At the end of the second world war, Harold A. Jones, owner of Vancouver Tug Boat Company LTD, commissioned Ed Monk Sr. to design a thoroughbred racer. Jones had been saving top quality materials for years. The deck is made of aged India teak and the original winches are chromed (a very hard-to-come-by resource during the war).
During her construction, Jones requested the builders make changes to the design. Her draft is deeper and her ballast heavier than the original designs. The planking, originally intended to be 1.5″ thick, is 1.75″ across the boat. The ribs are more numerous and closely spaced than the design called for. Mr. Monk, upon inspecting the progress of construction, quit on the spot when he saw the changes made to her structure. However, Spirit was finished and got her first taste of salt in 1946. She served as the flagship of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club in 1946 and 1947.
Mr. Jones owned Spirit until 1955, at which point she was sold to private buyers and disappears from most records. Her rig was modernized by Kettenburg Boat Works sometime in the mid-to-late 50s, resulting in the shorted boom and updated sail plan you see today. She participated in races in the South Pacific sometime in the 70s and 80s before finding her way to Blaine, where she was unfortunately neglected.
In 1992, she was purchased by Mr. Robert Lawhead, an experienced marine carpenter and boat restorer. He spent the following 30 years rebuilding her rotten and damaged structure in Port Ludlow. Mr. Lawhead replaced rotten planks, repaired, replaced, and in some places added ribs, and restored her decking, which was in terrible condition by this time. In 2022 she was purchased by her current owner, who is in the process of restoring her interior and rigging. Spirit’s home port is currently Poulsbo.