Alan Farrell

[redsail]

Last week we lost another living legend. Alan Farrell has sailed over the last horizon, in
search, no doubt, of his beloved Sheri, who passed on several years ago.
Alan's many beautiful boats, built without power tools and crafted from windfalls and
beachcombed timber, are true marine art. To see China Cloud ghosting out of a
fogbank and into the morning sun would take your breath away. And to see her healed
over in a stiff westerly, those peachy pink junk sails drawing perfectly,was pure magic.
At 89, Alan had spent more than 50 years boatbuiding, cruising, fishing and living
aboard simply on the British Columbia coast, mostly around Lasqueti Island. His soft
Hello as he came alongside in his dory will be missed.
Good sailing Alan.

[Donn]

http://www.onatech.com/pinetree/betsy/18a.jpg
The China Cloud at anchor in the shallow inlet behind Hope Bay government dock, Pender Island, British Columbia

http://www.knowbc.com/iebc/book/Media/Images/225/F/FarrellAlan2.jpg
Alan and Sharie Farrell aboard their boat, the China Cloud. Maria Coffey photo

FARRELL, Alan, boatbuilder, coastal mariner (b 12 May 1912, Vancouver; d 13 Mar 2002, Nanaimo). He was born Jasper Mallory Daniels and was known as Mallory for the first 33 years of his life. He grew up in a homestead on Powell Lk near POWELL RIVER and in VANCOUVER, and at age 17 went to sea on a freighter bound for China. Back in BC he worked at a variety of jobs while building wooden boats and pursuing an ambition to live on the water. Influenced briefly by KABALARIAN ideas, he took the name Alan Farrell in 1945 and his new companion, Gladys Nightingale (b 22 Apr 1907, Woodstock, ON; d 29 Nov 1996), took the name Sharie Farrell. The couple subsequently lived together on a series of boats they built and at different locations on the South Coast. They made several long-distance trips across the Pacific and their boat, China Cloud, a distinctive 12.8-m junk-rigged sailboat, is a familiar sight to coastal boaters.

[ 04-03-2002, 10:44 AM: Message edited by: donnwest ]

[Cecil Nickerson]

Thanks for reminding me of the time I spent on the lower mainland. I didn't know these folks but it seems you're glad you did. A loss, surely.

Regards, Cecil

[Wild Dingo]

I also didnt know them but they was our kinda folks so they will have lived well and left their own legacy

Fair winds and a following sea in Valhalla to both these good people of the sea and wood.

Take it easy
Shane Jo and hoons