In November 1976, Capt. Fred Rodolf purchased a Kelly hull in the Grays Harbor County town of Westport, upon which he built a 75-foot motor yacht named Lu-Lu Belle.
Since 1979 ,she has been a tour boat and the home for Capt. Fred and his wife, Megan, who have spent the past 30-plus years taking clients on wildlife cruises in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.
That all came to a grinding halt in the early morning hours of Saturday, May 14, when Capt. Fred fell asleep at the helm and Lu-Lu Belle ran aground at Hinchinbrook Entrance, about 50 miles south of Valdez, Alaska.
Capt. Fred, Megan and their two dogs were plucked from their precarious perch by a Coast Guard helicopter.
Megan said that while they were waiting for the Coast Guard, they got off Lu-Lu Belle because the vessel was rocking quite a bit in the surf.
Walking about in the sand, Capt. Fred noticed bear tracks and told Megan of his sighting. She promptly scooped up the dogs — which she described as bear bait — and told Fred she would rather wait aboard the rocking boat than run into a bear.
Lu-Lu Belle has since been towed to Valdez Small Boat Harbor and is moored at the tour dock. Five portable bilge-type pumps run continuously to keep her afloat until she can be taken out of the water.
The only Travelift available for a haul-out is too narrow for Lu-Lu Belle’s beam so, according to Megan, they have to wait for a 12-foot tide, which is expected later this week.
Once the tide is right, a massive trailer fitted with a large cradle will be backed into the water, and the yacht will be floated onto it and taken out of the water — a process seen repeatedly at boat launches, only on a much grander scale.
Once the boat is out of the water, the insurance adjuster and surveyor will begin assessing the damage.
Megan said at this point she and Fred are in limbo until they know what they have to deal with.
“Fred is a resilient man and he is focusing his energy on looking ahead to what has to be done,” she said.
Megan also said they feel as though they are starting all over again, but that “they will claw their way out of this.”
Fred and Megan are well-regarded members of the Port Angeles waterfront community and I, along with many others along the waterfront, wish them well as they begin the difficult task of rebuilding their fractured dream.
A classic in Port Townsend
The 28th annual Classic Mariner’s Regatta and Rendezvous will take place this coming Friday through Sunday on Port Townsend Bay.
The event is one of two regattas the Wooden Boat Foundation will sponsor this year, and it is being organized with the help of the Port Townsend Sailing Association (PTSA).
According to Kathy Grace of the PTSA, as many as 40 wooden sailing vessels will compete in two races Saturday and one Sunday.
There will also be a rowing race for dinghies, shells and kayaks Sunday, June 5.
Owners of wooden motor boats who would like to partake in the festivities are welcome to participate in the event as members of the spectator fleet.
The cost of the regatta, which covers all of the races and the welcoming party, Saturday night dancing and beverages is $10 for rowers and $40 for all others.
There is an additional charge of $15 for the Saturday night dinner, which will be followed by live entertainment provided by the Stout Pounders, a Seattle-based Celtic band playing Scottish and Irish folk music.
For more information, phone Kathy at 360-301-4938.
Decorative knots
Bill Dengler will teach decorative knot-tying in the Chandlery at the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St., Port Townsend, on Wednesday.
Each participant will make a napkin ring based on a Turk’s Head knot and a beverage coaster using a Carrick Bend knot.
The class runs from noon to 1:30 p.m. and is free (including rope), but space is limited, so phone to make your reservation at 360-385-3628, ext. 10, or email the Chandlery at chandlery@woodenboat.org.
Up close and personal
William “Gomer” Eyl, who works for Platypus Marine Inc. on the Port Angeles waterfront, made arrangements for his 6-year-old son, JJ, and his classmates at Crescent Cooperative Preschool in Joyce to tour Platypus facilities.
Darren Schmitt, a project manager for the company, took the 13 children and seven chaperones through the Commander Building, explaining the details of all the projects, and then took them out to the launch pad, where they watched a boat get lowered into the water by the company’s 330-ton Travelift.
JR, the Travelift operator, said everyone enjoyed having the group visit the company, and there were a lot of cute little faces with wide eyes and big beaming smiles.
Out of the water
Angela Carol, a 75-foot steel boat, is sitting on the hard in the yard at Platypus Marine.
The commercial boat, which fishes out of Neah Bay, was built by Rockport Yacht & Supply Co. in 1965. She is out of the water for just a few days to have her keel coolers removed and bottom painted.
Spirit of 76, whose owner lives in Idaho but keeps her in the Port Angeles Boat Haven, is in the Commander Building.
She is having new zincs installed, through-hull fittings serviced and her bottom painted.
Personnel are also replacing the stuffing box, which is an apparatus used around a propeller shaft at the point it exits a boat’s hull underwater. It is the method by which water is prevented from entering the hull while still allowing the propeller shaft to turn.
Platypus is installing a bulbous bow on Pacific Pride, a 50-foot Kettenburg that hails from Crescent City, Calif.
The fiberglass department also added flotation to the stern by glassing in some closed cell foam onto the aft section of the bottom to increase the vessel’s buoyancy.
Once all the fiberglass work is completed, the commercial fishing boat will receive a fresh coat of bottom paint.
Spartan, a 58-foot Delta, is in the Commander Building and she, too, is getting a bulbous bow installed with the added feature of a built-in thruster.
Personnel should have that project buttoned up within a week or so, then the commercial boat will head for her hailing port of Homer, Alaska.
Harbor visit
Tesoro Petroleum on Saturday refueled S/R American Progress, a 600-foot petroleum products carrier that made her way to Port Angeles Harbor from Valdez, Alaska.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats, ships and strolling the waterfront.
Items involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome. Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.