The Nawiliwili Yacht Club is honored to sponsor the Gene Wells Wooden Boat Regatta Saturday, Nov. 15 starting at 10 a.m. in the Nawiliwili Small Boat Harbor.
Honoring the man and his work, this regatta features the beautiful wooden boats that master craftsman Gene Wells has designed and built on Kaua‘i since the early 1970s. All of the boats Wells has designed through the years have been wood monohull sailboats.
Wells’ boat building career began when he was a kid growing up in California. His first launching took place around 1933 at a fountain in Beverly Hills, Calif. Imagine the reaction when an energetic 12-year-old launched a 12-foot dingy in a public fountain. His unique flair for designing and building boats, as well as for simply living life to its fullest, has been a lifelong characteristic.
Though Wells would have liked to have built boats for a living, financial considerations deemed it best that he and his brother work for their father’s construction company in Southern California. Gene continued to design boats; but rather than build them himself, he simply had them built by boatyards or other craftsmen.
Two boats from this era include the 37-foot “Bonnie Doone,” which was re-rigged as a ketch with a mizzen staysail, and “Starlight,” a 43-foot sloop. He also managed to find time to build a 27-foot sloop called “Little Dipper” during this time period.
In the 1960s Gene designed a cruising boat called a “Wells 34.” About 12 were built in Hong Kong; the first six were made of all teak, including the “Nightengale,” which can be seen decorated in Christmas lights in the movie “Sleepless in Seattle.”
In the early 1970s Wells had another of his boat designs built while he and his brother continued operating their construction company. It was aboard this boat, a 37-foot sloop “Kuu Ipo” that Gene and his late wife, Margaret, sailed to Hawai‘i from California. In 1972 he retired and moved to Kaua‘i — and built boats.
The first boat Wells designed and built on Kaua‘i was made of plywood. He specifically designed the boat so that it could be launched from the beach in Anahola where he lived. Next came the 26-foot “Rebel,” a sloop which originally flew a rebel flag.
Soon after came the 25-foot sloop “Whitecap,” which was followed by several sailing dinghies. The list grew as he continued to design and build boats in his garage in Anahola, including a 39-foot sloop “Sarina,” a 40-foot sloop “Fidelia,” a 24-foot sloop “Fun Too” (now called “Tiare”), a 31-foot yawl “Malia,” a 35.5-foot cutter rigged sloop “Mapuana,” and a 40-foot cutter rigged sloop “Reina Moana,” which was launched in June 2003.
The races will begin at 10 a.m. on Nov. 15 and will be best seen from the Nawiliwili Mole, site of the old Club Jetty. The sailboats can be viewed after the regatta at the small boat harbor. There will be a potluck lunch at the Nawiliwili Yacht Club’s clubhouse after the races. Refreshments and hot dogs will be available for a donation. For more information on the regatta, contact Tony LeHoven at 828-0101 or by email, nyc@hawaiian.net. To find out more about the Nawiliwili Yacht Club or to see more pictures of Wells’ boats, visit http://www.nawiliwiliyachtclub.org.
Tony LeHoven serves as the Rear Commodore of the Nawiliwili Yacht Chub. He may be reached at 828-0101, or via email at mailto:nyc@hawaiian.net.
