father is buried in the Oxford Cemetery and moored in Cemetery Cove is a 24’ Dolphin………..I feel that is very appropriate.

(I guess now I have to try to figure out who owns that boat). Yep!!

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The story of how we got to this point is both painful and amusing, and is kept here for the record. It starts nearly 4 years ago with a report of a Dolphin named Peach Blossom. The story develops chronologically.

June 14, 2009 - Peggy Benkard, who keeps her boat Sloup du Jour at West Harbor, Fishers Island told us of Peach Blossom. This boat belonged to a Paul Cox, now deceased. Peggy told us Paul sold it several years ago to someone from Michigan. She also advised that Peach Blossom was older than her boat, and had a pole strut down below to support the mast.

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March 14, 2012. DFI staff have been checking and cross checking our data bases and have come to the tentative conclusion that Peach Blossom was actually sold to someone in Illinois, not Michigan and that today she is Terry Glenn's and Nancy Broeckl's Porpoise and sails out of Belmont Harbor/Chicago, Illinois. Here is an excerpt from Terry's email received in September, 2010.

"I am the current owner of the Dolphin 24 PORPOISE, and a member of the Wilmette Dolphin fleet Nancy Broeckl bought the boat in 1992 from C. Paul Cox of Easton,  Maryland. I became a co-owner when she bought the boat.

When I was crew at a Penguin Regatta several years on the Chesapeake C. Paul Cox II was a competitor and ran the regatta. He explained he grew up on PORPOISE, so his father may have been the original owner.  I know it was cruised extensively by the Coxes.

The boat is an O'Day Dolphin, built by Marscot Plastics, Fall River, MA. Hull No. 3235, Class #15 in 1960. The boat has been kept in Belmont Harbor, Chicago since acquired here. Nancy Broeckl is a member of Chicago Yacht Club, which has a Belmont Station, and is their historian."

DFI analytical technology employed picked up the the following clues to come up with the tentative conclusion

1) Peach Blossom, Hull #15 is 'older' than Sloop du Jour, an O'Day built boat, most probably a 1960 built boat, hull #21 Sloop du Jour. We know she was Sam Jones' Julep in Fenwick, CT, bought in the late 1960's. Up until now we did not know where Julep came from, and did not know how old she was - no hull #.

New DFI analysis not yet published indicates that Don Haydon sold his Dionis, O'Day #21 to a man from Fenwick in the late 1960s. Fenwick, a borough of Old Saybrook, CT is the smallest borough in the state of Connecticut, is located on Long Island Sound at the western side of the CT River. It had a 2000 census population of 52 (a famous resident of this borough was Katherine Heburn). As we are confident that only one Dolphin could have entered the tiny Fenwick community in the late 1960s (Sam Jones would certainly have known about it if there 2 Dolphins there!) we feel that Dionis must therefore be Julep.

2) How many Paul Cox/Cox families can there be who owned a Marscot/ O'Day older than Sloop du Jour, now known to be hull #21?

3) the timing of the supposed sale of Peach Blossom by C. Paul Cox in 1992 is in the time range Peggy Benkard thought that Peach Blossom was sold.

4) Wilmette (20 miles up the coast from Belmont Harbor is home to 15 Dolphins) is not in Michigan, but it is on Lake Michigan!

The fact that we don't know how the boat got from Fisher's Island, NY to the Chesapeake Bay is a minor detail but will not stop us from banging the right corner, hitting the perfect shift and .....Besides, that question mark that once was at the top of the page after the #15 got us off the hook.

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February 15, 2013. We removed the Question Mark regarding the relationship between Peach Blossom and Porpoise. This is a picture of Porpoise we received with her new owner Jim Joslyn. That PeachBlossom Cr on her transom is is enough for us to 'conclude conclusively' she was Peach Blossom. In addition, we put Peach Blossom, Maryland in Google Earth and came up with Peach Blossom Lane in Easton, Maryland, the town where prior owner C Paul Cox lived. Is this just a pretty neat way to get around the superstition regarding changing boat names?....Now, what does CR mean - Creek? Stay tuned

Webmaster note: February 16, 2013. Its now obvious that this boat has always been named Porpoise. The trailer that Porpoise is sitting on is the same one that Paul Cox built. Click here for larger version images, including one of the license plate. Click the back arrow on your browser to get back here.

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July 9, 2013. Peggy Benkard, Sloop du Jour, who originally told us of this boat, told us yesterday that this boat won the "Around Fishers Island Race. We are working on what year this was.

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