Rockport Marine is the winter home to many offshore cruising and racing boats that have participated in the Bermuda Race or have crossed the Atlantic. Tom Kiley, service manager and rigging expert at Rockport Marine, has been a Bermuda Race inspector for 20 years. He can be found on the dock in the warmer months preparing our storage boats for the sailing season, offering advice and troubleshooting any rigging issues.  All our customers know him for his practical advice and he is an invaluable asset to anyone preparing for a race. 

“When you enter the Bermuda race, you get a long checklist of standards for safety gear, hull structure and volumes,” says Kiley. “As an inspector, it’s my job to make sure a boat is compliant with every single item on that checklist.”

Tom consults on sails, rigging, communications, navigation, structural integrity, safety gear, systems and crew training.   He has been involved in many Rockport Marine restorations, helping owners who are interested in qualify for the stringent requirements of modern offshore racing and voyaging, but also want to maintain the elegant, period details of their boat.

Bolero, the 73-foot Sparkman and Stephens-designed ocean racer, former flagship of the New York Yacht Club fleet, was recently restored at Rockport Marine. It was important to her owners that she retain many of her original, 1949-era details, but also be able to qualify for modern races. For example, it was necessary to change the location of her running lights, so they would not be below the rail. She also was equipped with two bilge pumps, one that could be operated from down below, and one that could be operated from the cockpit, that were plumbed entirely separately from one another.

“Although many of our boats are older, “classic” designs, we can outfit them with state of the art systems to make them safe and capable for offshore sailing,” says Kiley.


-Maria Simpson