The online home of Spaulding Wooden Boat Center members, volunteers & friends

Freda is ready for her shutter plank

The Spaulding Wooden Boat Center in Sausalito has reached a milestone with the impending completion of the hull of the historic gaff sloop Freda, built on San Francisco Bay in 1885. She is the oldest active private sailboat on the west coast of the United States. A traditional “shutter plank,” also known as a “whiskey plank,” celebration will take place at the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center in Sausalito on Saturday, June 5 from 4pm to 6pm. Refreshments & appetizers will be served. E-mail info [at] spauldingcenter.org if you wish to attend.

A shutter or whiskey plank party is a time-honored custom among boat builders. According to tradition, a libation of whiskey is poured on the shutter plank before installation, hence the name whiskey plank. More information about Freda can be found at our main Web site and at www.sailfreda.org.

A free celestial navigation class at the Arques School of Traditional Boatbuilding starts May 19 and will be held on three consecutive Wednesday evenings from 6:30pm to 9:30pm. Class will be led by Bob Darr, director of the Arques School, which resides at the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center in Sausalito. Bob will provide all materials but please bring a pencil and notebook. Register by e-mailing Bob at arqueschl [at] sbcglobal [dot] net.

We’ve launched a new Web site devoted to our 1885 gaff sloop, Freda. Find it at: Freda, Matriarch of the Bay.

The site is devoted to the history and ongoing restoration of this historic boat built on San Francisco Bay, and includes over 100 photos, videos and a lengthy history of her adventures. Freda’s story brings to life the people and boats who sailed San Francisco Bay and the west coast in the last 125 years.

Our goal is to make Freda as ship-shape and Bristol fashion as she was in the days when she was the flagship of the Corinthian Yacht Club and competed in numerous Master Mariners Regattas on San Francisco Bay. With the help of the many people who’ve already contributed to her restoration, she’ll sail again, taking guests out on the Bay and giving them a chance to recapture what it was like to sail on a wooden sloop in days long past.

We’ll be adding more information to the site in coming days, including a few surprises, so stay tuned and return often. If you like, you can subscribe to updates so you know all about the work being done to return Freda to the waters of San Francisco Bay.

We need more help in completing Freda’s restoration. If you would like to support the restoration of Freda and her return to the Bay, there’s an opportunity to make a contribution.

Freda, Matriarch of the Bay Web site

A boat designed by Myron Spaulding in 1923 while he was a student at the Polytechnic High School in San Francisco will be the boatbuilding project for the 2010 Youth Apprentice Program at the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center. World-renowned boat designer Tom Wylie has updated and adapted the design for use in the youth program.

High-school aged apprentices will learn the art and craft of traditional wooden boatbuilding working alongside professional boat builders in the oldest wooden boatyard in Sausalito.

Details are available at 2010 Youth Apprentice Program.

The volunteer crew of Polaris, our 1906 gaff sloop (see Sail with Us for more about Polaris) was busy this past weekend getting Polaris ready for the 2010 sailing season. Polaris, along with Pegaus, our 1962 Spaulding 33, take guests out for sails on San Francisco Bay. A total of eight crew rotations will be training and preparing in the next weeks for the upcoming sailing season.

We’re close to completing the replanking of Freda’s hull so this was the last opportunity to put a camera through her ribs and capture this viewpoint.

Looking towards the bow

Looking towards the stern

These photos were taken on February 16, 2010.

Freda is a gaff sloop built in 1885 on San Francisco Bay and is the oldest private sailboat on the West Coast. Read more about Freda

We are very impressed with the 3D laser scanning images of the Charles W. Morgan historic whaling ship at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut.

See more images and read about them at Mystic Seaport’s photo stream on Flickr and at Mystic Seaport’s Web site (link below).

3D laser scan of the Charles W. Morgan at Mystic Seaport

The Charles W. Morgan is the last surviving wooden whaling ship from the great days of sail. Built in 1841 in New Bedford, MA, the Morgan had a 80-year whaling career with 37 voyages before retiring in 1921. Read more about the Charles W. Morgan at About the Charles W. Morgan at Mystic Seaport.

We’ve been asked a few times what the definition is of brightwork.

Brightwork is sometimes narrowly defined as one of either the metal or unfinished wood on a boat, but the term applies to both unpainted wood and metal on a boat or ship that must be kept bright by polishing. These days, most effort goes into maintaining the wood, frequently teak, on a classic sailboat or motoryacht.

Wood may be oiled or varnished and requires regular maintenance and reapplication of the oil or varnish. Bronze and aluminum require little or infrequent care, stainless steel needs periodic cleaning and polishing, and chrome, well, chrome on a boat is like socks on a centipede, as a friend of mine says:  it may be fashionable, but it’s just too darn much trouble.

USS Potomac on San Francisco Bay

Cruise on board the historic USS Potomac for the 21st Annual Sausalito Lighted Boat Parade & Fireworks. This event is a benefit for the Sausalito-on-the-Waterfront-Foundation.

When: Saturday, December 12 at 5:00pm
Where: Sausalito Ferry Landing

Tax-deductible ticket price: $75/person (PICYA affiliate or SYC member $65/person)

Cruise includes: wine & light appetizers plus entrance to the Sausalito Yacht Club for dancing to the music of the Jame Moseley Band afterwards at the club. USS Potomac will return to the ferry landing at about 7:45pm. Dinner will be available at the Sausalito Yacht Club.

Purchase details: We must receive 65 paid reservations by 12/8 for this cruise to happen. [12/8  We've received the minimum reservations we need and the cruise is happening!] Your check must be received by 12/8. More information is at http://www.novomondo.com/potomac_cruise.jpg.

You can read more about this historic yacht that once belonged to both Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Elvis Presley at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Potomac_(AG-25).

UPDATE December 13: USS Potomac won People’s Choice award in the Lighted Boat Parade! It was windy and wet but a great night.

Freda - built on San Francisco Bay in 1885

Freda is well on her way to returning to the waters of San Francisco Bay, but she still needs your help to complete her journey. Please consider contributing to the completion of the museum-class restoration of Freda, the oldest private sailboat on the West Coast of the United States.

You can contribute on our Web page at Make a Donation, or you can contact the Spaulding Center directly at (415) 332-3179.

You can read more about the historic gaff sloop Freda on our main Web site.

Ivan Davies, Jonah Ward, Jane Davies

Ivan Davies built Auroral in the 1950′s in an old stable in San Francisco. Two other Spaulding 33′s were being built in that stable at the same time, including our Pegasus, built by Michael Schnapp.

Jonah Ward, a staff member of the Spaulding Boatworks, completed the restoration of Auroral. An enthusiastic crowd of over 200 were on hand this past Saturday to celebrate her relaunch.

Ivan told us that Auroral’s original color was white but, given time, he’d get used to her new, bright red hull.

Read the article at MoreMarin.com.

Continue reading at MoreMarin.com.

He was one of the great racing sailors of his generation, and we’re coming to a big weekend at what was once Myron Spaulding’s boatyard in Sausalito. Today it’s the people’s boatyard, if we can keep it…

Read more at Kimball’s blog, Blue Planet Times.

Celebrate with the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center at a private event on Saturday, November 7 at 11am.

We’re celebrating:

• The first planks on Freda, our 1885 gaff sloop
• The launch of Lightly Salted, a pram recently completed by the Youth Boatbuilding & Sailing Program
• The launch of Auroral, a Spaulding 33 sloop restored by staff member Jonah Ward
• Myron Spaulding’s birthday on October 28

There will be music and refreshments.

Photo by Rod Bauer

This is a special event open to members and special friends of the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center. If you’d like to attend and didn’t receive an invitation, contact Andrea Rey, Program Director, at 415 332-3179 or andrea [at] spauldingcenter.org.