Eight Bells: Leo H. “Buddy” Bombard

Late in January 2022, Leo H. “Buddy” Bombard, age 90, crossed the bar in Palm Beach County, FL. His last few years were spent in the grip of increasing dementia, a sad and distinct contrast to the life he lived ever since his birth in Bronxville, NY.

As a 5’4” bow man, he had sailed with Bus Mosbacher in the nearly successful Vim campaign of 1958, and with the same mob on Weatherly, the victorious defender in 1962. In 1964, he was with the crew of Constellation for the summer of America’s Cup Trials, by which time his sailing CV was well known.

Like many racing sailors, his career began in single digits, hanging around the local yacht club, Larchmont in his case, offering to crew for members and absorbing the lure of our sport.

His skills grew, even if he didn’t, and by the time he graduated from Dartmouth, in 1955, he was regularly crewing for the best Long Island Sound one-design skippers, as well as some prominent ocean racers, including Carina, Ondine, Figaro II, and Barlovento.

In ’64, when there were no professional sailboat racers, Buddy’s profession was insurance salesman, a trade for which his personality was custom made. He may have been the most gregarious person ever born, able to charm the socks of anyone. He knew “everyone” in Newport and as Constellation’s social director, he’d sort through the many party invitations and lead his team to only the best events.

At age 35, he took down his insurance shingle and took over the management of the Chalet Club, a Manhattan-based company that ran bus and train car loads of skiers back and forth between New York City and Stowe, VT.

The enthusiasm he threw into the new challenge put an end to his serious sailing, as, in short order, he expanded the club’s simple mission to include adventure travel, with options for scuba diving, sky diving, white water rafting, and searching for the Loch Ness monster.

In Buddy’s words, the Chalet Club is “a living National Geographic, a continual Earth Day” designed for people who want to “enjoy nature on nature’s own terms.”

In the 70s, while rafting in Colorado, the Chalet Club discovered hot air ballooning. Buddy was enchanted and hooked, forming the Bombard Society which acquired some European balloons and personnel to fly them.

In short order, and for the next 35 years, Buddy’s eponymous society ran high-end balloon adventures over the wine regions of France, among the Alps of Switzerland, and other exotic European destinations. In 2012, the Society wrapped up and its assets were eventually transferred to Seattle Ballooning.

Buddy was a member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, New York Yacht Club, and Dartmouth clubs, but his circle of friends and shipmates was endless. – Dick Enersen