m23Clarity

The son of a commercial fisherman in Massachusetts, I grew up tuna and swordfishing on my dad's boats every summer off from school. I got turned on to sailing when a friend invited me on his 36 foot wooden ketch for a cruise up the coast of Maine. My 1st sailboat was a 30' wooden friendship sloop. Since moving to Washington state, I have owned a 28' full keel fiberglass cutter, a Cal 21, and most recently a Halman 20.

I have had my eye out for a Montgomery 23 ever since I discovered they existed in 2004. More storage room for cruising, headroom for my wife, and good sailing performance were all considerations. I called about the "spray-painted M-23" (now known as Raven) only to find it had been sold. Much to my surprise, I found that Raven was in Spokane only 2 hours away. I went to the shop where she was being stripped and got my first actual peek at an M-23. (I even got a minor butt chewing by the shop owner for climbing the ladder and peeking inside).

Two and a half years later, Sean Mulligan posted an email on the MSOG forum about the M-23 for sale on craigslist in Tucson. Sean had looked the boat over and taken a lot of detailed photos that he shared with me. I contacted the owner who accepted my offer and a down payment was in the mail.

Clarity is a 1982 M-23, hull #111. I believe she is the latest built of the older M-23 listed on this site. Sean knew some history on the boat. She was originally built for a sailboat shop owner at Lake Havasu. She was obviously built with racing in mind as her cabin was not finished in wood and I found large holes cut out of the plywood bulkheads that could only be accounted for as weight reduction. She came with 7 sails: double reef main, storm jib, 85% jib, 110% jib, 155% genoa, 170% mylar genoa, and a spinnaker. She also has internal wire to rope halyards.

I heard she had been to the Sea of Cortez and even found charts of the Sea of Cortez on the backs of storage hatches in the cabin. I purchased her in October 2007 in Tucson from Chuck and Laurel. I learned that Chuck bought the boat in 1991 and never had her in the water (never having a rig to haul it and being busy with other endeavors). So in launching her this summer (2008) she will be hitting the water again for the first time in about 16 years.

This year she got a much needed rebedding and refastening deck hardware and teak trim, a centerboard job, new motor bracket, 8hp 2003 Honda 4-stroke, new standing and running rigging. She is still a work in progress with cabin finishing and paint job still to come. She now resides near Kettle Falls, WA and during the sailing season is moored in Lake Roosevelt. She will be competing in the 25th annual Rickey Point Sailing Club regatta in July 2008, with eventual plans for the San Juans, Desolation Sound, and a circumnavigation of Vancouver Island.

Story and Photos by Jeff Packer