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Beautiful wooden sailing vessels, along with a simple lifestyle have been the golden threads of Allen and his wife Sharie's lives for fifty years. Sailing, fishing, and living in harmony with their surroundings, they planned and built graceful wooden boats such as:
South Wind - launched 1938 in Vancouver, a thirty-five foot, double-end fish boat with an old Pontiac engine.
Kivi - launched 1940, in Bargain Harbour, she was a twenty-four foot cod boat with live wells and an Easthope engine. With a solid gum wood stem, cap, and guard, she is still in fine shape today suspended above the bar in a Granville Island Restaurant.
Wind Song - launched 1949 in Bargain Harbour, she was a thirty-six foot stay sail schooner. A wonderful sea boat; you never had to even touch the tiller, in a following sea, she would just go on her own. In 1951 , she sailed to Hawaii, and then Fiji, where she was sold. She was destroyed in a violent hurricane later that year.
Klee Wyck - launched 1952 in Vancouver, was built after they returned from Fiji. She was a dainty little 17 footer of 5/8" carvel cedar planking.
Later they put a cabin on her, turned her into a cod boat and called her Grey Gull.
Ocean Bird - launched 1958 in Blind Bay, Nelson Island. She was a 30 foot long gaff cutter. She is presently in Lund, BC where she has been restored, and will soon sail again on our BC Coast by owner Lou Kelly.
Ocean Girl - launched 1960, from Oren's Island in Bargain Harbour. She was a schooner with squaresails. She was a big heavy boat, 45 feet long, 11 foot 8" in the beam, and she drew 6 foot 8". She had big deep bilges and she would heel a bit. They sailed her to Santa Barbara, Alcapulco;,Hawaii and around the B.C. Coast.
Native Girl - launched 1965, in Green Bay, Nelson Island. She's 39 feet on deck and started out as a ketch. Later Allen turned her into a schooner. She's made of red cedar inch and a half planking. She is still sailing on our B.C. Coast and is moored on DeCourcy Island in the Gulf Islands.
August Moon - launched 1973 in False Bay, Lasqueti Island. She started as a 27 foot dory made with half inch plywood. They rigged her as a lug ketch, with no motor, only oars. She is presently in West Vancouver at the Thunderbird Marina.
China Cloud - launched 1982 in Scottie Bay, Lasqueti Island. She is a three-masted Chinese junk rig with a length of 42 feet on deck, her beam is 10 feet but she only draws 2 feet 10 inches. Built mainly out of red cedar, she is light with a copper clad bottom that won't drag in the water. With bilge keels, she rides well with hardly any roll. China Cloud is presently moored at a private dock near Esquimalt.
Allen and Sharie's elegant creations are well known far beyond our British Columbia shores. Loved and admired by many for their unhurried hospitality while generously sharing their creative talents with many whose paths they crossed. Allen inspired and influenced many boat builders here and around the world. Well rewarded, Allen and Sharie's lives were filled with an inner peace and good health.