Sail Number: 7
Type: (Schooner)
LOA: 67’0 / 20.4m – LOD: 53’9 / 16.38m – LWL: 37’11 / 11.56m – Beam: 12’5 / 3.78m – Draft: 7’3 / 2.21m – Displacement: 43,300 / 19,641kgs – Design Number: 280 D – Hull material: Wood construction – Designer: John G. Alden – Built by: Pendleton Brothers Shipyard, Wiscasset, Maine – Year Built: 1926 – Former name(s): Venona II – Current Name: True Love – Original Owner: Elmer J. Bliss – Current Owner: Schooner Excursions Inc., Watkins Glen, NY – Engine: Caterpillar 3054b 86 HP
Historical:
In 1926 John G. Alden designed and built the Malabar VII, the seventh vessel designed by Alden in a series of thirteen racing sailboats, known as the Malabars.
Alden designed the Malabar VII for the sole purpose of creating a sailboat that would claim first place in the 1926 Newport to Bermuda race; and the Malabar VII accomplished just that.
The Malabar VII was the first of seven sister ships to be created: Angelica (1926), Teal (1926), Venona II (1926-now known as True Love); Fearless (1927); Sea Dream (1927), and Moby Dick (1927).
Venona II was built in Wiscasset, Maine to the lines of design number 280, and in the 1930s she went to Los Angeles, California, where she was bought by actor Dana Andrews, and converted to a cutter. Eventually renamed “True Love,” she went on to become a movie star, with her 1940 movie debut (minature model) in The Philadelphia Story, where Katherine Hepburn reflected on the Alden schooner in her infamous words “My, she was yar, easy to handle, quick to the helm, fast… ” Sixteen years late “True Love” would star again in the 1956 American musical comedy film directed by Charles Walters, “High Society,” where, while sailing, Bing Crosby serenades Grace Kelly with the Cole Porter song “True Love”
“True Love” can now be chartered on Seneca Lake in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of the Great Lakes. How did this schooner find its way to the Finger Lakes? For a number of prior years the Alden Schooner Malabar X ran as a charter boat out of Watkins Glen, until she was sold and brought to Spain, leaving a void on the waterfront. Josh and Lisa Navone of Watkins Glen, NY, found True Love for sale in the US Virgin Islands. Lisa Navone reflected upon seeing her” “It was a perfect fit and brought back a very important and treasured piece to the community,”
Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):
Owner/Guardian: (1926) – Elmer J. Bliss
Owner/Actor/Guardian: (1930s) – Dana Andrews, rerigged as a cutter
Owner/Guardian: (1940) – Charles Isaacs, rerigged as a schooner
Owner/Guardian: (1940,1945) – Corinthian Yacht Club Commodore Charles Langlais, San Francisco – rerigged as a yawl
Actress: Miss Myrna Loy
Actress/Princess: – Grace Patricia Kelly
Singer/Actor: – Harry Lillis “Bing” Crosby Jr.
Owner/Guardian: (2008-current) – Schooner Excursions Inc.