30-foot Gaff-rigged sloop
Built in 1976
Mercy was designed in 1949 by revered American naval architect William Atkin. She is a gaff-rigged, double-headed, tops’l sloop built with Douglas fir on oak.
Mercy was built in 1976 at Dean Stephen’s Abalobadiah Ranch on California’s North Coast. On the ranch, Stephens taught 22 young men and women the crafts of boat building, farming, and
rural homesteading. In the early 1970s, the students lived and worked on the ranch learning how to build traditional wooden sailboats, furniture, and how to manage a farm and live off and care for the land. Stephens was a proponent of taking as little as possible from the land, and giving back in a sustainable way.
His students lived and worked at Abalobadiah with him and his family, building five boats, several houses and all kinds of furniture, from cribs to coffins. “Welcome to Hard Times,” said a sign at the ranch, as Stephens, his family, and students worked from sunup until well past sundown every day, tending to crops, farm animals, and wooden boats.
In 2010, Mercy underwent significant repairs and restoration by Shawn Jonutz.
Mercy is flagship of Lolo Health, skippered by Lolo founder Lorenzo Puertas and often host to daysails for Lolo members, staff, and friends. Mercy is member of the sailing fleet at Encinal Yacht Club and the Master Mariners Benevolent Association of San Francisco.
