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SAN DIEGO (UPI) - A little bit of sailing for landlubbers can be a lot of fun but thethreshold at which it becomes boring or sickening is quickly reached.That’s why the 93-foot sailing ship California only puts out in pleasant weather and why herexcursions to sea are kept short.Captain George Falkesgaardthis year began running tour cruises by day, cocktail sails atnight 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 quickly refunds his customers’ moneyand returns them to the dock.Better no customers at all, than sick landlubbers bad-mouthingthe California.So far as the passengers are concerned, Falkesgaard concedes “there is blessed little to do aboard a boat.“About l12 or 2 hours into it, they begin to get turned off,’’said Falkesgaard, who comes from a Danish family which has been involved with the sea since 1376.So his cruises are short andsmooth — usually including a quarter-mile excursion out ofMission Bay into the Pacific. Groups can charter the boat and board in Mission Bay, then sail out into the Pacific andback into adjoining San DiegoBay and tie up at a restaurant for dinner.He will take them only ifconditions 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 theyleft the hotel.”The California has a colorful history. She was used by the Navy in World War II to move Australian spotters behind Japanese line.Falkesgaard operated in the red only two months afterpurchasing her in Marina Del Rey near Los Angeles and bringing her here. He brokeeven grossing $9,000 in the thirdmonth. Now he is thinkingabout expanding his one-ship fleet.The California is manned bysix community college students and skippered by Murl Smith, a veteran of 36 years at sea, has three masts. The forward one has square-rigged sails. Crewmen scamper high in the rigging to unfurl them.Said Falkesgaard of his passengers, “It’s theseamanship that excites them. “There is in the public mindsomething 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 kind.’’
Newspaper Details
Logansport Pharos Tribune
Logansport, Indiana, US
Wed, Sep 22, 1976
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Rutherford B.
OH, USA 15 Feb 2022
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