The beautiful white and blue striped hulled 1991 F-27, REHAB, is now owned by Ginnie Jo Blue! Congratulations Ginnie Jo!
Late last summer, Ginnie Jo joined one of NWMA’s Zoom meetings and after taking some sailing courses, announced she was interested in a trimaran, and probably an F-27. Shaun Heublein and myself, Jessica Aarhaus, reached out to Ginnie Jo and invited her to come sail on our Corsair F31, Tri To Be Nice. Ginnie Jo did not hesitate to become a NWMA member. She did however, hesitate to come out to Tacoma for her first trimaran ride as her husband, Sol, was having surgery to remove his lung cancer and they needed to wait until he recovered, especially due to Covid. As soon as they learned that he was in remission, they set a plan to buy a boat, and Ginnie Jo started shopping. Oh, and of course, rushed over to Tacoma as soon as feasible, which was just in time for Tri To Be Nice’s last sail before it’s winter extraction. It was a blustery day and the F-31 highlighted how powerful it could be. Ginnie Jo soon decided that the smaller F-27 with its aft cabin was the perfect fit for her rock climbing family of four, which includes her two daughters, Ayla and Ari, ages 8 and 6.
The club recently learned that Ginnie Jo had found a boat in the Seattle area, was planning on coming over from her home in Leavenworth the first week of April during her spring break to look at it, and hopefully make a purchase. What we did not know is that she was coming to see REHAB and NWMA member, Todd Reinke! Todd had been entertaining the idea of selling for a while and hoped to find a club member as the boat has been in the NWMA Fleet its entire life (it formerly was Sibling Rivalry owned by the Markens) . How cool! The Blue family decided the name “REHAB” is fitting and plan on keeping it… for now.
Not only did Todd find an NWMA member to pass REHAB along to, but took the time to help Ginnie Jo learn the boat. They traveled to Vashon Island, the location of REHAB’s mooring buoy, where he showed her the boat in its entirety; from how to work the toilet to how to put the mast up, and everything in between. It was only a matter of hours for Ginnie Jo to pull the trigger. She was sold. Todd then sailed REHAB over to Tyee Marina in Tacoma while Ginnie Jo drove the trailer off Vashon and, as luck would have it, they both arrived at Tyee Marina at the same time! It didn’t hurt that Todd got REHAB up to 15 knots on the reach across from Quartermaster Harbor. I bet that was a great last solo sail for him.
Shaun and I have moorage at Tyee and were able to greet them. I had been excited for Ginnie Jo ever since I heard she was getting her dream boat, and more than happy to help her plan some logistics. I also felt like I was “paying it forward” as NWMA was there supporting Shaun and I through our purchase process, raising the mast for the first time, etc. and is still there; answering our questions and helping us fine tune our boat. Clubs can be awesome, and this one sure is. Go NWMA! I was sure to take pictures of the boat, her new NWMA burgee, and bring champagne so that the three bows could be properly christened, as was done for us when we launched our boat. Thanks Diane Johnson! Ginnie Jo drove Todd home to West Seattle where she learned of all the extra equipment not on the “sale list” including several extra sails, an F-28 style fabricated Gin Pole, and even an extra daggerboard!
Ginnie Jo invited Shaun and I out for her inaugural sail on Easter Sunday! Ayla and Ari’s Easter baskets were found in the cockpit of our boat that morning. It turns out there are not a lot of places to hide things in a marina without touching anyone else’s belongings! We had moderate winds and a great sail. Ginnie Jo saw some dark clouds heading our way and thought we better turn back for port. It was the right call as the steady 15 knots we had, turned into 25 knots by the time we hit the dock.
Todd came back to Tacoma on Tuesday to help Ginnie Jo learn REHAB more thoroughly. She made video recordings of all his teachings. He asked if she would be making a YouTube Channel? Shaun said we could call it “REHAB-All The Things You Didn’t Know You Needed to Know About an F-27!”. Todd went through the tackle box full of parts, the binder of manuals, and even took the boat out with her again. There was light to no wind but it was perfect for the day’s activities and it felt like summer time. The main sail was up while Ayla and Ari tried to keep up on their SUP. We then towed them on the SUP over to a buoy outside of Brown’s Point so Ginnie Jo could work on her maneuvering skills.
Ginnie Jo was excited to learn more from experienced sailors who wanted to offer their insights, so we invited her to join us at Shilshole for the Blakely Rock Benefit Race. Shaun was gone for work through Friday evening so we invited Todd, aka Todd “Redundancy” Reinke, Eric “Do It All” Lindahl, Vince “No Shaky $#!+” DePillis, and Jeff “The Shadow” Oakleif, all of them F boat owners, to help us move/hopefully sail our boats up to Shilshole for the weekend. All the F boaters we invited were willing to help if their schedules allowed. Friday’s weather forecast was calling for high gusty winds and 4 foot wind waves, so we left on Thursday instead. We were very fortunate to be able to have Eric sail with Ginnie Jo, Ayla, and Ari and Vince sail with me. It was a gorgeous sunny day but only a light SW wind when we left Commencement Bay. We motor-sailed over to the West side of Vashon so at least we would have the current with us and hoped for a funneling effect. It seemed we had exactly that. We had broad reaches all the way up Colvos passage and averaged 7 knots over ground. We met a SE wind once we got up to Blake Island, a hole near Seattle, and then some moderate Northerlies came and met us for the last bit of the day. Eric even helped Ginnie Jo run a reefing drill. Well, of course he did. You guys are the best! Perfect next steps for Ginnie Jo! Actually, she was a little on edge there at the end after a long day on the boat, and was not quite ready for the increased speed and wind waves. Once we reached B dock at Shilshole, she jumped off her boat and said, “I feel like I just climbed a mountain!” We were both giddy about having an epic day on the water.
You may have noticed an every other day of sailing pattern here in this story but, for Ginnie Jo, it was every day with her new sailboat. As Todd had warned her, the trailer needed work. Quite a bit, in fact! She spent her “off days” driving the trailer around getting quotes and making calls while processing everything she learned from the day before, as well as keeping her girls going. It’s a good thing Ginnie Jo is so energetic, is resourceful, and is able to activate her memory bank. She was able to find the right guy to fix her trailer. Even with all the work needed, she was able to pick it up on Friday! We met Vince and Kristin DePillis at the Shilshole boat ramp, where Ginnie Jo parked her 1991 Okanogan Camper Van, in preparation for retrieving her 1991 F-27, with her recently repaired 1991 F-27 trailer, and went to the playground at Golden Gardens. We then walked back to B Dock where we finally got to play the much anticipated game of Carcassonne. The game was one of our planned activities for the week and this was the first time we had a chance to play it since Spring had sprung and there was such good sailing to be had! Since I was the only one who had played Carcassonne before, it was more “learning” than “playing” the game. Oh no, more learning for Ginnie Jo! I was thinking her head was about to explode but nope, she kept on smiling.
Saturday was race day. We had moderate winds, mostly sunny skies, and 90+ boats in the race. Once again, the perfect next step for Ginnie Jo. Yay! She had both Todd and Eric on her boat as she had invited them both for this particular day. She originally considered participating in the race but elected not to in the end. I am sure there were many other NWMA members who would have loved to join her but, Todd and Eric were eager to help. It worked out great. They all worked together to fine tune sailing efforts, enjoyed watching the race, managed to confuse the other multihulls (Freda Mae and Tri To Be Nice both thought Escape had somehow gotten ahead of us!), and got back to the dock in time for Ginnie Jo to video record Eric and Todd taking down her mast. They got it down in time to enjoy the NWMA Post-Race Dock Gathering. Ginnie Jo, as well as a lot of others, commented that they immensely enjoyed meeting others in person. Thanks to all those who were able to make it out.
On Sunday, Todd came back, AGAIN! They successfully put her boom inside the boat, watched REHAB “self-fold”, got her on the trailer, out of the water, and road ready! Todd then jumped on Tri To Be Nice for a much deserved, and fantastic Spinnaker run down to Tacoma! Ginnie Jo is now back in Leavenworth, has the summer off (she is a school teacher), and plans to learn about her boat even more on Lake Chelan, with help from a friend of hers who is a former F-24 owner. She also plans to bring REHAB back to the Puget Sound and, therefore, is sure to become an expert at getting her mast up and down.
Thank you so much to everyone who supported Ginnie Jo during her purchasing process and adventurous week. Congratulations again Ginnie Jo!
Here is a link to some photos that were taken during the week. Rehab Slideshow – April 2021
Best regards,
Jess
P.S. I heard Ginnie Jo is planning to take Rehab over to Lake Chelan this coming weekend and sail it two months earlier than originally planned. Those mast raising and lowering skills might be mastered sooner than later. You go girl!
Written by Jessica Aarhaus and Shaun Heublein – April 15, 2021