Sea Fever, Mercer Boatwork's 4th 44, is most recently owned by William & Kelly Lonigan from Sacramento, CA and is docked in Emeryville, CA. She was purchased in 2008 from Tom Vocola. Bill and Kelly are completely restoring the boat having bought it in somewhat poor condition and in need to some TLC. Sea Fever has been completely redone on the exterior including new paint, striping and lettering, new main and jib sails, a new boom and boom vang, a new lazy-jack system, new shrouds, spreaders, all CG lighting and running lights, new headstay, backstay, and topping lift, including a complete refurbishing of the mast with new electronics.
Tom Voccola bought SeaFever from Alex and Penny Haughwout in 1988. Tom had learned to sail on SeaFever and Alex asked him to buy her when his sailing days were over. He sailed her all over Long Island and the East Coast and bought a house and a dock in Milford, CT just to house her.
In 1993 he moved to California and he trucked SeaFever out in 1997. Sitting for four years in the water took its toll so Tom began to completely restore her in 2004 (??) doing all the work himself. He replaced all the rigging, much of the deck, the dog house windows and hatches. He also renewed the interior with new electrical, plumbing and installed a booth on the starboard side, replacing two of the bunks.
As an aside, Sea Fever Gear in North Chatham, MA was started by Pixie & Penny (Haughwout I think) as a tribute to their beloved family boat.
Here are some pictures of SeaFever:
To contact Tom, please use the following email form.
Free Spam Protection Android ORM Simple Java Zip JMX using HTTP Great Eggnog Recipe