“Competition for Elegance” in loose translation–this time in boats. After my arrival in Seattle from Alaska, I have several orders of business in California, chiefly observing the Yosemite maps–now laid out on an airport hangar floor. (previous blog) The timing is fortunate with my Istanbul friend, Bruno Cianci, visiting several maritime museums in the area. We weave our schedules together and spend one whirlwind week touring six museum sites; beginning with Olympic National Park (a future blog). The museum/library staff of UC Merced invites me to visit and explain my recent map discovery. I’ll repost from the last one this section of maps, in case you missed it:
“This brings me to the subject of maps. During my research at San Bruno–not to be confused with my guest, I found this photograph (below) and after querying the park, they sent me the second one below so I figured it time to make a personal visit. This relief map is the largest relief map ever made. If this was a statue, it would be the Statue of Liberty.
In-situ about 1950 in the Yosemite Museum–four panels spanning 40′ representing 250 miles of the Sierra mountain front including four national parks.
Upon this visit, I discovered this relief map–built before the WPA era–approximately in 1925 when Ansel Hall was Chief Naturalist there. Perhaps this inspired the larger one? This will be repurposed to a state visitors center nearby.
The large relief map was not so lucky–removed about 1960 to an open shed. I found the large map in a pole-shed in El Portal–open to the elements and collapsing upon itself. I have spent the past year negotiating with the park to acquire this and repurpose it to a safer location and have it restored. My 1% in 2024 will go to this project, now that the book is done. I called the American Alpine Club and then Stanford University who directed me to……
….UC Merced where it is stored safely and openly at the Castle Air Force Base hangar. There are only 8 sections–apparently the park sections are missing however, I’m now working with the University to recover these pieces if possible. I’m hoping they’ll be restored and perhaps used as a flooring display with glass protection. I am accepting donations. Immediately after our visit, we visit a collector of motorhomes and trailers.”
Now on to my current boat blog.
Recall that Bruno is the right-hand-man for the Rahmi Koc Museum in Istanbul–the largest maritime museum in the world and one of the reasons I visited there just before the pandemic. Now it’s time to turn the tables; this is our second stop.
The “stern” of a road yacht. Winnebago should take a lesson here.
There are two of these in the collection–this one is not for sale but another like it is $75,000. And it needs restoring.
The 1930’s was a renaissance in art, including the WPA artists. Eye candy–all of it–however there is more awaiting us on the other side of the Sierra so it’s off to Tahoe and the Concours d’Elegance.
The Concours d’Elegance where there is lots of mahogany and chrome. They are judged as to how close they are to factory original and these date back into the 1930s although I’m not up on this maritime history. Bruno has a field-day. We walk the docks for three days and take in history.
Sir Bruno (he was recently knighted) poses with one of the best. Author of 11 books on military history, the Bosphorus, flags and most recent Florence Nightingale, Bruno is a Renaissance man if there every was one. He hails from northern Italy next to the Carrara Marble quarries. I suspect he is a descendent of Michelangelo. I spent four months, just before the pandemic, visiting his neck of the woods and also a week as guest of his father–who worked on the Kariba Dam in Africa–just downstream from Victoria Falls where my grandfather spent two years in 1904-6. We first connected in Victoria, British Columbia four years ago and have since become fast friends.
Unlimited watercraft. Seattle played a huge role in this class with the hydroplane races and developed several faster unlimited boats–most famously Slo-Motion IV piloted by Joe Taggart. U-27 brought the unlimited seafare races to Seattle after winning three gold-cups and one Harmsworth trophy. Thriftway, Bardahl, Miss Seattle and many more followed and were built locally, some by Jensen Boat Works, now defunct. End of an era; another chapter of “Boys in the Boat.”
You have to be here to appreciate. It’s hard to imagine a market today for such hand-crafted beauties. Today’s “yachts’ are mostly plastic with an appeal commensurate with their superficiality. Personally, I prefer a good tugboat with that burnished diesel soaked throughout the engine room.
Can’t quite see this bow fender on Katahdin. But beautiful rope-work none-the-less.
The first commercial use of fiberglas–according to Bruno–in 1951, this tail was constructed to ostensibly track the higher velocities of speedboats. And then again, maybe it was added simply to be cool (a term used in the ’50s meaning “sick”).
Nice aft lounge. On my tug Katahdin, this is the steering quadrant and lazarette–suitable for a evening bar in spite of the varnish.
Peeking into the engine compartment. Not sure how many cylinders there are–V-12 with double ignition and everything else? I applaud the folks who keep these running. I’ll stick to my 6R13 Washington.
Roy Roger’s boat. I trudged 1/2 mile in monsoon mud in Vietnam just to hear Roy Rogers & Dale Evans sing cowboy music in 1966. I didn’t know he had a speedboat then, but certainly not a Suzuki. Here’s a photo I took of him in Danang:
Overall of the northern dock. Lake Tahoe is a beautiful area–like Jackson Hole in a way. 7000′ in elevation,more or less, with a summer and winter economy. I’m used to waterfront in Alaska but seeing this tideline so stable is sort of distressing…..shouldn’t there be some diurnal fluctuations? Something to keep these vessels on the alert?
Then there is the Thunderbird. A 55′ yacht built by George Whittell Jr. Perhaps George was the character in “The Great Gatsby” or perhaps not, but there were many similarities. Born into wealth by parents from two California utility fortunes, he, at an early age, dedicated his life to sloth, averice, greed and every other sin mentioned in the bible (remind you of some politician today?). He owned a two ton elephant and a pet tiger that clawed the dashboard of one of his six Duesenbergs. He sold his stocks a few weeks ahead of the 1929 crash and was henceforth the most wealthiest man in California. He began purchasing land on Lake Tahoe eventually owning 95% of the Nevada shoreline. He built a lavish estate there over the years without any guest rooms or any visitor overnight facilities. It included a 600′ tunnel from his home to the lakeshore where he moored the Thunderbird.
The boat is powered by four Allison (aircraft) engines and have rarely achieved full throttle. George hobnobbed with Howard Hughes and many others, but usually in small groups paranoid of those around them. He died in 1969 and today the estate is run by a non-profit. I spoke with one of the board members of the non-profit and he commented about how hard it was to raise money for keeping this old relic running–the younger generations simply have no interest. Whittell’s six Duesenbergs sold on Ebay to buyers in Saudi Arabia. Our history is hemorrhaging.
Half stainless steel “airstream” and half mahogany.
Our view from the dinner table at Jake’s on the Lake–highly recommended by Ranger Doug. I had a terrible dinner at Grannlebakken–our ski-resort lodge 4 miles north. They didn’t serve my dinner for an hour after Bruno’s…… And I reserved a table earlier in the day. We sat next the kitchen and our servers were from every country in the world and sneared at us. I didn’t pay for my dinner, instead leaving early. Sad state of dinner service in America. I’m also asking Visa to cancel payments for two nights on the road: the first at Travelodge in Redding where a 300# behemouth launched herself over the counter when I had the temerity to to complain about two idling diesel trucks 5′ from our open window at 3am. She even confiscated my room-key; a serious error. She later launched a screaming tirade at us in the parking lot and demanded to know where we were from (Bruno has an Italian accent and I, an Alaskan license plate) telling us to never visit California again. Granted! The second was Motel 6 (I’d rate this Motel 3.5) in Klamath Falls Oregon–where a drug deal went south….again at 3am. I left at 4am and launched for Seattle.
So here I’m driving north through northern California…..could it be a result of legalizing marijuana? Can’t wait to get back to my Seattle warehouse and to sanity. Stay tuned….