"Western christening started with the Norse and when they launched a long boat, they used to do a human sacrifice and put a little blood on the bow. We checked with Sausalito City and they kind of frowned on that so we're doing the more updated version."
Forgoing the blood for the bubbly, the speaker christened and launched the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center's newest wooden boat, the Lightly Salted. The 12-foot Norwegian sailing pram was designed and built entirely by hand from students at the Spaulding Youth Boat Building Program at the Center in Sausalito.
(Click to enlarge photos, and see all the photos in the photo album here.)
About 200 or so guests showed up for the special event at the Center to celebrate the new launch with special speakers, food and live music. Spaulding Wooden Boat Center, a historic boat building, boat restoration, sailing and educational center, is located on Sausalito's waterfront.
In addition, the Center launched another wooden boat, this one originally designed and built by the Center's founder, Myron Spaulding. The Auroral, a 33-foot sloop, was restored by an employee of the Spaulding Boat Yard where wooden boats of every shape, size and color are brought back to life.
But the centerpiece of the celebration was the beginning of the planking of the Freda, the Center's most famous, well known and historic vessel. Freda, a 32-foot gaff sloop, is the oldest active sailing yacht on the West Coast. The Center has been working at "museum-quality restoration" on Freda, for the last several years.
While Andrea Rey, Spaulding's Program Manager, expressed delight at the progress of Freda's restoration, she stressed the need for more donations to keep the project going.
"Everyone here--they are just passionate about boats and this is the only place where they can come to celebrate wooden boats culture," said Rey, "We have been raising a lot of money which is what keeps us going. We are getting there, but we need $100,000 dollars more to finish."
(More photos from the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center below, and here's a link to the full photo album.)
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- Spaulding Wooden Boat Center is located at the foot of Gate 5 Rd in Sausalito.
- Tours of the Center take place on Wednesday between 12Noon and 2:00pm, or by appointment.
- Call 415.332.3179 for more information.
- The Center relies on donations of time and money in order to continue their historic restoration work, education programs and Maritime Musuem.
- The Arques School of Traditional Boatbuilding
is housed on the property. Arques students apprentice in a three level
program that can take several years to complete as they master their
craft.
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