Posts from — March 2009

This year at the Center we are passionately engaged in our Public Sails Program. This program is coordinated by volunteers Sharon and Jim White. Sharon oversees and organizes the training sails for crew and skipper, while Jim oversees boat maintenance and also acts as skipper.

Today the program has forty active volunteers and there is room for more. GET INVOLVED! Don’t miss this unique and rare opportunity of becoming crew and taking the public for a sail on San Francisco Bay.

Take a look at Sharon’s comments below and contact me if you have questions. andrea [at] spauldingcenter [dot] org

Sharon White:

We have just completed the first of many crew and skipper training workshops for our volunteer sailors. We had a total of 15 participating, from the very experienced to brand new sailors. We covered a range of subjects and learned a lot from these sails that we can put to use going forward. We want to thank everyone for their enthusiastic participation! A good time was had by all. The fabulous weather didn’t hurt either!

Our 1951 Spaulding Boatworks building is an explorer’s delight. In every crowded corner, on every overladen wall, under every busy workbench, are treasures waiting to be discovered:  bronze winches, 50 year-old yachting magazines, polished turnbuckles, dusty cabin fixtures and pieces of this and that which all beg a name and a purpose.

Two items at the boatworks recently caught my eye, both life rings from boats that at one time occupied a place in the life of Myron Spaulding. If these life rings could talk, they would have real life stories. In this case, one life ring represents a loss for Myron Spaulding; the other, a success.

Life ring from Suomi

Suomi was a custom 50-foot (15 m) yawl, built in 1947 by Arvid Johnson in San Francisco before the current Spaulding Boatworks building existed. (Drawing of Suomi on Wikipedia). A number of fellow racers and designers remember Suomi as perhaps the pinnacle of Myron’s designs. Hank Easom, another accomplished Sausalito sailboat racer and builder, called Suomi the best-looking boat Myron ever designed. In the 1947 Transpac Race to Honolulu, she came in first in the twenty-four boat Class C and sixth overall in a fleet of thirty-four.

On April 21, 1955, Suomi was en route from Santa Barbara to San Francisco with a crew of four along with her owner, Henry Meiggs. The weather in the vicinity of Point Arguello early that morning was overcast, with intermittent drizzle, wind southeast, force 2, and small, choppy seas. A Swedish freighter, the Parramatta, was steaming 13.5 knots en route from San Francisco to Los Angeles. At approximately 0400, Parramatta struck the Spaulding yawl. Suomi sank immediately and all five persons on board perished, including her owner.

The Coast Guard subsequently recovered two of Suomi‘s life rings from the area, which Myron Spaulding apparently received and kept at the Spaulding Center.

Life ring from Hussy

The story of Hussy is more upbeat.

The 8-meter yacht Hussy, built in 1926, was the Corinthian Yacht Club’s choice to defend the San Francisco Perpetual Cup in 1946 against the 14-meter sloop Amorita. The Amorita came up from the Newport Harbor Yacht Club with big sails, ready to campaign in a season of races on San Francisco Bay. She easily won the Vallejo Race and everyone worried about what would happen in the Perpetual Cup. Meanwhile, Myron was cutting down the rig on Hussy, reducing the sail area and in general repurposing the boat for San Francisco Bay’s notorious high winds. Myron’s changes required recalculations in Hussy‘s handicap, and it ended up that the Amorita had to give him time. Not that it was necessary. It was blowing like stink on the day of the Perpetual Cup and Myron beat the Amorita by four minutes boat to boat, surprising everyone. Myron was hailed as a hero around the bay.

If you get a chance to visit the Spaulding Center, take a look around and ask about this old boat fixture or that worn tool. You’ll likely hear a story you’ll remember.

Despite looming clouds and a smattering of rain over Sausalito last Saturday, a group of Spaulding Center volunteers took our recently donated Spaulding 33, Pegasus, for a sail across San Francisco Bay. The occasion was the Master Mariners Benevolent Association’s (MMBA) annual spring potluck dinner at the Richmond Yacht Club.

Pegasus at the dock

The crew consisted of Martin (skipper), Steve, Kevin, Max, George and myself. The sail was a great opportunity to meet other Spaulding Center volunteers and get the chance to sail a boat designed by Myron Spaulding.

Myron designed the Spaulding 33 to be easy for homebuilders, and all realizations of his design were built by amateur builders in garages and under backyard tarpaulins. The design calls for a hard chined hull, as you can see in the photos, and uses cut frames and marine plywood, which considerably lessens the skill and tools needed to produce a home-built sailboat. Despite these concessions, the Spaulding 33 has proven to be exceptionally seaworthy and easy to sail, and—not surprisingly for a Myron Spaulding design—competitive on the racing scene, as well. This particular example of a Spaulding 33, Pegasus, was built by Michael Schnapp in San Francisco in 1962 and enjoyed for years by the Schnapp family, who graciously donated Pegasus to the Spaulding Center for others to enjoy.

I recently joined the MMBA, which has a great tradition dating back to 1867 of wooden boat ownership, racing and cruising on the bay and beyond. (Web site: www.mastermariners.org) The MMBA’s annual Master Mariners Regatta of classic wooden yachts each May is one of the highlights of any year’s racing on San Francisco Bay.

The dinner and socializing were expectedly convivial, and I had the chance to greet acquaintances and make a few new friends, as well. The informal events turned to announcements about upcoming events that confirmed expectations for a busy year of Master Mariners activities, which were then followed by an interesting slide show and talk by Mike and Sue Proudfoot, who steered their double-ended 38 foot ketch Farida through Norway, Sweden and Estonia.

We might look a little like wet cats in the photos, but I believe we all had a great time sailing Pegasus and hanging out with like-minded wooden boat and sailing fans on the bay and in Richmond.

Saturdays used to be pretty quiet at the Spaulding Center.  But these days, Saturdays at the Center are buzzing with activity.

This past Saturday, the Arques School of Traditional Boat Building was holding their usual amateur’s class of 10+ students who are building a boat.  I arrived at noon to greet a small group from the Traditional Small Craft Association (TSCA), who were arriving back at our dock from a row-out and back.  Two TSCA’s were rowing Guppy, the twelve-foot Norwegian Pram built by our 2008 Youth Boat Building and Sailing Progam (foreground below).

A dock on Sausalito Canal

Accompanying me was Kevin, a new volunteer docent who then helped me conduct an SWBC tour for the TSCA.  But Kevin had to leave early because he was joining a crew of six volunteers who were taking our 1962 Spaulding 33, Pegasus, at 1 pm to the Richmond Yacht Club for the Master Mariner’s Annual Potluck.

Finally, at 1 pm, kids and parents started arriving for Day One of our Youth Boat Building and Sailing Program – Year 2.  Program Director Craig Southard and his four volunteer instructors welcomed nine young people and two Big Brothers this week.  We are still accepting applications and hope for more to join in coming weeks.  After a few Saturdays of basic woodworking, the kids will start building another pram.

All this activity makes the “living” museum alive.  It was a beautiful day!

By the way, the TSCA crew posted their day on the Wooden Boat Forum.  See: http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=94552.

I’m sitting here reviewing the draft of our latest volunteer newsletter, Crew. Hopefully it will be out this week to all of our volunteers. Crew is the creation of Volunteer Coordinator Susan Lewin, who is herself a volunteer. I think it’s better than the newsletter we send to our general membership.

Sue began volunteering in April, 2007 and is about to celebrate two years on the team. She had recently moved to the area from the UK with her husband and three daughters because of his business. I couldn’t believe my good luck because Sue is not only a delightful and interesting person, but was willing to help out wherever necessary. She coordinates volunteers, helps out in the office, comes to most of our events (and brings flowers), and even contributes chocolate to our morning tea time.

If you drop by on Fridays, you can meet Sue, and if you sign up to volunteer, we will send you Crew.

By the way, Sue hasn’t posted to a blog before, so our webmaster Rod Bauer (another Super Volunteer) sat with her last Friday for a “blog tutorial.”  So now I am waiting for Sue’s first blog post…

Sue, our Volunteer Coordinator

The Spaulding Center will host an open house on March 14 at 1pm for the Youth Boatbuilding & Sailing Program that commences March 21 at the Spaulding Center.

Students aged 12-18 will have the opportunity to build and then learn to sail a traditional wooden boat.

You can find information about the program at Youth Boatbuilding & Sailing Program. For further information, call Andrea at 415 332-3179.

Location: Spaulding Center in Sausalito
When: Saturday, March 14, 2009, 1 pm to 3 pm

Photos of Guppy, built by 2008 Youth Boatbuilding & Sailing Program

Welcome to the launch of our new blog, Brightwork.

Every wooden boat owner knows the effort needed to maintain the polished wood and metal known as brightwork. It’s one of the reasons why wooden boats require more work to maintain than boats made of other, less demanding materials. Shining brightwork on a boat is a sure sign of a committed and loving owner.

We at the Spaulding Center recognize and honor the effort and skill required to build and maintain the maritime works of art commonly known as wooden boats.

Why a blog?

We started a blog to have a place for more frequent and timely updates than are typical on a Web site, and to encourage dialog among the staff, volunteers, members and friends of the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center. Please join the conversation by commenting on the blog posts or suggesting topics to cover.

We already have a very active dialog on Twitter, with over 1,200 followers of @woodenboat, our Twitter ID. Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters, but even with that limitation, we’ve had discussions on a wide range of topics. This blog is better suited for longer posts, photos and videos, as well as continuations of conversations begun on Twitter.

If you have any suggestions for what you’d like to see on this blog, please contact us at blog [at] spauldingcenter.org.

Mark Welther, Executive Director
Spaulding Wooden Boat Center