Tropic Star's keel was laid in 1963 in a parking lot behind a motel in Sepulveda California by C.C. Holbrook, a retired ship builder from Hawaii.  Designed by Howard I. Chapelle, she was launched May 1967 at Marina del Rey and was soon purchased by Walt & Fran Petersen.  The Petersens brought her north to San Francisco where she participated in the resurgence of the Master Mariner's Association.  She continued north in the mid 1970's to the Puget Sound, sailing out of the Oak Harbor Marina.  She is a 19 year participant of the Classic Wooden Boat Festival in Victoria, B.C.  In October of 1998 she was purchased by Joe Reilley & Sheila Butler and moved south to Seattle.  The last three years have found her undergoing an extensive refit in preparation for a circumnavigation.   She currently participates in the Capt Raynaud International Schooner Race (CRISR) and the Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival.