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Leading Lady’s Last Dance

Leading Lady’s ignominious departure from the dance floor.

© Neil Weinberg

Back in mid-August, Leading Lady, the old Peterson 40 that Bob Klein owned in the early ’80s, gave her last performance. Neil Weinberg from the Boat Yard at Grand Marina reported that the current owner had passed away and, since he had no family, the county was "disposing of the assets." A salvage company took possession of the aluminum boat and, just after this photo was taken, hauled her away to be dismantled for scrap.

"It’s sad to see her go," noted Paul Kamen, who sailed aboard the Lady many times under Klein’s ownership, "but it was a design from the dark years of the IOR. In this market I can understand why she’s not worth trying to save as a cruising boat." Nevertheless, Kamen recalled two vivid memories of his time aboard:
 
"Leading Lady had an all-aluminum hull and deck, which made it very noisy downstairs when things were happening above your bunk. On our first Vallejo Race to Coyote Point — back when the fleet was so big they had to split it up into two different destinations — we were racing in the same IOR division as Chris Corlett, who I think was sailing the Serendipity 43 Scarlet O’Hara that year. We were all aboard and in our pipe berths at around midnight, and two minutes after the last cabin light was turned off, we hear a group of sailors marching down the dock to the end tie where we were berthed. Corlett’s voice was chanting ‘Hup-Two-Three-Four . . . .’ Corlett’s crew climbed on board and did a full military close order drill, stomping on the aluminum deck for five minutes, then marched back up the dock!    

"Another time, during Big Boat Series, we still had some of the crew from the previous campaigns. There was some friction between Bob, who always ran a very competitive but very friendly family program, and the self-styled pros. On the way back from one race that went badly, Bob confided in me: ‘Paul, never go racing with people you wouldn’t also go cruising with.’ Words to live by!"

Do you have fond or fun memories from Leading Lady? We’d love to hear your stories — photos are always welcome! — so we can include them in the November issue of Latitude.

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Wednesday’s Photo Contest of the Day showed a burn hole in a vinyl cockpit cushion and we asked readers what unusual source they thought caused it.