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
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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.

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.