Debonair

Double-ended ketch Debonair recently completed a 16,000-mile Pacific voyage with her family of four. Designed by Edson B. Schock in the 1930’s, she was built in Wilmington, California and launched in 1973. Heavily built of mahogany over oak, she’s a capable and comfortable passage-maker.

Debonair was built by a manager of the Fellows and Stewart Shipyard, Don Ward, for his own retirement. Her subsequent owners took good care of her, updating her systems and accommodations. We took stewardship of her in 2011, and spent six years fitting her out for ocean voyaging. At every step of this refit, we aimed for strength, simplicity in systems, and self-reliance underway.

In January 2018 our family of four, including our two middle school-age kids, left from San Francisco, bound for Mexico and the South Pacific. We spent most of a year exploring the high volcanic islands and atolls of French Polynesia. From there, we sailed north to Hawaii and on to Kodiak, Alaska. Cruising Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington has been a new pleasure. This multi-year adventure has made us who we are as a family and given each of us a sense of our place in the world.