JAMES ROBINSON TAYLOR“He asked
me if I
would like
to become
Serenade’s
next
custodian”or so of Heifetz’ and the Isaacs’ ownership it is thought
that Serenade’s on-board guests may have included
Humphrey Bogart, his wife Lauren Bacall, John Wayne,
Gary Cooper and Frank Sinatra. A couple of owners
later, around 1970, she came into the hands of Philippe-
Pierre Cousteau whose father was the undersea explorer
and filmmaker Jacques. Serenade appeared in one of
Jacques’ films – a smaller vessel was needed to get closer
to Isla Mujeres off Mexico than his ex-WW
minesweeper Calypso was able to – but when Philippe-
Pierre died in an air crash at the age of 38 in 1979, his
widow insisted that she should be sold immediately as
the memories were too painful.
Another owner later, Serenade found a home outside
California for the first time when David Topping bought
her and took her via the Panama Canal to the Great
Lakes where she operated as a charter boat. In 1994
Glenn Kim, at that time the owner of an 8-M Angelita,
winner of the gold medal at the 1932 Olympics, went to
see Serenade. “Angelita was another Potter-designed
double-ender and was built in the same yard as Serenade
and I wanted to compare features and establish a
relationship with her owner,” Kim told me. “A few years
later, David called me to say that his co-owner had
health issues and he asked me if I would like to become
Serenade’s next custodian.” So in 1998 Kim bought her,
fully aware that she needed a lot of work. “David had
dutifully maintained her but was not in a position to
really address any of her issues”, he said. The following
year he took her to William Cannell Boatbuilding in
Camden, Maine for an extensive restoration.
It soon became apparent that very little of the original
materials in the hull and deck could be saved, although
most of the centreline was, including the wood keel,
ballast keel, horn timber and forefoot.
However, everything that was replaced was done so,
as far as possible, with the same materials and
construction methods as the original: steamed oak
frames; grown oak stem and stern post; the majority of
the double hull planking, the inner layer in southern
cedar and the outer in mahogany with the seams
overlapped; a single thickness garboard in yellow pine;
and all held together with silicon bronze fastenings.
“Double-planked hulls were common in New
England as they suited the variable humidity levels which
are high in the summer and low in the winter,” said Bill
Cannell. “They don’t have the same issue in California
but they copied the method of construction nonetheless.”