Documented (Burton p.239)
Elfi Arkus-Duntov Sea Witch Sea Elf is a search for two boat names that sit in Jerry Burton’s printed page 239, from Elfi on 13 May and 24 May 1997. They joined the Old Club, boat and tennis, on Harsen’s Island at the north tip of Lake St. Clair. Not a country-club golf life. First boat: an Owens cabin cruiser, “Sea Witch,” “dutifully named… after Elfi.” Later: a Chris-Craft, “Sea Elf.” He only smiled when asked if Elfi inspired both names. Twin Chevy big-blocks in Sea Elf. He did mechanics; she did interior decoration. Burton caption on that page: Sea Elf, Chris-Craft, twin big-blocks.
What the weekend held
Friday: a Bloody Mary on the boat, then full throttle to the Old Club. They once won a shipwreck costume contest: he a pirate, she in a slinky fishnet-style dress. She stayed Monday to clean the boat; he went to work. Those sentences are Burton from Elfi. This page does not invent a marina name beyond the Old Club stitch, a chart, or a race result on the lake.
Boat guests (Burton p.306)
Boat guests named in Burton include Alan Shepard and Jim Rathmann. Shepard later water-skied behind Zora’s boat. Locked names here: Shepard, Rathmann. This page does not invent a Cape trip or name astronauts Burton does not name. John Glenn is locked elsewhere in that chapter as the one who took a Chevy wagon instead of a Corvette; he is not written onto these boats.
OPEN and dead OCR
Dirty OCR once read “Sun Elfi.” That reading is dead. The names are Sea Witch then Sea Elf. OPEN if you want a hull number, a registration year, or a photograph of either boat in house files we do not hold here: the page is thin on those. Burton has the names, the makers, the twin big-blocks, and Elfi’s interior work. That is enough for this note. It is not enough for a voyage invented to fill a blank.
The photograph on this page is a period photograph of Elfi Arkus-Duntov. It is labelled period. It is not a Sea Elf still. It is not a cartoon. Lakeshore Drive and the silver V-8 sit beside this stitch in Burton; they are not this page’s job. The 1954 Le Mans note and the First Lady title note hold other doors. The Zora note holds the engineering lane.
Margot Dorée is writing the forthcoming novel in that lane. North Star Publishing Group will publish it. Working title First Lady of Corvette. Expected September 2026. It is independent. It is not General Motors. It is not in the museum shop. It will not invent a voyage, a Cape trip, or a boat named Sun Elfi.
While that book is still on the way, the live book in the same house is The Woman on the Bonnet: another woman, another machine, another record that will not be decorated.
Sources: Jerry Burton, Zora Arkus-Duntov: The Legend Behind Corvette (Bentley, 2002), p.239, EAD 13 May & 24 May 1997 (Old Club, Harsen’s Island, north tip of Lake St. Clair; Owens cabin cruiser “Sea Witch,” “dutifully named… after Elfi”; later Chris-Craft “Sea Elf”; he only smiled when asked if she inspired both names; twin Chevy big-blocks; he did mechanics, she did interior decoration; Friday Bloody Mary, full throttle to Old Club; shipwreck costume contest; she stayed Monday to clean the boat). Caption p.239: Sea Elf, Chris-Craft, twin big-blocks. p.306 boat guests: Alan Shepard and Jim Rathmann; Shepard later water-skied behind Zora’s boat. Dirty OCR “Sun Elfi” is dead. No invented voyages. No Cape trip. No extra astronauts.