At your service
Sailing at its finest
Schooners North is dedicated to making your sailing voyage unforgettable. Our classic wooden vessels are not only beautiful to behold but sturdy and seaworthy as well. Our friendly crew is comprised of experienced sailors. Both the crew and our schooner have been Coast Guard inspected. We invite you to experience sailing the way it was really meant to be.
Plan your next sailing trip with us and prepare for an experience of a lifetime. You’ll be treated as a special guest of our sailing family from the moment you’re welcomed aboard.
We welcome you to read on and learn
about our beautiful classic wooden boat.
The spirit of Spike Africa
There's a bit of history in every voyage
Welcome aboard Spike Africa. She was built in 1977 by Bob Sloan of Newport Beach, California. Bob was known and respected throughout the world for his lifetime of experience on sailing vessels. His goal in building Spike Africa was to create the ultimate schooner.
Since her launching, Spike Africa has worked as a freighting and charter schooner on the west coast, Mexico and Hawaii. She has been featured in major articles in every important yachting publication, and universally praised as one of the most beautiful schooners built in modern times.
She combines the functional elegance of the 19th century coastal schooners with unobtrusive touches of modern luxury. Bob named the boat for Spike Africa, a seaman renowned as a living legend of the sea. Spike, the man, was known up and down the West Coast as the President of the Pacific Ocean.
Bob built Spike Africa not as a yacht but as a true working schooner, which in every detail combines beauty and grace with sturdy seaworthiness. It is this harmony of form and function that gives Spike Africa her timeless elegance.
Spike Africa has served as support boat for some of the most important 1970’s and 80’s yacht races, has won honors in her own racing career, and has starred in films such as "Joe vs. the Volcano" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, TV shows including Baywatch and Hotel, and numerous national advertising campaigns.
Starting in 2009 Spike Africa's current owners have taken her through a complete refit. Many long time admirers of Bob and Spike's participated with world-class skills in wooden boat building, rigging, finishing, and mechanical systems. From keel to topmast, every part of the boat has been renewed, replaced, or upgraded as required to bring her into Bristol condition. The goal of the restoration was to maintain the traditional character of every detail just as Bob Sloan envisioned.
Since the Stone Age, every generation has made incremental advances in the art of wooden boat building. Without our care, the skills developed over millennia will not be maintained, advanced or passed on as they were in a world when men spent careers working on wooden boats and in the yards. Our wooden boats are important. These boats and the art and skills that they represent must be saved.
Links
travel; Washington State Ferry Schedule
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/Schedule/ScheduleDetail.aspx?departingterm=1&arrivingterm=10&roundtrip=true
local information; San Juan Island Chamber of Commerce
http://www.sanjuanisland.org/
local information; San Juan Island Visitor's Bureau
http://www.visitsanjuans.com/
related sites; Northwest Schooner Society
http://www.nwschooner.org/
local information; NOAA local weather
http://forecast.weather.gov/shmrn.php?mz=pzz133&syn=pzz100
travel; Bob's Taxi
http://members.sanjuanisland.org/list/Member/bob-weimer-owner.htm
travel; San Juan Transit
http://www.sanjuantransit.com/
things to do; San Juan Safaris
http://www.sanjuansafaris.com/
things to do; Dan Levin Originals
http://www.sanjuanartistcommunity.com/index.shtml
things to do; San Juan Artist Community
http://www.sanjuanartistcommunity.com/index.shtml
things to do; San Juan Excursions
http://www.watchwhales.com/
lodging; San Juan Island Bed & Breakfast Assoc.
http://www.san-juan-island.net/
things to do; Port of Friday Harbor
http://www.portfridayharbor.org/
travel; Westwind Aviation
http://www.westwindaviation.com/