1954 Kettenburg K38

One of the finest Kettenburg left in the World today.  The finest K38 example along West Coast.  Amazing piece of Southern California Yacht Racing History – Beautiful FULL Restoration

Commissioned at the stroke of midnight on Valentine’s Day in 1954 at Kettenburg Boat Works in San Diego, CA.  I was built for the notorious female sailor Peggy Slater.  Peggy was the first female sailor to skipper a TransPac boat, first female to sail to Hawaii and many other accolades.   

In 2005 Valentine completed a full structural rebuild by a Master Craftsmen – John Free.  Along with Wayne Ettle and CF Kohler @ Kohler Kraft in San Diego. (See attached details in photo section) 

In 2021 I completed a full refit by Geoffrey Ruppert (See Attached Photo w/ details)

This boat sails just a beautiful as it looks.  The boat can be sailed up to 20+ knots of breeze (and yes, I have sailed it many times in these conditions) -  It feels like a Mack Truck when it lays over.  The helm is light and perfectly balanced (after we spent 4 days tuning the rig and sails)

The boat won the Beer Cans in Newport Harbor this past summer.  She races boats sometimes 1/4 of her age and WINS. 

Her PHRF handicap is a favorable 169 and she just glides upwind.  Where she most dangerous is on a beam reach with the waterline in the water.  She is always hard to beat…. If the breeze is 8 knots or above we typically beat out Shock 25, Santa 20, Erickson 35, Beneteau 40 and many other modern boats.

I have taken her to San Diego and raced in a classic wooden boat regatta.  Been to Catalina on her at least 15 times.  Have sailed locally offshore hundreds of times.  Raced twice in the NHYC Opening Day Regatta (LA to OC). 

I’ve singled handed the boat to Catalina many times.  The boat can be taken out single handed, but a crew of 3 is preferred.  A crew of 5 is perfect for launching the kite or doing any offshore racing. 

She has an ice box that we load with ice, beers and sandwiches (ice water drains into bilge) and the fiberglass and foam insulation keeps food and ice cold for 3 days…

She is a true sailors boat.  No lifelines, no extra frills, just all you need to go out and have a great day or overnight on a historic racing boat. 

I’m in absolutely no hurry to sell her, my most important concern is that she goes to the right and loving home that will keep her sailing for decades to come. 

Boat can be loaded on an 18 wheeler and shipped anywhere in the USA.  Boat can be sailed (on her own bottom) to Esanada, Mexico and shipped Internationally at buyers expenses.  

Needs:

To bring the boat to concourse level condition I would have the red hull paint touched up on the port side.  This was the side exposed to the sun more often (Yes, I did turn the boat on the mooring).  The paint is in great condition with just some minor cracking from heat and sun exposure.  (Small paint cracks do not leak water, they are purely cosmetic) the planking of this boat is extremely tight with Epoxy visible at all seams of the interior.

I would also recommend applying 2 coats of bottom paint by next summer.

Service of the heat exchanger on Universal Engine over Winter