A home away from home Sharon L has long tradition as one of the family By Megan Claflin Stepping below deck for the first time aboard Sharon L in 2006, Keith Griffith found then owner Miles McCoy relaxing in the roomy cabin. A fire crackled in the woodstove, filling the space with a comforting warmth and aroma, and on top, a pot of tea steeped. “Instead of feeling like a yacht it reminded me more of grandma’s cabin – real cozy and homey,” Griffith said. “Comfort” is a recurring sentiment when people describe Sharon L, and it is that exact observation that led painter Claire Acord to create a portrait of the vessel for the 36th annual Wooden Boat Festival poster contest. “I liked her from the moment I first saw her,” said Acord, who took a photograph of Sharon L while sailing Port Townsend Bay with her husband during a previous Festival. “She had a welcoming look about her and those beautiful lines that really catch your eye.” Challenged to create an image that would promote the theme of “tradition,” Acord found a biography for Sharon L and said she was touched by her history as a treasured member of the McCoy family. “Sharon L reflects tradition at every level,” she said, “from its connection to the tradition of U.S. sailing as an American catboat to a lifetime spent sailing with Miles (McCoy) and his family.” Acord’s depiction of Sharon L against the backdrop of Mount Baker, a tribute to the McCoy’s years spent chartering in the San Juan Islands, was selected as the winner among 45 applicants. 80-years in the Northwest Built in 1932, by the Blanchard Boat Company of Seattle, Sharon L is wooden catboat, 40 feet in length with a 13-foot beam and a 3-foot draft. A catboat, or a cat-rigged sailboat, is said to have originated in New York around 1840, and quickly became a popular fishing and transport vessel due to its easy handling, shallow draft and
Tupper and Korie Griffith are pictured with son Owen, 2, aboard the Sharon L in Port Townsend. The cat-rigged sailboat featured on the 36th Wooden Boat Festival poster has been on the water since 1932. Photos by Megan Claflin
large capacity. Unique to Sharon L, a large gaff-rigged mainsail is supported by an 8-foot bowsprit and a larger jib for improved balance, handling and speed. Her original hull, yellow cedar on white oak frames, remains in excellent condition for a boat nearly 80 years of age, thanks to the dedicated maintenance performed by three generations of the McCoy family. “She’s just a good boat, wellbuilt and purposeful,” McCoy said. “As long as you took care of her, she’d take care of you.” Part of the family McCoy developed an early “obsession” with sailing vessels. Living in Seattle’s Roosevelt neighborhood, he would often row a small dinghy to the Seattle Yacht Club and, he recalls, more than once being caught wandering through the Blanchard boatyard when he should have been in school. “I enjoyed being on the water, the freedom of it,” he said.
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Purchased by McCoy’s father at the end of World War II in 1945, sailing Sharon L quickly became a dominant pastime for the family, with skills passed down from father to sons. “Sailing created a deep bond between my father and I,” McCoy said. A few years after returning from the Korean War, McCoy moved to Orcas Island in 1956, living there aboard Sharon L for several years. When his father passed away in 1960, McCoy took ownership of the vessel and a year later honeymooned aboard with his wife, Louellen. The two began a successful day charter business, which they operated out of West Sound of Orcas Island for about 25 years. McCoy’s decades as a sailor and vast knowledge of wooden boats earned him a reputation and it was in 2006, while working as part of the crew restoring historic schooner Martha, that he met Griffith. The two formed – Continued on next page
Tupper Griffith is shown with son Owen, who marks a new generation of wooden boat sailors using the Sharon L as a family boat. Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader