"It took up practically my whole summer but it was fun. There's nothing else like being out on the open sea," said Mike Downing as he helped his dad prepare for yet another adventure, this time around the outer coast, through the Kenai Fjords and on to Seward.

Father and son have been on plenty of adventures together in the three years Downing has owned the Morning Star. Just last summer, they took it on an eight-day cruise down Shelikof Strait and back around Augustine Volcano, where rough weather in Cook Inlet made Mike seasick for the first and only time.

"At least I puked in the sink and not on the couch," he said.

The elder Downing, a second generation Alaskan who ran Gusto Charters out of Homer for 17 years, first fell in love with sailing in 1970 and bought his first sailboat in 1985. In 2006, remembering another Lyle Hess-designed Bristol Channel Cutter he'd seen in California 25 years before, he hunted down the Morning Star in Portland.

"I just had to wait 30 years for the price to come down a little bit," said Downing.

After a previous owner, who rarely used the boat, had let it fall into disrepair, there was much work to be done on the Morning Star, including pulling off and reworking all of the teak trim on its deck.

The fruits of Downing's labor are obvious, even to a sailing neophyte. The wood trim glows warmly in the sunlight and complements the Morning Star's graceful lines perfectly. Inside, a roomy, wood-trimmed cabin has everything a sailor could want, including a sink, a small stove and plenty of berthing room to weather a storm.

While Downing uses a small gas lamp down below to save electricity, a solar panel mounted on the deck catches the sun's rays and turns them into juice to recharge the vessel's battery.

The Morning Star's long and lean shape belies its 7-ton weight and its tank-like sturdiness.

"She's as seaworthy as you can get a good, solid heavy cruiser. With a boat like this, if you get into rough weather, you just go below, tie yourself in and wait for it to stop," said Downing.

When he's not taking his son out on long journeys along the Alaska coast or going for solo cruises to Seward, Downing likes to race the Morning Star in regattas put on by the Homer Yacht Club, of which he is a member. In the club's Fourth of July Regatta last weekend, Downing and the Morning Star crossed the finish line first.

Downing's true love, however, is cruising on the open sea.

"I just always liked sailboats. If you're going to sail, you have to take your time. Sometimes the wind is at you and sometimes it's with you," he said.

Aaron Selbig can be reached at aaronselbig.@homernews.com.