Windsong the Yawl was our home for a couple years in Olympia. In 1955 Her design was published in Yachting Magazine as a Cruising Yawl. Through the years of being her caretaker, she has had many modifications and improvements. She came to us with an awkward step-up dinette on the port side. Which was promptly removed while she sat at anchor and its pieces rowed to shore. The baggy wrinkles also had to go!! Frequent trips in the early days to Doc Freeman’s supplied us with the occasional jibbing of having a “Granola Boat” Could it have been that our only cooking and heating source was a wood stove? There isn’t much of her interior that hasn’t been modified, changed, or improved. My favorite comfort feature is the warm air that blows from a running engine. Structural and cosmetic changes include two new transoms, two tillers, a new rudder, house sides, coamings, rig improvements, mast step, refastening, and caulking. She has been as far north as Alaska as an occasional whale research platform. Andy, current owner, accompanied the boat on the trip back on the outside of Vancouver Island. The journey challenged both crew and boat.
We love that we can leave our slip and almost instantly be in many of our favorite places. While this past year has been a real challenge restricted from going north of the border and being conscientious about visiting places safely, we have enjoyed some lovely times. We did travel to Port Townsend and watched the Woodenboat Festival on our navigation computer safely below eating take-out sushi. We are so happy to be back!