Halifax built yacht’s epic voyage through the North-West Passage
May 10, 2017
While Haligonian Jim Creighton was building his North Atlantic 29 sailboat from 1976 until 1988, he most certainly would have spent some time dreaming of the far way places the boat would take him. Unfortunately, by the time Jim’s boat, which he named Marco Polo III, was complete, family issues got in the way of any grand voyaging. Jim did get to do some local cruising, enough to show him what the boat could do.
The North Atlantic 29 is not your run of the mill cruising boat. Her design was a collaboration between yacht designer Angus Primrose and the famous single-handed sailor, Blondie Hasler. Essentially an enlarged version of Hasler’sFolkboat “Jester”, the NA29 incorporated his thinking as to what made the ultimate offshore single-hander, including his modified version of the Junk rig.
Jim is a thorough chap and he built the boat carefully, cold moulding the hull with 6 layers of Western Red Cedar sheathed in fibreglass. For power, he used a mighty 8hp Sabb single cylinder diesel which moved the boat at 5+ knots.
In 2007 after some considerable time on the hard, Marco Polo III was sold to an Australian who planned to use her in the Trans-Atlantic “Jester Challenge”, pretty much exactly what she had been designed for. Other commitments meant the new owner was not able to participate in the race and he sold the boat, on favourable terms, to fellow Aussies, Chris Bray and Jess Taunton. In 2010 the young adventurers, who had a dream to sail the North-West Passage, arrived at the Armdale Yacht Club in Halifax and immediately came face to face with the reality of the challenge ahead. Although well built, Teleport, as they had renamed the boat, had suffered from being covered and ashore for such a long time. There was delamination, leaks, rot, a foot of water in the bilge, etc. But as you will learn if you follow their video blog, these are two very determined and capable people. With considerable help from various members at AYC they spent three months restoring the boat. In 2011, they returned to Halifax to begin their voyage, which took them another 3 years.
In addition to their other skills, Chris and Jess are very accomplished filmmakers, and the result is a cruising story told in 27 HD videos that will keep you coming back for more. Go to www.teleport.com and see for yourself. I know Jim is very proud of the little boat he started building over 40 years ago. GC
Photos courtesy www.Teleport.com
