 Annie, and I found "ALLURE" with her keel in the mud on the Petaluma River in the Northern part of San Francisco Bay. I took what was left of everything I had in Alaska after loosing everything to the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The boat was in poor condition to say the least but I was in love with the design and wanted to pay what little cash I had for a new home.
We spent 6 years working on the boat, Annie was a good sport, she had hitch-hiked to Alaska on her own and gone commercial fishing so she was a natural for me. After 20 years in all the major fisheries retiring in Homer, Alaska was not in the cards for me. We sailed with no instruments, we had to haul the engine and almost sleep with it while I cut a "sump" under the oil pan of our Isuzu forklift engine converted to marine use. The motor mounts didn't touch the stringers. We had our work cut out for us.
 After the heart break of loosing 20 hard years at sea to a drunk tanker captain I was looking for a new life and to put the past behind me. Annie worked day and night after plowing through the mud in a harbor that was being silted in by the river. We followed the last fishing boat and were healed over as the motor jumped up and down with a shaft that was so out of alignment it broke the cutlass bearing from the back of the boat. Exhaust was a black iron pipe running all the way from the engine 28 feet to the back of the boat where someone had build a mild steel muffler with a water hose running into it. All rusted out, water running freely in the lazerette. It just went on and one.
This was not my first boat. After loosing my precious "PATRONILLA" To a resulting divorce after the spill and 7 previous fishing boats over the coarse of my fishing career, I felt I knew what had to be done and could do it. However, I was totally burned out and ready for retirement when all this happened. Such is life, just when you think you are the hammer, you look up and see you are the nail! I just put my head down and moved on to the only life I knew, the Sea.
 After we survived re-installing the enging, getting a new propeller and shaft. New sails, standing rigging, ( I bought 250' of 3/8" 1X19 Stainless wire and 55 Norseman Fittings and cut, ran my own rigging), As an Alaskan fisherman I am only satisfied with "over kill" in everything I put on the boat. The old saying, "You never know when you might just need the extra strength." We did manage to get away and sail the San Francisco Bay. We were in Benicia part of the time so sailed San Pablo Bay and the on to San Francisco bay. I was fun as I watched the tide rips to know when to tack as we had no depth finder yet. This photo looks like Eruope or the Greed Islands, it really Sausalito, Ca.
  This is how we found the boat when I had it hauled out for survey. The bow had a "CANARD" or 2' x 2' stainless rudder with 2" shaft and controls to the steering station. The back of the boat, (top photo) has an added "Skeg" for stability! We took the Canard off and added a transducer for a forward looking Sonar. Might as well us the hole for something! Some fellow walked up to us and mentioned it as we were scratching our heads looking at the gaping hole in the bow. I didn't have the money for some luxury like Sonar, but that what happened. Now we can dodge Whales and masses of Kelp and logs when the alarm goes off.
We kept the skeg, it's turned out to be very nice in following seas, helps to stabilize the boat.
 I renamed the boat I felt a new name would give her a new "lease on life." We chose "ALLURE" for the old fashioned wood boat lines on this 1772 Columbia 50. All our work and upgrade have come our of pocket, the pride of ownership, when heads continually turn to admire her going past.
  We left the San Francisco Bay area due in large part to the traffic. Brides I worked on running tug boats pushing barges around were so overcrowded it would take me 2 hours to go from Red Wood City to Alameda! The sailing was wonderful, we got lots of wind with no seas. Many good memories. But, we were ready to head out the Golden Gate and see the rest of California after 6 a six year retrofit.
 We are entering Monterey, about 100 miles down the coast. Out first port of call and my home town. I had come a long way. We stayed there for a year. I found an old Schooner boom gallows to support the end of the boom. It's 20' long and with just the topping lift it tends to be very unruly when it's time to reef the large main sail. The is the harbor I use to look at when I was in the 5th grade.
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