TROUBLEMAKER
Our coverage of the 1981 TransPac (Volume 50) included mention that the Morgan 37, Troublemaker, owned by Walnut Creek attorney Cliff Wilson, San Leandro marine insurance broker Gary Swiggett, and Walnut Creek retailer Steve Stevens, had broken her boom and rudder and had dropped out of the race. We were only half right. The boom did break and the rudder was lost, but Troublemaker certainly did finish the race — under spinnaker no less. The Pier 39-based sloop eventually crossted the line in fourteen-and-a-half days. Ironically that was only a day and a half slower than her 1977 passage and almost four days faster than her trip in 1979 — and both of those times she had a rudder the whole way! Cliff Wilson met us one Saturday morning before going out to practice on Native Son for the Big Boat Series, and he told us Troublemaker’s real story in the TransPac.
Heritage One tonner, Troublemaker was designed by Florida’s Charlie Morgan and launched in 1976. The original owners campaigned her on the bay and in the ’77 and ’79 TransPacs. Then Cliff, Steve, and Gary bought her with an eye on the ’81 TransPac. The three new owners spent several months and mucho bucks taking ^the boat apart and putting it back together for the race. Nine new sails were purchased, and the bottom extensively faired. Due to scheduling problems, neither Gary or Steve were able to go on the TransPac, but except for Cliff Wilson and Carl Godtferdsen, all the ’81 crew had TransPac experience. In fact, three of them were former owners: Dem Smith (skipper in the 'll and ’79 TransPacs); Bob Hall and Steve Doty. Navigator Rob King Ellison (on his fifth TP) and Todd Anderson rounded out the crew. Everything went well for the first three days of the race, but early one morning a broach tossed Cliff out of his bunk. Dashing on deck he saw the boom dragging in the water and watched Troublemaker in the throes of a death roll. The final broach was hard, and snapped the boom in half. Resourceful enough, the crew used the spinnaker pole and emergency tiller as splints to jury rig the boom and in just six
“Keep clear," “Having difficulty maneuvering," "I've damaged my steering," and "I need a tow."
hours they resumed the hunt. The next five or six days were “great sailing”, according to Cliff. They were hitting 15 to 16 knot bursts and logged a couple of'210-mile days — pretty good for one of the smallest boats in the fleet.
Tr
roublemaker's crew wasn’t shy when it came to looking for wind; they zealously chased squalls all over the ocean, trying to position themselves in the maximum wind. This practice resulted in great bursts speed