Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival 2026

Pacifica
The story behind the classic 1947 Sparkman & Stephens Yawl

In 1947, Avard Fuller, of the Fuller Brush family, had the 49-foot Sparkman and Stephens designed Eroica built in the Henry B. Nevins Boatyard, New York—she would later be renamed, Pacifica. Fuller and Stephens utilized what's considered one of the first extruded aluminum mast for a sailboat. This was just one in a series of breakthrough innovations found in Sparkman & Stephens yawls of the period that would change the course of yacht design.

The short film from nautical photographer Mark Albertazzi, relives the history behind Pacifica, her times on the East Coast, Mediterranean, and eventual move to the West Coast and its current home in Port Townsend, Washington. You’ll hear stories from those who have taken on the role of caretakers and their passion and perseverance to preserve one of the remaining classic yawls from the drawing boards of Olin and Rod Stephens.

Pacifica, is the third installment in a series of oral maritime history films by Albertazzi, with support from the Ancient Mariners Educational Fund, Ancient Mariners Sailing Society, and Maritime Museum of San Diego.