Westworld Alberta
Issue link: http://westworldmagazine.ama.ab.ca/i/309330
22 w e s t w o r l d A l b e r t A | s u m m e r 2 0 1 4 had the schooner built as a private racing yacht. e design was novel at the time, built for speed and with a massive lead keel that tipped the scale at 13,600 kg. "This boat is really well known along the coast. Whenever we're tied up, people always come up to us and want to learn about it," Shea says, as a light rain dimples the wheelhouse windows. With the arrival of the First World War, the Canadian government purchased the Maple Leaf, put it up "on the hard" and stripped it of all its metal for the war eff ort. The boat languished for a time until it was repurposed as a fi shing vessel and renamed Parma. Under Harold Helland, an enterpris- ing Prince Rupert fish captain, the boat became as legendary as the North Pacifi c was cold. When other boats sought safe anchorage during storms, Helland rode out the savage weather of the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. Consequently, he was often the fi rst to drop nets on the halibut grounds when seas calmed and the first to return to port with holds bursting with nearly 30,000 kg of halibut. Helland retired in the 1970s. Not long after, tourism entrepreneur and sailor Brian Falconer heard about this legendary boat; he bought it and began a painstaking restoration that lasted seven years – complete with mahogany donated by the MacLaren family, the boat's original owners. It was rechristened the Maple Leaf and an eco-tourism venture was launched, aimed at sharing some of B.C.'s most treasured coastal getaways, from Haida Gwaii and the Great Bear Rainforest to the southern Gulf Islands – with an international cast of guests. Then in 2001, the boat changed hands again when Salt Spring Island-born Kevin Smith, a guy who has spent his lifetime sail- ing , exploring and guiding on the coast, bought Maple Leaf Adventures. He's been operating the beloved vessel and company with wife and partner Maureen Gordon ever since. As I settle into the relative luxury of my wheelhouse bunk, I fi nd it hard to imag- ine the ship's former lives as a private racing yacht and rugged fi shing boat. Sail the high- speed passenger ferry from Victoria, B.C. to Seattle, Wash., round-trip from $151. 1-866-667-4777; AMATravel.ca/Activity p14-25GulfSchooner.indd 22 14-04-29 9:14 AM