If a boat appears in the Model History feature in Classic Yacht you can fairly well assume it is a personal favorite of mine. This is certainly true of the Fleming 55. As an engineer I have a silly fondness for things that are, well, properly designed and built for their intended use. If your intention is to cruise under power to latitudes high and low, the Fleming 55 demands your attention as a result of the sheer focus with which it is designed and built.

The Fleming 55 story begins with the legendary Alaskan 49, designed by Fleming 55 Arthur DeFever and built by Grand Banks in the 1960s. Tony Fleming was in Hong Kong at the time working as the technical director for American Marine, builder of all things Grand Banks. After almost 20 years of steadily improving the Alaskan trawler series Tony left to develop a new pilothouse motor yacht design. The result is the Fleming 55.

Well, the initial result was the Fleming 50. Eight of those were built, followed by a handful at 53 feet and now over 200 Fleming 55s have been sold around the world. The visible differences between the three versions amount to little more than the added cockpit length. What’s not immediately apparent to the casual observer are the dozens of refinements made over the years, inside and out, that make this one of the most finely tuned cruising yachts of all time.

Built of fiberglass (those topside seams are tooled into the hull mold) by the Tung Hwa yard in Taiwan since 1987, the 55-foot examples were first launched in 1991. She’s not a trawler; the hard chine semi-displacement hull can be driven to almost 20 knots with twin 500hp Cummins QSC 8.3 diesels, although most have been powered with Caterpillar diesels ranging from 210hp to 475hp apiece. The goal for Tony Fleming was to create a refined and dependable cruising yacht capable of taking her crew in comfort and safety wherever they might wish to go.

As a result, the selection of every item on board reflects the Fleming philosophy.
The hull’s clipper bow helps keep the foredeck dry. She’s got fine forefoot for a clean entry and long, deep keel to keep her tracking steadily and to protect the running gear as much as possible. The Portuguese bridge forward of the pilothouse is one of the essential design elements that tells us this boat is ready when you are.
Other cruising details: the anchor chain is stowed in a massive tube to prevents its tumbling.

An Aquadrive anti-vibration system is fitted to each main engine and propshaft, stifling vibration at the source. An elaborate main engine exhaust system works with the extensive sound insulation to muffle the vast majority of engine room noise. A simple dumbwaiter leads from the overhead galley cabinet to the bride, arriving exactly where you’d want it, inside a cabinet right in the middle of the flybridge seating group.

The four-burner cooktop in the galley is recessed and includes individual potholders for each burner. Each of the three staterooms has been arranged with real-world stowage capacity. Lockers, drawers and cubbies abound everywhere you look. Both heads have shower stalls and medicine cabinets with security locks. The Fleming 55’s hull is constructed robustly as you would expect. There’s no core below the waterline, just 13 layers of fiberglass mat and roving laminated with blister-resistant epoxy resin.

Frames and stringers are laid eight layers thick. This boat has good bones. At a leisurely 1,600 rpm the Fleming 55 can make 8.4 knots and burn just six tenths of a gallon of fuel per nautical mile. That’s five gallons per hour and a range of over 1,600 nautical miles, two very cruising- friendly figures. Is she perfect? No, of course not. My first disappointment is the lack of a full-length watch berth in the pilothouse.

And no boat with this svelte a profile will have much in the way of stand-up headroom in the engine room. Finally, the guest head butts up against the master stateroom bulkhead, a small price to pay for a layout that devotes so much space to a grand, multipurpose cockpit. But for those with the means and the appreciation of the hundreds of little details that make this boat what is it, there are few better choices.

What to pay for cruising bliss? I found 20 for sale in early March, ranging from $590,000 for a 1991 to $1,795,000 for a 2008, both in San Diego, California. The majority of Fleming 55s on the market are in Maryland and California, nearest their dealers.

Mystic, Connecticut – Mystic Seaport visitors will soon be able to explore the rugged, undiscovered and somewhat fantastical terrain of 16th- and 17thcentury California and its surrounding waters with the Museum’s newest exhibition, Mapping the Pacifi c Coast: From Coronado to Lewis and Clark, The Quivira Collection. Drawn from the private collection of Henry Wendt, this traveling exhibit features more than 30 historic maps, illustrations and books made between 1540 and 1802, all of which reveal Europeans’ changing understanding of the North American Pacific Coast.

Opening May 2 in the Museum’s Mallory Exhibit Hall, the exhibit leads viewers on a voyage of exploration, beginning with the collection’s oldest map – a rare 1544 woodcut by Sebastian Munster – and ending with Thomas Jefferson’s decision to commission the Corps of Discovery. The rare documents illustrate cartographers’ early visions of foreign lands and waters, regions replete with sea monsters, mythical kingdoms and the very first contacts between Native Americans and Europeans.

“The [maps] show the state of knowledge of this new world at the time the map was made. They have historical significance. And aesthetically, they’re great to look at. That’s the other part of the appeal: they’re works of art,” said history buff and lifelong sailor Wendt. The exhibition is divided into four sections – “Fact and Fantasy,” “California as an Island,” “Secret Russian Explorations in the Pacific” and “In the Wake of Captain James Cook” – helping to lead visitors on a chronological journey through developing European perceptions of the Pacific Coast.

Further enhancing the visitor experience, Mystic Seaport is also offering viewers a free mp3 audio-guided tour narrated by Wendt himself. A selection of 18th-century nautical instruments drawn from the Museum’s own collection will also be on display. From sextants to chronometers, visitors will see first hand the types of navigational tools early explorers used to determine their exact locations on the watery world.

Visitors can then continue their navigational quest in the Museum’s Nautical Instruments Shop and in the Planetarium lobby’s permanent exhibit on 19th-century navigation. Mystic Seaport will additionally open The Map Spot adjacent to Mapping the Pacific Coast, providing an activity space for visitors of all ages that boosts map literacy and appreciation for maps recording and imagining the world. The Map Spot encourages adults and children to use and make maps and maritime charts at different activity stations, while large-scale wall graphics will challenge aspiring cartographers’ visions of the world.

Through varying hands-on activities, visitors will discover the paramount role maps play in their lives, while also seeing maps as tools that serve specific purposes. Entrance to Mapping the Pacific Coast and The Map Spot are included in Museum admission. The exhibition will run through December and is open daily during regular Museum hours.

On days when life seems unnecessarily ridiculous, complicated and frustrating, it occurs to me that I really just want to sail away. The pressures and complications that form the landscape of my life are so frequently oppressive and omnipresent, that for the most part, I simply yield to them without protest and do what I am told without even realizing I am submitting to the collective will of a culture that really may not have my best interests in mind.

Yet simply sailing away, while it has occurred to me daily in the past 15 years or so, seems impossibly out of reach. I believe this is exactly so for most of us, even the most adventurous. A bit of summer cruising is all I usually get, and mostly, it’s all I have the courage to expect. However powerful the allure of the horizon, duty calls, after all. My reality, you could say. While my choice has been to be somewhat passive in respect to accepting the daily grind one shouldn’t make the mistake of believing everyone chooses to live a life of quiet desperation.

There are people who plan great things and accomplish them, and it’s their stories that are at the heart of all that is extraordinary. Here you learn another of my little secrets. By day, I am essentially a salesperson. I know you see me only as a writer, but that is simply a matter of your perspective. From my point of view, there is an office to serve. Understand, I have never believed that the intricacies and art of the deal make for best selling material.

I don’t own any “Seven Secrets of Sales Success” books that I would ever admit to having read. What a bore. That’s not the kind of “sail” I am interested in. I will admit that these days, the implausible stories of business failures and the tracking of “sales” and stocks” has become a terrifying chain of acquisition, divestment, disillusionment and implosion, and is anything but boring. All the more reason to simply want to sail away.

I believe we were born to expect something better than to live our lives by the rule of the dollar. More eternal than the pursuit of wealth are the great sagas of the past, and in these, all of us can fi nd something inspiring. Epic voyages are at the heart of our fantasies, from Ulysses to Shackleton, Columbus to Vancouver. Such great explorations and adventures are universally enthralling. In a day when it seems all on earth that can be done has been done, where do we turn for another such adventure involving wooden ships and sturdy people willing to take a risk to learn something?

Well I have first hand knowledge of such doings, and I’m going to share it with you. Actually, I only saw a movie about these things. It was made here in Seattle, complied painstakingly by John Sabella and his team. John writes a column in this very magazine, but that’s really not his day job. He has had a few careers in his life, but his abiding interest has been in documenting maritime subjects, including commercial fishing, on the North Pacific from Seattle to the Bearing Sea.

Although not a fisherman, John knows something of the hard, dangerous life occasioned by fishing in northern waters. And it is this interest and his study of first the boats and men, and finally the facts of survival in this bitter environment that has brought us to his attention, and he to ours. John’s real focus in fact is media production and compiling the records of our marine heritage in an easily accessible form before those records are entirely lost.

This interest has led him to produce a number of videos on classic boats which you can explore on his website, the address I’ll provide further down the page. I think you should know about the subject of John’s latest documentary, the yacht Westward and her families of owners. All of them have in their way broken with the traditions of land bound responsibility and the rules of the game that we drones follow dutifully. The Westward makes everyone who possesses her sail away.

It’s simple, really. To sail away one needs a ship capable of so doing. Westward, which is the inspiration for my musings and our escape, was designed by Ted Geary, one of the golden era’s greatest marine architects. She cut the mold for the Geary fantails that were to follow. Built for Campbell Church Sr. by the John A. Martinolich Shipbuilding Company in Dockton, Washington, she was launched in 1924. But she is no ordinary yacht.

She is built in the style of a north Pacific cannery boat, but with rather more graceful lines at the stern where she fl aunts Geary’s trademark fantail. As a yacht built to cosset people and not hold fi sh, she has some extra house that makes life aboard gracious and spacious. At 86 feet, she’s a large boat but not so large that a small crew can’t handle her. Church’s planned use for her was Alaska voyaging, and he supplemented his family boating experiences by putting her in service, catering to the most wealthy, successful and powerful people of the day.

Later, his son Campbell Jr. would make a thriving business out of the vessel with a supporting cast of boats and camps in the wilderness. But Church Sr. showed the way. Westward’s passengers experienced nothing less than the wilds of Alaska in the days when it was untouched by civilization. There they might on any day shoot a brown bear or moose, or row up to a glacier from which it was possible to dive in and take a swim. The first paying guest aboard Westward, and arguably the most important, was George Eastman.

That’s Kodak’s George Eastman from Rochester, NY. Mr. Eastman taught Church Senior to take 16mm films. This was a most fortunate thing, yielding to posterity a legacy of 300 reels of remarkably competent film footage. These reels innocently display the wealthy of the time engaging in sports of a kind that are now entirely out of fashion. For instance, Sabella’s documentary has a section devoted to whale hunting from the deck of Westward, and to accomplish this she was equipped with a cannon
to do the work in a thoroughly efficient manner.

My dream has no place for whale hunting, and it was as disturbing to view this event as a sport as it was to see photos of skinned bears shot for fun. But you have to admit this is really different than what you do for a living. And to run this show, to be at the helm of this boat and give the Roger Maris salute to income taxes and parking tickets really does have universal appeal, doesn’t it? It was appealing enough to Don Gumpertz and his wife Anna Louise to cause them to buy Westward in 1967 after the Church’s had owned her for forty years.

Having refitted and engaged her in a few years of shake down cruises, they took her cruising. They left port one day, turned right and sailed her all the way around the world. I met Don at a Seattle showing of the film and was impressed by this soft spoken, unassuming man that did exactly what I fantasize about every day. He just done did it. The Gumpertzs sailed their forty year old power boat everywhere you could take her, returning five years later.

You really do need to see this part for yourself, and this central piece of Westward history matches my personal take on the ultimate escape from the world’s stupid stuff about as well as I could possibly imagine. My hat is off to Don and his wife, Anna Louise, whom he has survived. Their adventure is the stuff of dreams and it surely must comfort him that they lived this improbable experience together. Extraordinary. As Westward served Don and Anna Louise, so in turn did she fi nd new ownership in Teresa and Hugh Reilly, who purchased her in 1993.

The expected refitting may have exceeded the usual run of work demanded by a seventy year old boat simply because of the use that was intended of her. That is a story for another telling, but here I can do no better than to quote Hugh himself. We are leaving Port Townsend on Sunday, headed for San Francisco, the beginnings of a voyage that will take us down to Mexico. We will spend March and April in Mexico and early May we are leaving Cabo San Lucas for the Marquesas in French Polynesia.

It will be a two-week crossing and we will spend the summer, our summer, in French Polynesia, the Marquesas, Tuamotu Islands and the Society Islands, Tahiti, Bora Bora, the Îles Sous-le-Vent, the Islands under the Wind, French Polynesia. I am hard pressed to explain my rationale for doing this, it probably requires a pretty deep therapy to dig into my psyche and find out why this is going on. If I am crazy, I
am having fun doing it.

Although Hugh may have a hard time putting his rationale into words, I do not have so much trouble with what I imagine would be my justifications for such “madness.” You see, I believe I can perfectly explain such behavior as the desire to sail an eighty-year old boat around the world. If you have the boat, and you have the guts and the resources, what would you do? Do you prefer to read self-help books or collect parking tickets? Perhaps you find joy in dealing with insurance companies, or pondering how to get out of your latest jury duty summons?

Maybe you like jury duty; how would I know? But for me, Westward’s capabilities are the basis of the dream. There’s lots to explore. Poke around until you fi nd the section on Westward. As a decent navigator, I’m sure you’ll find the way. Look under “Classic Yachts.” That’s always a good place to start! Speaking just for myself, I have to admit that I’ll be going to work tomorrow, because I have responsibilities. But one of us needs to break away and taste freedom. The Reilly’s are looking for a partner to keep Westward on the move. I don’t know what a share costs. You’ll need to check with Hugh and see what he’s thinking. I’m afraid even to ask.

On Sunday, July 12th over twenty classic and elegant yachts designed and built by Alfred Mylne will gather together in Scotland, at Rhu near Helensburgh. Their common cause: to celebrate the design and work of Alfred Mylne (1872 – 1951). Alfred Mylne started out in the yacht design business working for another famous Scottish yacht designer George Lennox Watson. One of Mylne’s jobs in 1892 was to draw up the plans for the Royal Yacht Britannia, and his initials can still be seen on the original plans for this yacht.

In 1896 Mylne left Watson, and at the age of 24 set up his own yacht design business at 81 Hope Street Glasgow, near Central Station. Mylne quickly gained a reputation for building fast and seaworthy yachts and became one of the leading instigators of the International Metre Rule in 1906. Mylne designed and built over 400 yachts in a career that spanned two world wars. In 1945 he handed the reigns to his nephew, also named Alfred Mylne, who continued the business through austere times.

In 1959 he was joined by a yachting journalist and enthusiastic designer and sailor, Ian Nicolson. Ian, after an apprenticeship in Canada, decided to spend his airfare home on building his own yacht and sailing single handed across the Atlantic. Ian is now the author of over 23 books on yachts and yacht design, and has regular columns in many yachting publications. In 2007, David Gray, an enthusiastic naval architect based in Fife, bought the business from Ian, and with Ian’s help, started the enormous task of digitising and cataloging the entire archive of over 10,000 drawings and documents.

It can earnestly be said that A.Mylne and Co. is the oldest continually operating yacht design business anywhere in the world. So what makes a Mylne special? Mylne’s designs are often confused with those of William Fife, a close personal friend and friendly rival of Mylne. To the trained eye, one would notice a slight increase in sheer (the deck line is not so flat), and slightly fuller sections. The reason? Mylne felt that a yacht should last for 50 years.

He recognized that the racing life of a yacht is short – and the cruising life long. Therefore he designed his yachts to be fast racers, but also to have space below to make them capable and seaworthy fast cruisers in their later years. And that is one reason over 100 original Mylne-designed yachts are still afloat today, with the 1899-built Tigris still sailing competitively in the Mediterranean.

These yachts now cover the globe, from New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Argentina, the United States, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Greece, India, and of course England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. There are over twenty yachts coming to the event, including Eileen II (ex Albyn), a 1935 Ketch of 95 feet coming over from Norway (see www.eileen.no). There is also Kelpie, a 1904 52-foot Rater, which after re-measurement now holds the title as the world’s oldest 12-meter.

The 1935 motor yacht Faith (www.yachtfaith.co.nz) is coming from New Zealand, a most able and seaworthy vessel of 75 feet in length, who sailed much of the way across the Pacifi c using her auxiliary sailing rig. Four 25-foot Glen class yachts, built in Bangor, Northern Ireland in the 1940s and ‘50s are coming from Strangford Lough and Dublin. There are also representative coming from the Royal Mersey Mylne class, and the River class among many others.

There is palpable excitement from the owners and crew for this first ever gathering of Mylne yachts. The racing will start on Monday, July 13 with a run from Rhu to Rothesay. Tuesday will see a Round Bute race. Wednesday’s race will be around Great Cumbrae for the larger yachts, and the fi nal race on Thursday will be back to the Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club (RNCYC) at Rhu for the Prize giving. First prize is the Keepsake Trophy, presented for the first time at last year ’s Fife Regatta.

This is a very special trophy, being the last ever design by William Fife, a 12-meter that was never built because of the war. When Fife retired in 1939, he telephoned Mylne and asked if he would like something to remember his old friend by. Alfred asked for this model which he knew to be hanging on Fife’s office wall – and the model duly arrived entitled “A Keepsake”. This then represents a great friendship between the two great designers of the time.

It is now presented “for Scottish Classic Yachting on the Clyde”. The winner of last year ’s Fife regatta The Truant is attending by special invitation to defend her prize. The social program for the event includes some very special moments. On the Sunday there is a hog roast in the grounds of the RNCYC clubhouse during the registration of the yachts. Silvers Marine, who are sponsoring the first race, will have an open house day.

They will shuttle people back and forth across the narrows to visit their yard to witness boatbuilding old and new in their excellent facility. One of the original Silvers motor launches will be taking part as a “Sponsors” entry. Tuesday night sees a special reception hosted by the Isle of Bute Sailing Club, supported by Homecoming Scotland. The Isle of Bute is where Mylne had his own yard, The Bute Slip Dock Company, at Ardmaleish Point, so there are strong historical connections between the island and many of the Mylne yachts.

There is a free evening on the Tuesday night, where crews can relax in the many bars and attractions of Rothesay. On the Wednesday night there will be a tour of Mount Stuart, the home of the Marques of Bute, including a whiskey tasting by Adelphi Distillery who will be launching the new Adelphi’s “Fascadale” 10 year-old single malt this year. Returning to the RNCYC for the final night’s awards, there will be a Ceilidh and Scottish Dinner, plus a charity fund raising event for the Regatta’s official charity, The Ellen MacArthur Trust – “helping young people regain their confidence through sailing after serious illness and leukemia.”

The Mylne Classic Regatta 2009 promises to be an exciting gathering and celebration of some of the fi nest yachts ever produced and designed in Scotland. Come along to Rhu and Rothesay, where you’ll get a chance to walk among the yachts and appreciate first-hand the craftsmanship and beauty of these floating works of art. Meet and talk to the people who spend so much time and money enjoying them. When Alfred Mylne designed these yachts they were cutting edge race winners. They were always beautiful - now we see them as true classics.

Coronado is one of the most enjoyable waterfront locales in California. Here’s what to do if you’re in town and you want to spend time by the boats. San Diego’s near-perfect climate, gentle breezes and endless sunshine make it an ideal destination to relax and set sail in beautiful Southern California waters. For visitors looking for a romantic setting, a fun family outing or the opportunity to learn from certified experts, San Diego offers numerous options for the most skilled or novice sailors.

Tours and Cruises - A visit to San Diego wouldn’t be complete without sailing along the Pacific and enjoying breathtaking coastal views. Following is a list of companies offering tours and cruises:

• Shelter Island Sailing offers six charter cruises daily. Visitors can leave Shelter Island and head into scenic San Diego Bay for a four-hour dinner cruise that showcases all the major ships and military aircraft along downtown’s Embarcadero and Coronado’s Naval Air Station North Island. From December through March, guests can silently enjoy the wonders of the California grey whales migration to the warm breeding grounds of Mexico on half-day whale watching tours aboard wind-powered vessels. Chartered fishing trips and cruises lasting one to seven days are also offered to explore the beauty of Los Coronado Islands in Mexico. Guests can also venture to Catalina Island or sail in San Diego’s Mission Bay. shelterislandsailing.com


• Sail-USA 11 offers visitors a chance to participate in a unique and thrilling sailing experience aboard a sleek, authentic America’s Cup competition racing yacht. Guests can be part of the crew or just relax while others hoist the sails during an exciting three-hour ride aboard the Stars and Stripes USA-11, the yacht raced by Dennis Conner during the 1992 America’s Cup. sailusa11.com

• Visitors can explore landmarks along San Diego Bay with Next Level Sailing. An affordable two-hour trip allows guests to experience the thrill of sailing on two 80-foot International America’s Cup Class racing yachts, among the fastest mono-hull sailing vessels in the world. nextlevelsailing.com

• Sail San Diego provides guests a combination of luxury and fun. Offering sailing, whale watching and fishing excursions, guests can enjoy romantic sunset cruises or interactive family adventures. Whale watching tours during December through March last two hours, and guests get the thrill of seeing other marine life including dolphins and sea lions. Fishing trips are private charters and allow up to fi ve passengers for half- or full-day tours. All equipment is available on board, including fishing licenses and live bait. sailsandiego.com

Sailing Lessons - For the sailor at heart, San Diego offers many opportunities for visitors wanting to learn how to navigate the protected waters of San Diego Bay:

• JWorld Sailing–The Performance Sailing School provides a range of sailing courses for all skill levels. Courses include a weekend Sailing Fundamentals class, Coastal Navigation, Performance Sailboat Cruising, and Live-Aboard/ Off-shore Cruising. Serious sailing enthusiasts can take Intro Sailboat Racing or the International Yatchtmaster Certification course. All courses are taught by U.S. Sailing-certified instructors. jworld-sailing.com

• Shelter Island Sailing offers guests a choice of three 10-hour long lessons. The Keelboat Class teaches the fundamentals of sailing; the Coastal Cruising Class builds on skills and introduces navigation systems; and the Combination Keelboat/Coastal Course teaches safety, seamanship and navigation to prepare visitors for a solo sail. shelterislandsailing.com

• Located in Coronado, downtown San Diego and Mission Bay, Seaforth Boat Rentals invites guests to climb aboard their fl eet of Catalina sailboats for a range of sailing classes. Classes include one-day group lessons of sailing safety in San Diego Bay, and overnight group lessons in which guests practice being the skipper and the crew while learning how to sail at night and day. For longer trip experiences, three- to fi veday sailing lessons to Catalina Island teach guests all they need to know about sailing; upon completion, certifi cation awards are provided. seaforthboatrental.com

• Guests can choose from over 70 sailboats at Harbor Island Yacht. Certifi ed by the American Sailing Association (ASA), Harbor Island Yacht provides a fun and easy learning experience. Visitors can learn the ground rules of sailing in the Basic Keelboating class and then advance to certifi ed sailors, as they embark on a weekend cruise to Catalina Island. Accommodating up to six people, the Catalina Island Basic Coastal Cruising certifi cation trip is the perfect way to spend a weekend on the water. harboryc.com

Charter Cruises - Groups can enjoy an unforgettable party or corporate event aboard one of these chartered cruises:

• Wooden Yacht provides sailing adventures with space for up to 12 guests and trips to San Diego Bay, Mission Bay, La Jolla, and Coronado. Guests can enjoy full-day, half-day or sunset sails on a classic yacht; all charters are serviced by U.S. Coast Guard-licensed captains. woodenyacht.com

• Groups can sail aboard a top-ofthe line, 58-foot sailing catamaran with AOLANI Cat Cruises; fl at screen TVs, surround sound and indoor/outdoor seating for 30 add elegance and comfort. The first sailing catamaran charter in San Diego, guests can sail underneath the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, pass by military aircraft carriers and submarines or take in the city skyline; the cruises provide visitors the opportunity to see marine life like whales, dolphins and sea lions. aolani.com

• Groups can enjoy sailboat racing with Harbor Island Yacht Clubs. For a thrilling team building experience, U.S. Coast Guard-licensed captains guide teams through basic sailing skills, and upon completion, compete in a race across the water. harboryc.com

• Groups can practice teamwork or thank their employees or clients on Sail- USA 11’s corporate sailing trips. For team building exercises, participants rotate through the different roles of sailing a boat and working while sailing across San Diego Bay. For special clients or employees, Sail-USA 11 offers the unique experience of racing on an authentic America’s Cup Class racing yacht. sailusa11.com

Dock and Dine - San Diego’s waters provide a unique and picturesque dining experience at many waterfront restaurants located around San Diego Bay.

• Guests can dine along the waters edge of Harbor Island at Island Prime and adjoining C Level Lounge. Both known for superb steaks, seafood and panoramic views of the downtown skyline, Island Prime provides an elegant and upscale dining experience, while C Level Lounge embodies a casual and laid-back atmosphere. Dock slips are available at the nearby Sunroad Marina. cohnrestaurants.com

• Guests can dock at Anthony’s Fish Grotto along downtown’s Embarcadero and choose between two restaurants. Anthony’s Fishette offers fast casual meals for visitors on the go; Anthony’s Fish Grotto serves quality seafood in a home-style environment. Docking is limited to guests dining only at these locations; dockside services include assistance in cleaning and prepping visitors’ “catch-of-the day.” gofishanthonys.com

• Guests can sail into a historic location at Bali Hai, the fi rst Tiki Temple on Shelter Island. The backside of the restaurant offers a convenient 90-linealfoot dock with four slips. Sunday brunch is the most popular meal for boaters; guests are encouraged to arrive early for a cultural combination of meals from the South Pacific. balihairestaurant.com

• Visitors can sail into beautiful Coronado Bay and dock and dine in luxury at Loews Coronado Bay Resort & Spa. Its 150-lineal-foot dock offers 10 slips accommodating boats of any size. Guests can dine at Loews’ Market Café, known for its fabulous brunches, or Mistral serving award-wining Mediterranean cuisine accompanied by top wine selections. loewshotel.com

Accommodations with Marinas - For guests interested in a place to sail and stay, San Diego’s beautiful hotels and resorts offer guests sparkling ocean or bay views and marinas for docking or renting sailboats.

• Guests can enjoy a stunning waterfront getaway at Kona Kai Resort & Spa located at the tip of Shelter Island. The fusion of California beaches paired with Mediterranean style makes this resort a popular destination for sailors. Kona Kai marina holds 518 slips ranging from 30 to 200 feet; Shelter Island Sailing and Sail-USA 11 are located nearby. shelterpointe.com

• Loews Coronado Bay Resort & Spa on Coronado offers guests a unique island vacation. Its 150-lineal- foot dock offers 10 slips accommodating boats of any size. Visitors can enjoy a water shiatsu massage in a private pool, take cooking classes, embark on a gondola canal ride, play tennis, or rent a sailboat from the marina. All rooms have stunning views of the ocean, marina or bay, and the resort’s spa offers 15 different types of spa treatments and massages. loewshotels.com

• The Hilton San Diego Resort on Mission Bay provides guests the opportunity to indulge in spa treatments, tennis lessons and scuba certification. The “H” shaped marina is over 100-lineal-feet long and houses several docked boats, including sailboats, kayaks and jet skis for rentals along the bay. The hotel’s Catch Your Breath package includes room accommodations, one-hour bike rentals for two, 15 percent off spa services, and a 10 percent discount on sailboat rentals. hilton.com

• Named the “best family resort in the world” by Forbes.com, Paradise Point Resort & Spa along Mission Bay offers a choice of leisure activities including an 18-hole putting course, pool with a sandy beach and a fullservice marina where visitors can rent sailboats, jet skis and kayaks. The hotel’s new Play at the Bay package offers four to five guests accommodations in a bungalow, $100 credit for sailboat rentals, complimentary parking, and breakfast. Package price varies upon availability and length of stay. paradisepoint.com

• The Catamaran Resort & Spa is a bay front destination providing visitors a tropical paradise on the shores of Mission Bay. Guests looking to relax enjoy a peaceful waterfront spa featuring South Pacific and Asian healing traditions and techniques. The nearby marina holds many sailboats and other water vessels that guests can rent for a different form of fun and relaxation. In addition, the resort is offering a new Sailing Adventure package, which includes boat rental, sailing lessons for up to 6 guests and a 10 percent discount on a room. catamaranresort.com

• The Hyatt Regency Mission Bay recently renovated and improved its bayside facility. Featuring a new restaurant, spa, state-of-the-art health club, and pools complete with water slides and private cabanas, the property offers the perfect combination of modern and elegant. Overlooking its marina, guests enjoy the view and short walk to Seaforth Boat Rentals, where they can rent water-sport vessels like sailboats and jet skis. Lessons are offered by a certified crew and rental fees can be billed to the guest’s hotel room. hyattregencyislandia.com

• Guests can enjoy a dynamic downtown atmosphere at the 1,362-room San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina. With a spectacular waterfront setting, the hotel boasts two free form pools, six tennis courts, bike rentals, jogging paths, and boat rentals. Its marina offers 446 slips and breathtaking views of the bay. marriott.com/sandt

• Located next to Seaport Village, the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego offers 1,625 rooms, two pools, four tennis courts, boat rentals and a full-service day spa. The hotel also features Top of the Hyatt on the 40th floor, where guests can enjoy panoramic views of the county along with the view of magnificent yachts below, including the world-famous America’s Cup racing boats, the Stars and Stripes, Abracadabra and America. For $395/night, the hotel’s Grand Escape package includes one-night of accommodations and sailing in a sixperson Capri 22 sailboat with a licensed captain. manchestergrand.hyatt.com

Lou Rauh: I see Chris-Craft boats as still being the most sought after. These boats were the most popular brand when they were originally built. People see a mahogany boat and think it’s a Chris-Craft even if it is not. Of the many styles that Chris-Craft made, I think the ones that will continue to be most collectible are the various “barrel backs” made from 1939 through 1942. These were made in sizes 17’, 19’, 23’ and 27’. In most people’s minds, these boats have timeless style. A group of younger buyers have begun to admire some of the post war Chris-Craft boats especially the 20’ Custom runabout made from 1946 through 1949. Capt.

Jim Shotwell: In our line it would be the 16’ Comet Gentlemen’s Racer with bright finished mahogany topsides and decks.

F. Todd Warner: The 17’ and 19’ Chris-Craft barrel backs have been continually great performers. Just a little history here, in 1980 I had three 19’ Chris-Craft barrel backs for sale, priced from $3,500-$5,000. They were a hard sell at the time. These were running, working, usable classics, in most cases excellent original examples. Today you are hard-pressed to find a good 19’ under $75,000. It now costs just shy of $150,000 to do a show quality restoration on a barrel back.

Pretty good return on investment don’t you think? I think many of the 20’ to 25’ utilities are undervalued, and among the best family boats you can buy. When you compare original cost of boats to automobiles, and see that the boats cost three to five times an average automobile of the day, it appears that boats are still undervalued. We are particularly enamored of the Canadian classics. Minett, Ditchburn, Greavette and Shepherd boats are simply beautiful, and even more rare than similar American classics.

Just about any 1930s triple cockpit boat 26’ and over is a great investment. Another observation concerns the classic cruiser market. Many marinas and boat yards no longer have the knowledge base to maintain and store classic cruisers properly. This has created an opportunity to buy more boat, dollar for dollar. Make sure you survey thoroughly, though! Fiberglass boats are coming on in popularity, too, especially Century Coronados, Arabians, Resorters and Chris-Craft XK’s and Lancers.

Peter Mellon: The area that I feel is very strong is boats with limited production. Canadian boats have long been appreciated for their craftsmanship and their low production and as such they have kept their value high. The Riva boats are also very sought after and desired especially given their low production, craftsmanship and low numbers in North America.

One can rarely open a copy of Vogue or Vanity Fair without seeing a Riva in the background of an ad promoting a high end consumer product such as a fragrance or designer apparel. Collectors of antique boats rarely feel that their collection is complete if it does not include either or both a Riva or a Canadian boat such as a Ditchburn, Minett-Shields or Greavette.

Chris Schmaltz: Any Barrelback, any Riva, Utilities under 22’. 2009 is a great opportunity for ownership!

Peter Mellon: Our sense of the Wooden boat market overall is that we are very encouraged by the influx of first time buyers. They all seem to share one thing in common which is a connection in their past to a wooden boat. Whether it was a family member who owned a wooden boat, a neighbor on a lake who took a young child out for a ride or just the allure and beauty of seeing a wooden boat glide effortlessly across a body of water.

All of our buyers at some point in the buying process will regale us with a story like this which are all eerily reminiscent. These people all have been deeply affected by an experience with a wooden boat and it has made a deep and profound impression upon them. As such they present themselves looking to buy a boat in an effort to reconnect to this early experience and to capture something from their past.

Lou Rauh: The demographics of our business is predominately men having been born prior to 1960. These are the people who not only have some disposable income, but also remember the antique/classic boats from their childhood. They remember their next door neighbor’s father who had one of these beautiful boats. We are seeing some of the younger folks being interested and purchasing some of the early fiberglass boats.

The antique/classic boat hobby very much copies the antique/classic car hobby in who is purchasing, and what they are purchasing. In my opinion, there are two general classifications of antique/classic boat owners:

1. Collectors – These folks are similar to classic car collectors, generally men who are not impacted by the slowdown in the economy.

2. Users – These folks generally have only one boat and they use it. They are generally much more impacted by the current economy.

We think that the first group will start being more active as the stock market stops its slide, and begins to show some growth. In some cases, some of these people are buying “investment quality” boats in place of CDs that are only paying 2.5%. The “users group” is definitely being reticent about buying boats. Our customers are usually cash buyers.

Capt. Jim Shotwell: While initially we thought the largest part of our market would be families with children, it turned out to be professionals and retirees with the baby-boomers just starting to pick up momentum.

F. Todd Warner: We have observed that our customers tend to become able to buy their boats right around the age of 50, and tend to sell them around the age of 80. As baby-boomers age, there are fewer and fewer people who remember the boats when they were new, but thanks to the active vintage boat community, there are plenty of opportunities for younger people to “get hooked.”

Jay Leno has commented that there will always be people interested in the best technology and style of each era, regardless of their personal interaction with the cars when new. We feel this is true with boats, as well, and we see it among our customers. We feel the value proposition in all classic boats from $15,000 to $5 million is better than ever.

For the first time boater, the cost of entry is reasonable and, maintained properly, a vintage boat will hold its value over time. If you invest in a classic and maintain it, you are, in fact, protecting yourself from depreciation downside. Moreover, the care and nurturing of a classic boat counters the trend of disposability in our society. We embrace this philosophy.


Chris Schmaltz: We are happy to see some shifting to a younger owner demographic. Of course there has been some influence because of a rise in popularity in the early production fiberglass boats, as the people who were influenced by these boats in their youth are now able to pursue these as collectibles. There also seems to be a movement in the presentation and awareness in the materials, clubs, and related venues, to a younger, more informed market base.

There are now web searchable databases for information, parts, owner groups, blogs, all things that will propel the hobby forward for the next generation. These things did not exist as little as five years ago. Look at this publication as a prime example. We feel as this exposure continues to increase and grow, it will have a positive effect in the industry.

F. Todd Warner: Wow, that’s just as tough a question as when the housing market will turn around! It’s not so much “hot” or “cold”, it’s that consumer confidence is lacking in general. It’s as if all purchasing has stopped cold, in many different industries. There isn’t enough activity right now to judge whether values are rising or falling. We find that the “logjam” is loosening somewhat, as we write this in February 2009. We have interested and able parties contacting us again, and we look forward to a “normal” spring season.

We still believe very strongly in the value of vintage boats, both as family heirlooms and as investments. As far as boats versus other investments, it appears that there will be a significant amount of currency infused into the U.S. economy soon. History says that has to lead to inflation, and, as we have seen in past times of inflation, money tends to move to tangible assets. Vintage boats certainly qualify, and have proven to increase in value over time, as well as providing invaluable family enjoyment.

A vintage boat is unarguably more fun than a gold bar! Comparing values in other collectible markets leads us to conclude that boats are still undervalued. Bugatti built 8,000 automobiles, Riva built 4,000 wood boats. A Bugatti Atalante, like the original recently found in a garage in England, cost $6,500 in 1936. A 27’ Chris- Craft triple cockpit runabout cost $5,000 in 1936. If the unrestored Bugatti is valued at $4.8 million today, what should the custom be worth?


Peter Mellon: One area of the market that we do find cold is in the category of cruisers. In an era where we have less time to ourselves, these boats have suffered as they typically were too large to keep inside during the winter months, too expensive to have someone other than yourself restore and too large to ever really finish the various projects that were required for the boat each season.

We all remember someone scraping the bottom of a large cruiser when we visited marinas years ago and these people simply do not seem to be entering the boat market today. As such, cruisers seem to be our weak spot in the market with no real improvement seen in the future.

Lou Rauh: We have experienced a definite “softening” of sales of our typical boats during the last half of 2008, and the first part of 2009. December and January are usually slow months for us in the selling of boats, but the past two months have definitely been tougher. That said, we also are beginning to see more inquires and offers as the weather warms up. Is this going to continue and increase? Our crystal ball is only working slightly, and we see sales increasing, but not at the rate of previous years.

Capt. Jim Shotwell: I don’t feel that it is a matter of hot and cold spots but a softening of the market in general. Much more time passes from the time of initial interest to the time of placing an order and we find this all across the product line. One note of interest is the fact that James Craft is seeing a strong demand for the kits finished at the boat shop instead of by the do-it yourselfer. We believe that is because the factory finished kit boat is a great value in a new vessel in both cost and serviceability.

Chris Schmaltz: We see valuation holding its own so far. In economic times like these there will always be some “fi re sales”. Those sales are great opportunities and not true market indicators. We see growth with smaller runabouts being acquired by first time wood boat owners, as they are easier to maintain and operate. The new people entering this segment seem to be better educated about what they are getting into than in the past.

We feel that overall, the mahogany boats are very undervalued, compared to other collector sectors. Of course there is a direct correlation in regards to the overall popularity of the collectible, but when you look at valuation in the collector car world, collector boats still have huge potential to increase in value. We feel the further appreciation in value will only continue to increase, regardless of economic valleys, for this reason.

The boats that are truly suffering not only as cause of the current economy, but because of the required continual commitment, are wood constructed production cruisers in the 30’ to 50’ range. This is a segment that with few exceptions, could literally disappear in the next 10 years. Because of their very nature, they typically are not considered to be a collectible entity.

Peter Mellon is president of AntiqueBoatAmerica.com, which currently lists over 1,200 antique and classic boats on their web site. In addition they present over 100 boats in their showroom in Clayton, New York. The company focuses exclusively on the antique and classic boat market. The company enjoys having the Antique Boat Museum and National headquarters of the Antique and Classic Boat Society as neighbors.

Lou Rauh is the proprietor of Antique Boat Center, a boat dealership which buys, sells, brokers, restores and services antique and classic boats. In business since 1990, they currently have 12 full time employees. The company concentrates its efforts on antique and classic boats from 12’ to 35’, and do not handle any sailboats or cruisers.

Chris Schmaltz is the marine sales & marketing manager for Hagerty Classic Marine Insurance. In its 25th year, Hagerty focuses on wood runabouts and utilities under 30’ and that type of boat represents about 70% of their business. That being said, they also insure vessels of all types of construction to over 100’ One of the main value propositions Hagerty provides is protecting the investment required by owners to commit to the cost of undertaking the preservation or restoration of one of these vessels.

Capt. Jim Shotwell is the retired founder of James Craft and now travels the ACBS show circuit as director of the International Board and the Chairman of the Youth Development Committee. He supervises the construction of the 10’ racing pram “James Craft Kit Boat” with youth groups at the ACBS Chapter Boat Festivals around the US and Canada. Jim is also a member of Boating Writers International and a charter boat captain with USCG 50-ton Masters license.

F. Todd Warner is the founder and CEO of Mahogany Bay in Mound, Minnesota. The company buys, sells, services, restores, maintains and transports the finest vintage boats in the world. Mahogany Bay is known as a source for some of the best and the rarest boats in the world. Over their thirty-five year history, Mahogany Bay has handled over one thousand vessels. Mahogany Bay provides 24/7 in-season service to their “local” customers within 400 miles of Lake Minnetonka.

So who’s the first responder in a medical emergency if you’re on the boat and you’re, let’s say, an hour offshore or out of port? You are. Being an hour or more from help is no big deal to a boater, much less a cruiser who heads offshore or into remote regions like Alaska or Mexico, and a boater can’t simply dial 911 and expect an aid car to be on scene momentarily. (Although you can call for help. In SOS 1, in the July/August 2007 issue of Classic Yacht, we discussed the Coast Guard’s new Rescue 21 System for distress radio communications).

On the water, at least initially, the skipper and crew are uniquely dependent on their own resources when a crew member or passenger suffers illness or injury. On board a boat, the skipper and at least one other person (what happens if the skipper is the one who gets hurt?) ought to be capable of taking immediate actions should an accident or illness occur. While it’s your responsibility to act, remember that you’re not alone in today’s world.

Call the Coast Guard on VHF Channel 16 and they’ll put you in contact with shore side medical professionals who can direct your treatment efforts by radiotelephone. And of course, if the situation is serious enough to justify a medical evacuation, the Coast Guard will dispatch response units even as they put you in contact with the medical pros. Your job is to stabilize the patient’s condition until help arrives. So what does that mean? If you’re a commercial seaman, it means you’ve taken first aid training as a condition of obtaining your license and you put your training to work.

If you’re a senior officer, designated a person in charge of medical emergency response aboard a commercial vessel, it means you’ve had advanced first aid training and you may be called upon to perform procedures ranging from taking vital signs to suturing a wound to operating a defibrillator in an effort to restart a patient’s heart. Sounds intimidating, doesn’t it? Not the sort of thing boaters tend to talk about over cocktails. If it’s intimidating even to consider, however, think of how you’ll feel when you’re called upon to act, especially if you haven’t
prepared in advance, for example, by taking a first aid course and assembling an adequate medical kit.

Nothing ever really prepares you for a medical emergency, however, and in the end, you just have to stay calm and use your common sense. Here are some things to keep in mind. Call for Help. If you encounter a medical emergency, you’ve got to get help. Call or shout for assistance but don’t leave the scene until you’ve performed a preliminary examination. If the patient isn’t breathing and doesn’t have a heartbeat, or if he (or she) is suffering from spurting blood loss, you have to provide immediate care.

Protect Yourself. Survey the scene before you rush to assist. Your first job is to protect yourself. You can’t help if you become a second casualty. Eliminate physical hazards to yourself and those around you before you approach the patient. You should also attempt to protect yourself from communicable diseases. Your vessel’s medical kit should include personal protective devices like gloves and face shields that serve as barriers between you and the victim’s bodily fluids. You may also represent a threat to the victim. Take care not to contaminate sterile surfaces as you use first aid supplies.

Stay Cool. You’ve got to try and keep your emotions in check. Feeling scared and inadequate is natural, but don’t allow yourself to panic. Keep in mind that the textbook approach to first aid doesn’t always apply to the real world. Ready-made medical supplies and equipment may not be immediately available at the scene of an accident, and you may have to improvise or do without. You may have to decide whether the highest priority is rendering immediate assistance or taking
time to get the medical kit.

Initial Examination. As you respond to the casualty, take care to cause no additional harm. Sometimes, the best you can do is to avoid making the emergency worse. Don’t move the victim unless it’s absolutely necessary. Unless you have no alternative, wait until help and the backboard arrive before attempting to reposition someone with suspected head, neck or back injuries. Offer gentle reassurance. No matter how scared you are, try to appear confident and competent.

Identify yourself. Assure the patient that you’ve had first aid training and that more help is on the way. Talk to the Patient. Talk to the patient each time you touch or treat him, but watch what you say. Even if he appears unconscious, he may be able to hear you. Use words that stimulate hope rather than despair. Ask the patient what happened. If he can’t answer, ask witnesses what they saw and study the scene. Understanding the accident will help you assess the injuries.

If you have to reposition the victim’s body to perform rescue breathing or to move him away from danger, be extremely careful. Use the log-roll technique to position him on his back as you stabilize the head, neck and spine by means of hand traction. We’ll talk more about stabilizing the spine and specific first aid procedures in later installments.

Among all of the forehead-smacking news happening in our world today, there’s one story that classic yacht aficionados around the world can smile at: Trumpy’s back. Grab hold of your varnished caprail if you need to steady yourself, but it’s true. New, authentic Trumpys are in the works, part of a plan masterminded by former Yachting magazine publisher Jock West and blessed by Johan Trumpy, the last of the Trumpy clan who actually worked in the famed Annapolis, Maryland boatyard.

The Trumpy story dates back to the early 1900s when John Trumpy Sr., 23 at the time and armed with German naval architecture training, began working at New York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jersey. Shortly thereafter he co-founded Mathis Yacht Building where he designed almost 50 yachts for the day’s wealthiest families including the Chryslers, Dodges and DuPonts. Among them was the Presidential yacht Sequoia.

By the end of World War II the company name had changed to John Trumpy & Sons and the yard had moved to Annapolis. As the years went on the craftsmanship apparent in each new Trumpy continued to set these mahoganyon- oak-hulled yachts apart. While we consider them classics today, they were of course fitted with state-of-the-art materials at the time, (Formica counter tops and vinyl upholstery among the modern luxury of the 1950s). The Annapolis yard closed in 1974, beginning what no one could know at the time would be a 35-year interruption in the production of these storied yachts.

By 2007 Jock West had turned his attention from magazine publishing to marine-industry marketing. His good taste in boats led him to refit a classic Trumpy with components from many of his clients. Showtime went on to travel the boat show circuit along the East Coast of the United States and became a popular attraction among the sea of white fiberglass amassed around her at each show. Interest in his updated Trumpy exceeded even his own expectations. “At least one qualified person expressed an interest in buying Showtime at each of these boat shows in 2008”, he said. “It gave us this idea.”

Ideas are one thing. Making this happen would require not only the involvement of Johan Trumpy but also a capable builder of wooden boats and seasoned CEO. West found Trumpy eager to be part of the continuation of the yachts that bear his name. After much research West tapped Vicem, the prominent Turkish yacht builder to do the heavy lifting. And Jim Ewing stepped in as CEO after serving as the executive vice president for Alden Yachts. I stepped aboard Showtime at the otherwise plastic Miami boat show in February.

“I think we may have accidentally hit a home run”, Jock professed. “The reaction has been strong and positive. We’re seeing a younger generation, for whom this is new and different, take one look and ‘get it’. Families, especially. A lot of women love this because it looks like home.” Certainly the competition is limited; the number of builders providing a time warp vessel with the feelgood character and provenance of a Trumpy, combined with state-of-the art machinery and electronics, can be counted on one hand.

“We’re building the Mini Cooper”, says West of the mix of charismatic charm and modern technology. “The design is faithful to the Trumpys of Showtime’s era but each new Trumpy 63 Flush Deck Motoryacht will have all of the modern mechanical systems and electronics available today.” The Trumpy 63’s profile is faithful to yachts of Showtime’s era (she was launched in 1969). The interior will be similar to the older boats but will use the best of today’s marine plumbing, air conditioning and other systems.

Vicem has been building wood-hulled boats for decades, and they’ll be cold molding
the hulls of the Trumpy 63 for a remarkably strong structure. After all, many of the best modern offshore sport fishing yachts are cold-molded and they’re built to bust through 12-foot seas at planing speeds. Cold-molding involves laminating many layers of wood (in this case mahogany) together with epoxy resins (in this case West system–no relation) to create a structure which has strength in many directions, not unlike the triaxial fabrics used in fiberglass boat building.

The result is a high-tech structure with old-school charm. The Trumpy 63’s calm and efficient 15-knot cruising speed will be no match for this boat’s structure. Powered by a pair of MAN diesels, West predicts she’ll cruise for ten hours on barely 50 gallons of fuel based on his experience with Showtime. The Trumpy 63 is a foot beamier than her ancestor, but not so wide as to make her inelegant underway. That foot of beam comes in handy in her bright main saloon and below decks. Two arrangements are offered, galley up and galley down.

The former has four staterooms, the latter three. Either way the 63’s galley will boast Viking appliances and, should each owner specify, copper counter tops like Showtime’s. Other equipment includes a bow thruster, 16kW Kohler genset, full electronics and five-year Vicem warranty. At $2,935,000 the concept of a fully loaded modern classic sounds like a home run, indeed.

“Il Mare e la Tradizione...The sea and traditions”. This festival will take place in the gulf of Spezia that stretches from Lerici to Portofi no, also known as the “Poets’ Gulf” because it has always been a favorite place of poets and writers. The town of Spezia will be turned into a “Naval Fair” hosting a series of events organised by the various associations. The Italian navy will be celebrating its 150th anniversary and will be allowing visitors aboard the aircraft carrier Garibaldi and the submarines in the harbour.

June 26-28 Peschiera Del Garda – Lake Garda. Meeting for Antique Motorboats The 16th edition of this meeting with the patronage of ASDEC will take place in the pretty little town of Peschiera del Garda. The event will be organised by the Garda Yacht Club and will include a mixed program of spectacular exhibitions, wonderful trips around the lake and unforgettable evenings. This year’s meeting will bring together two separate meetings: the antique boat meeting and the 12th Riva Boat Meeting in a special cocktail party.

June 26-28 Lake Lugano. Meeting for antique motorboats Lake Lugano, also known as Lake Ceresio, is an unusual shaped alpine lake set on the border between Italy and Switzerland. Apart from the cosmopolitan town of Lugano, the rest of the lake maintains is picturesque antique villages.

July 9-12 Anzio - Rome 1st Half Ton Classic Championship Organized by the Italian Half Ton Class, ASDEC and the Rome Sailing Club, this first ever Championship will see the glorious “Half Tonnes” meeting their matches in the ASDEC Trophy and the Challenge Half Ton Classic Trophy set against the splendid scenery of the Gulf of Anzio. Anzio is one of the prettiest seaside towns along the Tyrrhenian Coast, situated at approximately 60km from Rome, it has succeeded in maintaining its historical and artistic heritage.

The experts have spoken. Hagerty Marine has polled its policyholders for their take on the top 25 boating destinations in North America. When insurance agents Frank and Louise Hagerty discovered that they couldn’t find adequate insurance for their own classic wooden boat, they saw it as an opportunity. In April 1984, Hagerty Classic Marine issued their first marine policy.

“After 25 years of involvement within this industry, we felt it would be a fun and even nostalgic to gather our clients’ thoughts about where they love to use their wooden boats. After all, it’s the experience of boating more than simple ownership that attracts the real boat lover,” says Carla Gernhofer, Vice- President of Hagerty Marine and Hagerty’s first employee. “We hope other enthusiasts will enjoy this list and post it on their wall so they can explore these wonderful destinations themselves.”

1. Lake Tahoe (CA and NV)
2. Rideau Canal System (ON)
3. St. Lawrence River (Canada and NY)
4. Lake Winnipesaukee (NH)
5. Lake George (NY)
6. Priest Lake (ID)
7. Spread Eagle Chain of Lakes (WI)
8. Lake Sunapee (NH)
9. Lake Coeur d’Alene (ID)
10. Les Cheneaux Islands (MI)
11. Lake Geneva (WI)
12. Lake Muskoka (Ontario)
13. Put-In Bay (Lake Erie)
14. Lake Minnetonka (MN)
15. Clear Lake (CA)
16. Smith Mountain Lake (VA)
17. Mount Dora (FL)
18. Saint Clair River (MI)
19. Georgian Bay (Lake Huron)
20. Keuka Lake (NY)
21. Lake Charlevoix (MI)
22. Lake of the Woods (Ontario)
23. Payette Lake (McCall, ID)
24. Penobscot Bay (ME)
25. Saint John’s River (FL)

I stepped on board a 61-foot pilothouse cruiser last month and noticed... nothing. There was no musty smell at all in this older cruiser and it was so unusual that I had to find out why. Almost every yacht owner can tell you that keeping a clean ship is a must if you want to prevent bad odors and allergens from developing in the
interior spaces on board.

What makes this job even more challenging are all the areas that just cannot be reached during a conventional cleaning effort. Yachts provide a perfect environment for odor-and-illness causing germs, bacteria, molds and allergens to thrive. The dark, hard to reach areas found on board usually hold enough moisture to give mold and bacteria the ability to grow at levels they could not normally reach in nature.

The black water system alone usually releases enough bacteria into the air to create a health hazard in a relatively short period of time. The older a vessel gets, the more these contaminants grow and before long, you have a classic yacht smell. Compounding this problem is the fact that most conventional disinfectants just can’t penetrate deep enough to kill all of the contamination. For example, a molecule of bleach is larger than a molecule of water.

So when trying to disinfect with bleach, the water in the bleach solution penetrates deeper than the bleach, feeding the bacteria and microbes that survive because they are smaller than both the water and the bleach molecules. This scenario applies with almost every disinfectant on the market. There is a new solution, however. Advanced Air Cleaning Technologies combines environmentally friendly disinfectants with state-of-the-art spray delivery technology.

AACT offers a service that includes treating all the interior spaces, as well as the hard to reach areas where bacteria, mold and allergens live. Contact AAC Technologies to learn the latest.

Bristol, Rhode Island – The Herreshoff Marine Museum/America’s Cup Hall of Fame and the New England Section of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers have issued a Call for Papers for the 2010 Classic Yacht Symposium. The symposium will be held April 9 through 11, 2009, in one of yachting’s most storied small towns, Bristol, Rhode Island. The symposium is the fourth in a series presented by the Museum and the Society.

The three-day event will include presentations on subjects relative to excellence in classic yacht restoration, replication, or use; adaptation of classic designs to modern materials, and technical details of rigging, fi ttings, powering and rating rules. Plans for this event also include a tour of area boat restoration shops, along with opportunities for networking with attendees and industry experts.

The event’s Proceedings (the assemblage of papers and discussions presented during the symposium as well on watch Herreshoff Museum Announces 2010 Classic Yacht Symposium as noteworthy papers not presented) are distributed to the hundreds of builders, designers, owners and enthusiasts who attend, as well as being offered for sale through the Herreshoff Marine Museum, the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, and online internationally.

Sponsorship and industry participation opportunities are available for this internationally respected event; for more information please contact Sara Watson at s.watson@herreshoff.org. Interested parties worldwide are invited to submit papers for consideration. For full instructions to authors including schedules, paper template and Symposium details, email Museum Curator John Palmieri j.palmieri@herreshoff.org, or contact by phone (401) 253-5000 or fax (401) 253-6222.

Port Orchard, Washington – The beautiful and historic town of PortOrchard, Washington will come alive Thursday, July 9 through Sunday, July 12 2009 with the arrival of a fleet of some of the world’s most prized pleasure boats. This event is a true highlight of summer on the water in the Pacific Northwest.

According to John Deane, chairman of the Pacific Northwest Chris Craft Rendezvous, more than one hundred of the classic boats are expected for the event, with four days of food and fun, free to the public. “Chris Craft owners are encouraged to bring their boats, whether in perfect condition or not”, he said. “Part of the fun is seeing the progress boat owners make from year to year.”

He added that there will be a swap meet and a lot for boat owners to learn. “If their boat is a ‘showboat’ already, it will be in good company”, Deane said. Boat owners should register in advance to ensure moorage and participation in the gathering’s many activities. For the 20th annual Chris Craft Rendezvous, the entire guest moorage area of the Port Orchard marina has been reserved exclusively for the four day event.

The collection of varnished mahogany, polished stainless steel and the good vibes that seem to emanate from any large collection of wooden boats will be hard to miss! Scheduled activities include live music each day, a nautical swap meet, the popular Saturday Port Orchard Farmers’ Market and food, food, food.

The Chris Craft Commander Club is holding is tenth anniversary rendezvous on the Chesapeake Bay from July 16 to 19 at Kent Island Yacht Club. The club is located at Kent Narrows right on the waterway. The Chris Craft Commander Club has over one thousand members. While many plan to arrive by boat, some are expected to fl y or drive in for occasion of the tenth anniversary meet.

Members already committed to this summer’s event will be arriving from the Hudson River, Long Island Sound and New Jersey. Some have registered from as far away as Norfolk and Washington, D.C. Past meetings have been held in the Lake Michigan area where many of the classic Chris Craft Commanders were built.

Seattle, Washington – One of the rewards of summer in the Seattle area is the annual rendezvous of the Pacific Northwest Fleet of the Classic Yacht Association at the Bell St. Pier in downtown Seattle. The PNW crew, led by our own intrepid columnist and all-around good guy Lew Barrett, invites us all to stroll the docks with dad this Father’s Day weekend and view over fifty classic wooden yachts on display.

Open to the public at no charge and always chock-full of the prettiest boats in the area, this year’s, rendezvous will highlight and celebrate the classic vessels of Chris-Craft though the ages. Many boats will be open for boarding. The event is open to the public from June 20 - 21 at the Bell St. Pier in Seattle. The docks are open from 10:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. Saturday and 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Sunday.

Riviera Beach, Florida - A warm winter breeze stirred the air on February 11 as more than a hundred people witnessed the historic re-launching of the 1929 John Alden schooner Summerwind. Originally launched as Queen Tyi for a New York banker who soon lost her in the 1929 Wall Street crash, the yacht changed hands many times over the years, even serving as part of the Coastal Picket Patrol during World War II where she narrowly avoided the wrath of a depth charge off her stern.

Local schoolchildren looked on as the Moores Marine crew and Riviera Beach Yacht Center moved the 100-foot (LOA) yacht two hundred yards across the boatyard to their TravelLift well. Henry Pickersgill, the marine surveyor on the two-year project, called it “the most important launch in Palm Beach County in probably anybody’s memory.” The reasons? Partly the $8 million cost to restore and re-confi gure her as a racer, partly the history.

“The boat is an American legend,” Pickersgill said. The boat was found in a state of disrepair by J. Don Williamson, a Fort Worth, Texas oil and gas businessman who has been a devoted racing sailor and classic yacht aficionado for years. The yacht, named Sea Gypsy at the time, was in charter service in Mallorca, Spain. He bought her for “less than a million,” he said, but the restoration costs topped $8 million by launch day.

The restoration task fell to Moores Marine, the firm founded by Jim Moores and best known for their work on the exclusive fleet of vintage Trumpy yachts that ply the eastern seaboard of the United States. Selecting the right wood for the vessel’s plank-by-plank rebuild took time and a fair bit of travel. “I had a guy get us trees in the Appalachians,” Moores said. The hull is long-leaf yellow pine below the waterline and Douglas fir above.

Measuring 79 feet on deck, Summerwind has a new deckhouse, cockpit, spars, sails, winches, electronics, wiring, plumbing, galley and bowsprit. After a festive and proper Dom Pérignon-smashing christening by Mrs. Pat Williamson, the newly renamed Summerwind was gingerly lowered into the water, as captain Karl Joyner and others scrambled to check for leaks, of which there were none beyond the expected minor plank seam here and there.

The final phase of restoration will take about three weeks, said Capt. Joyner. Then the re-born yacht and her owner’s family will be ready for her first big trip to Antigua, for this year’s classic yacht regatta. Beyond that, the William sons intend to take Summerwind on the international classic yacht circuit. “I just think it’s gorgeous,” said Williamson. “And I hope it sails fast.”

Well, you asked: Which boats do you think are on the cusp of enjoying a rise in value? Boringly, Bill cites the ever-popular, Bertram 31 (GRP) and a wonderful Grand Banks line as two cases in point. Fine. Still, in the pantheon of American classic boats, no marque shines brighter than Chris-Craft, eh? Of course, their exquisite Constellations, Cobras, and runabouts already command the attention of countless classic boat clubs and magazines–but who ever heard of a CC Roamer?

Well, Boating magazine (October 2002) did feature the marque and included a sidebar entitled “Roamer Redux” referencing the CC Roamer Club in their “After the Fall” article. Pound for pound, these aluminum and steel-hulled beauties represent one of the most underrated classic boat “values” on the water. Of course there are exceptions, but considering the level of response and dedication that I, as the progenitor of a mere geocities.com website have found, the interest and admiration for these pleasure craft remains surprisingly high.

In any case, I invite you to peruse our Club site (geocities.com/alloyed2sea) and see for yourself what Roamer means to the average owner or wannabee today. Bill, in my biased opinion, the first original 99 Chris Craft Speedsters should become future collectable classics.

Thank you for a great read - your e-mail is one I look forward to every time! It is with great sadness that I heard about the death of Olin Stephens last year. I had never met the man, but he was an inspiration. The year before Olin’s passing, we took over the business of A. Mylne & Co, with the express purpose of carrying on the design business, and cataloging the design archive of over 400 classic yacht designs from 1896 onwards (over 10,000 original drawings!).

Part of our mission is to write a definitive book on Alfred Mylne - and we have had great help from Wendy Schnur at Mystic Seaport in going through old issues of Yachting Monthly from 1906 through 1920. We had also written to Olin Stephens at
the beginning of 2008 asking if he could recall Alfred Mylne and perhaps write a forward for our book (being written by the eminent Ian Nicolson).

We were not aware at the time how frail Mr Stephens was, and he passed away before being able to respond. Could we therefore put out an appeal for information and stories from anyone who knew or met Alfred Mylne? They can e-mail me at: david@mylne.com. We are running a competition on our website - the best story every month receives a bottle of Mylne whisky.

I find your articles and the method in which the pages turn to be worthwhile and enjoyable. We don’t know one another but as a retired 500-ton captain I think we are cut from the same cloth. There are so many pleasure boaters out there who are dangerous to themselves and others it is a shame. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the note. I just rode into Long Beach Harbor on the British Purpose, a 3 million barrel tanker. There was a guy in a 20 foot skiff fishing or sleeping, who knows, smack in the middle of the channel. The pilot blew the whistle and finally had to call the harbor police to get the guy to move. How dumb do you have to be to play chicken with an oil tanker? Takes all kinds.

It took six years of sluggish sales, but the Cheoy Lee 66 Long Range Motor Yacht eventually evolved into the handsome, almost timeless yacht you see here. Originally unveiled as a more homely raised pilothouse design in 1978, Hong Kong builder Cheoy Lee and designer Charles Wittholz transformed the yacht in time for the 1984 model year by lowering the pilothouse profile and gracing the boat with an uninterrupted sheer by re-tooling the fiberglass boat’s hull and deck molds.

In the process Cheoy Lee reduced the amount of Cheoy Lee 66 exterior teak, as most of the vessels built to date were purchased by owner-operators who didn’t care to maintain so much varnish. These boats were built to cruise, not just to look stately at the dock. This refreshed design led to many more yachts being launched, in both four and five-stateroom layouts. Eventually a third deck design, which allowed for a full-beam main saloon, was introduced starting in 1985.

The five-stateroom arrangement proved most popular and included a maindeck galley aft of the wheelhouse. All galley-down examples had the large, dedicated pilothouse seen here, while boats with both galley up and walkaround sidedecks made due with a smaller pilothouse that did not include a watch berth or dinette. Cheoy Lee’s reputation exceeded that of many Asian boatbuilders in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

There’s no high-tech laminate schedule here; these boats were all built with solid fiberglass hulls, something that perfectly suits this boat’s operating speeds and go anywhere demeanor. That operating speed never exceeds 13 knots, with a comfortable 10 knot cruise for this round-bilged, 87,000 lb. live aboard passagemaker. Solid-glass bottoms and topsides are much more repairable in remote parts of the world than elaborate cored composites.

And they’re less vulnerable to structural damage due to water intrusion in the laminate especially as a boat ages, multiple owners drilling holes for transducers and antennae without regard to creating new paths for water intrusion. The Cheoy Lee 66 was originally offered with a pair of General Motors 8V71 naturals producing 350hp, with 320hp Caterpillars as an option.

With 2,300 gallons of diesel on tap she can cruise in comfort for 2,000 nautical miles at 10 knots. The Cheoy Lee 66 was available with Lloyd’s certification for those who wanted to not only look the part, but who planned to take their cruising seriously. Many 66’s were not certifi ed, however, their original owners not requiring offshore insurability or planning on marketing the boat for charter.

Standard equipment included both a 25kW diesel genset and a 15kW unit. An increase in fuel capacity was available, adding almost 20% to the standard 2,300 U.S. gallon tankage for a total of 2,700 U.S. gallons. This combined with 700 gallons of freshwater capacity and a modestly sized reverse osmosis watermaker gives the Cheoy Lee 66 tremendous long range cruising potential. On deck, large yacht features abound, especially considering the wide walkaround side decks on the standard deckhouse boats.

A Portuguese bridge wraps around the pilothouse, high bulwarks frame the business-like foredeck, and the ground tackle looks substantial enough to rip apart the Great Barrier Reef. Should you try to find another yacht less than fifty years old with as elegant a rounded transom as this one, you’ll be searching awhile. The interior accommodations were luxurious for the period, with a large master suite in that voluptuous stern which included a desk and lounge as well as a comfortable head with tub.

Two additional guest cabins are aft, one with it’s own tub as well. Depending on the galley location, either one or two additional cabins are fitted forward of the
engine room, offering great privacy for the owner’s party if a working crew is on board. The engine room itself is positioned slightly forward of amidships and has full standing headroom throughout, along with four opening ports for excellent cross ventilation.

With modestly sized engines there is plenty of room to move about and perform preventative maintenance, a task who’s frequency is directly proportional to the amount of elbow room available in an engine room for so many skippers. You know who you are.

Cheoy Lee 66s remain popular in today’s market due to their blend of timeless looks, good build quality and sensible layout. As of early January there were six on Yachtworld.com, ranging from a 1988 listed at $495,000 to a 1985 listed at $804,000.

In this episode Doug discloses the fact that he’s recently inherited a 1973 Bristol 24, one of the most popular small cruising boats of her day. A self-described “boat private investigator”, Doug has a knack for sniffing out the untold stories you haven’t heard anywhere else, and this time he set out to find the boat’s designer.

Doug managed to get a phone interview with Paul Coble, designer of the Bristol 24 and influential force during Bristol Yacht’s heyday. Paul’s salty stories are sure to put a smile on your face if you’ve ever set foot aboard a Bristol yacht. My Boat is accessible from the page on the right in each issue of Classic Yacht. We also post the My Boat series on Apple’s iTunes (itunes.com) for anyone to download for free onto an iPod or computer (Mac or PC).

We release each new My Boat episode on iTunes about ten days before the magazine is delivered to your e-mail inbox. So, if you subscribe to the podcast on iTunes for free, you’ll get My Boat first along with a preview of what’s to come in the next issue of Classic Yacht. If you think you’re My Boat material (we want a podcast, not a nodcast), contact us by clicking editor@classicyachtmag.com with a brief description of your boat and your adventure. If we believe you, we’ll be in touch!

Big Sandy, Tennessee – This article is for the boat owner who has a boat or two with headliners as well as for the tradesmen tackling the replacing of headliners. We met the most wonderful couple with the most adorable boat traveling the Great Loop. They reported to us that tradesman after tradesman would be willing to install electronics or do this or that repair on the boat but none would touch the headliner.

Why is that? Probably because they tried it once and it sagged and vowed to never do it again. Actually with some prep work and patience it can be done without such anguish. They asked if I’d do it and in a heartbeat said, “Yes, no problem!” Their reaction was amazement – someone agreed so readily. Hence, I did their headliner. I recall years ago, a custom yacht in south Florida was being retrofitted with a headliner.

The boat was large and the headliner was 20 feet across and 35 feet or more long. Of course it is hot in south Florida; the custom yacht jobs are the plum jobs and pay well. One Friday night a crew of guys flipped on the AC and started working on the reinstallation of the new headliner and long into the wee hours of the morning they finally finished. Exhausted but filled with pride they were done and locked up the cabin and headed for home.

The next morning the crew boss got an urgent call and the crew had to scramble back to the yacht post haste. The headliner was sagging to all depths throughout the entire cabin. It looked like stalactites growing overhead. Actually this happens too often and does not need to. It also introduces a whole new set of dilemmas, not the least of which is the tradesman’s reputation plus who shoulders the cost of a new headliner if it can not be re-stretched and saved.

Who pays the crew again? And what happens if the boat owner was due to leave and this delays the departure. What about those costs? It is actually a nightmare and does not need to be. A sagging headliner is completely avoidable with some practical know-how. For step-bystep practical solutions, keep reading. First, some boats don’t have headliners. It depends on the design.

Our boats never had headliners, we had planked, double planked and sealed decking which on the underside was our cabin ceiling and consequently we never had the headliner problems that many boat owners have. Many fiberglass boats use vinyl headliners to make a neat, clean looking ceiling overhead. This covers up the raw surface of the cabin and top.

It also provides a one or two inch space for wires to run without being seen so that it is visually pleasant. The headliner is usually made of vinyl and stapled to wooden framework which covers the fastening and backing plates for deck hardware. Everything is okay until moisture leaks in and starts to slowly (or quickly) wreak havoc. Often the water damage has been going on for years before it is noticed.

All the while there is mold growing that you are breathing in while in the cabin. Water can come in from any and every mounting screw hole in the cabin roof, such as those of the hand rails or the running lights, radar mast, dingy davits, etc. Any and every hole is a potential leak. The source of the leak may be ten feet away from where the water shows through the headliner.

Water runs along wires, the wood framework, or even running inside the core of a laminated deck. A big source of leaks is at the point where radar wires go through the cabin roof. The wires can move around and twist which breaks the seal. The initial installation mechanic may have inadvertently twisted a wire so minutely that on a quick glance it is not noticeable. But over time with the boat inevitably flexing, the wire bends a little more and the seal is broken.

Water must be given its due, because if there is a hole or crack water will find it and travel into it. Add to this scenario the gel coat deteriorating over time from age, sun and other factors. Water seeping through may not show up for a few years but just dampen the wooden framework enough to cause rot. Once the headliner starts to sag and loosen at the seams it’s time for a new headliner.

Another reason to start examining the headliner is because it is time to upgrade the electronics and the boat owner wants the wires run and hidden in the headliner. Here are the basics for head liner installation: Click here for a printable, condensed cheat sheet. No step outlined below is too minor to ignore or your results will be disappointing.

As you prepare the cabin for taking down the headliner, moving breakables out of harm’s way, take note of the cabin ceiling substructure. Note how the original vinyl is tacked under the wood battens and is pulled to the next batten. Try not to destroy or distort the original headliner. If the original vinyl is not too brittle or dirty you might be able to reuse it. If it’s not useable, use it as a pattern at least for length.

Most boat headliners are 36” wide. They are typically different than a headliner for automobiles. Upon taking the headliner down examine the wooden frame. If it is decayed it will have to be replaced. Battens are best made from sugar pine, white pine, fir or any other straight grain wood with no knots. If the battens show no evidence of deterioration due to water, double check their edges.

The batten edges should be sharp and straight, resulting in crisp edges when the vinyl is pulled 90 degrees to the next batten for tacking and so on until the job is complete. If the edges are worn replace them with new straight edged battons. Battens are 1⁄4” x 3⁄4”; it should not be a big deal to cut new ones for installation. If there is wood rot you must find the source of water entry before the wood is replaced.

Every screw penetrating the cabin top is a potential leak. Radar masts that are thru-bolted to the cabin roof are a big culprit. The mast carries the weight of the radar antenna and other antennas plus the weight of the mast itself. Installation of electronics thru-bolted to the ceiling are often installed using only bolts with washers. Washers are a small bearing surface. Under the cabin roof, backing plates should be used because they have a large bearing surface.

Backing plates cover larger areas, distributing the weight more evenly overall throughout the ceiling. Small bearing surfaces cause a big strain on the cabin roof and can cause the caulking to let go or even crack the fiberglass which allows water through. Backing plates should always be used. If you are re-doing your headliner area insist on backing plates instead of simply screws with washers.

If you are unable to watch or view this process tell your mechanic you want photos of the backing plates installed in the ceiling before the new headliner is installed. Do not accept less. Sometimes a starboard side running light may leak and the water shows up on the port side. A strong wind might list the boat to port causing water to fl ow to port.

Finding a leak can be very frustrating. I would recommend removing all possible sources of leaks on the cabin roof and rebedding them while the headliner is down. Have someone spray water from a hose onto the top of the roof; vary the intensity and water angles to locate where the water comes in. Go below to watch the water leak. Keep a watchful eye and trace back to the source hole.

This may take time–even waiting for the water to work its way through its trail. If this doesn’t lead you to a source leak, have someone spray the water from the other side of the boat, varying direction and fl ow intensity while you watch below. Since you have the headliner down, remove each piece of roof hardware and rebed everything with 3M 5200 or equivalent sealant.

Be sure to clean every surface well, scraping all old caulking off. Use plenty of 5200 so it squeezes out everywhere under pressure. If there is a spot you don’t see any sealant squeezed out that may indicate a void inside and the result will be another leak. This is not good, especially after the new headliner is installed! Redo that fitting now. Seal up every seam even ones that look like they can’t leak because soon after this exercise they will probably let go.

You may wonder how you’ll ever get the piece of deck hardware off after all that 5200 is cured. I always use a heat gun or propane torch to heat the metal part until it lets go. Be careful not to ruin the paint, gel coat or to melt wires. Point the heat away from everything you do not want to heat up. I warmed the metal piece to just slightly too hot to handle and this usually is adequate.

Plan ahead for a hot pad where you will place the hot barrel of the gun when done. If you have a cored cabin roof, measure the old screws and use new stainless steel screws of the same length so they do not puncture the outer skin of the roof. When putting up new wood frame work to staple and attach the headliner material, use 5200 and the correct length screws.

The wood strips must be exterior plywood or solid wood, must be smooth and in a fair plane so that no bumps or joints show when the vinyl is stretched tight over them. Even a splinter on one corner can cause an ugly dimple or tear. I prefer Monel stapes over steel They’re often harder to locate than steel but they do not rust. Don’t let anyone tell you that they cannot be found–keep looking. Many marine suppliers sell them.

You will be pleased with the results in the long run. Request the aid of a helper, you might find it helpful having someone hold up the vinyl as you staple it in. Before beginning the headliner installation, wash your hands! Everything shows up; every particle of dirt and smug of dust will be visible in various lighting. Take a break every so often to wash and dry your hands with clean towels.

Generally headliner work is done in the summer and wouldn’t we all agree it is so much more comfortable to work in A/C! I caution you not to turn on the air conditioning during this project. In fact you should warm up the cabin like I do, turn on the heat or if the boat does not have heat close the doors and windows and use a heat gun to gently warm the air.

Think this through – it is hot – you’ll be hot – you’ll be wiping your brow use toweling not your hand. Place toweling nearby and handy. Be careful where you point the gun nozzle – you don’t want to melt anything or damage any knickknacks, start a fire or stain anything. If you are unfamiliar with working with a heat gun – set up a practice bench outside somewhere safe far from anything you can damage.

Place several nuts with bolts screwed into a board and fastened down with 5200; practice aiming the heat gun at only one screw at a time and see how much heat it generates. While you are at the test bench, heat up and pry loose a few of the other bolts you set up with 5200 for practice removal before tackling the cabin roof. The headliner material stretches when warm and shrinks when it is cold.

I start the installation by turning on the heat and close the doors and windows – even in the summer – and install the headliner when the temperature is warmer than usual in the cabin. In some troublesome spots sometimes I use a heat gun to warm the ambient air but not aiming the heat at the actual vinyl. Warm up the air to relax the vinyl for stretching so you can smooth it all over. Viola’! No wrinkles.

When the cabin returns to regular temperature the vinyl will stay tight without wrinkles. Ahhh, nice job! Most importantly know your skill level. Maybe this time you should be the assistant or distant observer. Watch and learn from the experts then tackle it. If this task is beyond your skill level, pull up with several pizzas, feed the guys first, have them wash their hands and watch the magic begin.

Mystic, Connecticut – Think Mystic Seaport is strictly about tall ships and a 19thcentury village? Think again. Encompassing more than two million objects, the Collections Research Center at Mystic Seaport houses one of the premier maritime collections in the United States. Located across the street from the Mystic Seaport Museum in a renovated 43,000 squarefoot velvet mill, the collections reflect the extraordinary scope of America’s relationship with the sea and inland waterways.

Maritime photographs and paintings, vessels, books, manuscripts and periodicals, figureheads, films and videos, tools, carvings and fine art populate the building, along with a prolific collection of more than 130,000 naval architectural drawings. The museum’s Ships Plans Collection illustrates the ingenious and timeless creations of numerous renowned designers including William Starling Burgess, Cox & Stephens, William Garden, L. Francis Herreshoff, Philip Rhodes and Henry A. Scheel.

Reflecting the varying ways in which boats are powered through water – manual, wind, steam and gas – the plans also reflect a wide variety of vessel dimensions, from small canoes, dories and day sailers to yachts, barges and naval vessels. Additionally, the archives feature plans for vessels that are currently found in the museum’s collection, such as the Charles W. Morgan, the L.A. Dunton, the Joseph Conrad and the Emma C. Berry.

Acquisition of the collection is an ongoing process that results from the generous gifts of donors and from the designers themselves. The plans arrive at the Collections Research Center rolled in cardboard tubes in various stages of wear and tear. Most arrive on typical sheets of paper, while other designs have arrived on unique mediums such as linen, mylar and even the back of a piece of wallpaper.

“Designers are just like any other artist,” said Collections Access Associate Quinn Sayles. “They use whatever is nearby when inspiration hits.” After removed from the tubes the preservation process begins. Wearing archival gloves, the Cataloging team carefully unrolls the plans and places them on a tray in a machine called a “relaxer” where they reside for approximately two weeks.

The relaxer – fondly nicknamed by Sayles as “the pizza oven” – slowly releases humidity into the sheets which in turn flattens them back to their organic state. The plans are then catalogued into the Collections Management System and laid flat in archival drawers in a climate controlled vault.

Weekly, nearly 15 to 20 phone calls and emails are fielded by the Collections team by boat enthusiasts looking for a particular design: those hoping to rebuild a certain vessel, researchers looking into the history of naval design, genealogists trying to piece together pieces of a family tree and even artists looking for a unique print.

Increasingly, the Collections Research Center is contacted by those interested in purchasing scanned copies of historical ships plans for decorative pieces in their homes. Researchers, consumers and many others come to Mystic Seaport in search of blueprints of America’s maritime history, proving once again, the countless ways in which the sea touches all of our lives.

Seattle, Washington I don’t expect many of you consider Classic Yacht magazine to operate as your lifestyle magazine, whatever that is, instead subscribing to it as a vehicle for information on classic boats and classic boating. There are plenty of lifestyle yachting, cigar, fashion, home and wristwatch magazines in the world, so we are enjoined by our publisher to stick, more or less, to our topic.

If you have a yen to explore the Gothic Teenager and Vampire lifestyle, you must search elsewhere. And to reinforce my own total dearth of fashion sense, I have never been accused of being a scion of the Good Life in respect to my own “personal style” and thus do not find I have an entourage of groupies surrounding me, hanging on my words for the utterance of “the next great thing.”

And I suspect you don’t either! Yet every now and then it’s important to bring a sense of style and gravitas to any important topic, and perhaps even to gently suggest what might constitute the proper approach to small items of luxury and comfort that enhance our lives as Classic Boaters. Without doubt, this has been one of the most severe and disquieting winters in anybody’s memory.

Thus, I ask you to indulge me while I stray from the course of my usual observations about boat builders, shipwrights and the nature of our obsession while I introduce you to another of my interests, and one that I believe should be one of yours as well. This is especially true these days, when small comforts may come to count for something. The topic of the moment then is rum.

Not Scotch, not bourbon nor rye, not beer or wine, nor tequila or vodka, but stolid, unfashionable rum, the drink of sailors and guzzlers since the discovery of the New World. You see, rum and our kind of boats go quite naturally together. The Americas themselves were built on the backs of men and women who were sold off to suffer through “The Middle Passage” between Africa and the islands and shores of America.

This trade, as any schoolboy might remember, was The Triangle Trade, and it fueled the growth in this hemisphere for three centuries. Sugar and molasses were distilled into rum in New England, from whence it was shipped to Africa in exchange for gold and slaves. These poor people in turn, became human cargo traveling “The Middle Passage” to the Caribbean Islands and the southern shores of our own land, where they raised the sugar cane that was shipped to New England.

And the whole process began all over again, in a tangle of sugar, rum and slavery. Hence, for better and worse in respect to wooden vessels, the kind I pay attention to, no other spirit is so closely aligned and associated with history as is rum. It was, at one time, the very lubricant and currency of trade. So here, after my years of endless and dutiful research into the topic, is your lifestyle tutorial on what to keep on board if, as I do, you wish to honor the maritime traditions of those who came before us. But first, a word from our sponsors!

You must understand that when we speak of rum, we do not intone the names of certain vile spirits that are popularly sold in supermarkets and by the gallon at liquor stores around the world. Such swill is not the stuff of legends, giving rum a bad name and being generally beneath contempt. These drug store spirits are not the rums gentlemen drink aboard, nor are they the rums that reflect the artisan craft that launched a thousand ships.

Perhaps an unscrupulous purser slipped such swill into the hold of a ship bound east for trade, but no selfrespecting sailor would accept less than a reasonable facsimile of decent rum. We speak of rums with history, veritable naval traditions, and the kind of stuff you need to have on hand and especially on board. British naval tradition is where we start.

It is replete with vivid stories, probably the most celebrated of which involves none other than Lord Nelson himself. When Nelson expired from his wounds at Trafalgar, it was thought best to bring him home where he could be buried properly as a hero. There being no way to keep the Admiral from decomposing on such a long trip short of pickling him, it was decided to stash him in a barrel of Pusser’s Rum drawn from the ship’s stores.

Consequently, the Admiral’s shattered body was placed lovingly within the cask. However, on returning to England, when the corpse was withdrawn from the barrel, it was found that the contents within had been drained dry. The sailors of HMS Victory had, for various reasons, drunk of Nelson’s Blood. An apocryphal story you say? They say not, and Pusser’s sells fl asks of rum called “Nelson’s Blood” to this day.

If you obtain a flask of Nelson’s Blood, you can read their representation of the tale, printed boldly on the porcelain flask and decide for yourself how much store to place in this tale. In 1970, the Royal Navy discontinued a three hundred year tradition of issuing every rating and officer a measure of daily rum. The commonly accepted reason is that by this time, the art of running a warship had become so complex that the rum ration was viewed as naught but a distinct disincentive to careful work.

The questions of supplying the crew fresh water and untainted foods that presented sailing ships with such problems were long since solved, and all told, despite the ceremony and unhappiness that accompanied this event, we can all agree we’d rather not have men deep in their cups with their fingers on such powerful buttons. Which begs the question of how they went aloft in the 18th century so besotted, but we all know those were different times, with iron men and all that.

Without even going into the importance of rum to other seamen through history, I hope to have made my point. Should you go forth upon the briny and carry any spirits at all with you, make sure you know a bit about rum, the true and complete sailor’s spirit. And that’s where we take a turn! Today, artisan rums can be obtained that will truly spin your head around in respect to just what rum is, and isn’t. Rums of quality are distilled almost everywhere sugar cane is grown.

Indeed, a holiday comprised of visiting the ports that rum is shipped from would likely be quite a jolly one indeed, and with good sailing between anchorages as well. This includes large swaths of the Caribbean and South America, where the spirit is most popular. Now, I could spend a lot of space telling you of the different styles of rum and the hundreds of distillers and manufacturers, small and large, who ply the trade.

But instead, I’ll list a few of my own favorites, some of the styles, and urge you to seek your own as well. Traditional Navy style rums are frequently associated with Jamaica, but in fact, Pussers, probably the best known of these, headquarters on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands although the rum is distilled elsewhere. Jamaican rums like Coruba and Appleton can embody a lot of the naval spirit in rums that are more refined and delicate.

I myself am not a big fan of the naval rums, but for mixing and big, bold flavors, they have a large following. The rums of Martinique generally fall into another category called “Rhum Agricole.” These are made from fresh pressed cane juice, and have an entirely different character than rums made from molasses. Such rums are higher in alcohol content (proof), are usually grassy or herbaceous tasting and are frequently not best as introductory products for newbie guzzlers.

The “rhums” of Neissen, St. James, Depaz, Clement and the like are examples of this style of rum. “Rhum Agricole” like molasses based products (usually called rum industriel) are available in styles from clear to dark. Generally, darker rums have been barrel aged for longer periods. White rums are usually thought of as younger products. Guatemala produces some of the richest and most luscious rums. If you like sweet, dark, caramel flavors, be sure to try Ron Zacapa 23 Anos, or for a slightly drier rum in similar style, Zacapa’s 15 Anos.

These are consistent award winners. As rums of Spanish speaking nations, they are called “Ron” on the bottle. Rhum is the French appellation. I myself dote on the rums of Venezuela and will never be without a bottle of Pampero Aniversario onboard. This is a classic dark rum, aged in used whiskey casks for 6 years and with a subtle sweetness that reminds me of all the best aspects of the rum flavor in a good dish of Bananas Foster.

Santa Teresa, Diplomatico and Cacique are other well-known rums from this country that so troubled our former President. Top labels regardless of origin include such names as El Dorado, who make incredibly fl avorful rum from demerara sugar in a unique style that goes well with cigars. Then there are rums from Barcelo and Flor de Cana, again representing another national style, this time the Dominican Republic.

Barcelo Imperial is a rum of great taste and refinement and would be a welcomed offering on board any properly stocked Herreshoff or Trumpy. I could go on, but should I? I think you get the point. Rum is even distilled here in the US, far from most local sources of cane. And we have a broad range of highly talented and quality oriented producers, so don’t stop at the Bacardi or Captain Morgan’s shelf! You will have done me, and yourself, a huge disservice if you do.

I have no interest in Captain Morgan, except that I do fancy Geena Davis in the role she filled so well in “Cutthroat Island.” But she’s the only Captain Morgan I can abide! I have this to say regarding the “whiskey plank” itself. You know what the whiskey plank is, don’t you? It’s the last plank to be hung on any job. It marks
the end of the build insofar as the hull is concerned, and if you’re the guy who hung those boards, you’ll probably want to bring a glass of your favorite poison to "the moaning chair" in the corner of the shop where you can survey the fruits of a long labor.

Unfortunately for the sake of this happy little lifestyle article and, I would add, the poor schlep who built the boat, you can’t call rum “whiskey (as in rye or bourbon), or whisky (as in Scotch whisky) for that matter.” Rum is rum, ron or rhum, but it is never whiskey. So I propose we all break with tradition just this once and pour ourselves a nice glass of Ron Atlantico, Appleton XO or Mount Gay Extra Old.

Goslings Black Seal from Bermuda with ginger beer is very nice too, and makes the famous Dark and Stormy they drink on that island, and elsewhere when sailors gather. Looking at the finished hull with such a glass in hand strikes me as the only proper way to do it. We could always substitute some Barbencourt 15 year or Angostura 1919 from Trinidad. Tell me these far away places, reachable only by sea, don’t completely enhance the allure of rum! Go ahead.

Explain to me you’d rather drink a spirit that it’s most ardent admirers claim is at it’s best when it tastes like peat moss, or one that has to be filtered through charcoal to make the grade! Puleeeze! Rum is for sailors, sailors are for rum. Ever may it be so! You need to do some research on the topic! Shall we begin on your boat, or mine?