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On 5 Feb 2005 07:03:44 -0800, wrote:

My Gal

William Garden was born in Calgary, Alberta, in 1918. The Garden family
relocated to Seattle about the time young William was ten years old.
After graduating from a Seattle High School, William attended Edison
Tech's Boatbuilding School and then landed a job at Andrew's Boat
Company on Portage Bay.

I had a second house on Portage bay. Darn nice place.

Garden served in the army from 1942-46 where he
worked at a ship repair facility in the Aleutians. By 1947 he was a
licensed naval architect, and he launched one of the most influential
careers in modern boat design. Among many hundreds of designs, he drew
this month's NW Classic, "My Gal", built in 1967 at Vic
Franck's Boatyard on Portage Bay. The design was a departure from the
prevailing norm in its day, but as Bruce Ramon of Wolfe Marine
observed, "This boat really inspired a long series of Pacific
Northwest cruisers." As we inspected the 64' cedar on oak
motoryacht, it was easy to appreciate Bruce's insight.

Bruce was a very good friend of mine. He reguarly consulted me when
drawing prints.

Sixty to seventy-foot pleasure boats of the mid-1960's were typified
by flush deck motoryachts from legendary builders such as Chris Craft
and Pacemaker.

I had two Pacemakers when I lived on the "Big Island" Hawahii.

Stylish designs featured a long foredeck and
inconsequential sidedecks, with most superstructure and a high
bridgedeck well aft. Garden's earliest designs were primarily working
commercial vessels, and the propensity for creating stout boats with
excellent seakeeping characteristics endured throughout his career.
"My Gal" features a raised pilothouse behind a Portuguese bridge, a
high bow, decks sloped to drain aft, and wide, covered side decks. So
advanced was Garden's design that "My Gal" doesn't appear badly
outdated in 2005, but she must have garnered some intrigued stares from
owners of Chris Craft Commanders, Matthews Voyagers, and horizontally
layered Pacemaker Flush Decks when first debuted.

When I first moved to Venice, I had a matthews, but it wasnt a
Voyager, I believe it was larger.

We boarded "My Gal" at Vic Franck's Boatyard, where she was
launched thirty-eight years ago. Dan Franck reported that the boatyard
has been doing periodic refits on the boat for a short list of
successive owners. Her hull and superstructure gleamed, even on a dark
January day, "We repainted her not all that long ago," said Dan
Franck. "We were about to do some minor updating on the interior
when, unfortunately, the owner of the boat passed away and its now
being sold as part of his estate."

Good luck with you boat.

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