Profile: m/v Lotus

One of the great things about boating in the Pacific Northwest is the vibrant wooden boat community.  The art (and it is an art, to make wood take on the graceful shape of a boat) of wooden boat building and maintenance is alive and well here, most particularly in Port Townsend.  Our wooden boats are the reigning queens of the Salish Sea.

m/v Lotus

You may have learned of the 1909 wooden motor vessel Lotus the same way I did: thru a collection of articles on Three Sheets Northwest.  Sadly, a couple of the articles dealt with the winter storm in February of 2012, when she was blown off of her mooring in Port Hadlock and came ashore.

Well, she's back.  And in a completely random occurrence,  Lotus was tied up at the dock here in Poulsbo this weekend, and was open for tours, so how could we not?  We went aboard.

Lotus is amazing.  She is almost completely in excellent original condition.  She is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a prime exemplar of the Edwardian (or Craftsman) style as applied in the marine world.  She is in the responsible care of Christian Gruye (who just happens to be Brion Toss' wife). Lotus has been in Christian's family off and on for years; Christian calls herself 'Head Steward', a title which any boat owner will understand.  Under her stewardship, the few 'modernizations' that had been applied in her century of existence were corrected.  Christian even sought out and re-acquired her original diesel-fired galley stove.

Christian, next to the fireplace in the saloon
(and your correspondent photo-bombed by the mirror)

Because we arrived at a visitors lull, we got the cook's tour from Christian, and a fuller recount of her history than I suspect most hear.  It is a privilege to be able to acquaint yourself with one of these grand queens of the waterways.  If you can, you should make the opportunity for yourself.

Wheelhouse

Upper deck, exterior lounging area

Flooring detail.  Also note the name 'Lotus' picked
out in brass tacks on the brass threshold plate.

Owner's cabin

Owner's ensuite head. 
Yes, that is a claw foot tub.

Galley, with original diesel-fired stove

Profile: m/v Lotus

Adventures in Paradise

Does anybody else remember the TV show with that name? It had Adam Troy, as a kind of 1950's precursor to Captain Kirk, plying the waters of the South Pacific on his trusty schooner Tiki. That show personified the wanderlust that we all seem to have, and it certainly had an effect on me.

Lots of people dream about throwing off the responsibilities of the day-to-day life and sailing off to tropical isles... Have you? You could you know. People are doing that very thing today. Or perhaps you'd like to live vicariously thru the experiences of those who are.

Well, I have a treat for you today: here are two couples who are making it happen. Right now. Today.

• Carol and Livia, aboard their Wauquiez Pretorien 35 Estrellita 5.10b, have spent the past 16 months getting ready to leave - a recent post summarizes their preparations, but for a full understanding of the process of getting the boat, and much more importantly, themselves ready, your reading should really start at the beginning of their journey. Now they are less than 43 days from cutting the dock lines, and their excitement is building. Follow along with them at s/v Estrellita 5.10b as the days count down.
  
• Mike and Rebecca, aboard their PDQ 32 catamaran Katana, are probably the two physically fittest cruisers you will ever meet. They've chosen a catamaran as their waterborne home - a choice which balances things in an entirely different way. This is a boat which has lots of stowage, but which must be kept light in weight in order to reach her speed potential - makes for interesting decisions. They will be starting their journey in fresh water, far enough north that it freezes in the winter (Lake Ontario!), so they'll have quite a trip ahead of themselves just to get to salt water. Their plans have them cutting the dock lines in 89 days (as of today). Join them as the days wind down and the pace winds up at Zero To Cruising.
  

If reading these two blogs has whetted your appetite, I suggest you check out the Interview With a Cruiser blog which Livia recently started. Although it is not very old, it has been wildly successful. It's premise is to have questions, supplied by folks who are not (yet) cruising, answered by folks who are. It's a great idea!

Listen... I can hear the trade winds rustling the palm fronds overhanging the white sand beach right now.

Can you?

Adventures in Paradise

s/v Pineapple Express

When we first moved to the Shilshole Bay Marina, there was a genuine, classic wooden schooner tied up on the end of G Dock: s/v Pineapple Express. She was suffering a little from "deferred maintenance", but she was basically sound.

Perhaps her most distinguishing characteristic was her figurehead: a head-to-foot rendition of an anatomically correct nude woman. Whenever anyone visiting the dock made it out to the end, she (the figurehead) was immediately the topic of whispered conversation. Jane and I have in our minds the amusing image of a boat full of sea scouts going by, their every eye glued to the lady of Pineapple Express. Dock lore had it that she had been owned by Denver Pyle, "Uncle Jesse" from the Dukes of Hazard, and that the figurehead was in fact a rendition of his daughter.

From the day we arrived on G Dock, Pineapple Express was for sale. When she finally sold, her now ex-owner bought a big RV and is now, we understand, in Arizona. Her new owner, an elderly gentleman from Latvia, planned to bring her back to her former glory, and to sail her home to Latvia. He moved her off the dock, and over to the back side of Bainbridge Island, just North of Manzanita Bay, where she is today.

The refurbishment went very slowly. Each year, as we went to Manzanita or Poulsbo, we passed her, and each year it seemed she was in worse shape, the hull now severely stained with iron from rusting fasteners and the bobstay broken. Pineapple Express is a wood boat - fresh (eg. rain) water is anathema to a wood boat because it fosters rot. Yet for years, she sat open at the stern where a project to replace planking had become stalled. Not good at all.

Recently, however, work has been restarted. The stern planking is now replaced, although in this picture is still needs to be trimmed to length.

Owning a wood boat is always a maintenance race against the forces that want to destroy her. It remains to be seen whether the current owner can run fast enough to catch up.

If anyone reading this posting has further information on Pineapple Express, please send it to me, either as a comment or as email. We'd love to have a more complete story.

s/v Pineapple Express

s/v Inuksuk

I have never seen the Inuksuk, yet I feel that I know her. She is a 44 foot ferrocement ketch, moored in Cowichan Bay on the Southeast corner of Vancouver Island.

I feel I know her thanks to Catherine Dook. Catherine (a substitute teacher) and John Dook live aboard Inuksuk, and Catherine writes about the experience... If you ever wanted to really know what it is like living aboard - Catherine will tell you, and have you rolling on the floor and hooting with laughter in the process. She has written for some of our Northwest magazines (Nor'westing, 48 Degrees North), and has published several books, two of which I have read: Darling, Call the Coast Guard, We're on Fire Again! (ISBN 978-0920663813) and Damn the Torpedoes! (ISBN 1-894898-06-0).

Her stories of the doings at the Cowichan Bay marina are salted with characters: John Darling (her husband), Kiwi John (a New Zealander, also named John), Other John (yet another John), Screaming Liver, Stafford the Respectable (he has a job), Older-than-Dirt Don, Ed the Bald.

Inuksuk does make it out of the marina, and that's where the real fun starts. But I won't give it away - read the books.

Here's a sample of the liveaboard lifestyle, and Catherine's writing style:

(Setting the scene: After having a shaft coupling replaced on their trip across the Strait of Georgia used up their spare cash, Catherine cuts John Darling's hair as a necessary cost savings. We enter the story with her talking, in response to John's desire to wear a hat for the next month...)

"It's hard to explain, darling, but it's kind of a mark of ownership - like a hand knit sweater, or that we have matching raincoats when we go out together."

"I'm flattered."

"Besides, this is a haircut that makes you look like a resident of Cowichan Bay. A tourist would recognize you as a local immediately. We are home, darling, where this brand of creativity is greeted with the same sort of kindly laughter that greeted us when we clipped Fred's boat, when we painted our deck diaper brown, and when we melted our engine and had to be towed home. Darling, this is where we live, and this is the haircut that gives you that unmistakable Cowichan Bay stamp. A man of the sea - a man who laughs at convention - a man brave enough and defiant enough to let his wife cut his hair."

"Can I cut your hair, then?"

"Don't be silly, darling."

Ed the Bald poked his head down our companionway. "A haircut!" he exclaimed. "John's got a haircut! Hey Fred, Mike - come look at this!"

"We're home, my love."

s/v Inuksuk

s/v Black Opal

s/v Black Opal is a 58' Sampson ferrocement schooner, owned by Fred and Lynda Brady, and their teeny tiny dog Rusty (never doubt that Rusty is a part owner...).

Black Opal was previously named Serenity, but Fred and Lynda said that too many boats had that name, so they changed it. They have decked out Black Opal like a pirate ship, complete with ratlines and a black PVC pipe carbide cannon on the foredeck. The interior (not surprisingly, if you know Fred and Lynda) is like no other boat I've been on. With its pressed tin ceiling, porch swing in the galley (!), and the chandelier in the saloon (!!), Whimsy might have been a good name for her.

Fred and Lynda originated on Mercer Island, but spent a number of years at Cordova, Alaska. Accordingly, you would expect that they are self-reliant and capable. You would be right. Fred has made all of his spars (the masts started life as light poles), sewed a collection of flags, reshaped his mainsail (actually, a mainsail from a Downeast 45!), and has just completed making a new rudder. He also built all the cockpit furniture. In fact, Fred is the inspiration for me taking on the making of our new bowsprit.

When they first arrived at Shilshole, Fred and Lynda had crossed the Gulf of Alaska with their previous boat Halcyon Days (40', also ferrocement) - a journey not to be taken lightly at any time of year. Through the forward port on the deckhouse, Lynda's collection of tea cups was lined up and on display. Somehow they had survived the crossing.

Black Opal is a clear amalgamation of the two of them. The boat is rock solid (it's cement!) and ready to go anywhere and sustain any conditions. But the chandelier, the porch swing, the eyes painted on the oars stored in the rigging add a laugh and smile.

Black Opal was featured prominently in an article by Becky Coffield called "A Schooner Kind of Summer" in the December 2007 issue of 48 Degrees North, covering the annual Captain Raynaud International Schooner Race. (We have an autographed copy.)

If you have time for a beer or a glass of wine, you should knock on the hull and get a story from these two. They have a lifetime's worth of adventures to share.

Arrrr!

s/v Black Opal

m/v Challenger

Jerry Brown, captain and owner of Challenger, certainly qualifies as a bona fide Seattle "character".  Challenger was moored at the end of the dock at Fairview Marina at the south end of Lake Union, a couple of slips from Eolian's berth.

The Challenger, a 1944 96' wooden tugboat, was the center of Jerry's business - he ran a "Bunk and Breakfast" out of Challenger's refurbished cabins; Jerry also had a smaller tug, the Gillspray and a couple of more or less modern 40' power boats tied up in the suite of slips on which he had managed to get a 20-year lease (how, I cannot imagine).

Jerry lived on Challenger with his bouvier Scupper, bunking in a small compartment up under the bow. Jerry was the host, the cook, the cabin boy, and the crew of the Challenger. And Jerry was a businessman. Because of his long tenancy at the dock, he was the defacto dock captain as well. I remember one cold winter day when the exposed water feed pipe for the dock froze, and he and I cut and spliced the pipe, in the cold, with water spraying over us - well, I guess Jerry got a lot wetter than I did. But then he had paying customers aboard Challenger who were going to wake up and want to take a shower.

Jerry was outspoken. There were those who could not tolerate that. But he was also very personable (how else could he have made a very successful go of the bunk and breakfast business?). Jerry was a dreamer - he always had Plans For The Future, and they were not small plans. The fall before we left Fairview, he revealed that he had done a ton of research and was more than considering buying a surplus Navy ship and scaling up the business as well as moving it to Florida.

Getting ready to leave, he had found a buyer for Gillspray (a father and son team that planned romantically to renovate her). And then he found a buyer for Challenger and the business. This about when we moved from Fairview to Shilshole, and we lost day-to-day touch with Jerry.

But from occasional contacts, we learned that when the City of Seattle got wind of the change of ownership, they came down on things like a ton of bricks. The sale was rescinded, and Jerry gave a lot of money to lawyers. In the end, 3 years later I think, he prevailed. He was awarded his legal costs, but the sale of Challenger was long gone.

Jerry has since passed away, and Challenger, last we saw her, was tied up looking forlorn on the south side of the Ship Canal.

Jerry never made it to Florida.

RIP m/v Challenger
9/12/2015

m/v Challenger