Boat Angels – Saving the Classics

by Bill Doyle/Sail-World Cruising on 30 Apr 2006 ‘The Difference’ says Bill Doyle, ‘between a yacht existing to see another day - or simply ending up a fancy wood pile - comes down to a single person who, against all odds, puts their heart and resources into saving what others have discarded.’

In this era of Kevlar, canting keels and high tech everything, the sight of a fine old gaff rigged yacht under full sail, with traditional timber workmanship reverently restored, is beguiling to all those who love sailing for its own sake.

As modern competitive sailing has been gradually changing the way a competitive yacht looks and behaves, Classic Boat Clubs have proliferated all over the world, from Maine to Melbourne, from the Isle of Man to Natal. There are wooden boat festivals almost every week somewhere in the world, and there are many boat sales organisations that specialise in nothing else.

It’s not only the non-competitive cruising sailor who finds these boat romantic – great sailors, famous sailors, yachting magazines and Chris Lepkowski are all in their own way committed to the restoration process.

Chris Lepkowski? We’ll get back to him later.

Dennis Conner, one of the world’s greatest-ever competitive sailors, has painstakingly restored the wooden Q-boat Cotton Blossom II, using the original plans from Johan Anker, leading Q-boat designer of the time. Conner found the plans at the maritime museum near Oslo, Norway. A great performer in her time, Cotton Blossom II was former boat of the year at both the New York Yacht Club (1939) and the San Diego Yacht Club (1962).

A couple of weeks ago, the 53ft ketch Gipsy Moth IV arrived safely in the Marquesas 25 days out from the Galapagos, after Yachting Monthly saved her from rotting away at Greenwich. The 3,000 miles voyage is the longest the boat has made since Francis Chichester sailed her solo around the world in 1966-67.
The famous yacht is making her second circumnavigation as part of the Blue Water Rally. On board was Yachting Monthly correspondent Alastair Buchan, who sailed as mate.

One of the most unforgettable pictures in the history of small boat passage-making is Gipsy Moth IV rounding Cape Horn. An almost wingless ‘moth’, the ketch runs the last of her easting down under spitfire jib alone.

Sir James Hardy, one of the older breed of venerable Australian sailors, skippered Nerida, which won the Sydney to Hobart Race in 1950, in a recent ‘Gaffers’s Day’ on Sydney Harbour. The event attracted an amazing 55 classic yacht participants.

But without ‘boat angels’ like Yachting Monthly, Dennis Conner and Chris Lepkowski, these boats would not live to sail again and enthral us all with their elegance.

And Chris Lepkowski? – what has he got to do with all this? Well, you certainly don’t have to be famous to be a boat angel.

Bill Doyle, Chairman of the Museum of Yachting in Newport Rhode Island, discovered his own, quietly effective, Boat Angel, and here picks up the story: 'His name is Chris Lepkowski, a 31 year old from Dash Point Washington. He is motivated by his love of giving boats that are destined for the landfill a second lease on life. He's spent the last seven years establishing relationships with area boatyards and has taken personal responsibility to research, photograph, and meticulously list details of abandoned or ready to be cut-up boats on e-bay, with starting bids at one cent with no reserve. Now, the marinas call him first and he auctions them off at no charge to them. Once sold, he arranges the transportation and takes great pains to get the boat into the hands of enthusiastic new owners. Clearly he doesn't do this for a profit!

'To his credit, he's saved everything from small fiberglass runabouts, to a solid mahogany 40ft, 1965 Owens Flagship Inboard Cruiser. This winter alone he's accumulated 14 needy craft that he's planning to spend his own money, time, and effort to save from the chain saw. And, he started doing this when he was 24.

'To see how hard he works to save a boat with his latest active listing on e-bay, (a 1940's, 30ft Palmer Johnson sloop) and maybe get yourself a nice new project, click on this issues' interesting link in Sailing the Web.

I take my hat off to Chris and all the boat angels who've quietly done so much to save our classics for future generations.'

So does Sail-World Cruising. Thank you, Yachting Monthly, Dennis Conner, Chris Lepkowski and all the other ‘Boat Angels’ in the world, and thank you Bill Doyle, for recognising often uncelebrated heroes of the Classic Yacht.

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