November 2007

Dear friends,

I’m trying to take advantage of the little time I have, so I'm writing this letter while I sit in airports in New Bern, NC., Atlanta, and home in West Palm Beach.

I just had a great week up in Beaufort, N.C. Moores Marine Yacht Center is doing great. Nathan Smith, my partner, brother-in-law and my friend, is doing a great job. The Justice project is wrapping up. She is a 1929 Consolidated.

I talked Richard Ramsay into opening a satellite office near our North Carolina yard and he has played an important role in this project. They have built a breakdown cradle and a stainless cutwater. A cutwater is a metal shield installed over a knife blade stem. They are form and function. This is no easy piece to make the angle changes as the curve of the stem drops down below the water. It’s about 10 feet long. Chip Parsans and Jim Thomason, with Ramsay Marine and Nathan, worked together to build and install it. The finished work is incredible. All the welds are filled and sanded and polished out. Bernard Smith, our head painter, flew up to North Carolina for three weeks to varnish and paint Justice. She is just about ready to go just one last thing is to fit her to her break down cradle.

I think cradles will be the wave of the future for antique and classic yachts. I know that is a big statement. Let me explain.

Through the years, I have received photos from Trumpy yachts in slings, proudly taken by owners and captains from Michigan to Maine, even from Italy. A lot them gave me heartburn.

Many of these photos show the same problem. The Travelifts are too small or don’t have enough strapped areas for the boats. It’s pretty simple. If you pick up a boat and a third of boat is in the strapped area and two-thirds of the boat are hanging out, something has to give such as broken frames, floors and chine logs. This is a long way to get to the point but what Justice’s cradle does is pretty much everything. It will not only fit into a Travelift for hauling and storage but most importantly, the owner can take his yacht anywhere he wants.

The next time she is hauled out, she will be lifted on all five of her structural bulkheads and over 60 feet of her 75 feet length will be supported. The cradle breaks down and fits on a trailer so it can be moved to wherever the yacht will be. It’s an investment that will insure longevity and safety of Justice. It’s a new way of thinking and I like it a lot.

Going to Beaufort is great. I came up to meet El Presidente. She has traveled close to 2,000 miles from Chicago to Beaufort, N.C. The other reason was the Boat Shop Bash. It happens every year at the North Carolina Maritime Museum’s beautiful boat shop, just over the water in downtown Beaufort. It had everything: Zydeco music, Cajun food, and great new friends.

The next day, I got a call from Capt. John on El Presidente. Nate and his crew met the boat at the dock to take in the lines. As I walked down to meet them, Dan Nyes, one of our carpenters was walking up the dock. As he walked past, he said, “God, she is beautiful.” I smiled and nodded. Shortly after she docked, a reporter from the Carteret County News-Times came down to mark the day.

Frank Lynch, El Presidente’s new owner, said the words I have always wanted to hear. “I want to take her back in time.” We are removing the flybridge/cabin top wrap and the modern stack and that is just the beginning. No building plans for the stack, no problem. I called Kevin Walters, who owns Lunetta, a 95-foot Trumpy in Marshalburg, N.C., to borrow his stack as a template. Ramsay borrowed it to make an exact Trumpy smoke stack. Later in the week, I had Nate, Capt. John and Bruce Marek, a naval architect, visit Lunetta, to study the pilothouse front. Mr. John Trumpy is still the designer 68 years later.

In 1939, El Presidente was built for Joseph Cadahy and her original name was Innisfail. But she was not the first Innisfail. Contract 228, the 85 foot 1935 Trumpy yacht now called Enticer was the original Innisfail. I would love to get those two Trumpy yachts together for a photo. It would make a great cover shot for a book. Hint, hint. I am sure that it will happen someday.

Sea Hammock, the 83’ Trumpy is sleeping while a master plan is worked out. We are putting together a great team for this project. When I woke up this morning, I didn’t want to leave North Carolina. When I hit the airport, I was already getting a little home sick but I had to remind myself I live in Florida. I told Stephanie this and she said she gets the same feeling every time she leaves Beaufort.

Heading back to Florida is like going into a bee hive. Moores Marine South is buzzing, no pun intended. Jon Meek is leading the charge on the Summerwind team and they have worked through the long hot summer and now they are working even harder since the temperature dropped. Niels Hellsbherg, the naval architect, has rejoined the Summerwind team. He brings an infinite amount of wisdom with more than 35 years as a naval architect with John Alden. I love working with great people because I can learn so much from them.

Don Thibealt has his finally got the cast off his hand and is heading up Coconut Southern project, a 28-foot Rybovich built in 1954 owned by Mark Spillane, who also owns Coconuts, the 1965 Trumpy formerly named Exact and Patience II, Contract 420 building as Jimiana for James L. Knight.

As I write this, Coconuts just arrived in Beaufort for a quick stop and then she’s off to Ocean Reef for Vintage Weekend. While I am on the subject, Craig and Hanna of Stuart, FL just stopped by the North Carolina yard this week. They plan to take Atlas, Contract 393, built for Ralph Atlas in 1960. Bill Iler, owner of Windrush, gave me a call as I was leaving North Carolina. He’s is on his way to Ocean Reef. I don’t it’s too late if you still want to bring your boat. Go to www.oceanreef.com for more information.

I have one last story to share. A few years back at Ocean Reef, at the final awards brunch, I received the first John Trumpy award. It was an absolutely unexpected honor and I proudly display it my office. This summer, artist Stephen Kneipp, and I started sketching and designing a plaque. We went through many different designs. Stephen even went into clay modeling. We finally agreed on a final design. I pulled a thick, beautiful plank of old growth African mahogany from my stacks and Stephen laid out the patterns. We had just enough wood. Carving and shaping and sanding seemed to take forever but Stephen is getting close. It will be unveiled at Ocean Reef this Vintage Weekend. It is our way of saying thank you to Ocean Reef for the good friends, great times and magic that happens the first weekend in December in Key Largo every year.

Until next time,

Jim Moores