Davis Bay, 1935: "Arose at first light. Checked the weather over the bay - sun, some breeze, tide is right. Can't wait 'til afternoon because those southeasters blow up. Got to get down to the Roberts' store in the Creek to pick up supplies. Prepared to load my rucksack into the handliner that Larry made. It's a good sturdy boat, blue within, white without, made of yellow cedar for the ribs - that's a good wood - and Douglas fir in the keel. All copper hardware, Larry put in it. I can row by myself and there's room for three people in a pinch; this little boat has to hold fishermen plus their catch. Must remember that right after I launch I have to go wide of that sandbar at the mouth of Chapman Creek. I don't want to end up high and dry. I'll furl the sail in the bottom just in case I catch a breeze. Looks as if there are handliners on the Strait already - none so pretty as this boat."
These memories of a Coast pioneer don't really exist. I imagined them. But as a passenger last November on a voyage of the handcrafted boat built by Davis Bay's Larry Westlake, I could guess the thoughts of any one of many boat owners who made their living by fishing in the early 1900s to 1940s.
I joined builder Westlake and rower Roberta Kirk at first light one morning in November. Mike Clement from the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives was on hand to wish us well and lend me a waterproof camera. Our objective was to row the handliner home - that is, to the museum in Gibsons where it would be on display for the winter. As we pushed off from Davis Bay, we did, indeed, get stuck on the sandbank like many others must have done, forcing Westlake to wet his gumboots in pushing us off. Westlake and Kirk paddled together well. As we scooted along the waterfront toward Wilson Creek, we could see the modern fortress of Port Stalashen. After that, the scenery changed to something similar to the depression years. Smaller cottages appeared among the new ones, old timers, sometimes refurbished, sometimes left to rot. Westlake reminded me that the roads at that time were gravel or non-existent. People travelled by boat.
Roberts Creek author and fisherman Hubert Evans reported that during the 1930s hundreds of these handliners plied the Strait of Georgia. They were usually double ended rowboats about 14 or 15 feet long. Evans' original double ender has been on display at the museum for many years now. When Westlake wanted to reproduce a traditional boat, he used the Evans model. Last spring, he measured and prepared detailed plans that other builders could use, then busied himself with building the boat in public in an intense seven-week bee in Sechelt last summer, using grant funding organized by the museum. The little boat experienced many adventures: Westlake took a journey to Lund accompanied by other boat builders in their own craft, he displayed the boat at the Family Arts Festival, and he has rowed for 19 miles and six hours to the Wooden Boat Festival in Vancouver's False Creek.Who invented this style of boat? I asked innocently. "That's the question," replied Westlake.
No one knows. It is indigenous to this area - it could be our very own signature boat, much like the dories are to the Atlantic coast. After constructing the boat, many more questions popped up. For example, builders could see that though it was devised for a solo row, it would have been difficult for one person to handle it. "Difficult, but not impossible," Westlake says. He has been able to winch it up on the beach independently but supposes that two people had to haul it on to shore. The third seat is optional; it slots in nicely and it became my perch where I sat facing the two rowers. After letting me off at Roberts Creek, the two used the sail and reached Gibsons in record time.
Westlake has recently arranged for another handliner building project, this time in Pender Harbour. At the workshop, students will learn the skills needed to build their own while building one together. The boat will not be an exact replica.
"The only real change is that I stretched the boat out a little to make it better for recreational use with a passenger, instead of being a dedicated solo fishing machine," he says. The course takes place over eight weekends from Feb. 18 through April 9 with a registration deadline of Jan. 30. For more on the classic wooden rowboat course, check out www.westlakeboats.ca/course.
He is also trying to commit other museums on the route around the Strait of Georgia as sponsors for the different legs of a circumnavigation of the Strait.He's hoping that many of the communities on the route will build or restore their own handliners and will meet annually to celebrate the heritage.
Though the handliner project funding is over, the boats, new and old, are on display at the museum on Winn Road in Gibsons. The detailed plans for the Hubert Evans handliner, as it is called, are available at the museum for $45 plus taxes and shipping/handling costs. Call the museum at 604-886-8232 or email them your order at [email protected].
