A Cinderella Story
Houdini was once known as Tosoro where she lived a quiet life at a dock in Long Beach, CA. I am told that she was owned by a man that used her as a live-aboard boat on the dock for over a decade, and eventually fell into disrepair.
She was then purchased by a man who lived in Washington State, who have never owned a sailboat or even sailed. He was a big dreamer, which I can totally relate to. So the story is that he paid a captain in the month of January to motor like hell up the Pacific Coast of California, Oregon and finally Washington. I am told that the 120 Ford Lehman didn’t put up to much of a fight and bravely brought the captain and his one crew to Washington to greet her owner.
The new owner had BIG Plans for the old girl…
The order of the day was “Form Over Function” and the beautification process went into full swing. The systems on the vessel were pretty spartan. There was a very tired old auto pilot, leaky water tanks and a very small power plant. His plan was no start from the outside in with a brand new paint job and upgraded master state room.
