A Pirate's Journey Home -- 73-Year-Old West Coast Racing Yacht Donated To Center For Wooden Boats

If you had been on Long Island Sound in the summer of 1929, here's what you could have seen:

Snobby East Coast yachtsmen, convinced everything west of the Mississippi was uncivilized, politely welcoming a new 39-foot boat called the Pirate, but showing little worry over its arrival.

After all, the Pirate was the first West Coast yacht with the audacity to enter a competition on the Atlantic. "They had sort of a sneering, derisive attitude about West Coast yachting," says Scott Rohrer, a marine-history buff.

The Pirate had been built for a California sailor at something called Lake Union Drydock, in some place called Seattle.

To get to New York for the prestigious Larchmont Race Week, it had ridden the deck of a cargo ship through the Panama Canal.

The Pirate was a novelty, certainly, but not to be taken too seriously.

That is, of course, until it beat the best the Easterners had to offer.

"It was definitely an upset. They certainly didn't expect her to win the thing," said Rohrer. In the series of races by the featured "R-Class" boats, "She won by only one point, but that was enough."

Rohrer loves telling that story, but what he enjoys even more is the fact that after more than 70 years, the Pirate is back in Seattle.

Earlier this year, he organized a group to purchase the boat from its most recent owner, a sailing school in California, and this weekend the group will formally turn over ownership to the Center for Wooden Boats on Lake Union.

"She's an extraordinary boat . . . a classic," Rohrer told a group of marine surveyors last night.

Built in 1926, the Pirate was the product of Ted Geary, whom Rohrer calls "the best boat designer ever to come out of Seattle." An earlier Geary R-Boat, Sir Tom, had won races up and down the West Coast.

Tremendous efficiency in light to moderate winds was the key to the Pirate's success, according to Rohrer. "In 5 knots of wind, she can do almost 5 knots."

Rohrer's group purchased the 39-foot vessel for $12,000 and has now begun raising $60,000 needed to restore it to its original condition.

With the transfer of the boat's ownership, Rohrer's "Pirate syndicate" which financed the purchase, will now become a committee of the Center for Wooden Boats and will stay involved in the restoration and operation of the boat.

A key step is an effort to get the boat classified as a historic landmark, which will open up opportunities to apply for a variety of grants.

The Pirate's designation as an "R-Boat" comes from the sailing classification system in which boats are grouped not strictly by length, but by a formula that includes factors affecting sailing performance, such as length, beam, sail area and displacement.

"R-boats" were the pre-eminent racing class for decades before World War II, Rohrer said.

Sleek and low-slung, the boat is not designed for ocean racing, but to compete in protected waters. Even then, Rohrer said, the crew could expect to get wet as waves wash over the boat.

The Pirate has a double hull, mahogany on the outside, red cedar on the inside. Its frames are oak, and about 20 are cracked and must be replaced. Parts of its teak deck are badly worn, and the sides of the boat's small cabin have been sanded so thin over the years they also must be replaced.

The restoration job will be aided by the fact that Geary's daughter, now living in Malibu, Calif., donated the ink-on-linen construction and sail plans.

The Pirate, which came by truck from California, joins a fleet of classic wooden vessels based in Lake Union, including the steamship Virginia V, schooners Zodiac and Martha and the tugboat Arthur Foss.

Rohrer, 53, is a marine insurance agent and past president of the Center for Wooden Boats. He wants to spread the gospel of the historic importance of wooden boats, particularly yachts.

As part of that effort, he'll be visiting middle-school students at Seattle's Alternative School No. 1 tomorrow, helping them start to make pine models similar to the Pirate.

Geary himself, at the request of the Los Angeles Evening Herald newspaper in 1927, drew up plans that adapted the Pirate's lines to a 39-inch boat that would sail when set on a pond with sails properly trimmed.

Says Rohrer, "Heritage vessels have got to involve kids in more ways than just boat rides."

Jack Broom's phone message number is 206-464-2222. His e-mail address is jbroom@seattletimes.com