When I first met Bill, I had never been in an airplane. And, I didn't think I ever wanted to even sit in one on the ground much less travel in one. But, he was persistent and he assured me that I would enjoy the view of the San Fernando Valley. He also had been flying for many years and I decided it might be fun to see the valley from a bird's viewpoint and he exuded confidence in his piloting ability.
We took off in his Cessna 182 from a small field in the Burbank area and toured the valley; as he had predicted, I was hooked on the view. I didn't like the take-off or the landing (and still do not) but the view was spectacular. He invited me to fly down to Honduras with him. We were to fly down, hack a runway out of the jungle for a party of investors bringing a dredge down for gold prospecting. The plan was that the ground crew would contact us either in Baja, Mexico City or Merida. Did I want to go, you bet!
Bill had been flying for many years; prior to WWII, actually. And some of his flying stories were wild. By the time I met him, he had taken the maxim, "There are old pilots, and bold pilots but no old, bold pilots," to heart. Still our flying sprees had their moments of terror. And, always in the back of my mind were some of the plane stories in his history. He told of landing his planes on beaches in Baja and then having to worry about incoming tide; of putting tire tracks on the snow of Mt. Baldy (it does have a flat top and he used a retractable gear plane), then there was the crashed Stinson at Bass Lake, and the crash at his airstrip at the ranch that could have killed him. I am certain that what tamed him as a flyer was having so many of his flying friends die in flying accidents.
What made me, frightened of planes, fly with him were his huge number of flying hours (totally well over 7000 hours when I met him), his total devotion to making certain that the airplane was mechanically fit, and that he had taught navigation in the Air Transport Command during WWII. And, that he insisted I learn what every control on the plane did, so that I did a lot of the navigation work - which I found interesting. He wanted me to learn to fly and tried to get me to take ground school and the emergency co-pilot school then offered for wives, but I refused. I didn't feel that the skies really needed an ambidextrous pilot who, in an emergency, cannot tell left from right. And, I was very unhappy any time I had to take the stick.
Cessna
182 This was the first plane I was ever in. Unfortunately, Bill's plane
met with a very sad fate. It was on lease-back and a not-too-experienced pilot
rented it to take friends to the Reno Air Show; he tried to outclimb some hills/mountains
outside of the San Fernando Valley and crashed, killing himself and his friends.
This was the plane we took on two trips to Mexico proper, to Salt Lake City,
and numerous trips to Las Vegas for the dinner show. However, there was one
time when I was very frightened in it. We had taken the plane to Mammoth Mountain
to ski and Bill had broken his ankle skiing. The break was such that he had
a cast on up to mid thigh and he was determined to fly the plane home. My friends
were horrified (and so was I) but I knew he would try it alone and so I went
with him. We kept the plane at Whitman Airpark in Burbank, a strip that was
notorious for its crosswinds. And, that is where Bill needed my assistance --
in the breaking. We landed safely, I was shaking and we were both glad that
there were no FAA inspectors around.
Piper TriPacer This little plane
was a real "hot shot" and we took it to Baja where we enjoyed Rancho
Buena Vista and had quite an adventure returning during one of Baja's rare rainstorms.
Cessna 310 was owned
in partnership with friends. A sleek, fast plane that you slowed by putting
the nose up till the stall warning came on and then put the gear down. I hated
the stall warning. This is the plane that we flew to Las Vegas for the wedding.
Navion
or this version.
When we bought a house in Ventura in 1973, the home owner also had a plane.
It needed work on it and a paint job, but Bill bought it. When we started cleaning
it up and seeing what was working, we were startled to find that it had three
separate electrical systems 12, 24 and 36 volt - perhaps explained by the fact
that a previous owner was the military. The combination of voltage choices made working with "things
electrical" really baffling. We were planning a trip to Panama
in the plane and so there was a short time-frame to complete all the work and
repaint the plane. I insisted on a white plane with red-orange acrobatic striping
on wing top in case in went down in the jungle. Little did I know that in a
jungle, if help was required, the white paint would be of little use.
Piper Apache - another twin engine plane. We had Bill's son-in-law, fly the Navion to Wisconsin where there was a trade-in deal on the Apache. It was at this time that Bill decided to take Instrument flying lessons. He was then flying out of Santa Paula and at the end of the runway -- uncomfortably close, actually -- were a clump of tall trees. The instructor, a madman, told Bill that he was going to cut an engine on take off every time. Bill would return home pasty-white; he finally decided that Instrument flying was just not for him. One time the instructor asked him what he would do if he lost control of the retractable gears. I think Bill said that he'd look for a good place and try to belly-in. "No," replied the instructor, "on the Apache, under the pilot's seat is a lever and you pump it as hard as you can and it sends in CO2 to drop the gear. Afterwards, of course, you need repair to the hydraulic system." I do remember several flights at night up to Hanford to eat at Richard Wing's fabulous restaurant.
The Boats
25 foot powerboat, Malyn, specially designed to trailer. This was not a pretty boat but its beauty lay in its complete functionality and spaciousness. It had a generous cockpit over the diesel engine, a swim step, a flying bridge that sat three. Below was the dining room which turned into berths, a galley, a head with tiny shower, a forward stateroom. Bill had designed it and had Bill Bayon construct it, then Bill finished most of the detailing.
The Lapworth 50'
named Khamsin, we had purchased her with friends of ours. She was built in Hong
Kong and was a double ender. Quite a beautiful boat with a history of racing
in one TransPac. Our long trip on her was out to Guadelupe
Island and then there was another long cruise planned to Cocos Islands but
that devolved to a cruise of the Mexican offshore islands and other local islands.
The 38 foot Trimaran, Climax, was designed by Bill and built at Multihull City
in Los Angeles Harbor. She was raced by Bill and his crew and participated in
the Multihull TransPac. Unfortunately, that year was a disaster for the fleet
as pushing the boats hard had created stresses on several of them. Climax, as
she was called, broke her center board about the north end of Catalina Island
and had to return to port. But, being on this boat under race conditions was
stirring. She had a 1800 sq foot spinnaker that when set blocked out the entire
known world; it was huge and as it filled, you could feel the bow of the boat
rise.
33 foot Trimaran, Windfall, was the first on the West Coast to use the WEST
System of epoxy impregnated door skins for the hulls. I don't know how many
people quit during the construction. We'd hire people to pull the staples used
to hold the layers - all the staples had to be removed after each of the 3 layers
were completed - and they'd quit. We all removed staples. Finally she was ready
to paint and we decided to use the then new polyurethane paint Awlgrip which
was being used on airplanes. It, again, was a first and the results were fantastic.
She was raced some, but by then we had moved from the Los Angeles area and there
were not many races we could join. On one memorable occassion when we could
join a race, we left Ventura Harbor in fog, and it was foggy all along the route.
Approaching as we were the narrow north end of Catalina Island we wanted to
make certain that we were on the inside side of the island. This boat had radio
beacon and compass but no fancy navigational equipment. So, we were being very
cautious. Then, to our amazement, we saw a Russian trawler ahead of us. We had
no doubt that they were a spy ship but they were also legally entitled to be
where they were. So, we shouted to the crew to ask for a heading to Catalina
Island. The request was forwarded, a Russian sailor in a long, dark coat came
out and we repeated our request. The decks were now full of Russian sailors
taking pictures. The sailor, probably an officer, came out and gave us a heading.
We thanked him and went on our way.
57 foot Catamaran, Quetzal, was purchased in an incomplete state though she
had been sailing for some time. She was of Brunzeel mahogany plywood. The person
who designed her built her with a ketch "break-away" mast. Bill and
I looked at each other, shook our heads and re-rigged her properly as a sloop
with roller furling battened mainsail. It was a great boat to live on - which
we did - but a terror to bring into a harbor. She was so big and the drop off
the deck to any dock was nearly four feet. I was terrorized any time we went
out and flatly refused to go unless there were additional crew with us. We used
this boat to cruise up the coast of California from Oxnard to just south of
Point Arenas. We had hoped to go further north, but it was just too rough and
probably too late in the year [July].
44 foot Catamaran designed and built by Bill with input and help from me. We named her Antares after the
double navigational star; we had debated calling her Toucan because there were
two cans. But, we thought she deserved better than a pun. She was built of Airex
foam sandwich construction [don't ever try to fair that!] and was very, very
warm inside. For the first few months we lived on her, there was a radial arm
saw in the salon as the interior trim was being done. I used to tell people
that I used it to slice salami.
Fiberform Baja 24 was a little, trailerable boat we purchased specifically for
a trip up the Inside Passage. She performed beautifully,
except for being colder than .... [well, what sort of insulation do you expect
on a boat with a model name of Baja?].
25 foot Luhrs powerboat that we changed from a gas engine to diesel and took up to Canada. We did only a small amount of cruising from Port Alberni to the West Coast of British Columbia. Pacific Rim National Park area is spectacular as this picture indicates.
