Ever wonder how Waterways’ beautiful yachts are kept shipshape?
Paul Harrison is the man – our Chief Carpenter/Engine Mechanic/Maintenance Guru/Diver/Boat Builder extraordinaire!
Last week we found Paul supervising the painting of The Olympic Star. It’s the perfect time to give her a new coat of white paint.
Every 5 years each of our yachts visits the ship yard, undergoes a rigorous US Coast Guard hull inspection, and has her bottom painted with black anti–fouling paint which prevents “critters” from attaching to and damaging her steel hull and acts as a barrier against corrosion.
Here you can see in these photos, how enormous the boat looks when it is out of the water. Imagine the work involved in keeping this yacht clean!
Twice a week, Paul and his crew wash the hull and windows from stem to stern. Each winter, the interior salons get repainted and varnished.
This winter Paul also remodeled the Olympic Star’s galley with new counter space, much to the delight of our Chef! With more room to work, we expect even more outstanding culinary delights to find their way to our passengers’ tables.
When not working on our yachts, Paul is busy fixing things around Waterways Cruises’ HomePort. In late October, when Lake Union was getting chilly, Paul donned his semi-dry diving suit and scuba tank and spent an hour under water inspecting propellers. Cold? According to Paul – “No – at least not until I came out of the water and some Lake water got inside my suit.” Brrr….
With a degree in Naval Architecture, Paul has designed and built boats literally from scratch! Earlier in his career, back in New Brunswick, he used to cut down trees and transform the logs into lobster and fishing boats. He spent years sailing schooners up and down the East Coast, and delivered private yachts to Florida for winter sailing and back to Maine for the summer season.
And, in addition, Paul is a certified marine mechanic. We are lucky to have this skilled jack-of-all-trades on our Waterways team!
Much more than just a voyage, his journey was one that happens when you break away from “life as you know it” and take the risk to leave the comfort zone of your own familiar routine. Opening the book, Captain Ron reflects on the dissolution of his marriage of twenty eight years and his passion to find a new direction in life: “For thirty years – all my adult life – I’d run with the herd, leading a very normal life. I’d had a comfortable home, an attractive wife and two wonderful kids, a couple of cars, a motorcycle, a boat, about a hundred channels on cable TV and beer or scotch to help me wind down at the end of another day spent at my latest miserable job and commuting in the stop-and-go traffic of ‘Pugetropolis.’”
Ron’s exhilarating adventures were often, well, scary: “One of the most wonderful things about sailing is that some days it can be relaxing, others exciting, still others terrifying, but rarely is it boring. Perhaps this is why most boats are named after women, as they too can be fickle.” Five months and 2,600 nautical miles, just sailing and motoring… and writing in his journal and log, day after interesting day.
Upon returning from his adventure, Captain Ron continued living his dreams, obtained his U.S. Coast Guard Masters license and went to work as a skipper on Charlie Wells, the private ferry serving Heron Island. He eventually found fulfillment for his talents and passions as a Captain for Waterways Cruises.
Seward Park! Since first being spotted in the park as early as July 2004, the park has become home for a growing colony of feral Peruvian parrots. The parrots (conures) were apparently released into the wild by their owners, or so the story goes. It is entirely possible that they escaped, but we don’t know for sure.
