I got to hop on the replica of "America," the sailing yacht that won the first America's Cup in 1851, for the 30th Annual Schooner Cup! What a blast! It was a typical coastal day day with fog, wind, sun and calms all happening at once. We were part of the final group of schooners to start and our Captain and his crew caught a good one, holding off two impeccable Alden Schooners; Curlew and Dauntless.
Curlew, on the right, hull # 273b, was built in 1926, in Maine, for a member of the New York Yacht Club. She raced the fabled Newport to Bermuda race several times in the 1930's. From 1940 to 1960 she served in the USCG first as a patrol boat during the war and then as a trainer afterwards. She was basically wrecked in a hurricane in 1960 and purchased at auction. She spent a period of time in the Caribbean but was subsequently sold in 1970 to a party who brought her to San Francisco. For the next decade she sailed the South Pacific, getting a complete refit in New Zealand. In the early 80's she was a Hawaiian inter-island charter boat. She then spent 5 years in Port Townsend, Wa being, yet again, extensively rebuilt! The current owner bought her in 2002 and has been a charter boat out of Dana Point, since.
Dauntless, hull #458, was built in 1930, in Essex, Connecticut for a New York Banker who was a personal friend of John Alden, who also oversaw construction. That same year she competed against Curlew in the Newport to Bermuda Race. She has also raced from San Diego to Hawaii, two times. The current owner has lovingly had her for over 30 years. That's him in the striped shirt at the helm! He purchased her not long after she had a complete rebuild in 1975. Her most recent restoration project was completed in 2016 and remarkably the yacht is presently for sale for $350,000.00
These two Alden schooners have been a fixture in California historic yachting circles for some time now and one can only hope the next generation will carry on their legacies.
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