SIGHTINGS it's now okay to play
historic sloop freda If you're reading this while it's hot off the press, you have time to catch the much-anticipated launch of the historic sloop Freda May 31 at Sausalito's Spaulding Wooden Boat Center (located at the end of Gate Five Road). Why should you care? Because she is the last remaining example of America's earliest style of recreational sailing craft. Built in Belvedere, and first launched in
KERRY BROWN / CETACEA
For Bay Area sailors who get out on the water all year round, the concept of Opening Day on the Bay (April 27 this year) is a bit of a head-scratcher. Nevertheless many local mariners embrace the tradition religiously each spring by strutting their stuff as they parade down the Cityfront. One guy who we'd bet wouldn't miss the wind-blown pageantry for this world is Kerry Brown of the one-off Blue Seas 42 Cetacea. For him, it's become an annual tradition to round up a swashbuckling crew of buccaneer -ettes, dress them up in their finest pirate garb, and show off shamelessly as they pass the judge's stand. In the group shot on the right, he explains that Kerry and his cadre of wenches had a front row seat to watch "the scowling, sulthe J/70s racing, as 'Cetacea' paraded along the Cityfront. try, seductress (far left) is wearing a necklace with effigies of all captains she has seduced and dispatched to Davy Jones' Locker in her quest to become NoBeard, the Piratess, Queen of the Seas." Works for us. So if you've been waiting for the green light to get out on the water and play, by all means get on with it. Opening Day was a month ago and the summer season of racing and recreating on the Bay is in full swing. We'll see you out there. — andy
We're delighted to report that Jack van Ommen of Gig Harbor, Washington, has found a replacement boat. You'll remember that the 77-year-old lost his much-loved Naja 30 Fleetwood, which he'd owned for 33 years, to a storm off Spain's Balearic Islands on November 16 of last year. Van Ommen is one of Latitude's heroes for having sailed built-from-a-kit Fleetwood to 50 countries over a period of eight years. He started after going bankrupt, with nothing to his name but the boat and $1,800 a month in Social Security checks. Van Ommen talks about his new boat: "In mid-April I purchased Mariah, a near sistership, and have rechristened her Fleetwood. She was built from one of the three Naja 30 kits that I imported from Whisstocks of England in 1980. Original owner Todd Dhabolt did an exceptional job on putting the boat together, and he was the one who got me in contact with her most recent owner. "Unlike my original Fleetwood, the new one has a masthead rig and the mast is keel-stepped. She also has a sugar scoop rather than a transom hung rudder." Van Ommen's first Naja 30 was the last one to be built with nails holding the plywood planking together. Because the nails would expand in heat and contract in the cold, he had to epoxy the recesses almost every year. His new Naja has the planking screwed together, a superior method. "I keep finding features on the new boat that are definitely better thought out," he says with enthusiasm. "And I know the boat has 50,000 less ocean miles worth of wear and tear, so I'm happy." Van Ommen got the new boat for a favorable price. "I paid $7,000, which was my budget, and she came with a decent sail inventory, including a newish main, a SSB radio, and a 10-hp Italian diesel. I may eventually have to replace the diesel with something more powerful." continued on outside column of next sightings page Page 72 •
Latitude 38
• June, 2014
COUTESY CETACEA
van ommen replaces fleetwood
