Triumph - New Transom, 2003

One of the earlier projects on Triumph was repairing the transom.  The transom was in need of fresh paint and the home port of Traverse City, MI was painted on it which we wanted to update.  Since we had removed the old Northern Lights generator, Bryan removed the through-hull fitting for the generator exhaust that was no longer in use.  He found that the balsa core in the transom was wet.  It appeared that the installation of the tubes for the man-overboard poles resulted in leaks, soaking the balsa core.  To get the boat in the water at Torreson Marine and to her new home port (up Lake Michigan, across the Straits of Mackinac, down Lake Huron and the St. Clair River, across Lake St. Clair, down the Detroit River and across Lake Erie), he glassed over the hole from the through-hull and left the repairs of the transom for another time.

The following winter/spring, Bryan tore into the transom.  The structure for the transom was within the inboard "skin" and was very substantial and sturdy.  The outboard skin was very light and relatively easy to remove.  He replaced all the balsa core and made the lower third of the transom, where the engine exhaust and other through hull fittings are located, solid glass.  The project was finished before the boat went back in the water for the 2003 sailing season.  The transom looked beautiful and proudly displayed the new home port of Sandusky, OH.

Sister Ships - C&C 61

Besides Joli, built in 1974, there were 8 additional C&C 61's built in the mid-1970's.  One of them was destroyed in a hurricane a long time ago.  Brassy, with a home port of Traverse City, MI, was originally named Sassy and she raced in many Mackinac races.  Grampus in Italy, Koh-I-Noor (formerly Helisaras) in Washington State, Sorcery (whereabouts currently unknown) and one called Rainbow somewhere in Europe are the ones we know of.

  

 Below is Grampus, which was (is still?) owned by the Pirelli Family in Italy.

                            

 Koh-I-Noor, below, was on the Great Lakes in the 1990's to early 2000's, when she was moved to the West Coast.  She was originally built for Herbert VonKarajan as Helisara.  See story -  C&C 61 Helisara, now Koh-I-Noor

Sorcery was in Newfoundland but we lost track of her current location.  Check out this story of when Sorcery was pitchpoled by a rogue wave.  Rogue Wave

Some Joli History

Joli was originally owned by Bill Niemi, a partner with Eddie Bauer (the man) and president of Eddie Bauer (the company) in Washington State and she had a beautiful dark blue hull.  After a number of years racing and cruising on the west coast, he sold the boat to skier Mike Lund.  In 1978, Niemi unexpectedly ended up with Joli once again when she was impounded for drug smuggling.  Lund disappeared and on a side note, was arrested in 2001 after his identity was revealed through finger-printing when he was jailed for child-support charges. 2001 - Suspect in huge 1978 pot bust captured   She was sold again, to a surgeon in Arizona.  He changed the name to Triumph and added stripes along the hull with "Triumph" incorporated into the stripes - very 1980's style!  Triumph was featured in a video from 1983 about Antigua Race Week.  Spinnakers in the Wind
Triumph moved to the Great Lakes, mainly Lake Huron and Lake Michigan in the mid- to late-80's when she was bought by a CEO of Dana Corporation.  She raced many Mackinac races under several different owners over the next 15 years.  We found her at Torreson Marine, Muskegon, MI in 2001 and brought her to Lake Erie (Sandusky).

In 2004, we had a bit of an accident with a mooring ball at Put-in-Bay (the ring on the mooring chain failed) and the hull was badly scratched.  Actually, it was more than a scratch, one whole side of the hull was gouged!  That's a whole other story for another time.

In winter 2005, we had Toledo Beach Marina paint the hull and deck to repair the damage.  We decided on white for the hull since we eventually want to sail in the Caribbean and blue hulls can get very hot.  We also decided to go back to her original name, Joli.  Below shows the fresh paint with the Sandusky Junior Race Team (Sandusky Sailing Club and Sandusky Yacht Club) on board, ready to sail to Put-in-Bay for the Junior Bay Week Regatta.

Joli ready for winter haul-out at Sassy Marina, Algonac, MI

About SV Joli

Sailing vessel Joli is a 61' sloop designed by Cassian and Cutherbertson C&C Yachts and built in the Bruckmann Boatyard bruckmannyachts.com near Toronto, Canada.  She was launched in 1974 and was one of 9 hulls from the same mold.  She has a water draft of 9', air draft of 93' and displacement of 65,000 lbs.