Wandering Trade Wind20 September 1958 - 6 September 1959

A 50th Anniversary Tribute

by

Karen Nixon Lane

When the Nixon family gathers on September 20th this year, it won’t be just another end-of-summer get-together. They will be marking the fi ftieth anniversary of their 1958 departure from Grosse Ile Yacht Club on their Tahiti ketch, Trade Wind. The cruise lasted almost a year and covered 6,000 miles – from Detroit to the Bahamas – and back.

Built by the head of the family, Curtis Nixon, in their backyard in Inkster, Trade Wind was the realization of a lifelong dream. As many people do, he and his wife, Helen, talked about their dream of building a boat and sailing away into the sunset – at the dinner table, over breakfast, and in the evenings, just before drifting off to sleep.

A Day Like Any OtherHelen recalls the very day when the idea fi rst came up. Curt came into the kitchen for breakfast, dressed for work, on a day like any other day. With a funny little grin on his face, he looked her straight in the eye and very casually said, “You know, I think I’d like to build a boat.” Figuring that he meant a tiny little boat to trailer to the lake for a casual weekend outing, she told him that if that’s what he wanted, he should do it.

When he later produced pictures and an article from Popular Mechanics that described John Hanna’s beautiful Tahiti ketch design, she had a hunch that her life would not soon be the same.

The Dream BeginsWith a letter to Bay City Boats in March of 1952, the project began. They had several months before the framework would be delivered, and Curt and Helen knew that they now had a serious problem. Their house, a small bungalow on West Hills Drive, was situated second from the corner, and the space between houses would be too narrow for Trade Wind to be moved in and out. So they began looking in the newspapers for a small home on a corner lot that they could afford on their boat-building budget.

Divine InterventionThey soon found one that sounded very similar to their own. As if by magic, when they telephoned to inquire about the house, they heard a familiar voice on the line. It was their next door neighbor – the one on the corner lot! So they made the deal and moved into the house next door in time for their delivery from Bay City Boats.

So it was that in early summer of 1952, Trade Wind settled in to her new surroundings on West Hills Drive – home of the Nixons.

Goodbye, HelloFor four years, while Helen kept house and looked after their children, 2-year old Curt Jr. and baby Karen, Curt’s routine was the same. Six days a week, there was breakfast, a kiss goodbye, then off to work at the drafting room for ten or twelve hours. Arriving home, there was a kiss hello, a change of clothes, a quick dinner, and straight out to the yard, where he worked late into the night with his colleagues – the moon, the stars and a small trouble light. Perseverance fi nally paid off when Trade Wind was transported to Liggett Boat Works in Trenton, Michigan in early spring of 1955 – and launched.

Over the next two years, Trade Wind was rigged, outfi tted and tested on Lake Erie. Two masts and four booms had been carved out on sawhorses in the back yard from lengths of Sitka spruce, using planes and shapers. Lead ballast had been poured into handmade forms in the garage, teak decks had been laid, teak pulleys and ratlines carved, bronze fi ttings constructed, the interior cabin fi nished – and everything was painted, varnished or oiled. Trade Wind was now a treasure among wooden boats – and Curt Nixon’s masterpiece.

And Then There Were EightTrade Wind was designed to sleep four, with two main cabin berths and a forward vee-berth. When the boat building began, the Nixons were a family of four, with another child already on the way. As the project progressed and their dream inched closer to reality, the Nixon family greeted new members – almost every two years in alternating fashion – Bobby, Cindy, Gary and Sheryl.

Seize The DayBy summer of 1958, Trade Wind was ready for the open sea. In the nearly seven years it took to build her, the Nixon family had grown – in size and

number. Their fi rst child Curt Jr. – a toddler when the dream began – was now nine years old, a fi fth-grader at Daly Elementary School – and there were fi ve others. All were growing bigger by the minute, or so it seemed to Curt and Helen. For the second time since the project began, they knew they had a serious problem. If they were ever going to sail away into the sunset, they better do it soon, or Trade Wind would be too small. They had saved up some money. There was nothing more for them to do – except leave. And leave they did.

20 September, 1958The West Hills Drive neighbors had watched the Nixon family dream take shape over the course of almost seven years, and now learned that the next chapter of this incredible story would soon commence. The word was out: The Nixons would pack up their belongings, take their kids out of school, lock up the house and sail away on the

twentieth of September – before the cold Michigan weather set in.

The neighbors took up a collection, went shopping, and arrived at the Nixons back door on the night before departure, pulling a caravan of little red wagons – fi lled with groceries.

A Fond FarewellOn the morning of the 20th, friends, neighbors, relatives – and even the media – gathered at Grosse Ile Yacht Club where the Nixons were making fi nal preparations for departure.

Provisions were stowed away, and everything was checked over one last time – amidst a real celebration of achievement.

At last the time came and Curt made the call, “All ashore who’s going ashore!” After the last handshakes, heartfelt hugs and tearful kisses, the shorelines were cast off and Trade Wind motored away from her berth, up the canal and out onto Lake Erie – accompanied by a twenty-one gun salute, and the cheering and waving of everyone on the dock.

September 20, 1958 marked the end of one era and the beginning of another for the Nixons – Curt and Helen, their six children aged nine, seven, fi ve, four, two, and eight-months – and Ginger, the family mascot, a large collie. That day they set off on a unique voyage, and would live onboard their 30-foot Tahiti ketch for the next twelve months. They would work together and play together, while experiencing a world away from their everyday middle-class routine.

Their home at sea was cramped, and it lacked the modern conveniences. There was no television, telephone, stereo, refrigerator, washer, dryer, toaster or microwave – and there was no room for toys or other unnecessary extras. But the tradeoff was well worth it. They developed companionship, compassion and a sense of family pride that will never diminish. In their search for adventure, the Nixons found happiness, contentment and peace of mind – just what Curt and Helen had in mind.

PostludeAfter the trip was over, Nixon family life returned to “normal.” Four months after their return to Detroit, they completed the crew with another girl, Arlene. They moved from their tiny bungalow in Inkster into a roomier, four-bedroom ranch in Livonia.

As the children became older, it became more and more diffi cult to fi t everyone comfortably onboard, and eventually the family outgrew Trade Wind. As the children became occupied with school and friends, Nixon family outings became less frequent, and other activities replaced “going sailing. Eventually Curt and Helen accepted the inevitable, and made the diffi cult decision to part company with their beloved little ship. Trade Wind was sold in 1965.

In the mid-seventies, Gary began to search for Trade Wind. Curious to learn what had happened to their family’s boat, he wrote to the people who had bought her and successfully traced her through two other owners. The boat had been sailed around the world more than once, and had been universally admired by the boating community.

For a decade, the search for Trade Wind continued – to no avail. In one fi nal effort to locate her, he ran an ad in the 1985 September/October issue of Wooden Boat magazine: Gary Nixon is trying to trace the whereabouts of a 30’ Tahiti ketch built by his father, Curt Nixon in the mid-50s. The boat was named Trade Wind and had teak decks and a gaff rig. Gary has traced her to Fort Lauderdale where she was seen ten years ago, but he doesn’t know where she is now. He’d like to fi nd her, and his dream is to buy her and bring her back to his father.

He got many responses to his ad with varying information, ranging from a report that Trade Wind had sunk in the Virgin Islands to that of a man who claimed, “I’ve got your boat in my backyard.” None of these stories proved to be true. It was is if Trade Wind had just disappeared. Gary resigned himself to the fact that she was gone.

Soon afterward, however, he got a call from the commodore of the Newport Yacht Club in Rhode Island. One of the boats that had been registered in their most recent wooden boat show was a Tahiti ketch named Trade Wind. He provided Gary with the name and address of the owner, and Gary made the call. The owners were staying with friends at their home on the Hudson River and their boat, anchored offshore, was being prepared for departure – Trade Wind was once again destined for the Bahamas!

Gary and his wife, Karen, travelled to New York to learn whether this boat was indeed his father’s masterpiece. His heart skipped a beat when he spotted her, but it was not until he actually climbed aboard and saw the handmade deckfi ttings and other original items that he fully realized that he had found the Nixon family’s pride and joy.

Trade Wind had been sitting in drydock somewhere out East when the new owners found her. She had been neglected for some time, and they found the teak-and-mahogany dropleaf table underneath the hull, covered with snow. They bought this boat – named “Elizabeth” –

and restored her to sailing condition. Noticing that the handmade spice rack hanging in the galley was engraved with the words “Trade Wind”, they restored her original name as well. Gary returned home to Detroit and shared the news of his discovery with the rest of the Nixons on September 20th.

Despite all attempts to persuade them, Trade Wind’s owners would not consider selling her at any price. They sailed her to the Bahamas, around the Caribbean and throughout the Florida Keys. Gary made several more trips to visit Trade Wind before fi nally receiving a letter from the owners informing him that she was now for sale if he wanted her. She was docked in Marathon Key, Florida. After much family discussion, it was decided – Trade Wind was coming home.

Curt and Helen had not seen Trade Wind since the day she sailed away with her second owner at the helm. Curt, now 77 years old, fl ew to Florida with daughters Cindy and Karen to make the deal. When he saw her at the dock in Marathon, his only words were, “It’s her, alright.” A man who had always kept his emotions to himself, Curt simply stepped aboard and began walking around, patting the cabin top, stroking the rigging and coiling ropes, while the offi cial transfer of ownership took place below deck.

Trade Wind was re-purchased in May, 1987, and sailed from Marathon Key to Fort Lauderdale by Curt, Cindy and Karen, after which it was hauled out and trailered the rest of the way back to Detroit. She arrived and was launched in time for Father’s Day, 1987.

News about Trade Wind’s homecoming brought visitors to her berth, many of whom remembered hearing the story of “The Wandering Trade Wind” back in 1958. Today she sails Lake Erie out of Toledo Beach Marina, looking better than ever – and is still admired by all who see her. She has won numerous awards at wooden boat shows around Lake Erie.

Curt passed away on his 55th wedding anniversary in February, 2000, with Helen and his seven children at his side – just a few months before his ninetieth birthday. Helen celebrated her 90th birthday last October, and all of the Nixon kids live within a ten-mile radius of the family home in Livonia, where Helen still resides.

Trade Wind, the crown jewel of Nixon family heirlooms, has made the journey full circle, returning to her rightful home on Lake Erie. She proudly sails today as an enduring testament to Curt and Helen’s hard work, perseverance – and spirit of adventure.

For the Nixon family, the fi ftieth anniversary of their 1958 voyage is an occasion worth remembering. But beyond that, the story of “The Wandering Trade Wind” offers inspiration and hope for others with dreams in search of realization and lives in search of enrichment. Enjoy... and continue to dream!

“She is still a thing of beauty, in spite of her age and many miles of cruising. Her salty appearance commands attention and denotes her ability to follow the trade winds to distant shores. I am proud to be her builder and will always remember the many times when her seaworthy ability kept me out of danger and brought me safely to port. Welcome home, Trade Wind.”

- Curtis D. Nixon, “Life On The Ragged Edge”