It’s a Left, Then a Left at the Bridge
After reading Andy Schwenk’s description of his Seattle-to-San Francisco passage (“Turkey Trot,” January), I thought I would share our somewhat different experience along that same route two months prior. Our less-qualified crew enjoyed five days of sailing. We also lost a crewman. But we ultimately got him back, with help from the US Coast Guard, and new Bay Area yacht club friends.
We sailed Alert, a 1982 Seguin 44. Designed by Olin Stephens II, she was one of the 13 built by Lyman-Morse in Thomaston, Maine. She won the 1985 Marion–Bermuda Race for her first owner. The second owner, a higher-up in one of the three-letter agencies, sailed her in Chesapeake Bay until September 2001, when other duties called.
The third owner, a retiring pilot, wanted the boat rerigged for singlehanded sailing so his wife could handle her in the event he was injured. So in 2002, he sailed Alert back to Lyman-Morse, which was owned then, as it had been in 1982, by his former college roommate, Cabot Lyman. I was advised that no friendship discounts were requested or granted. (If you want to see even more amazing contemporary things that L-M can do with these vessels, look up Magic or Aletheia.)
After sailing off the western coast of North and Central America for 15 years, Alert was transferred to a new owner, whose stewardship included interior reconditioning by the owner’s talented woodworking father (discounts included).
As the fifth steward, the only thing left for me to do was a drivetrain overhaul, which was accomplished largely by the great teams at Gallery Marine and Pacific Fiberglass in Seattle. I did successfully over-pitch the prop myself, which turned one haulout (and bridge-and-lock trip) into two.
By summer 2024, it was time to bring Alert south. My 30-year friend Mark was game. He’d spent a week during each of the two prior summers sailing Alert with me in the San Juan Islands. During those trips we’d managed repeated crossings of both the Strait of Georgia and the Strait of Juan de Fuca; how hard could a downhill trip be?
