Empress in Sacramento

The new owners of Empress, Patrick and Francis Noone, had a delivery captain and crew take Empress from Mission Bay in San Diego to Martinez on the Sacramento River.  From there Patrick Noone and crew took her to her new home port in the Alamar Marina in Scramento, California.

The photo below shows Empress approaching the Alamar Marina seen under the bridge on the starboard side.

Empress Approaches Alamar Marina

The photo below shows Empress tied up in the Alamar Marina.

Empress Tied Up in the Alamar Marina

Drone Video of Empress at Sea

On September 1, we took Empress to sea off Mission Bay in San Diego and flew a Typhoon H drone to record UHD video of Empress in action at sea.  The crew was John Penhune, Captain and Rick Busch, First Mate.  The done pilots were Brons Larson, Tim Herrin, and Wes Wang.  The video recording was done by Brons Larson and Tim Herrin, and the video editing and production were done by John Penhune.

A lower-resolution short clip of the video recorded by the drone follows:

You can watch a much-longer, much-higher-resolution version of the edited UHD video by going to Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/181203256

Some photos of our crew follow:

Rick, Wes and Tim approaching Empress on G Dock at Marina Village

Left, Tim in front of chart table; Right, John at helm

Tim & Wes on boat deck from which the drone was flown

Thanksgiving Aboard Empress

Marcellite Penhune cooked and served a scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner aboard Empress.  The photos below show the entire spread and Marcellite with the turkey.


Cowboys v. Raiders and the Thanksgiving Spread

Marcellite and her Beautiful Turkey

Guests lift a Thanksgiving toast.  From left, Jim Penhune (John's son), our friend "Beej," Marcellite Penhune, and Tomi Faust (Marcellite's mother).

 

Guests around the Salon Table

For desert, Marcellite made two pies, pumpkin/banana/coconut and mincemeat, and served them with whipped cream.

Marcellite's Homemade Pies

 



Fourth of July Aboard Empress

Longtime friends and the Penhune and Lasensky families gathered aboard Empress to watch the 4th of July fireworks from Sea World, which is near where Empress is tied up in Mission Bay in San Diego. As shown in the photos below, Marcellite Penhune decorated Empress for the occasion.

Empress exterior decorated for 4th of July

Empress interior decorated for 4th of July

Appropriate to the occasion, John Penhune displayed the yacht ensign and the Fourth of July Yacht Club burgee, as shown in the photos below.

Yacht ensign at the stern of Empress

Fourth of July Yacht Club Burgee at Bow of Empress

After an elegant BBQ dinner put on by Marcellite Penhune, we all watched the spectacular fireworks display from Sea World from the boat deck of Empress.  Some of the fireworks are shown in the photos below.

Fireworks from Sea World

Sea World Fireworks Finale

 

 

 

 

Empress has a Pinniped Visitor

When I returned to Empress from West Marine today, I found people from G Dock photographing a large sea lion that was snoozing on the dock near the bow of Empress.  In Quivira Basin the seals normally hang out at the North end of the bait barge and on dock fingers close to the bait barge, although big guys like our visitor often find difficulty finding a good spot, so I guess this one was exploring alternative napping locations.

Sea lion snoozing on dock near bow of Empress

As shown in the photo below, viewed close up, sea lions look like friendly dogs, although they can be aggressive and bite, if scared or provoked.


Our visitor's face close up

After preening for the photographers, our visitor dove in between the bow of Empress and the dock finger - the spot where we often tie up our Boston Whaler tender.  Needless to say, we hope he doesn't come back and jump into the tender.

Sea lion preening on the dock for photographers

When we tied up our previous trawler (a 45-foot Sea Ranger) in Monterey, there was a very large sea lion on the dock finger assigned to us.  When a member of the crew tried to step on the dock with a line, the sea lion growled at him, so we circled around and I called the harbor master on the radio.  To our amusement, the harbor master answered on the radio, "Don't tell anyone I told you this, but when no one is looking, poke him with a boat hook!"  Fortunately for us and the sea lion, it took off when we re-approached the dock.

New Safe Dock Stairs

So that Marcellite's 91-year-old mother and I can board Empress safely at her end tie at the Marina Village Marina, we had Rick Busch build a new set of dock stairs as shown in the photo below.  Rick is one of the marina dock captains who also is very skilled at carpentry and boat repairs, having lived aboard a sailboat for many years.


New Empress Dock Stairs
 

To bridge the gap between the dock stairs and Empress when the wind or tidal current causes her to stand off the dock, Rick cleverly devised a boarding plank that is hinged to the dock stairs and rides on wheels on the side deck of Empress when deployed.  When not in use, the boarding plank folds flat on top of the top platform of the dock stairs.  The photo below shows the boarding plank deployed.

Folding Boarding Plank Deployed

Rick totally enclosed the interior of the dock stairs and provided a door to allow the interior to be used for dry storage as shown in the photo below.

Dry Storage Under Dock Stairs

I am in outpatient physical therapy now and am becoming more mobile every day.  I hope that my next blog post will show me back aboard Empress.

Interior Redecorating

Marcellite Penhune is taking the lead in significantly redecorating the interior of Empress.  The first step was replacement of the carpet throughout the boat with a European product made for marine applications and having a dark blue background and a gold nautical pattern.  The photos that follow show the new carpet in the salon and on the aft stairs.


New Carpet in Salon

New Carpet on Aft Stairs

The next step was reupholstering the cushions in the aft master cabin and the chairs in the salon.  The photos below show three of the reupholstered chairs around the glass table in the aft end of the salon and the reupholstered large swivel chair in the main salon.


Reupholstered Chairs around Glass Salon Table

Reupholstered Swivel Chair in Salon

After that, Marcellite had the old metal blinds on the salon windows replaced with individual retractable cloth shades, so that individual windows can be shaded as need.  The photo that follows shows the new shades on the port side of the salon, first in the up positions and then in the down positions.

Salon Shade in Up Position

Salon Shades in Down Positions

Skipper Injured But Recovering

Back on November 29, 2012, after a day of working on Empress, I slipped on a wet spot on our epoxy-coated garage floor and fractured my right femur just below the ball.  Fortunately, our neighbor of more than 25 years, Dr. Stuart Marshall, an orthopedic surgeon, was home from the hospital early that day and diagnosed my injury as I lay in the garage and ordered an operating room and the necessary repair hardware.  Dr. Marshall did the repair surgery on December 1, and I now am recuperating at home with the aid of a hospital bed, a wheel chair, a walker, an excellent rehabilitation therapist and loving care by Marcellite.  The X-rays below show the fracture before the repair and the detail of the repair hardware.

John Penhune's Fractured Right Femur

Dr. Stuart Marshall's Repair of John Penhune's Right Femur

Thanks to Dr. Marshall's excellent repair surgery and to Ashlee Denaro, the outstanding physical therapist he recommended, I now am ambulating well using a walker and Marcellite is able to take me for outings in the cars to restaurants and Costco, and to view Empress from the marina parking lot.

Phillip John Lasensky

Phillip John Lasensky was born on October 18, 2012 at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, California.  The photo below shows Phillip's three-year-old brother Matthew holding and kissing Phillip in the hospital.

Matthew Holding and Kissing Phillip at Scripps Hospital

 

Phillip now is at home in Del Mar, California with his parents Marcellite and Peter Lasensky and Peter's son Joey.  The photo below shows Phillip peacefully sleeping in a portable cradle.


Phillip Sleeping at Home in Del Mar, California

The Empress crew is growing rapidly!  Joey already is a big help doing things such as launching the tender and small sailboat from the boat deck and running the sand line of Catalina moorings.  Matthew knows the geography of Mission Bay well enough to direct John to his favorite spots, such as under the Sea World cable cars and tying up at the Paradise Point Resort for lunch.

Recent History of Empress - Preparation for Long-Distance Cruising - Part 2

This post continues the description of the modifications that the Penhunes made to Empress in preparation for long-distance cruising in general and for the voyage to Portland, Oregon in particular.

Even though Empress is a three-compartment ship below the main deck (aft cabin, engine room, forward cabins) and is designed to stay afloat with any one compartment taking water, for additional off-shore safety the Penhunes decided to install a 10-person, self-inflating, commercial, canister liferaft on the boat deck accompanied by an  emergency reporting and location beacon (EPIRP).  The liferaft is shown in the photo below.



Ten-Person Liferaft

To aid in safe navigation in crowded waters, such as the Columbia River leading to Portland, a new high-resolution, target-tracking, X-band radar also was installed.  The radome for the new radar antenna was installed on a high mast to raise it above the satellite TV dome, as shown in the photo below.  


High-Resolution Radar Antenna Radome

To display data from the new radar, a new depth sounder, GPS, and a commercial satellite weather-prediction service, new high-resolution color displays were installed on the flybridge and in the pilothouse, as shown in the photos below.  Rudder-angle indicators also were added and a beautiful old Danforth compass that came with the boat was installed in the pilothouse.

Flybridge Instrumentation and Controls

Pilothouse Instrumentation and Controls

After continued problems with the ancient, analog Vosper controller for the stabilizers, the Penhunes had a new Naiad digital control system installed by Chris Fonteneau, who specializes in stabilizers and has worked on Empress many times for several owners.  The performance of the stabilizers with the new Naiad digital control system has been excellent.  The control panel for the stabilizers is shown in the photo below.

Control Panel for Naiad Digital Roll Stabilizer System

Empress at Avalon on Catalina

Late in September 2012, Marcellite and John Penhune took Empress from Mission Bay to Avalon on Catalina Island.  We originally had planned to also visit the Fourth of July Yacht Club at the Isthmus, but our trip was cut short by schedule conflicts.  The crew included Joey Lasensky, the Penhune's grandson-in-law, Tomi Faust, Marcellite's mother, Lola the English bull dog, and Oliver, Tomi's miniature mixed breed.  After almost not getting a mooring and one move, we were given a 70-foot mooring for the remainder of our stay.  The photo below shows Empress with the Avalon Casino in the background.


Empress on a mooring in Avalon Harbor, Catalina Island

Marcellite and Joey rented a two-person kayak and toured the harbor including the snorkeling areas where fish abound.  They also circled Empress to give John a chance to photograph them.


Marcellite Penhune and Joey Lasensky

Marcellite and Tomi had their hands full (no pun intended) dealing with the nature calls of Lola and Oliver, who sometimes used their potty box and sometimes used the foredeck!

Marcellite, Tomi, Lola, and Oliver

Empress operated very efficiently during the trip, using about 115 gallons of diesel for the main engines for a round trip of about 130 nautical miles at a speed of about 7.5 knots.  Running a generator during the days consumed about an additional 75 gallons, so total fuel consumption was about 190 gallons for the six-day round trip.  We used the inverters at night to keep the refrigerators and freezers cold and to allow reading and Internet use.



Recent History of Empress - Preparation for Long-Distance Cruising - Part 1

After taking off-shore delivery of Empress in June of 2007, the Penhunes returned her to the Newport Harbor Shipyard to begin preparations for long-distance cruising to the Pacific Northwest.  A bow thruster was installed to make Empress more maneuverable at low speeds in winds and currents.  The location of the thruster in the bow of Empress is shown in the photo below.
 

Location of New Bow Thruster



The thruster is powered by a 32-volt DC motor and has two four-bladed propellers, one of which is shown in the photo below.



One of the Four-Bladed Thruster Propellers

After completion of repairs at the Newport Harbor Shipyard, Empress was returned to a slip in the Cabrillo Marina in San Pedro at the north-west end of Los Angeles - Long Beach harbor, just below Palos Verdes.  After discussion with Patrick Murray of All Purpose Marine Diesel, the Penhunes decided to have him completely rebuild the Detroit V-12 turbocharged main engines, probably for the first time since they were installed by Richardson Boats in 1971.  The photo below shows the port engine with the turbochargers, manifolds, intercoolers, positive-displacement blowers, and cylinder heads removed.

Port Engine During Complete Rebuild

To provide silent 120/240-Volt AC power when moored at night, two 3.5 kW inverters and a third 32-Volt battery bank were installed. The inverters, the load-balancing autotransformer, and the control and monitoring panel are shown in the photo below.

Two 3.5 kW Inverters Provide Silent 120/240 Volt AC Power

Also, to extend the cruising range of Empress, three 120-Amp 32-Volt generators were installed, two on the port main engine and one on the starboard main engine.  These generators power the inverters and the 32-Volt house load, allowing Empress to cruise without running a generator, thus saving about 25 gallons of fuel per day.

A 25-gallon-per-hour watermaker also was installed along with a domestic water heater that is warmed by both the starboard main engine freshwater cooling circulation and by 120-Volt AC.  The watermaker membrane, pressure control, and pressure and flow gauges are shown in the photo below.

25 Gallon per hour Watermaker

Two additional large Fireboy automatic fire suppression tanks also were installed in the engine room.  The photo below shows one of them.

Fireboy Automatic Fire Suppression System

Middle History of Empress

After Richard Yantis's professional crew brought San-Su-Cher III from Florida to the Pacific through the Panama Canal, we believe that he used the yacht in Mexican waters in the Cabo San Lucas area.  David Richardson of Richardson Boats remembers a photo of San-Su-Cher III hanging in their yard office for many years.  David is trying to locate the photo so that we can add a copy to this blog post.

In the mid to late 1970s, we believe that Richard Yantis sold the yacht to Jules Meyers of Beverly Hills in the Los Angeles area of California.  We believe that the new owner was Jules (Jay) Meyers, whose obituary states that he was a car dealer to Hollywood stars and that he enjoyed boating.

In the early 1980s, we believe that Jules Meyers sold the yacht to Peter Althouse.  According to documentation records, Althouse registered the yacht in Oregon, with a home port of Portland.  We believe that Peter and Diane Althouse cruised the yacht north from Portland to the San Juan Islands in the US and Vancouver Island off the coast of Canada.  We believe that the Althouses changed the name of the yacht to Empress, after tying up in front of the Empress Hotel in Victoria on Vancouver Island.  A painting of young Queen Victoria, who also was Empress of India, hangs prominently in the Empress Hotel, and the Penhunes have hung a copy in the salon of Empress.  The Penhunes also have enjoyed the San Juans, Vancouver Island, the Empress Hotel, and Butchart Gardens in a previous boat, Allons-y!, a 45-foot Sea Ranger trawler.

Chris Fonteneau of Fonteneau Yacht Repair remembers working on Empress in San Diego in the 1980s, probably for the Althouses.  Chris reinforced the boat deck to take the load of a tender, installed the interior stairs to the boat deck, built the fly bridge storage and pilot station on the boat deck, built additional cabinetry in the salon surrounding the stairs to the engine room and aft queen, and made other repairs and improvements to Empress.  Willem Racke was the Althouses's captain for much of the time they owned Empress.  He remembers more than five years of happy cruising with them in California and Mexican waters.

In May of 1989, after Diane Althouse had passed away, Peter Althouse sold Empress to Edwin Stivers in San Diego.  Stivers was the owner and operator of the Neptune Society that specialized in the scattering of ashes at sea.  We believe that Stivers tried to use Empress for that purpose, but was stopped by the Jones Act, because the yacht was not built in the US.  John Penhune has obtained a Jones Act waiver from the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) allowing Empress to be used commercially from ports in California, Oregon, and Washington.  However, the Penhunes have no plans to use Empress commercially.

In 1994, Dennis and Elaine Miller found Empress docked and for sale at the Shelter Island Yacht Club in San Diego and they bought her from Edwin Stivers in April 1994.  Dennis Miller called Hargrave Yacht Design and spoke with Jack Hargrave about the yacht.  Hargrave told Miller that the design was intended to be a new line of yachts, but that the poor economy and the price of fuel in the early 1970s stopped the project.  The first major change  the Millers made to Empress was to remodel the aft master suit.  They had the twin beds replaced with a queen and the tub replaced with a shower.  They also had the galley remodelled.  At this point, the Millers moved the yacht to the Cabrillo Marina in San Pedro, California, at the north end of Los Angeles - Long Beach harbor just below Palos Verdes.  The next major repair the Millers had made to Empress was having blisters removed from the hull and two additional layers of fiberglass in epoxy resin added before fairing and repainting the hull.  They also had the boat deck refinished with new glass mat and cloth in epoxy resin and painted with a non-skid surface.  The Millers lived aboard Empress from time to time and used her for cruising in the area from San Diego to the Channel Islands.  Dennis Miller is the owner of the Miller Gasket Company in San Fernando, California.

In June of 2007, the Millers sold Empress to John and Marcellite Penhune, beginning the current history of Empress, which will be the subject of a separate blog post.

Many people provided information used in reconstructing the Middle History of Empress including: David Richardson of Richardson Boats, Michael Joyce and Barbara Bishop of Hargrave Yachts, Chris Fonteneau of Fonteneau Yacht Repair, Dennis Miller, Ron Arnold of SAIC, Captain Willem Racke, and Bernadine Trusso of Dona Jenkins Maritime Document Service.  Many thanks to them all.  Any errors in this historical reconstruction are the responsibility of the blogger, John Penhune, who will be grateful for any corrections and additions readers can provide.  Please send comments to John_Penhune@pacbell.net.

Early History of Empress

The yacht was Jack Hargrave Design No. 6404 for Richard (Dick) Yantis, an executive of Avco Financial living in Canada.  He named the yacht San-Su-Cher III after his daughters Sandy, Susan, and Cherie.  Hargrave's summary plan for the yacht is shown below.

Jack Hargrave Design No. 6404 for Richard Yantis

Courtesy of Barbara Bishop of Hargrave Yachts

According to Marilyn Mower in her book American Classic: The Yachts and Ships of Jack Hargrave, p. 152:

The basis for this fast cruiser was Hargrave's standard Halmatic 64 molded hull which was shipped to Canada and given a wood deck.  She was created for luxurious living and entertainment: to wit, the main salon and enclosed aft deck lounge were not separated by partitions.  Everything about the decor was light and modern.  The owner's apartment is full beam and more than 16 feet in length.  The stateroom included a walk-in wardrobe and dressing room and a large bathroom with full-size tub.  Two ensuite twin-bedded guest cabins and crew quarters for two round out the accommodations.  Hargrave utilized every inch of space to incorporate a powder room and a utility room with washer, dryer and deep freeze.  Hargrave considered her the "ultimate yacht" in her size for her combination of uncrowded accommodations and large power and fuel capacity.

The hull and part of the structure were fabricated in 1971 in the Halmatic yard in the Northam area of Southampton, England.  In addition to large yachts, Halmatic built military patrol boats and small commercial ships.  The location of the Halmatic yard is shown in the map below.

Anchor Symbol Marks Location of Halmatic Yard

The hull, loaded with lumber for further construction, was shipped on a freighter to Montreal, Canada - a distance of about 3,100 nautical miles.  In Montreal, the hull was loaded on a barge and towed by a tug through the Great Lakes and connecting canals to the Richardson Boats yard in Meaford, Ontario, Canada on the shore of Georgian Bay - a distance of about 900 nautical miles.  The location of the Richardson yard is shown in the map below.

Anchor Symbol Marks Location of Richardson Yard

The twin 625 HP Detroit V-12 engines, two Northern Lights 15 kW generators with Lugger engines, and other equipment were installed and the construction of the yacht was completed by a team led by Alan Richardson, now retired.  Alan's nephew, David Richardson, worked on the yacht when he was a teenager.  In a very informative telephone conversation, David provided much of the information contained in this narrative.

Jack Hargrave personally attended the sea trials of the yacht in Georgian Bay.  David Richardson took Jack Hargrave around in a runabout and remembers him as a tall, energetic man.

The yacht spent one winter at the Richardson yard and then was moved by a professional crew out through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean and then to the East Coast of Florida, where she spent a second winter.  From Florida, the crew took the yacht through the Panama Canal to the Los Angeles area of California.  From the Richardson yard to the LA area, the yacht traveled about 8,000 nautical miles on her own bottom.

I would like to thank David Richardson of Richardson Boats and Michael Joyce and Barbara Bishop of Hargrave Yachts for providing most of the information contained in this early history of the yacht now called Empress.

Empress Tender Like New!

The Driscoll Mission Bay boat yard did a great job repairing all the damage done to the Empress tender by the thieves.  The cost of almost all of the needed repairs was reimbursed by the insurance company.  In addition, at my expense, Driscoll installed a new rub rail and painted the bottom.  The old 13-foot Boston Whaler truly looks and performs like a new boat.  Bravo Zulu to Joe Driscoll, Evodio Nieto, and their crew at Driscoll Mission Bay.  I highly recommend this yard.

Empress Tender After Repairs

Back at End Tie G at Marina Village in Mission Bay, the Boston Whaler tender to Empress now is protected by an alarm that will sound a loud siren if a cable beteween the tender and Empress is cut.  In the photo above, the loop of white coax cable in the lower right-hand corner is the alarm cable.  The yellow power cable provides 120-Volt AC to the battery charger.

Stolen Tender to Empress Recovered

About two weeks after it was stolen, the Boston Whaler tender to Empress was recovered by the Lifeguards who patrol Mission Bay.  A Lifeguard patrol boat found the tender on the beach of Sail Bay near the Catamaran Hotel at the northwest end of Mission Bay more that two nautical miles from where the tender was stolen.  Bravo Zulu to the Mission Bay Lifeguards.

Because the thieves apparently were unable to start the motor without a key and the paddles apparently were not used, the thieves must have towed the tender away using another boat.  The thieves did considerable damage to the tender including destroying the shift/throttle control apparently while attempting to start the motor without a key.  The thieves apparently were in the process of removing the motor from the transom when something or someone scared them away.  They did disconnect the fuel tank and make off with it.

The tender currently is on a rack at the Driscoll Mission Bay boat yard awaiting assessment and repair of the damage.  As yet undiscovered damage to the outboard motor, chart plotter, GPS, or depth sounder may have occurred.  The Penhunes hope that the insurance company will pay most of the cost of the needed repairs.

Tender Awaiting Repair at Driscoll Mission Bay