![]() The two boys managed to fling the sandbags over the side and eventually right her. They were soon knocked down, and panic rose as water came over the lee hull. After ballasting her with 400 pounds of sandbags, they cast off into afternoon squalls. “We coughed up 55 dollars for Quest, a 16-foot ship’s gig that someone had put a long wood fin on and an overly heavy, gaffy rig.” A year of scraping, painting, and replacing rotted planks, and Quest was ready for her maiden voyage. ![]() ![]() When he was about 15, Ted and a friend bought their first boat. We’d get the boat rigged and ready and out we would go.” My girlfriend, her girlfriends, and my buddies would all be there. I could go down to the Navy base in Hamilton and sign out a 27-foot sailboat on my own account. “By the time I was 15, I was proficient at rigging, rowing, and sailing, and I was allowed free run of the Navy’s 14-foot dinghies and 26-foot whaleboats. On his left forearm, a weathered tattoo takes him back to his youth, roaming the Navy docks in Hamilton, Ontario, learning to sail from his father’s veteran friends. A mischievous twinkle in his eyes reveals a certain boyish quality that belies his grey hair. “No more cigarettes.”Īt 87, Ted no longer designs or smokes, but he tells stories with his whole being, arms thrown up in amazement, voice soaring high with incredulity, mouth crinkling with infectious laughter. “Yeah, too many years with a cigarette,” Ted agrees, leaning back in a sage-green armchair with extra foam padding. “For many years it was standing up at the drafting board with a cigarette,” says Betty. I’ve always been standing up at the drafting board,” says Edward “Ted” Brewer, the world-renown yacht designer who worked on two America’s Cup contenders and designed 260 boats including yachts built by Aloha, Morgan, Nimble, Union, and Whitby. But just outside the window, above the baseball diamond, the craggy, glaciated peak of Mount Cheam towers, a reminder of the wild Coast Mountains and North Cascades ranges that embrace the community. With its neat buildings and carefully trimmed yards, the town feels bricked with charm and mortared with apple pie. ![]() A picture window overlooks a baseball diamond across a quiet street in Agassiz, British Columbia. Two harpoons hang on teak-colored walls, and a model boxcar sits on the shelf alongside other artifacts marking a life well-lived. ![]() Ted and Betty Brewer’s living room is warm and inviting. ![]()
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