Finding a Santa Cruz 27

The Santa Cruz 27 is a fairly rare boat with about 145 built (who was keeping track?) between 1973 and 1979. Due to their low build number and small one design fleet, few people outside of the West Coast have heard of one. That being said, I found several for sale around the country between summer 2008 and now. However, none of these boats matched my criteria as they were usually too nice and therefore too expensive. I was looking for a boat that needed some work, didn't have any major issues and that I could afford.

Unfortunately, during the spring of 2008 my grandmother "Meme" died after fighting cancer for several years. She had always been adventurous and fully supported me in all of my endeavors growing up. She was particularly proud of my sailing. When I found out she left me a small inheritance, I knew what I was going to do with it.

After finishing my sophomore year at Eckerd, I returned to home to California to search for a Santa Cruz 27 in its natural environment. While visiting friends in Monterey, I saw an SC27 sitting in a slip less than 100 yards from where I sailed in high school. After calling around to try and find the owner, my high school sailing coach Mr. McAleer put me in contact with him. With extreme apprehension, I called this total stranger. His wife answered the phone and while introducing myself I mentioned that I was interested in buying their boat. She quickly told me she was on the other line but he would call me back shortly. Fifteen minutes later he called back and after talking for a little bit we agreed to meet in Monterey and he would show me the boat with his co-owner.

The boat looked like it had sat for a long time and their was a marine sanctuary growing on the bottom. The rigging was old and needed replacing, as did most of the lines, blocks and some hardware. Below decks she had a clean, dry bilge, no major signs of water intrusions (all boats leak, it just depends how much), the wood needed varnish but there was no rot and all the tabbing was solid. I thanked the owners and told him I would give it some thought.

A few days later I called the owner and gave him a low offer. I was not surprised he refused and we agreed on a price pending a clean survey. It turns out the boat came with a 1979 trailer and 2001 Honda 2hp 4-stroke outboard that had barely been used. The owners were nice enough to get the bottom cleaned, put the boat on the trailer and take the mast down for the survey. I chose Joesph Rodgers of Rodgers & Associates to survey the boat as he once built them in Bill Lee's Chicken Coop across the bay in Santa Cruz. Out of the water I was amazed how good the bottom looked, a lot of the bottom paint was gone, revealing a relatively fair, spray-on epoxy barrier coat that would only need to be wet sanded for hours. A testament to the glass work on the Santa Cruz 27 and protection from the barrier coat, there were no blisters on the hull and only a few small ones on the rudder. The core proved to be dry and the boat solid. The only issues were the ones I already knew about and we prepared to fix. Following the survey, I gave the owners a check and when it cleared a few days later the boat was mine. Cody and I drove down and after working on the trailer lights for several hours we were on our way north.

Saltshaker is hull 116 and was made in February of 1979. After being raced extensively during the 1980's in Southern California, Saltshaker moved to Monterey, California where she was raced for another decade. Robin Jeffers actually raced on Saltshaker a little bit and said the boat was one of the fastest when the one design fleet was big.