By Amy Zahra

There was quite a celebration on the Dana Point docks recently for the christening of Lance and Stephanie Leuthesser’s Nordhavn 40/II, StarPlath.

Complete with fancy invitations (which were mailed out in Fiji water bottles), pirate bubble blowers, balloons, a great spread of food and drink as well as an elaborate pirate ship cake the Leuthessers, along with their dog, Tavie, christened their yacht in style.

The Leuthessers have an interesting story about how they got to this point.  As Stephanie explained in her speech, Lance was a deck officer on a 300-foot NOAA ship, which embedded in him a great sense of adventure.   Some of the places he saw were Easter Island, the Galapagos, Barbados, The Panama Canal, Tahiti, and South America.  Stephanie explained that one day before Christmas two years ago, Lance announced, “You know you’re getting old when the ship you were on – brand new at the time – is now is de-commissioned. Not only that, they no longer make the Plath sextant!” Stephanie immediately went on E-Bay and won a bid for a Plath sextant for Lance for Christmas. Lance was thrilled for a few days but then he said “now I just need a boat to use with it!”  Fast forward two years and Lance now has his boat to bo along with his sextant for endless enjoyment of celestial navigating!

The Leuthessers are local residents to Southern California and they plan to go to Mexico, then will reverse and head up to the Inside Passage. Afterward they hope to visit some of the same exotic ports that Lance visited years ago.

During Stephanie’s speech, she quoted Helen Keller:  “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.  Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.  Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.”  This quote will guide them as they venture out to sea and embark on their adventure together…