YARD WORK —
COURTESY BEN WELLS
BEN WELLS
H
ave you had more time on your hands this past year, and spent more time working on your boat? We'd ussually spend our weekdays engaged in gainful employment and weekends sailing with friends. Given the upending change in both economic and social norms the past year, I've found myself working on my boat all the time and only sailing with my social bubble — which consists of my wife Quincey and our cat Panda — whenever possible. It seems the 'never-ending list' only got longer, not shorter! We'd owned Esprit, our 1990 Kelly Peterson 46, for two years when good judgment told us to shelter in place last March. I'd always wanted to refinish the cockpit coaming teak, the largest varnished surfaces on deck. I knew it would take two weeks to strip the wood bare, plug old holes, and build up to 12 coats of varnish, so I figured the three-week shelter-in-place order was a perfect time to tackle the project when I shouldn't have been sailing and couldn't do much else. Well, three weeks have turned into nearly a year, allowing me to cross more projects off the list. I've replaced a whole assortment of plumbing for freshwater, gray water, black water, and diesel. Both heads are new; new rope has been given a purpose as spinnaker and preventer gear; and we bent on new sails and sewed new canvas
There's nothing as satisfying as before-and-after photos from a successful restoration. Left: Ben Wells' Morris 36 'Sea Witch' after eight years of neglect. Right: 'Sea Witch' after a few months of love.
covers, just to name a few. Another significant accomplishment was replacing the whole navigation cabinet, which once held various electronics from previous decades. It's now a beautiful piece of teak with an iPad and VHF. Of course, there's always more plumbing, more varnishing, more upgrades and modifications begging for my time. And right now, I — like many others — have that time. I thought I'd check in Ben Wells and friends enjoy the fruits of Ben's labor on board the with a few more sailors Morris 36 'Sea Witch' in January. to see if the past year has allowed them more time to sail, or more time to work on their boats. Connecting with Bay Area native Ben Wells, I learned that he'd picked up a new boat (that needed a lot of love) since racing was infrequent during the pandemic. It turns out a project was exactly what he needed. Nicki Bennett of Berkeley also bought a new-to-her boat after her access to sailing dried up. Huntington Beach native Ryan Foland became a diesel mechanic when he learned his technician had so much work that they were scheduled six months out. The 'doit-yourself' project also allowed Ryan to get married while anchored at Catalina Island last summer. Just a little farther down the coast, we visited with the
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crew on Blossom in Ensenada; they've been rebuilding their cockpit and painting their deck purple!
B
en Wells took on the arduous task of rescuing the 2008 Morris 36 Sea Witch, which had been unattended for eight years. When Ben towed the boat to List Marine, Hans List told him, "I don't even know how the boat is afloat." Ben eventually hauled out at Spaulding Marine Center in Sausalito. Rewinding a little, Ben was getting takeout food at Pier 39 in January 2020 when he saw a boat that needed some work. Recognizing the boat wasn't difficult — Ben has ties to the Morris family in Blue Hill, Maine. He inquired about the boat in June, and was her new owner by September. "There was mold everywhere. It was pretty bad," said Ben, who owns an environmental consulting company. "A couple of my employees and I suited up in full hazmat gear and cleaned out the whole boat," he said. "Our first sail was in December." This project was also a distraction from a life tragedy, and helped Ben through his grieving. "My 21-year-old daughter passed in April, and I was feeling a little lost. It was kind of therapeutic in that I was able to focus on something else," he said. Cruising isn't Ben's typical mode of sailing. "It's my first cruising boat. I'm definitely a racing sailor." Ben won the 2001 11:Metre Class national championship in San Francisco. He's raced Etchells, J/105s, and SC 70s, among others. "So it's kind of strange to have
