The ketch du jour

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Here is a picture of the Ketch du Jour after going to the yard. The new owner, in collaboration with a Cuban tennis pro, constructed a website to solicit donations of tennis balls that they would deliver to Cuba. Apparently, at that time in Cuba, there were plenty of tennis courts and rackets but a severe shortage of tennis balls keeping people from being able to play as much as they would like. So these two would collect a load of donated tennis balls and take them to Cuba to give away.

 
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The new owner installed a custom Autoprop.

 
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He also installed a 5 kW generator on the old diesel engine. This eventually overstressed the connection to the crankshaft and was one of the first things I had to repair when I started working on the boat.

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Many upgrades where made to the navigation center for the long passage to Cuba.




















When I was negociating the purchase of the neglected "Ketch de Jour" the previous owner from Matlacha told me of his trips to Cuba and how the boat came rest in the canal behind his condo near Pine Island.  Apparently, when you visit Cuba, it is customary to stamp a piece of paper that you carry in your passport. Although it is not technically illegal to visit, since the US has a trade embargo against this particularly communist Caribbean nation, it is illegal to engage in any form of commerce. So when you leave the country you simply discard the piece of paper and all record of your visit.

For some reason, on his last visit, his passport was actually stamped. So when he returned to the US he was fined $8500 by customs for his indiscression. He told me "that took the wind out of my sails and I parked the boat and never took it out again."  It lay dormant for 10 years until he decided to sell it.