A boat for a lifetime, and then some - Tangled Line

Boat/US Magazine, May, 2003

If your treasured boat were to last 100 years, wouldn't that be cause for celebration? Hard to believe in this day of throwaway products, but BoatU.S. members Brian and Florence Keamey will hold a 100th birthday party for their spectacular wooden yawl Leilani at the Miramar Yacht Club in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, on June 29.

The 50-foot Leilani was built in 1903 in the Lawley shipyard in Boston. Originally called Janet, she was purchased in 1939 by the Franck family who kept her for 50 years. In 1989, the Keameys bought her and spent 18 months applying some needed repairs to her wooden hull. At 99, Leilani was still winning trophies in the New York Mayors Cup races.