Oriental touts itself as the "Sailing Capital of North Carolina". With 3.5 sailboats per Capital, it may be true. However, the boat below is visiting today and boy is it a beauty. Er, for a motor vessel that is. ;)
Last fall she motored past me while I was sailing my Compac 19.
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Stunning! Looks like a vintage wooden boat.
Simply wow.. I'm prety sure most of us don't care when it is a boat like this
They are beautiful when complete and fascinating even in a rough condition.
A few decades ago, I was asked by a court to value the ex-presidential yacht, which was named HONEY FRITZ by JFK, its last use. When I saw it, the vessel had been laid up for many years in an open area in the Florida Panhandle.
It certainly needed work, some deep woodwork, but you could see every bit of it and in your mind easily imagine how it looked in the 1960's.
The old boats were like old houses in that the interior is subdivided which with the very narrow hull makes all spaces small.
You can find the restored vessel VERANDA in many articles and even a YouTube video.
There is a good story about this boat on towndock.net. Very interesting history.
Jack, do you live in or around Oriental?
THAT is a yacht! I know of the Kennedys there in Biloxi and pass by their facility off I-10. They've been in the diesel business for a long time and word filters out. Yep, it don't have to have sails to be worthy of being called eye candy.
That reminds me of the Presidential Yacht Sequoia. I initially thought it was the Sequoia.
I sailed by the Sequoia several times on a Lightning during the Sunday races.
Back then, the Secret Service had no problems with passing within 50 feet or so, to see who was aboard.
I believe that JFK retired it and used the Honey Fitz, with the SS picking up the tab for maintenance.
Even then, sailing by was not an issue. :)
To sort of change the famous yacht story, one of our guys sent me a photo of the UNITED STATES in Mobile, prepping for its final run.
I am sure that it will be such a tour site that there will be special rules to control divers. And that part of the preparation will keep swimmers out of 99% of the interior spaces.
There will be some fantastic videos in the future.
Quote from: jack jackson on Mar 04, 2025, 06:22 PMThere is a good story about this boat on towndock.net. Very interesting history.
Great! Thanks for the link. Some good pics.
Wolverine:
Sorry I just saw your question. I live in Fairfield Harbour . I spend a lot of time in Oriental but my boat is at Blackbeard Sailing Club. My friend Kevin has a Pacific Seacraft Dana at Sea Harbor.
Fairfield Harbor, nice area. I met a couple with a Dana in 2023. They were part of our SCOO (sailing club of oriental) group that sailed Bath & Washington.