Who Are Those Guys?

by Marcia Peck

The Man In The Orange Boat

How many times have you looked down A-line dock and wondered about the large orange sloop resting quietly in its berth. Why is it painted orange? Does it have a little secret? Actually, it is one of the most frequently sailed boats in the club, going out every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, year round. The owner and skipper is 88-year-old Doctor Loran Mebine.

Dr. Loran Mebine

Mebine is a name of Scotch origin, a tough and tenacious heritage that suits Doctor Mebine. Born in Sacramento on June 26,1913, Loran and a twin brother, Leland, began a very long and interesting life. At age three, the boys lost their father. Then in 1923, their mother remarried a shrewd farmer and they pioneered a farm in Rio Oso. The family built a one-room line bunk that the boys slept in, while the parents slept in a tent outback near a well and outhouse. It was a hard life, but the boys went to school, a one-room schoolhouse, where the girls were the majority. After graduating from high school in 1930, their teacher fought for them to attend college at Berkeley. She saw great potential in the twins. The family had no money, but with hard work, Loran graduated with honors from U. C. Berkeley as a doctor of optometry. He also met his future and current wife of 64 years, Dorothy. They have produced six children, fifteen grandchildren, and twenty-two great-grandchildren!

Dr. and Mrs. Mebine made their home in Sacramento. Loran walked to work and always passed a newsstand that displayed a yachting magazine called, The Rudder. He absorbed all the stories about sailing and informed his wife, "I'm going to buy a boat". He read all the books in the library about sailing and then took a job in San Francisco, to be near the bay. His sky-blue eyes twinkling, Loran remembered his first boat. "She was a 24 foot gaff-rigged sloop, named Frolic. She was the most mis-named boat in history! She had a one-lung engine that went chunk, ka-chunk, a-chunk. I invited my family, all non-sailors, for a sail to show them what a great sailor I had become. We put up the sails and the boat headed straight for the Berkeley pier, which we hit head-on. Fortunately, the boat was so damn slow we didn't do much damage. When we got home, I called the previous owner and yelled, 'get down here and show me how to sail this thing!"

Providence was on the good doctor's side and in 1939 he bought the orange boat you see in the harbor today (it wasn't orange then) at an estate bank sale. Said Loran, "I borrowed money from everyone I knew to win a bidding war for the Machree, a 42 foot 'R' class racing boat. It was a very famous racing yacht on the bay, owned by a wealthy lumberman. New York yacht designer, William Gardiner, a contemporary of Herreshoff, designed her. She had a white hull and Chinese red decks! This boat had won numerous races, including several San Francisco Perpetual trophies. "I won the bidding war for her, and with my prize, was wined and dined by all the bay yacht clubs to become a member; I chose the Corinthian and became a member in 1940."

Loran explained, "My sailing life was short-lived. I was called in June of 1914 to report for duty and ended up training ammunition troops. In May, I had just won the Vallejo Race. What a change in lifestyle!" Loran finished the war as the commanding officer of two ordinance plants.

He came home to San Francisco and renewed his practice. In 1954, he rebuilt his boat to the configuration you see in the harbor today. Originally, the boat had bronze fastenings and screws. He replaced them with galvanized screws that unfortunately rusted. He decided to paint the hull orange so you couldn't see the rust. As Loran puts it, "I've grown accustomed to the color."

Doctor Mebine comes over from Alameda every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to take club members, old friends, and young people sailing on his great old orange "R."

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