2nd Annual Teak Lady Sail

The Port of Toledo’s fleet of Teak Ladies will be sailing up the Yaquina River on May 25, 2019. This is the 2nd year volunteers and friends of the Port of Toledo will sail the three sister vessels from Newport to Toledo. Each of these beautiful, 17-foot sail boats have been donated to the Port by their previous owners for use in the Toledo Community Boathouse program. Any boats are welcome to join the procession.

The Teak Ladies will arrive at Port of Newport’s Commercial Dock 3 late in the afternoon on Thursday, May 23 and will be on display until their departure Saturday, May 25 a 12:00pm. The boats will sail upriver to their home dock at the Port of Toledo’s marina, providing many opportunities to view the boats from the Bay Road.

The Teak Ladies are maintained and sailed by members of the Teak Lady Society, a group of volunteers working under the leadership of David West and local boatwright Rick Johnson. Johnson and West have just completed repairs on Ma Zu and given her a fresh coat of varnish and paint. They were assisted by Toledo High School vocational student, Jacob Rogers.

The Teak Lady sloop was designed by Fenton Kelkenny of San Francisco and modeled after larger yachts. The A. King Slipway in Hong Kong was commissioned to build the boats between the years of 1939 and 1958. They were built of hand sawn teak and feature custom carved tillers, carved name plates, and hand crafted brass ventilators. In the 1940’s the Teak Ladies had their own sailing class in San Francisco Bay.

These three boats have been donated to the Port of Toledo for use by the Toledo Community Boathouse. In 2009, Jim and Carolyn Hitchman of Waldport, Oregon donated Ma Zu to the Port. Ma Zu was built in 1958 and is also known as Teak Lady #21. In 2011, Robert and Claire McDonald of Spokane, WA donated Che Hon, built in 1939, also known as Teak Lady 11. The most recent addition to the fleet is donated by David West, and is the prototype Teak Lady, named Yuan Mun built in 1937. West found Yuan Mun in San Francisco when researching the history of the Teak Ladies.

For more information about the Teak Lady Society visit https://www.teakladysociety.org/. All three of the boats will also be on display at the Port of Toledo’s Annual Wooden Boat Show on August 17 and 18, 2019.

For more information about the Teak Lady Sail or the Wooden Boat Show please contact the Port’s office at 541-336-5207 or email info@portoftoledo.org