Charlene

Charlene was built to the Florence Oakland design over five years in the 1980’s by Chuck Bour of Wyoming, Michigan. Chuck finished her in 1987 (I think) and sailed her for 15 years. He sold her to me in December of 2002, and, in an epic weekend in February that included truck breakdowns, a blizzard, and an unstable trailer, I brought her down to Cincinnati. To get the work needed done before the sailing season started, it took about 15 weeks of constant after-work effort with my friend Mike Quatkemeyer, which included removing the lead ballast and installing new deadwood.

Charlene is built of marine plywood over mahogany frames, all WEST system epoxy. She is rigged completely traditionally, that is, with belaying pins, hand-made, rope-stropped blocks, and deadeyes and lanyards instead of turnbuckles. I never intended to own a boat rigged this way, but Chuck rigged Charlene to look like a working schooner of the 1880’s and it does have its compensations. I have yet to tear a fingernail on a cotter pin, as setting up the masts in the spring just requires lacing up the lanyards. Instead of needing a spares box full of fittings, you just need to brush-up on your splicing and whipping skills. And you can’t argue with the sheer saltiness of it. One of my sailing club friends called it “Sailor Candy”.

Owning the boat is a little like being a rock star; everyone who sees her has to ask her history, and when I first put her in the water, there was a constant parade of picture-takers. I have a feeling small schooners are a little more likely in the Northeast than in Ohio. I feel privileged beyond measure to own her, and she still takes my breath away when I first top the rise to see her in her slip.