January 8, 2014

Continued from Part 1…

As the Rocket 88 build continued in 1986, some of the local Santa Cruz racers and builders started to show up at Howard Spruit's shop to see what was going on.

"Andy Kolb was working for Gary Caballero at his shop when he asked to help out," said Serge Pond. Andy also worked at Harbor Marine at Santa Cruz Harbor and pitched the project to owner Dave Dawson. "Harbor Marine became a sponsor from that."

Andy Kolb. Photo Courtesy Serge Pond

"We didn't have carbon fiber and it was being built on a very strict budget." said Howard. "Serge worked at the county during the day and showed up at the shop after work to build this boat that was going to compete against the world. The guy's a trooper." Serge had learned fiberglassing from Gary 'Garsky' Tracy while working on his C-Class cat.

Rocket's designer, Howard Spruit, back in the day. Photo Courtesy Serge Pond

Serge worked eight months without taking a day off, and just as completion neared Howard was leaving and moving to Hawaii. That's when Serge went to Jay Crum and asked for his help. "Jay had been watching the project. So he came and helped make the daggerboards. When he asked if he could race on the Rocket of course I said sure," remarked Serge Pond. "Jay is a major part of Rocket and a great multihull sailor. I sure learned a lot about boat building from him."

Jay Crum at work on a bit of hardware. Photo Courtesy Serge Pond

After the hulls were completed they were moved to Jay's house, where the crossbeams and trampoline took shape. The crossbeams came from Santa Cruz 50 mast sections. The mast was purchased as bare sections from Sparcraft in Seattle, a 40-ft piece and a10-ft piece. "Jay and I built the mast in Jay's long driveway," said Serge. It another eight months to finish the boat at Jay's.

Once completed, Rocket 88 was moved to Harbor Marine for her first shakedown sail. The maiden voyage for was in June of '87 just outside of the Santa Cruz Harbor. "We hauled it down to the launch ramp, put it together, moved her to a slip to step the mast, had a Harbor Marine chase boat as a back up just in case, and off she went."

Rocket 88 sails off the dock. Photo Courtesy Serge Pond

Two days later they took her apart and put her on the trailer for the first race already picked out for the debutante, the Long Beach Speed Sailing Series.

The new cat heads to her debut. Photo Courtesy Serge Pond

Continued in Part 3…