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Calmly Sailing The Ocean BlueSAN 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 sailing ship “California” only puts out in leasant weather and why erexcursions to sea are kept short.Capt. George Falkesgaard this year began running tour cruises by day, cocktail sailsat night out of San Diego aboard the “Barquentme” — a replica of sailing ships of the 1800s.If the ocean appears to be getting too choppy, he quickly refunds 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, Falkesgaardconcedes there is blessed little to do aboard a boat. About 1 Vi or 2 hours into it, they begin to get turnedoff,” said Falkesgaard, who comes 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 cancharter the boat and boardin Mission Bay, then sail outinto the Pacific and back into adjoining San Diego Bayand tie up at a restaurant fordinner.“The California has a colorful history. She wasused by the Navy in World War II to move Australian spotters behind Japanese line. Falkesgaard operated in the red only 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,” manned by six community college students and skippered by Murl Smith, a veteran of 36 years at sea, has three masts. The forward one has square-ngged sails. Crewmen scamper high in the rigging to unfurl them.This is the main attraction.Said Falkesgaard of his passengers: ‘It’s the seamanship that excites them.g There is in the public mind something good and clean and beautiful about sailing ships. “You get to see the crew doing their thing — there are no winches, no mechanical rigging of any
Newspaper Details
Albuquerque Journal
Albuquerque, New Mexico, US
Sun, Oct 17, 1976
Page 73
Full Page
Clipped by
Rutherford B.
OH, USA 15 Feb 2022
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