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not responded to our written request for comments, we're going to withhold his/her identity until it becomes public knowledge. ⇑⇓"AN ACT INVOLVING DARING OR ADVENTURE" Another great yacht that is falling apart is Escapade, the Rhodes /Luders-designed 72-ft centerboard ketch that's been beached at KKMI for years. According to a blurb in Wooden Boat magazine's 'Save A Classic', Escapade was built by Luders Marine in 1938 for ocean racing and cruising, and had sailed on both coasts as well as on the Great Lakes and in Europe. She competed against other great yachts of her time, including Ticonderoga and Bolero. Rumor has it she was being restored when the West Coast owner ran out of money. She's now on the hard and slowly falling apart. Vickie Gilmour Richmond YC Vickie — There's a great oil painting of Escapade under sail on the wall of Eddy's, our favorite restaurant in St. Barth. After a few 'ti punches, the old-timers from the recreational pot-smuggling days of the 1970s and 1980s will point to the ketch and say, "Since the statute of limitations has run out, we can tell you that she smuggled her share of pot." About a dozen years ago, Escapade was owned by Northern California lawyer Nikolai Tehin, who sailed her in a race to Mexico. On the way back to the Bay, she hit the Coast Guard mooring just off Pt. Conception, doing considerable damage to her bow. Tehin brought the boat to KKMI in Richmond for repairs. While the boat was out, work was started on replacing the decks, at which point some rot was discovered. Tehin told the yard to "make it all right." After a while the checks stopped coming. Not too long after that, Tehin was charged with, and later convicted of, spending money from the trust accounts of clients, some of them among the most vulnerable in society. After several years, great effort, and enormous expense, KKMI was able to get title to the yacht. Initially there was European interest in restoring the great yacht, but KKMI's Paul Kaplan was hoping to hold out for an American owner to restore the Americandesigned and -built yacht. In retrospect, the somewhat romantic notion cost KKMI dearly. At this point, Kaplan admits the best 'Finesse' is one of the lucky ones be- that can be hoped for is to cause she's owned by CF Kohler. salvage some components of the old boat and build around them. "It would be," he told Latitude, "a really big project." For those who didn't see the December 22 'Lectronic Latitude that broached this subject, we'll re-run it here so everybody can understand the reason Victoria mentioned Escapade: "When you’re talking about lucky wooden boats, Finesse, a 52-ft auxiliary centerboard ketch designed by S&S and built by Germany’s acclaimed Abeking & Rasmussen yard, is one of them. She was built of mahogany over oak in 1958 for Cornelius Crane of the Crane Plumbing fortune, who sailed her through the South Pacific for the last 10 years of his life. So she got to see the tropical world. We’re not sure where Finesse spent the last 45 years, but she’s currently docked at Koehler Kraft of San Diego and owned
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ALAMEDA, CA WWW.FORTMAN.COM (510) 522-9080 BEST VALUE ON THE BAY Page 28 •
Latitude 38
• February, 2015