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John F. Kennedy

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A famous photograph that appeared on the cover of Life in July 1953 shows Kennedy smiling in the company of Jacqueline Bouvier, yet to be his wife.

"The most charming of the young US senators behaves like any other young man in love" - while wooing his girlfriend, Jackie Bouvier, aboard a Wianno Senior.

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The Wianno Senior is well known to many Americans as the yacht on which President John F. Kennedy used to sail during his summer holidays at the family home in Hyannis Port, a few miles from the village of Wianno. The boat was given to him by his father for his fifteenth birthday and has remained his favorite boat throughout his life.

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During the years at the White House, the President's family found some peace in Cape Cod, strolling on the beaches of Hyannis, playing with their children in the garden, or cruising the Nantucket Sound on their Wianno Senior.

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Today John Kennedy's Wianno Sr, Victura, built in 1932, is kept and exhibited at the Kennedy Memorial Library in Boston.

JFK's passion for these boats was shared by the whole family, especially by his brothers Joe, Bobby and Ted.

The Kennedy family still owns three Wianno Seniors.

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“I really don't know why we are all so tied to the sea; I think it's because we originated from the sea. It is an interesting fact of biology that we all have the same percentage of salt in our veins that exists in the ocean. We have salt in the blood, in the sweat, in the tears. We are linked to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, to sail or simply to watch a regatta, we go back to where we came from ».

President John F. Kennedy's opening speech for the America's Cup
Newport, Rhode Island - September 14, 1962.

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