Sharpie Colleen Wagner

Sharpie Colleen Wagner

So successful were the sharpie fishing boats of Long Island Sound that the basic design soon spread. Colleen Wagner is a Florida Sharpie, a derivative of the New Haven Sharpie adapt- ed for the Florida coast. The boat from which Colleen Wagner takes her lines is the Egret, which was designed by Ralph Monroe in 1886.

Ralph Munroe was an early settler of South Florida and the Florida keys. He came from New England and was a yachtsman, and so knew the boats of the northeast. Recognizing the need for a weatherly, fast, and above all shoal-draft boat, Munroe brought a New Haven Sharpie to Florida in 1881. The boat proved a success and Munroe imported more sharpies over the next few years, before beginning to design them himself. see: http://cwb.org/exhibits/sharpie-colleen-w

The Sharpie "Colleen Wagnar"

I took this pic just yesterday while out for a March 1 Sail with the Admiral. The Colleen Wagner is used for training CWB Staff and for Sunday Free Public Sails 

I had just finished up a Sail Now session with two students when Ken walked up and asked us all if we would like to go sailing on the Colleen Wagner. I said Heck Yeah! One student also took him up on the offer but the other had to go.

This is my student  Derika, she is about 16 years old and also volunteers at the CWB. Ken knew her from all the volunteering she does but it was the first i had met Derika, she was a great Sailing Student! Obviously all her work at the CWB has really paid off, Ken did not hesitate to invite her to take the helm as she is sailing us away from the dock.

Ken and Fred are the Fearless volunteer crew of the Colleen Wagner who have probably taken countless persons of all ages on one hour excursions around Lake Union on the Sunday Free Public Sails. 

Ken and Fred work well together constantly trimming the sails of this very interesting vessel. 

The Colleen Wagner can not sail very close to the wind, just about 60 degrees off compared to 40-45 degrees off for a modern sloop. 

Ken is full of Seafearing stories and shares them one right after another. One of the most interesting is the story of all the sunken vessels and objects that scatter the bottom of Lake Union . There is lots of info on the web and at this link you can see a current survey of the wrecks: http://www.maritimedocumentation.org/projects.html

Derika was a great Helmsman, She called all the Tacks and Jibs without prompting from anyone.

Just Happy to be Here

Fred spotted some trash in the Lake and called for a MOB drill to recover the object.

With great Skill Derika sailed us right up to the floating trash.

It was a Rude Rubber Glove.

Can't get Sails like these Just anywhere

Even though the winds were just moderate at best Derika sailed us all over the lake.

An Excellent downwind run Wing on Wing back to the Docks

Derika brought her in just like she had done this lots of times

I was very proud of this young student of mine. She told me that before coming to the CWB she was shy and had no clue about what she wanted to do later in life. She said she had gained lots of confidence and has become aware of a whole world that she never new about before. It was clear she had a very healthy self esteem and I think even that grew with her volunteer time at CWB and some of the many programs she has experienced there. Something refreshing about seeing a young person find her way in the very big world of the Pacific Northwest.