Dale Albrecht:
CLASS OF 1970
William H. Taft High SchoolClass of 1970
Woodland hills, CA
Dale's Story
Given that we are fast approaching our 50th year since graduating Taft, I thought that I should write up part of my story for people to read....
Part of the story is a passion for boats. I started sailing at 11 years of age out at Catalina Island. Over the years I've had many personal boats. From modern and classic sailboats to fast power boats, canoes and an antique sailingi canoe, currently undergoing restoration. Back in '72 an owner wanted me to captain his ketch around the world. Not a chance. Tons of money but no boat sense. I skippered boat deliveries from northern Maine to the south and raced extensively. I provided a short list of non personal vessels.
At the San Diego Maritime Museum, barque 'Star of India", Ferry "Berkeley Steam yacht "Medea"
Charter crew in St. Maarten a 1898 Camper & Nicholson 135 foot sailing yacht. "Black Swan" Charter rate, 40K-60K/week.
MV Bayou Chico offshore exploration.
Charles F Adams class DDG 17 "USS Conyngham" Knox class frigate FF 1075 "Trippe" Perry class frigates FFG 7 "USS Oliver Hazard Perry" FFG 8 "USS McInerney" FFG 11 "USS Clark" FFG 13 "USS Samuel Eliot Morison" FFG 15 "USS Estocin" FFG 16 "USS Clifton Sprague" FFG 24 " USS Jack Williams" FFG 26 "USS Gallery" my specialty was aviation air control, navigation and landing systems. All communication systems and weapon systems.
One year I had the chance to personally charter the "Intrepid" a two time America's Cup winner. All my (please note operative words) my now ex-wife complained about how I payed more attention to the boat than her. I had to, I was the skipper. I owned the last sailboat that L. Francis Herreschoff designed and actually worked on before his passing over the bar.
I still have a dream of getting another large sailboat and single-hand it across the Atlantic to Scandanavia, Baltic, Northern Mediterrean, Bosperous, Black Sea, Danube, canals and the Rhine. But now I'm content exploring the river systems and outer banks of the Carolinas.
Besides living all over the US which I'll detail later, I've lived in the Caribbean, for years in Italy, the Netherlands, Amsterdam, and the UK.
I've been officially retired for 8 years, but have been pursuing a side passion of historical home restoration. I specialize in porches. Just completed an 1843 Italianate porch, an 1863 railroad workers house porch and now am in the middle of a 70 foot 1850 Greek Revival porch attached to a 9000 sq/ft house. One job begats another..
Other hobbies that I pursue is designing and making furniture. Sculpting, restoring antique clocks, navigation instruments and weather recording instruments. I restore old large format negatives, many from pre 1900.
I was born in the mid- Hudson valley area of N.Y.. Spent the first 7 years in Woodstock and the Catskills. Dad got tired of flying weekly to Californi...Expand for more
a or Seattle, pre-jet. Trains by the time he'd get in had stopped, so into the car we'd go to await his arrival in NYC. Glad they chose SoCal to relocate to. The journey West was pre-interstate highway. Ultimately drove 12 cross country trips each getting quicker. Took innumerable trips in the West. Each an adventure. When I was 15 a friend died while on a climbing expedition in Mexico. A few months later 3 members of the team, his son and I climbed the peak in memorium. The climb itself besides travel took 7 days and literally from start to finish we could see where we were going and where we'd been. Sheer rock face climbing. When I graduated from Taft I wanted to climb the major peaks in the Sierra Nevada's that I hadn't gotten to, then Mt Shasta, Mt Hood, Mt. Rainer, hit some peaks in Glacier NP, then finish off the trip by climbing the Grand Teton's. Dad required me to take some company, no takers, so he limited me to California. Great adventure for a month.
Work.....i do not remember not working. In Hidden Hills our neighbor had 22 quarter horses and and all the work associated with them. Shoveled a lot road apples and bit and stepped on.. Once we moved to Wells Drive, I picked, bought and sold fruit. Plus started landscaping.
1st official corporate job was an electronics company in '71. That is where I got interested in manufacturing operations and efficiency. Took a break in '73 to charter in the Caribbean. Came back stateside and went to work for an off-shore exploration company. Was out and about when the CIA ship, Glomar Explorer was practicing lifting the sunken Soviet sub off of Hawaii. Thought about heading back to school but decided to go into the navy. Besides all the electronics schools, getting me the equivalent education of a BA in Electrical engineering I got courses from the National Bureau of Standards and subsequently granted a Masters in Staistics which all formed the basis of all my corporate jobs until retiring. I worked at Bath Iron Works in Maine building ships. Worked then at IBM in their semiconductor division and ran 3 QC labs. One in the US, one on France and the last in Japan. Worked closely with R&D laboratories on new product design. They started getting out of manufacturing and I moved on. Besides I was now divorced and hated the bitter cold in Vermont. Moved back to Maine for 2 years working on a friends Victorian house restoration, a 3/4 acre Japanese garden and wooden boat restoration. Snowed 9 inches on Labor Day and said I'm done with the cold and moved to NC. Landed a management job with a new division of AT&T and developed their QC and operations process worldwide. Paid very well but hated the politics and EU labor laws. So in 2010 I officially retired. I spend my time doing historical home restorations in New Bern NC a 317 year old city.
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