For nine years, Chris Jahn put down some serious cruising miles sailing a Hans Christian from California across the Pacific. One thing always puzzled him in his travels—how so many people with perfectly good boats spent all their time working on them, rather than going sailing.
“While cruising I met so many people doing endless refits,” he says. “Sometimes the boats were immaculate, ready to go. Why don’t they just leave the dock? I’d think.”
Which explains a little bit about his answer when asked about the boat truest to his heart now, a Yankee Dolphin 24. “Well, specifically,” he says, “nothing sucks about it.”
Chris grew up in Southern California. From 2011-2020, he cruised from California to Hawaii, New Zealand, French Polynesia, and beyond on a Hans Christian 33. Things were swell until the Covid pandemic hit. With a kiddo in tow, Chris and his then-wife left the Hans Christian in New Zealand, flew home to Santa Monica, and eventually sold their cruising boat.
Photo courtesy of Chris Jahn“After that, I spent two years without a boat,” he says. Then one day, Chris was scrolling Craigslist, looking for something to scratch the itch, when a handsome 24-footer caught his eye.
“Simple. Small. Great lines. I knew immediately it was a Sparkman & Stephens design.”
The boat was called Robin Lee. A 1969 Yankee Dolphin 24, it had a nice sheer, subtle overhangs, and a long list of obvious needs.
“No motor, a bunch of holes covered in duct tape, leaky windows,” Chris says, laughing, rattling off some of the issues. Legend had it the boat had once sunk in its slip, and the interior’s shoe-like smell seemed to prove it. But Chris wasn’t deterred. In fact, he sort of loved the boat’s imperfections, preferring to live with them rather than slow down his time doing what the boat did best—sail.
Photo courtesy of Chris JahnChris snapped up the Dolphin for a few grand, sailed it for the next year, and enjoyed the hell out of it.
“It has the worst PHRF rating you could possibly think of,” Chris says, smiling. “But it sailed well, was stable, and moved in light wind. Plus, the boat is sexy.”
Good times. Great sailing. But, the seasons eventually changed. After a year, Chris sold the Dolphin in hopes of finding a boat with a bigger interior for his kiddos. He bought an old Catalina 27, and life went on.
Meanwhile, another guy named Chris took the tiller of the Dolphin. It was a perfect match and exactly what the Dolphin needed—Chris King had just spent three years in a sailing club and bought the boat to learn more about marine maintenance.
“I didn’t have a big budget for fixes,” Chris No. 2 explains. “So, the best I could do was become friends with people who knew more than me and ask for help.”
With those friends, Chris No. 2 filled holes on deck, replaced deadlights with portlights, right-sized the boom, and added a nice Garhauer vang. A talented local craftsman removed the boat’s antiquated galley and installed a settee. Finally, he sanded the teak handrails and toerail and brushed on varnish. Then, with the boat looking smart, he put the Dolphin 24 up for sale.
“I’LL BUY IT!” Chris No. 1 texted Chris No. 2. By that time, he was knee-deep in a keel bolt replacement project on the Catalina 27 and looking for a way out.
One week, a few texts, and a handshake later, the deal was done.
“I was pumped,” Chris says. “I got the Dolphin back in better shape than I’d left it. And, that same week, somebody gave me an old outboard.”
Illustrations courtesy sailboatdata.comThis winter, Chris is back out on Santa Monica Bay, enjoying all the “features” that make his Dolphin 24 so special. “No battery. No electric bilge pump. No lights. No depth sounder. No knot meter. No GPS. No fixed mount VHF,” he says, to name a few.
That said, from time to time he admits he does think about making upgrades. “But then I get down to the boat, and instead I just go sailing,” he says. “So, yeah, I have a ‘things-I’ll-never-do’ list and that’s OK. For me, less is more because the allure of sailing is the sailing part, right?”
Absolutely.
March 2025
