Carved out of history

Alex Coolman

NEWPORT BEACH -- It’s a sunny summer afternoon, and from the bridge over

the entrance to the Back Bay, the tips of tall sails are visible,

cruising slowly around the water.

Out in front of the Rueben E. Lee, the paddle-wheel boat that houses the

Newport Harbor Nautical Museum, yachts circle and tack.

And though there’s plenty of history inside the museum, the history

that’s moving around in the channel is the focus of attention.

The boats that jockey for position are waiting for the start of the Lyle

Galloway Tuesday Night Sailing Series, a summertime race for vessels made

of wood and pre-1970 fiberglass.

The races, which follow a different course through the bay each week, are

informal affairs. The emphasis is less on clobbering fellow competitors

than on enjoying the simple beauty of the boats.

“Some of these boats were built for 30 years’ usage, and you’re looking

at boats that have 40 or 50 years on them,” said Hampton Hall, a Newport

resident who was observing the starting-line antics at a recent race.

Hall was himself a fan of sailing on wood, an experience he says has a

different tenor, a different sound, than taking to the water in a

contemporary yacht. It’s something about the way the hull interacts with

the sails, a certain looseness of structure.

And it seems like the philosophy of wooden-boat sailors is different from

that of ordinary sailors. The people that participate in the race, for

the most part, have a very hands-on approach to their boats. Working on

the crafts is not an obligation but a labor of love.

“There’s people who like to buy run-down boats and then put a lot of time

into restoring them,” Hall said.

Hall was on the sidelines this particular afternoon, he said, because of

a mishap that had befallen his 32-foot wooden boat.

“Last year I sailed and I snapped the mast, so I’m out. But I’ll be

back.”

Already, he said, he was getting the materials together for the repair.

“I think I felled the last old-growth elm for my mast,” he joked. “So if

anybody’s looking for that elm, it’s in Newport Beach, and it’s doing

well.”