Short Sightings: Wooden Wonders of the West and Blue Tech Talks

Today we bring you four West Coast updates from the world of wooden ships, including a Northern California fundraiser, a new CEO for the San Diego Maritime Museum, a Pacific Northwest sailor racing around the world in a 19-ft plywood sailboat, and another wooden wonder, Odyssey, that has left the West Coast bound for a restoration in France. Plus, we share the details of the S.F. Blue Tech get-together next week.

Wooden Boats For Veterans Gala

Wooden Boats for Veterans is hosting a fundraising gala at the Sausalito Yacht Club on Saturday, March 15. The event will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and the restoration of the Bay Area’s 1938 topsail schooner Clover, while supporting a meaningful cause! Wooden Boats for Veterans is inviting you to join them for Clover’s Pot o’ Gold Party, with a lively evening of fun, music, and fundraising. The collected funds will be used to restore Clover for veterans with VetsBoats. This is a chance to wear your favorite green attire and embrace St. Paddy’s Day Irish spirit, while contributing toward a program that creates positive changes for veterans.

The evening includes music from the Sixpenny Irish Band and a silent auction of items and experiences. All proceeds will support Wooden Boats for Veterans’ restoration efforts. March 15 is coming soon! Buy tickets here.

McIntyre Mini Globe Challenge

Fifteen solo sailors set off on Sunday in the approximately 400-day solo race around the world on 19-ft plywood kit-built boats. The lone American is West Coast sailor Josh Kali aboard his boat, Skookum. We spoke with Josh ahead of the race in an episode of Good Jibes.

Josh completed his qualifying sail from North Carolina to the starting line in Antigua, arriving just over a week before the start of the around-the-world race. The first leg takes the fleet from Antigua to the Panama Canal, where the boats will skip the canal and transit the country via truck.

The rest of the fleet qualified by sailing over from Europe to Falmouth Harbour, Antigua, in early February. The race is inspired by Pacific Northwest circumnavigator John Guzzwell, who circled the world solo from 1955 to 1959 on his 20-ft homebuilt sloop Trekka. 

Joshua before he drove from Seattle to North Carolina to launch Skookum for the sail to Antigua. Watch the video of the Sunday start from Falmouth Harbour in Antigua below:

You can follow the adventures ahead here: McIntyre Mini Globe Race.

San Diego Maritime Museum

Dr. Christina Brophy has been appointed president and CEO of the Maritime Museum of San Diego. The nonprofit museum dedicated to collecting, preserving, and presenting rich maritime heritage recently announced the appointment. Dr. Brophy’s previous leadership roles include serving as senior vice president of the Mystic Seaport Museum and the Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Endowed Chair for the Chief Curator at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. She is a champion for a sustainable ocean and the preservation of our global maritime heritage.

The Maritime Museum of San Diego is located right on the downtown San Diego waterfront and features a world-class collection of National Historic Landmark vessels, including sailing ships, steam-powered vessels, and a submarine.

Saying So Long to The Odyssey

Author Emily Molina wrote in to tell us she’s just published a book, Tacoma’s Tall Ship: The Extraordinary Journey of the Odyssey. Odyssey is another West Coast wooden vessel, recently purchased by a new French owner and shipped to France. She was designed by Sparkman & Stephens and built in 1938 at the Henry B. Nevins Shipyard on City Island, New York. After her life as a private yacht she served in World War II and has been Tacoma’s Sea Scout ship 190 since 1978.

The new owner, M. Denis Charvoz of Cannes, France, said, “”Each boat has a heart.” He went on to explain his intention to restore the ship to her original form — a challenging endeavor, yet, in his own words, “much more satisfying.”

You can find Emily Molina’s book here.

S.F. Blue Tech Happy Hour Mixer

S.F. Blue Tech hosts gatherings for sailors, ocean and coastal stewards, blue tech professionals, educators, students and more. Next week, join the Happy Hour Mixer for industry networking and speakers from marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR), seaweed farming, and underwater robotics industries

When: Thursday, March 6, 5:00 p.m.–7:30 p.m.

Where: South Beach Café 800 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94107.

Entry: $7 until EOD Feb 26; $15 thereafter

Learn more about the Happy Hour Mixer and S.F. Blue Tech here.