Cecily Parsons casts a wary eye toward the boat she and her husband Leland,
center, spent nearly 30 years building during its launch Monday in Mission Bay.
John Raifsnider
POWAY ---- By the time the hull of the
Frank Edmund touched the cool waters of Mission Bay on
Monday afternoon, the schooner's christening had become more than just another boat launch.
"I'm overwhelmed,"
Cecily Parsons said about the attention that surrounded the schooner she and
her husband, Leland, built next to their Poway home over 29 years. "It's
overwhelming, isn't it?"
Leland Parsons was 17 in
1957 --- he is 65 now ---- when he first dreamed of building a gaff-rigged schooner
like the ones he saw in Gloucester, Mass. He began building his boat 29 years
ago, working at it on and off while running a business and raising eight children.
A backhoe operator not accustomed
to much media attention, Leland wasn't sure why anyone would be interested in
the decades-long saga of his 65-foot sailboat. Last week, however, he discovered
that the boat had captured the imagination of hundreds of people who stopped
by to see it in person.
"This is just the coolest
thing," one woman said last week as she pulled up to Leland, who was standing
next to the Frank Edmund near Claire Drive and Garden Road
in Poway. He had hauled it there to load it with ballast before Monday's move.
One after another, people
drove by to see the big green boat and meet the man who had come to personify
persistence. Leland estimated he met 1,000 people last week.
At 9:36 a.m. Monday, the truck hauling the Frank Edmund
belched and lurched forward in a cloud of dust while friends and family cheered it on with
honks and yells.
The boat rolled west on
Poway Road with an escort of pickup trucks warning of the wide load, then headed
south on Interstate 15 at about 50 miles an hour.
Exiting on Friars Road and
heading west, the convoy wound through streets and turned heads as people on
sidewalks stopped and pointed at the boat they recognized from the news. A small
group had gathered near Sea World to wave, and a news helicopter trailed from
the sky. A crowd of cameras and supporters awaited them at Quivira Road outside
Mission Bay, 26 miles and one hour from their home on Claire Drive.
More than 100 people met
the Parsonses at Driscoll Marina to watch the launching of the world's oldest
brand-new boat.
"We can't believe it's
finally going in the water," daughter Holly said.
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Amy, the oldest daughter
at 45, came down from Los Angeles to join her brothers and sisters for the occasion.
The family moved to Poway in the 1970s so she could have a horse.
"I remember saying
in show and tell, 'My dad's going to build a boat and sail around the world,'
and I drew a picture with my horse on the back."
Cecily's father, retired
U.S. Marine Frank Edmund Garretson, proudly watched the launching of the boat
that carried his name. He said that he wondered at times whether, at 87, he
would ever see it finished.
"If I'm invited, I'll probably go," he joked about sailing on the
Frank Edmund in the near future.
"It's a gorgeous boat."
Don and Bob Mancini grew
up near the Parsonses and learned carpentry by working on the boat, and both
became professional builders.
"Ninety-nine percent
of the construction was Leland," said Don, 42. Asked what he learned most
from Leland, he said, "Persistence."
Robina Tower, a family friend
for 32 years, said that although Leland refused to let his dream die, he knew
his priorities and never let the boat consume his life.
"I have observed so
many times when he sat amongst his family and got tears in his eyes," she
said about his love for his children and wife. "He's an incredibly human
person."
The Parsonses shared a few
tears on Monday, but mostly they were too busy and too overjoyed for sentimentality.
"I just realized I'm
underneath 13,000 pounds!" Leland said as he painted some last-minute touch-ups
to the hull as it hung overhead.
At 12:38 p.m., with the
boat hanging over water and its bow level with the dock, Cecily christened the
Frank Edmund with a bottle of champagne across the bow.
"Today we are gathered to christen this magnificent vessel, the
Frank Edmund, that we have named after
my father, Frank Edmund Garretson," she said. "We ask God to grant
her good wind, fair seas and safe passage."
With that, the boat was
lowered to the bay, completing a chapter that began in the Parsonses' back yard
29 years ago. Later this year, the couple will begin booking round-the-world
cruises through their Web site, SchoonerVoyage.com.
"It went better than
I could have dreamed," Leland said about the day.
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