A loving restoration of a Day Sailer makes a returning sailor curious about racing.
Years ago, suffering “sailing withdrawal," the author found a 1984 Day Sailer II with her original sails and generally in serviceable condition. Here is the story how that boat, many years later, was restored and renamed by the author, who is now curious about racing her in Annapolis.
I am a sailor. Okay, yes, I own several powerboats. And yes, my biggest boat is a cruising powerboat. But I am a sailor at heart, at least.
From college on I was almost never without a sailboat. After grad school it was a houseboat to live on and an Erickson 27 to sail. The Erickson was followed by a Sabre 32. The progression included marriage and two sons. The houseboat was long gone, of course (I was married after all).
In 1994 the “day job” took our young family away from the Chesapeake Bay to Charlotte, NC. We held on to the Sabre, keeping her in charter and using her for a weeklong annual Bay cruise ourselves. We explored lake sailing (okay for daysailing, not so good for cruising) and bought a weekend lake house.
You know what happened next. The boys became enamored with powerboats, especially personal watercraft (PWC). Though they both know how to sail, the connection between adolescent testosterone and horsepower was too great to overcome. We eventually sold the Sabre and expanded our collection of boats without sails.
As a result, I was suffering “sailing withdrawal.” We had room at the lake house dock, and I went looking for a small boat to sail. I found a 1984 Day Sailer II with her original sails and generally in serviceable condition. I sailed her some, but work (that pesky day job) and all those powerboats, not to mention soccer and little league, kept my use to a minimum. My sailing skills were rusty, but not frozen.
After 11 years in Charlotte, we moved back to the Bay, to Annapolis, MD. We found a nice house on a creek off the Bay. We got back into cruising a sailing vessel, buying a Catalina 380. The DS II migrated up from Charlotte and found a home on a lift in our backyard. She tasted saltwater, maybe for the first time. However, she continued to languish (even busier day job).
In 2010 I gave up. I passed her on to a brother, Pat, who took it to his weekend home on a North Carolina sound. Sadly, she never got in the water (another busy day job story). Some years later he was diagnosed with cancer. He passed away in 2019, way too young.
In the summer of 2020 Pat’s wife reached out and asked if I wanted the DS II back. Needing a pandemic project and now retired, I said ‘yes!” Did I really have more time or was I fooling myself?
Ten years of neglect showed. She was much worse for the wear, but salvageable. Undaunted by the photos my sister-in-law sent, I drove down from Annapolis to collect the boat and get her back home. I replaced the trailer tires, wiring, and lights and repacked the wheel bearings. Soon she was back in Annapolis. The real work started.
I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned her. I bought a new full cover and put her back on her lift. Over that winter I had a local woodshop build new hatch boards and a tiller (both had rot). I replaced the halyards and did some mast repair. I also replaced the mainsheet.
She was sailable by the summer of 2021.
With the original 1984 sails she was a “colorful” little boat for a singlehanded day sail. But I was thinking about racing, maybe. I joined the Day Sailer Association and Fleet 1 in Annapolis. That engagement was not a high dollar bar. The price of a new set of sails to accommodate my race desires seemed like a big leap if I was not really going to jump into racing with both feet.
The solution was Robin Richards, president of the Day Sailer Association and longstanding member and leader of Fleet 1. Robin is the dedicated racer I hope to become someday. Perhaps against her better judgement, she had an older set of racing sails she was willing to share. I arranged to pick them up and just like that, the racing sail problem was solved.
Next it was time to tune the rig for racing. Here I have a family advantage. One of my sisters married into sailing royalty. Her husband is Gary Bodie, former head sailing coach at Old Dominion University, Hampton University, and the US Naval Academy. He was also the head sailing coach for the US Olympic Committee for eight years and three Olympics.
Gary and I pulled the rigging and tuning guide from the Day Sailer Association website. With his help, over a weekend that included a couple trips to West Marine, we did the final fixing and tuning of the rig. The boat, named Pat’s Spirit, after my brother, is now more race-ready than me. The question is, “Do I have the time and can I build the skills to be competitive?”
On the “time” front and for those of you not retired, let me share a little secret. Retirement does not mean you have more time to do things you always wanted to do that the day job kept you from doing. Most of us stay pretty busy in retirement. For us, cruising the powerboat, being active on not-for-profit boards, and now grandkids can fill the time formerly committed to the day job.
On the “skills” front, who knows? I do hope to race this summer in Fleet 1. If I do get out there, I will be the one in last place, with a big smile on my face.
by Mike Pitchford
