Sunshine lights up two ladies’ lives
Issue 79: July/Aug 2011
When Joan “Jo” Lyon started to consider what she would do for pleasure when she finished working on her Ph.D., she looked at two possibilities: sailing or flying. In the end, sailing won out — after all, she had always loved the water. As the 81-year-old retired professor of kinesiology (the science of human movement) at California State University, Long Beach, talks about her first experiences with the sailing life, a smile lights up her face.
“When I was seven, my mother became ill and ended up in the hospital. My aunt and uncle lived aboard a wooden sailboat in Los Angeles Harbor, and they took care of me. I spent 10 days walking the docks and playing around boats. I was ‘showered off’ each afternoon with the hose,” she says. Then she laughs. “I remember waking up in the mornings and hitting my head above my bunk — every day!”
Those memories never left her. Today, Jo still enjoys the adventure of cruising off the Southern California coast. She and Dee Schumacher, who is 65, have sailed their beloved Fuji 32, Sunshine, for the past 14 years together.
These two women are simply amazing. They sail regularly and have no plans to quit anytime soon. Most of their sailing is local: trips to Two Harbors at Catalina Island and cruises to the Santa Cruz Islands, San Diego, and many of the harbors on the coast along the way, such as Dana Point and Oceanside Harbors. Their dog, Jetty, goes along too. Last summer, they spent more than 35 days sailing Sunshine. “Jo and I spend almost the entire summer on Sunshine, either sailing to different coastal harbors or on our mooring at the Isthmus (Two Harbors). We also spend time just tinkering, napping, reading, or just lazing around onboard.”
Drawn to the Fuji 32
Before finding her dream boat, Jo had owned four boats: a Folkboat, a King’s Cruiser, a Mariner 32 ketch, and an Islander 28. Because of the variety of these makes and designs, by the time she was in the market for her fifth sailboat, Jo says she knew exactly what she wanted. She was looking for a boat with good lines . . . one that was pretty, well-built, and a bluewater cruiser.
Jo was attracted to the Fuji because, “I liked wooden and full-keel boats. I found the Islander 28 to be too tender and I missed the control of a full keel.”
After talking to experienced sailing friends about what kind of boat to get, followed by a whole lot of searching, Jo finally found Sunshine in Ventura. She became the second owner of the 1977 Fuji 32 in 1980, and Alamitos Bay has been Sunshine’s home port ever since.
She is a bluewater cruiser, 35 feet long overall (including the bowsprit), and a sloop, which Jo discovered was great for singlehanding. She’s powered by a 3-cylinder Pisces 27-hp diesel designed for marine use by Isuzu. The boat sails well and best of all, Jo says, Sunshine fits her.
“Sunshine is a good boat to singlehand,” Jo explains, “because the worm-gear steering and hull configuration allow her to track well. I knew she was the one for me. I thought of changing her to a cutter but never did. I enjoyed her so much as a sloop, I just never got around to it.” Sunshine is truly Jo’s pride and joy.
Dee got into sailing through Jo. While raising three children, Dee’s previous experience with boats and water sports was mainly with ski boats, runabouts, and a few rental sailboats. “Jo taught me everything I know about sailing,” Dee says.
“She embraced sailing wholeheartedly — and was a quick study,” Jo adds. “Dee does a lot of the mechanics on Sunshine now. She keeps her operating in shipshape condition.”
Careful upkeep
Whether you’re aboard Sunshine or looking at her from the dock, it’s evident that this boat is well cared for. She is in Bristol condition and gleams and dances in her slip, as if eager to go.
Designed by John G. Alden, the Fuji 32 was built by Fuji Yachts in Yokosuka, Japan, a city known for shipbuilding since the 1600s. “Most of the Fujis were built as ketches. There were a few sloops though,” Jo says. She points out that a conversion to a cutter would be easy. “There’s a tang on the mast that could be used for a staysail stay,” she says.
Both women are proud of Sunshine’s beautiful design, materials, and style. “She’s given us many years of pleasure with surely more to come,” Jo says. They beam when they talk about Sunshine receiving many compliments from fellow sailors.
Jo bought Sunshine with the expectation of doing some long-distance cruising, so the first change she made was to convert the compressed-natural-gas stove to propane. A shipwright friend built a beautiful teak box, which contains the propane tanks and sits on the stern. “It serves as a wonderful backrest for the helmsman,” Jo explains while sitting behind the wheel in the well-designed cockpit.
Next, she added a canvas dodger and a stainless-steel binnacle guard. “Then I gave my autopilot a lobotomy,” Jo says, and explains that she kept the strong Benmar power unit, needed to handle the worm-gear steering, and added new electronic brains to guide the system. The navigation instruments swing out into the companionway when the boat is under way so the person at the helm can read them effortlessly.
Homey interior
Sunshine’s cabin is spacious, tidy, and efficient. The abundant teak, brass oil lamps, a nautical clock, and round porthole over the galley sink add character to this inviting retreat. The fold-down table in the saloon is securely hooked against the forward bulkhead when not in use.
To keep clothing contained and out of the way, Jo and Dee fitted custom-made zippered canvas pouches to the shelves in the forward berth. Matching canvas flaps secure and hide the contents of the open storage shelves above the settees in the main cabin. Additional lockers with latching doors, for items such as canned goods, are located behind the settees. For privacy, the head can be closed off from the main saloon or from the forward cabin by closing the door at either entrance.
Enhancements for sailing
Although technically classified as “senior citizens,” these active women have no intention of giving up sailing in the near future. Instead, they have been making improvements to Sunshine to make her easier to sail.
“In 2005, we had an electric windlass installed and converted to 300 feet of 1⁄4-inch triple-B chain connected to a 35-pound CQR anchor at the bow,” Dee says. Their stern anchor is a 13-pound high-tensile Danforth with 50 feet of chain and 250 feet of nylon rode.
Once that was accomplished, Jo and Dee thought new sails would be their next major investment. Clearly it was time. “We still had the original mainsail!” Dee says.
“Then reality set in when I checked my records and found I had replaced the old standing rigging 19 years ago,” Jo adds. “One thing led to another and we bit the bullet — it was time for new rigging and new sails.”
One boat project bred another. While Jo and Dee were replacing the running rigging, they decided this would also be the perfect time to spruce up the mast, so they had it painted with linear polyurethane. At last Sunshine was ready for new sails.
“We had done some research while looking for new sails,” Dee says, “and had been told by a friend that we should check out Carol Hasse’s Port Townsend Sails because this loft is known for quality and detail . . . and we were told they focused on cruising sails.”
When they traveled to Port Townsend, Washington, to visit Carol’s sail loft, they got to see how the Hasse & Company crew made sails. “They pay attention to every intricate detail and incorporate old-time craftsmanship and new technology,” Jo says. She and Dee were impressed with the sail quality and construction and agreed to have the loft build Sunshine’s new sails.
Once Jo and Dee decided to get new sails, they made many additional improvements to Sunshine, several of them as a result of suggestions Carol made from her perspective as their sailmaker. First, they replaced their Barient 21 winches with self-tailing Andersen 42s. The self-tailing winches made adjusting the sheets a breeze. Next, they changed their mainsheet arrangement so it had a 5:1 purchase where previously it had a 4:1 purchase. They chose stainless-steel blocks by Garhauer and say adjusting the mainsheet is now almost effortless.
One of the biggest recommendations Carol made was to install the Tides Marine Strong Track System to make raising and lowering the mainsail easier. Finally, Jo and Dee added new lazy-jacks.
Best of two worlds
Jo and Dee have the best of two sailing worlds. Aboard Sunshine, they sail the coastal waters of Southern California. When they want a taste of distant shores, they sail on boats owned by cruising friends. Jo spent two weeks sailing off the east coast of Australia on a Peterson 44 with Bev and Cliff Jackson. Next, she flew to Panama and met Marty and Dan Campbell to sail along the west coast prior to going through the first lock of the Canal. From there, she flew to Miami and cruised to Key West and back with friend Sue Wilson.
When not sailing on Sunshine or aboard friends’ boats, Jo and Dee have taken bareboat charters to the exotic harbors of Tonga, Belize, and the British Virgin Islands. “Jo is always the skipper on these charters except for Belize, where she was purely ‘deck fluff’,” says Dee with a smile. Whether sailing on their beloved Fuji 32, jumping aboard fellow sailors’ boats, or taking bareboat charters — even adding in the occasional trip on a cruise ship in faraway ports of call — this dynamic duo enjoys life on the water to the fullest. It was no surprise, therefore, to learn that Jo and Dee are also active landlubbers. They enjoy RV camping with their Little Old Ladies on Wheels Club, skiing, and long-distance bicycling tours in Europe. They are truly an inspiration to all those determined to enjoy life to the fullest, both on and off the water.
Susan Lynn Kingsbury’s articles have been published in several magazines including Good Old Boat, Cruising World, and Latitudes and Attitudes. After residing in Southern California most of her life, she recently relocated with her family to the Puget Sound area of the Pacific Northwest.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
