The Ealasaid

I owned the Ealasaid briefly from 1988 to 1989 when we lived in Genoa Bay.

The Ealasaid in 1938 (Photo from the Robert Lawson collection.)

She was designed by Halliday and built in Vancouver in 1928 by/for Ken Mackenzie. She was a B–class sloop. Over the many years Ken Mackenzie owned her alterations were made including adding about 3 ft to her stern to increase her heeled waterline length so she would be more competitive as newer, faster boats appeared on the scene.

She was actively raced for many years with great success, even winning the Lipton Cup. The annals of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club (published 1966) have a good record of her racing history.

The Ealasaid at Genoa Bay August 1988 (Photo from the Robert Lawson collection.)

By 1988 she was a semi–derelict laying at the dock in Pedder Bay where we bought her. We had a wild sail in a strong westerly up to James Island BC. We installed a new engine and cleaned her up and sold her in 1989 to Doug Smith, a Nanaimo boat broker at the time. He continued the refit for several years, sailing with his family in the summer. He sold her to Marina Sacht and her husband and they did more work on her, installing a new teak deck. They sold her to a young man who worked at the Marine Biological Research Station at Departure Bay. He had a new mast fitted, and she was moored there for many years. I last saw her there in 2017.

The Ealasaid at Departure Bay 2017. (Photo from the Robert Lawson collection.)