The WHALER Goes West

Capt. Christine Healy talks about the delivery to the West Coast and the schooner’s future with Central Coast Ocean Adventures

Captain Christine Healy has sailed on the Clipper City, the Liberty Fleet, the Woodwinds, Lynx, Pride II, and America, among others, and is now at the wheel of the Mystic Cruzar, formerly the Mystic Whaler.

The Whaler was purchased from former owners John and Pat Eginton this fall by Roger and Sarah Chrisman, with the intention of offering educational programming on the California Coast through their new non-profit, Central Coast Ocean Adventures. The Whaler arrived in Channel Islands Harbor in January, and her crew is currently preparing her to show the flag this spring and summer and begin programming in the fall.

Marlinspike: So you took over for the delivery from Ensenada, the West Coast part of the delivery?

Christine Healy: I actually picked the boat up at Mystic with Capt. John Eginton.

MS: You did the whole trip? Tell us about it!

CH: It was pretty cool. I’m from the East Coast originally, and was really familiar because I’m a Chesapeake Bay kid, and I used to race against this boat in the Chesapeake race on the Woodwinds, and Pride of Baltimore and a couple others.

I moved to the West Coast in 2008 to sail on board the Lynx, and then just stayed out West because it’s gorgeous out here. I just happened to be working in Santa Barbara when the Chrismans purchased her, and they needed a captain, so I sent in my resume and they hired me.

MS: They shipped you to the East Coast to be their representative on the delivery?

CH: The Chrismans also own a large motor yacht, so one of their crew from the motor yacht, myself and then two other crew that are not so much traditional boat sailors, but extremely experienced, joined up, and we were the West Coast contingent. It was probably one of the most unique and fantastic crews I could have sailed with. I’d known John for a long time, pretty much my whole career, but I never actually got to sail with Captain Eginton, or Pat, and so it was really nice to get to sail down the coast with him. We also had Captain Nicholas Alley on board, so it was the three of us captains, 14 on board total, and we had this amazing, really wonderful trip down the East Coast. I couldn’t ask for better, it was such a great crew and a good dynamic on board.

MS: Who got stuck with the food bill for all those folks?

CH: That would’ve been the Chrismans, the new owners.

Longtime owner Capt. John Eginton at the wheel of MYSTIC WHALER during the delivery to Fort Lauderdale this fall. PHOTO: JEFFREY MORGAN

MS: It sounds like you’re used to fast boats — the Woodwinds and Lynx and Pride. I don’t expect that Mystic Cruzar really falls into that category, does she?

CH: No. She sails well, though! There were points when we were hitting eight, nine knots with her! She’s not a Ferrari, but she definitely will move.

MS: You took her down to Fort Lauderdale, and you put her on one of those ships that ship ships?

CH: The yacht transport that we were on, the Cerulean, is owned by Seven Seas. I wasn’t involved in

organizing that part of the movement, they just told me to show up: “Here’s the contacts for the ship; put it onto the tanker.”

MS: So they delivered Mystic Whaler to Ensenada, and then you put that West Coast crew back together, and brought the boat up to Channel Islands Harbor?

CH: Actually, we sat in Fort Lauderdale for three weeks waiting for the ship. So I went down to a skeleton crew, myself and two others, just enough hands to move the boat, and everybody else dispersed. We prepared the ship: myself, Quincy and Zodea and then just did small projects while we were waiting.

I did head down to Key West and got to connect with some old friends that I used to sail with out of there. I worked on the Libertys in the early 2000s, and some of my old friends are still hanging out down there. It’s amazing how much it’s changed in 15 years. It’s really built up, so much new construction, it’s crazy.

MS: I saw quite a few articles about your arrival at Channel Islands Harbor. Can you tell us a little bit about why the Chrismans wanted to acquire this boat, and how they plan to use it?

CH: They’ve always been boaters, first off, and they’ve done well in life and they like to give back to the community. Roger used to sit on the board of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, and he was very instrumental in getting the Spirit of Dana Point to Santa Barbara for doing history programs and getting kids on the water. Their motto is “No child left on shore.”

And I don’t know if you know much about the Ocean Institute, but —

MS: We’ve covered the problems they’ve had with the Pilgrim and the Spirit.

CH: Yeah. So with Pilgrim gone, Lynx on the East Coast, and Tole Mour sent off to the Caribbean… and without the use of Spirit of Dana Point… there’s really a lack of boats on this coast. And then COVID messed everything up. The Maritime Museum of San Diego, who I used to work for, they keep more locally now. They don’t do as many long trips with San Salvador or Californian.

Anyway, the Chrismans wanted for years to bring a ship to the Central Coast. And then when Mystic Whaler became available and the Chrismans were put in contact through the broker and everything, they sent some of their other crew out and they just were like, “This is the perfect ship, she sleeps a lot of people, we can do a lot of things, we can get kids back out on the water.”

And that is part of very much Sarah’s dream and part of their legacy that they’re setting up for the Central Coast of California.

MS: Central Coast Ocean Adventures: I assume that’s a new organization?

CH: I’d say we’re still in our infancy, and our website, hopefully, we’ll have something up by next week. After my phone call with you, I was going to call our designer to say, “Hey, do you have something up yet?”

MS: You mentioned the overnight capacity of the boat. Do you contemplate doing a lot of overnight programs? Or a mix of everything? It sounds like there are plans to base the boat in Channel Islands Harbor, but to take her to other ports to run programs, is that right?

CH: Channel Islands Harbor is going to be our new home port, we are going to be bringing her to Santa Barbara quite a bit, and possibly San Diego for the Schooner Cup once a year, at least visiting down into the San Diego area. We definitely want to get out to the Channel Islands. We are just redoing our COI now, so depending on how our inspection comes out, but hopefully our COI will be able to include Catalina and Santa Cruz.

MS: What kind of COI did the Whaler have when she was operating from Connecticut?

CH: Her COI was for coastwise, partially-protected waters, 20 miles from a safe harbor.

MS: Some of the articles mentioned that the public tours might be available as soon as the late spring. Are you guys still on track for that?

CH: I’m hoping late spring, early summer. Quite honestly, our inspection is on the 30th, so we’ll see how that

turns out. I know there’s a lot of excitement here, I know Santa Barbara wants us up there for events this summer, it’s the 150th anniversary of Stearns Wharf.

And then education programs will begin in the fall.

MS: What’s your experience with steel boats?

CH: I sailed on the Clipper City when she was still in Baltimore, and I also used to work on big steel research vessels. I have quite a bit of experience on steel boats.

MS: When the boat was for sale, some people expressed reservations about a mild steel hull that was built in the ‘60s, and wondered what the life expectancy of a boat like that was.

CH: They sounded the hull, a lot of her plating was replaced in 1995, and I think she’s good to go. We have to haul every two years, and you have to get it gauged, so that’s the beauty about steel is that, if it’s bad, just cut it out, weld a new piece in. I’ve never had too much of an issue with steel. I found it one of the easier materials. It’s a lot easier than a wooden boat.

MS: Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just measure the thickness of an oak plank and go “Yep. Still two inches. Good to go.”

CH: Exactly. Yeah. She’s a great boat. Captain Eginton, and Captain Pat, she was well loved, well maintained and she’s a great ship.

MS: Tell us briefly how you came to work on tall ships.

CH: I came to tall ships a long time ago when I was very young and at home in Annapolis. I was doing deliveries, and then I was hired onto the Woodwinds, and I was very fortunate that my captain from the Woodwinds had sailed on Pride I, and encouraged me to apply for Pride II when I was 20. And I absolutely fell in love with it.

That was the beginning of my career, sailing the Chesapeake, and I would see Pride sailing up and down the Chesapeake, and then actually when I was sailing on the Woodwinds was the last time that Californian was on the East Coast, and I saw her cruising up the Bay. I was like, “What a cool thing.” And that’s what brought me to traditional boats.

I sailed them for a number of years before I took a little bit of a hiatus and ran off to motor yachts…

MS: …to make real money…

CH: Yeah. That’s crazy thing with tall ships: I love them, but it’s very hard to financially survive them.

MS: Why did we fall into this hole, with the lack of boats in Southern California? In addition to the ones you mentioned, Amazing Grace went to Puerto Rico… Hawaiian Chieftain is headed to Hawaii… Bay Lady left San Francisco for Seattle…

CH: That’s a good question. There’s a lot of people out here that are interested in it. There are fewer harbors out here, but still I feel like there’s a long maritime history out here, so I don’t really understand why they don’t stay, or why they’re not supported or sustained out here. A few programs are, but it’s definitely much harder.

I suspect that access to the water is also an issue out here. It’s amazing how many kids on this Coast that live maybe 15 minutes from the harbor have never been to the beach. I’m still trying to figure that one out. ❂

For more info, search online for Central Coast Ocean Adventures, or visit the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (sbmm.org) or Channel Islands Maritime Museum (cimmvc.org).