Dad bought a sailboat kit for a 44 ft sloop and asked Don, who just got back from the airforce, to help him build it. It took a few years, dry-docked next to D&H Manufacturing, Dad's machine shop, but they finally had it all built. What a beauA few years later, Dad decided to build a 44 ft sailboat from a kit. Don helped him every weekend and many nights to put the sailboat together. The boat was named "Velella" after the genus of the little sea invertebrate called "Sail of the Wind". They sailed it frequently in San Francisco Bay.