The beginning of the blog

The photograph above is one of the last pictures we have of Spree in the water and in sailing condition. She is truly a beautiful boat and I can't wait to once again enjoy a stiff wind and a quiet harbor on the coast of Maine. It may just be a little while...

Although this is the beginning of a written account of my project, it is hardly the beginning of the project. Please humor me, and read some historical background about this boat as I think it will give you a much greater sense of the project and it's intrinsic worth. Or,,, perhaps it will further the notion that I'm nuts and that this projects is ridiculous. Either way, humor me and read on.

Spree was born in 1964 as Gremlin. This photo found in a recent addition of Chapmans Piloting is how I came to connect her linneage to my family. In about 1965 my grandfather, Franklin T. Lord heard of a boat that had recently been severely damaged in a fire. The original owner had a galley fire when the knob on the alcohol stove came off. With no fire-boat close by the skipper(a US Navy Admiral) motored the boat to the nearest bridge where a firetruck was waiting. They lowered a hose and he doused the fire. The Admiral collected the insurance money and sold the boat to my grandfather for the salvage rights. My grandfather then proceeded to repair the damage and turned it into the "family boat". For the next 40 years every member of the Lord family learned to sail on this boat and it became a cherished resource for anyone willing to go sailing. My mother tells great stories of weekends cruising in the summer with her girlfriends, there is a story of my Uncle(now a professional sailor) taking the boat out for the first time and running it aground, and I personally remember many many trips and sailing adventures. As my grandfather got older and needed help with the boat, my father would often spend a weekend or two at their house in the spring getting the boat ready for launch. In turn my parents and often times us kids would spend a week crusing the coast of Maine with them.

As my grandparents have gotten older they have passed on Spree to my father and I. They couldn't bear to sell it and we were more than happy to keep her in the family. At least until we realized how much work was needed. Although I still feel that way, I wish I had known the level of work that she truly needed.

Her re-fit started very innocently with an attempt to fix a small soft spot in the deck. We ground back the fiberglass to expose the rotten core material and before we even looked up and cleared the dust from our masks we were standing in the cockpit looking at bulkheads. Clearly she needed new decks. And as we find with every turn, a whole lot more. We have ripped out the majority of the main cabin, and the entire forward cabin as well. The motor

The Columbia 40's forebear was the ketch Paper Tiger, designed by Charles E. Morgan, Jr. He designed the boat around a reltively novel steel pipe backbone. In 1961 Paper Tiger won the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit (SORC) and she did it again in 1962. Morgan then improved on the design and created Sabre, the boat that became the prototype for the Columbia 40. (from www.columbiayachts.com)

We believe that Spree is probably one of the earlier boats to come off the mold. My father (William Riley) and I spent the better part of a year working on the project and it has now been passed on to me to finish. I'm very thankful for all the work we were able to accomplish together. I'm not sure I'd have it in my to start from the beginning alone.

More postings will be coming as progress continues and evolves. If you are a boat person and you have thoughts on how to best proceed or accomplish a certain task, please don't be shy with your advice. I may not always follow it, but I'll always appreciate it.