This combination made a very rigid hull, but one that is also light and, because of the woods chosen, rot-resistant. Geary specified double planking, the first layer of Western red cedar and the outside layer of Burma teak. Two huge Douglas-fir timbers were shaped into a keel and horn timber, forming a centerline structure that would keep her fine shape fair and strong for a very long time. From the beginning, she was intended to be the best-built R-boat on the West Coast. Suspended from her lifting rings at Lake Union Dry Dock on launching day, April 10, 1926, PIRATE shows her racing form.īy August, Geary had the R-boat design underway and, in the fall of 1925, the craftsmen at Seattle’s Lake Union Dry Dock Company began construction of PIRATE. “Ted” Geary, that he not only ordered a custom R-boat design from Geary to fulfill his promise to Tommy, but also persuaded the designer to serve as skipper for the 1926 Honolulu Race in his own 160' LOA, steel-hulled schooner INVADER (built in 1905 and recently restored in Viareggio, Italy) which he had bought the year before. Don Lee was so impressed by the skill of her skipper and designer, L.E. Whether inspired by this offer or a basic competitive instinct, the young Lee sailed his Star SATELLITE to victory, winning the title at the Pacific Coast Yachting Association (PCYA) Regatta in Victoria, British Columbia.Īt the same regatta, the Lees witnessed the clear superiority of the R-boat SIR TOM, which came from Seattle, Washington, and won both the Sir Thomas Lipton Cup and the Isherwood Cup. In the spring of 1925, yachtsman Don Lee of Los Angeles made a challenge to his son Tommy, a Star-boat sailor of some skill: if he could win the Pacific Coast Star Championship, a new R-boat would be his reward. After being fully restored to sailing condition by professionals with the help of a group of volunteers, PIRATE sails out of The Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle, Washington, not far from where she was originally launched.
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