To the Owner of SEABIRD

[ilmsailman]

Hi, the name is Brewer Ezzell and I once owned SEABIRD when her name was BLACKBERRY. This weekend, I was unpacking boxes stored in the garage from a recent move to land-locked Tulsa, OK. I found a sailbag with the name VECTOR SAILS, a sail loft in Chicago. The owner of VECTOR commissioned Tom Morris to build his Frances hull number 17 and then to delivery it to him in Chicago where he finished fitting her out. He told me that he then motored her up the Saint Lawrence to the Atlantic, then sailed down the East Coast, over to the Bahamas and of course down to Georgetown on Great Exuma and then kicked off to sail through the Caribbean (all single handed). On his return, he headed north from the British Virgin Islands to Bermuda and then his final leg from there to New York Harbor. He said his last leg was the only time he got his ass kicked, but the little Frances handled it a whole lot better than he did. Some history for you.

The sailbag contained a tanbark Loose-footed Tri-Storm Sail that has never been used. The sail is yours if you would like to have it. I believe that SEABIRD is in Oxford MD because I saw her there some years back when my wife and I spent the weekend there after an Annapolis Sail Boat Show.

My email address is brewerezzell@gmail.com

[Hugh McCormack]

Great story.