SCHOONER
I
nearly dropped my Anchor (Steam Beer, that is) when 1 heard visiting Port Townsend sailmaker, Carol Hasse, casually mention that she would be crewing aboard a women’s sail training ship in Puget Sound.
ALL PHOTOS BY SHELLEY STEVENS
owner of the Adventuress. She is also on the X on deck. I wondered how the women — some of them sailors, some with no sailing Board of Directors of the American Sail experience at all — would handle the big Training Association. A remarkably active schooner. Later that afternoon a light breeze woman and terrific role model, the senior came up and sailing stations were called. At “Mrs. B” runs the training ship along with sunset the sails were lowered as we motored skipper Karl Mehrer, who has been with the into and dropped anchor at Port Ludlow, on schooner since the 1960’s, chief mate and the Olympic Peninsula. Looking the ship engineer Kinny Kimlinger, who first sailed over, I found sails properly furled, lines pro¬ aboard the Adventuress as a Qirl Scout at perly coiled, and everything generally ship¬ age 14, and a crew of volunteer mates. shape. I felt a bit relieved and considerably Although the schooner is used primarily impressed. during the summer to train youths between That evening we received our orientation the ages of 14 and 20, there i| time after from the extremely warm and patient Mrs. school lets out and before school begins, that Bennett. We were assigned into four crews, sail training trips for “youth of all ages are of¬ with one of the mates as crew leader. Each fered. Volunteer Tia Wulf successfully or¬ crew rotated duties which included: ship’s ganized the first women’s sail training pro¬ maintenance, standing watch and galley gram last year and again this year. duties. The group of trainees was pretty diverse. TJiere were two mother-daughter combina¬ I I aving a fair amount of sailing exper¬ tions, and women with a wide variety of oc¬ ience, I couldn’t help anxiously perusing the cupations including: teachers, nurses, office crew of 30 trainees the first day we mustered ■ m \i V®
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Women power at the rigging!
Ten days later in Seattle, I boarded the schooner Adventuress and stowed my sea bags for the eight-day trip. The 101-ft (LOD) Adventuress is a gaffrigged wooden schooner, built in 1913 at the Rice Brothers Yard in East Boothbay, Maine. Original owner and Yellow Taxi heir, John Borden had her sent around the Horn to San Francisco and took her to Alaska to collect specimens for the Museum of Natural History. In 1915 he sold her to the San Fran¬ cisco Bar Pilots Association where she served as pilotship until the 1950’s. Youth Adventures, Inc. acquired the Ad¬ venturess in the 1960’s for use as a sail train¬ ing vessel, used primarily by the Boy Scouts. Girl Scout leader, Ernistine Bennett, brought a group of girls aboard during the ’60’s and has been involved with the ship since that time. In 1974 Mrs. Bennett became the presi¬ dent of Youth Adventures, Inc. and primary
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