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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>A
boat 'graveyard'<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Santa
Rosa Press Democrat-4/19/10<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>By
Bob Norberg<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The
Jolly Roger, believed once to have been a California governor's yacht, careens
on its side on dry land. Its copper paint is flaked, the hull no longer
watertight, the mahogany paneling that bespoke elegance long gone below a deck
rigged for salmon fishing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"It
was nice inside, but they didn't keep it up," said Bruce Abernathy.
"When you're fishing, if you had a place to sleep at night and a small
kitchen to cook in, you were lucky. Your office was the stern, where you
fished."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Until
recently, the Jolly Roger floated in the Noyo River, just 100 feet away. Now it
will be crushed where it sits, the fate facing more than two dozen boats
Abernathy has acquired over the past two decades.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"The
idea was to fix up one or two boats a year and put them on the market,"
said Abernathy, 77, a fisherman and yacht broker who bought the riverside
property in 1991. "That was to be my retirement."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The
plan collapsed, however, along with the salmon fishing industry in Fort Bragg
and any demand that had existed for Abernathy's fleet of fishing boats, which
are slowly but inevitably deteriorating.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"It's
a graveyard of old boats," he said wistfully. "There were a lot of
artists that would come and want to paint them all the time."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>What
is striking is the enormity of Abernathy's collection and the job he faces in
cleaning it up, under prodding from the U.S. Coast Guard and the Mendocino
County Planning Department.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"He
has made great progress. He is slowly chipping away at it," said Angie
Hamilton, the county's code enforcement officer. "He is a great guy. He
means well. I think he got in over his head."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The
county filed an order on Jan. 14 for Abernathy to clean up his property to
comply with county codes, eight months after the county began working with him,
Hamilton said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The
infractions include operation of a junk yard, storage of solid waste, storage
of non-operating vehicles, construction of a home without permits in a coastal
zone, occupancy of travel trailers and storage of unoccupied travel trailers,
storage of heavy equipment and tractors, and operating a marine vessel scrap
yard.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The
Coast Guard had its own concerns about pollution from the boats moored at
Abernathy's makeshift dock.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"We
identified that he had a lot of old boats that had a bad habit of sinking, six
of the 17 boats that were in the water," said Mike Nosbaum, a U.S. Coast
Guard marine science technician.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Hamilton
and Nosbaum both praise Abernathy for his cooperation and for taking the
necessary measures to comply.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>But
again, it is the enormity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Just
months ago Abernathy had 27 boats, 17 of which were moored next to his
makeshift docks. The others sat on land, next to a crane and tractor that are
heavily coated with rust.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>About
a dozen of the boats have since been crushed and hauled away, leaving behind
tires and engines and metal that will also be hauled away.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Still
on dry land is the Jolly Roger, all 54 feet of her, constructed of
rot-resistant Port Orford cedar, a double-ender built in 1917 that went from
yacht to fishing boat. She was a jewel in her day.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>There
are remnants of the 58-foot Tango, a steel-hulled vessel Abernathy said he used
to lay telecommunications cable from Point Arena to Hawaii to Japan.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>There
are the hulls of the Hookup, the Anita G and the Aquaholic. Scattered around
them are 60 marine engines, a pile of tires and collected debris that often
makes just walking the property difficult.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Ten
boats are still moored next to his dock.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Abernathy
said it was worse, that he has already spent $30,000 to dismantle and haul away
boats and trash, and expects it will cost him much more.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>There
may be some parts to salvage, but not enough to even pay the labor, and he
admits to wearing out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"It's
too much. I'm getting too old, and I don't have the ambition anymore,"
Abernathy said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>It
saddens him to stand in his own killing field, amid the splintered wood, boat
keels, pieces of brass fittings, wheels of fishing line and an iron cleat, the
debris from where his son and workers have been using a tractor to crush the
old boats.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"I
don't have the heart to do it," Abernathy said. "These boats bring
back memories. A lot of these boats, I knew the owners and their families ...
They made them good livings."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>And
he reminisces about the lumber and fishing industries that drew him to Fort
Bragg in 1954, a freshly minted teacher from Cal State San Luis Obispo who
forsook a teaching career for logging and then for commercial fishing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>He
said he had a brokerage and bought, sold and leased 80 boats over the years.
That was rewarding in the 1970s and 1980s when boats were appreciating 25
percent a year.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"It's
been a good life. But if I had it to do over, I'd take more time off with my
family," Abernathy said. "It's cost me three wives."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The
only parts of the fishing industry that are still viable, he said, are sea
urchins and Dungeness crab. The salmon season this year is only eight days in
July and until a quota of 9,375 salmon are caught in August.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Abernathy
is retired from fishing but still goes to sea in his boat, the Recycler, to
haul sea urchin shells from the harbor processing plants into the ocean to be
dumped.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"I
put them back in the ocean where they come from. There's no problem
there," Abernathy said. "It's not lucrative, but it keeps me off of
welfare."</span><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker, JcT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends
of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Mill Valley, CA
94942-2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810
land/fax (call first to fax)</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810
mobile</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></i><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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href="http://fotr.org/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.fotr.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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