A boat with some famous skippers

John Blaich

Today, there’s just one left. But in its day, the Albatross was one of

the most popular boats of its kind on Southern California waters.

Its history dates back to about 1937, when Walton Hubbard of the South

Coast Boat Building Co. commissioned East Coast naval architect Philip

Rhodes to design a fleet of Bird Class sailboats. They were the Gull, a

12-foot, centerboard cat boat; the Falcon, a 16-foot, centerboard sloop;

the Eagle, an 18-foot keel sloop; and the Albatross, a 20-foot keel

sloop.

Three “spec” boats were built in each class. The Albatross and the

Falcon were the only ones that gained the acceptance of the local sailors

and became part of active racing fleets.

For a time, the Albatross with the big “A” on the sail was one of the

most popular one-design keel boats in the harbor. The fleet’s racing

skippers included such well-known sailors as Don Edler, Humphrey Bogart,

Dick Powell, Don Pearson, Keith Lumpkin, Herbert Allen, Ron Merickel, Lou

Libbey and even me.

The popularity of the Albatross was due mainly to her speed as well as

to her roomy cockpit, which made for pleasant day sailing.

Her dimensions were 22 feet 8 length overall and 15 feet 9 long on the

water line. It had a beam of 5 feet 10 and a draft of 3 feet 10.

The boat carried 900 pounds of outside ballast, which was molded into

the wood keel. The rudder was attached to the after edge of the keel. Her

speed is probably due in part to the 218 square feet of working sails. A

sizable Genoa was used when racing as well as a spinnaker.

During the early days of the Albatross, the more daring skippers would

sail to San Pedro for the Mid-Winter Regatta at the Los Angeles Yacht

Club. There was hardly a local regatta that did not have as many as 12 to

15 Albatrosses on the starting line.

Today, out of the 29 Albatrosses that were built by the South Coast

Boat Building Company from 1937 to 1947, only one is still afloat upon

the waters of Newport Harbor. She is Albatross #28, the Pintado.

This boat has been owned and skippered by three generations of the

Williams family of Balboa Island. Henry Williams purchased Pintado from

the South Coast Co. in early 1946 for $2,000.

Williams sailed the boat for several years. His oldest son, Harry Jr.,

also skippered Pintado for a period of time. The youngest son, David

Williams, took over as skipper in 1954 and has been racing and sailing

Pintado ever since.

Pintado has always been painted green and been kept on an offshore

mooring at Amethyst Avenue along North Bay Front.

Over the years, the original canvas deck has been replaced with fiber

glass and several new sister ribs have been installed. The Cotton sails

have been replaced with Dracon sails. However, Pintado is essentially the

same as when she was launched in 1946.

David Williams has given a lot of loving care to the old wooden

sailboat. When the Albatross fleet disbanded about 1960, David had the

yacht measured and certified to race in the Pacific Handicap racing

fleet.

Since then, David has won many trophies with his beloved Pintado.

EDITOR’S NOTE: John Blaich is a Corona del Mar resident and volunteer

at the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum. About once a month, he

writes histories of interesting boats that graced Newport Harbor.