I am pretty sure of my memory: These two oceans racers, Baruna and Bolero, were berthed for a while in Sausalito in the mid-1960s.
I used to stare at them in the yacht harbor, raking back my neck to look up their towering masts. They were long and shiny and well-maintained — and untouchable. I guess it was like staring at royalty. Here they are racing in 1959 on San Francisco Bay. I remember Baruna with a black hull in the mid-60s and Bolero with white, varnish gleaming, teak decks smooth and pristine. Seems like at least one was rigged as a sloop at the time.
I follow Dorade these days from New Mexico. I think often of her tamer but maybe-just-as-fast near-sister, Stormy Weather. All four were designed by Olin Stephens or his company (photos of all them here) — Dorade and Storm Weather earlier, Bolero launched in the year I was born, 1949.
I admire many boat designs. I gravitate to wood and not just to the pricey ocean racers. I keep this Wooden Boat cover with a beamy but graceful Gil Smith catboat on permanent display in my high and dry home.
This is what I am dreaming about this morning. Sailing away, I guess, from COVID-19.
dream ranch 