Big Boat

When Little Bear finally showed up the whole community came to see the biggest boat ever launched at Docktown. 30 years in the making the handcrafted sailboat is 80 feet long and wide and tall , no small project for architect Jerry Ellis to build, and then to get it to the water. Traversing the back roads of Palo Alto and Redwood City proved not so stealthy a thing to do, even in the middle of the night. Delays and breakdowns that included a wheel support coming off made for an adventurous trip with little sleep for the caravan, and everyone was visibly exhausted when the slow moving line of carts and trucks and bicycles and spectators who had walked up the road to join in the excitement finally arrived.

More shots of the arrival and launch by Lee

Eventually after changing the wheels to a set that could stand the salt water, a process that took a large part of the day the team lowered the boat down the dock as the tide was going out, moving supplies onto the boat. As the sun went down Jerry's daughter Kristen christened the boat with a bottle of champagne, and passed out glasses to the crowd.

The group below is from Mary.

The next day when the tide was near it's peak the boat was floated, the motors started, and the wheels slowly pulled from below. It was a success! But wait, what! there was a problem with the motor, and the boat was pulled and pushed to the cheers of the crowd by Docktown's own pump-out-and-general-hoo-hah boat with Paul at the controls. The boat was safely squired to a dock across the water from the Sequoia yacht club where it will reside for several months while the engine is repaired and the masts installed.

PYC Commodore don e. harvey presented Jerry with a PYC burgee.