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any a boat comes with a history. Rarer are the times when selling a boat can help with history. But that’s happening right now in Oriental. If you’re in the market to buy a sailboat.. and at the same time would like to make sailing smoother for Oriental’s History Museum, this is your chance.

The boat is called, “Cloudless”.

“Cloudless” is a Columbia 36 and has a bittersweet story. For two decades, Jack and Becca Crutchfield kept the boat at Point Marina in Whortonsville. It has been there longer than any other boat on the docks.

Cloudless and her deck.

Jack in particular made a point of traveling down from the Crutchfield’s home in Greensboro to sail “Cloudless” as often as he could. Jack did this even after he was diagnosed with lung cancer four years ago. It was important to him to at least visit the boat.

Jack Crutchfield.

This spring, Jack passed away. Becca and their children, Sydney and Weston, decided they couldn’t keep “Cloudless.” They thought that instead of selling the boat outright, they could donate “Cloudless” to a worthy non-profit so that it could keep the proceeds. That’s what led them to make an arrangement with Oriental’s History Museum.

This marks a first for the history museum, which opened in 2005. “It is a wonderful five-year anniversary present,” says OHM manager, Sharon Breitling. She says that proceeds from the sale of Cloudless “will allow us to put into motion several projects, both small and large, that for lack of funding we have not been able to begin.”

Down below in the salon on “Cloudless”.

The donation of the boat comes as a propitious time for the museum. Despite serving as a visitors center for people coming to town, the museum is no longer receiving any funding from the Town of Oriental. Oriental’s Tourism Board voted this year to no longer give the museum the $1000 a year it had provided in the past two years.

Winches would welcome a workout….

“The Oriental History Museum is fortunate to have received this donation from Rebecca Crutchfield in memory of her husband John,” Breitling says, “and will be ever thankful for her generosity.”

Under an arrangement with the History Museum, “Cloudless” has been listed with Paul Welles at Triton Yachts and is currently at the slip it occupied for years at Point Marina. She is priced to sell at $14,900.

Meanwhile, Becca Crutchfield is now looking for a different temporary home in which to keep “Cloudless” before it sells. If you have a slip where the boat could stay until Becca finds a new owner — and if you want to be part of this effort to help Oriental’s History Museum — Becca would appreciate a call. Ditto if you’d like to sail away and have “Cloudless” days. If you’re interested in learning more about the boat, contact either Bill Breitling at 252-249-3340 or Triton Yachts at 252-249-2210.

Looking forward.

More photos from “Cloudless” on deck and down below, follow.

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Buy this boat and help out the Oriental History Museum. Cloudless down below.

Cloudless as seen from starboard side.

Companionway.

Salon as seen from the V-berth.

Bulkhead on the port side.

Cloudless skies above the V-berth.

Cloudless as seen from the aft.

Posted Friday August 20, 2010 by Melinda Penkava