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Smoothsailinga mustIfy CLARENCE ZAITZSAN DIEGO (UPI) — A little bit of sailing for landlubbers can be a lot of fun but the threshold at which it becomes boring or sickening is quickly reached.That’s why the 93-foot sail-ing ship California only puts out in pleasant weather and why her excursions to sea are kept short.Captain George Falkes-gaard this year began running tour cruises by day, cocktail sails at night out of San Diego aboard the barquentine — a replica of sailing ships of the 1800s.If the ocean appears to be getting too choppy, he quicklyrefunds his customers’ money and returns them to the dock. Better no customers at all, than sick landlubbers bad-mouthing the California.So far as the passengers are concerned, Falkesgaard concedes there is blessed little to do aboard a boat.About V/i or 2 hours into it, they begin to get turnedoff, said Falkesgaard, whocomes from a Danish family which has been involved with the sea since 1376.So his cruises are short and smooth — usually including a quarter-mile excursion out of Mission Bay into the Pacific. Groups can charter the boat and board in Mission Bay then sail out into the Pacific and back into adjoining San Diego Bay and tie up at a restaurant for dinner.He will take them only If conditions are ideal because, as he puts it, The ladies don’t want to get wet sea water on them or windblown hair. They want to look as good when they arrive as they did when they left the hotel.’’ The California has a colorful history. She was used by the navy in the Second World War to move Australian spotters behind Japanese lines.Falkesgaard operated in the red for two months after purchasing her in Marina del Rey near Los Angeles and bringing her here. He broke even grossing $9,000 in the third month. Now he is thinking about expanding his one-ship fleet.The California is manned by six community college students and skippered by Murl Smith, a veteran of 36 years at sea. She has three masts, the forward one has square-rigged sails. Crewmen scamper high in the rigging to unfurl them.,
Newspaper Details
Victoria Daily Colonist
Victoria, British Columbia, CA
Sun, Oct 10, 1976
Page 15
Full Page
Clipped by
Rutherford B.
OH, USA 15 Feb 2022
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