Teak a look at these ladies
By Gretchen Ammerman
Oregon Coast TODAY
The Teak Ladies of Toledo represent a bygone era of hand-sawn teak boats and feature custom carved tillers, carved name plates and hand-crafted brass vents. In the 1940s, Teak Ladies had their own sailing class in San Francisco Bay.
Three of these small but mighty beauties will set sail from their home at the Port of Toledo marina on Friday, Aug. 20, and head down the Yaquina River to the Port of Newport, where they will be available for viewing at Commercial Dock 3 until they head back home on Sunday, Aug. 22.
“They’re really sweet little sailboats with a lot of history,” said Assistant Port Manager Debbie Scacco. “We feel so lucky to have three of them.”
Volunteers and friends of the Port of Toledo will sail these 17-foot sailboats, or sloops, that have been donated for use in the Toledo Community Boathouse program. Other boats of any class are welcome to join the procession.
“We might have a surprise new boat joining the procession,” Scacco said. “You’ll just have to show up to see what it is, though.”
The Teak Ladies will arrive at the Port of Newport late in the afternoon on Friday and head back upriver to their home dock on Sunday at 10 am, providing many opportunities to view the boats from the Yaquina Bay Road.
Head about six miles up the road to watch the boats while enjoying some fresh raw oysters from Oregon Oysters Farms, or stop at the 10-mile mark at Paddle Park, which has ample parking, a picnic table covered by a gazebo and a bathroom. It’s also adjacent to a 25-acre protected wetlands area, so you can do some bird watching while you wait for the ladies to sail by.
Toledo’s Teak Ladies are maintained and sailed by volunteers. David West, captain of the Teak Lady Society, and local boatwright Rick Johnson oversee the boats along with members of the Old Retired Guys Sailing Club.
“We have awesome volunteers and they work really hard maintaining these boats,” Scacco said. “They work for pizza, so this is actually a great chance for them to actually get a trip and be able to sail them.”
Designed by Fenton Kelkenny of San Francisco and modeled after larger yachts, these teak boats were all built between 1937 and 1958 at the A. King Slipway in Hong Kong.
In 2009, Jim and Carolyn Hitchman of Waldport donated Ma Zu, aka: Teak Lady #21, built in 1958.
“When I first started working at the port I got a call from Jim, who was really excited to enter his new teak boat in our annual Wooden Boat Show,” Scacco said. “Then he took it out for a sail and it got hit pretty hard by another boat. He was over it at that point so we ended up with it. Granted it started with having to fix the hole in it, but still it was cool that it helped us to start our little fleet.”
In 2011, Robert and Claire McDonald of Spokane, Washington, donated Che Hon, aka: Teak Lady 11, built in 1939.
The most recent addition to the local fleet, Yuan Mun, donated by David West, is the prototype Teak Lady and was built in 1937. West found Yuan Mun in San Francisco when researching the history of the Teak Ladies.
“They look so pretty on the water,” Scacco said. “We just want to show them off.”
For more information, go to www.teakladysociety.org or call 541-336-5207.