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Cape Flattery, shakedown run for boatbuilders within grasp of
Seattle, Washington, is the rugged headland of a continent. Gateway to the
American Northwest, it hosts the maiden voyages of nearly 25 new megayachts each
year. Seasonal moods temper the route with either storms or calm summer
doldrums.
For 25 years, this region’s boatbuilders have exploded with
growth and led a technological evolution, pioneering composite construction in
the megayacht industry. While the rest of the world’s big-boat manufacturers
stayed cautiously aloof, the Pacific Northwest embraced technology, producing
more large composite yachts than anywhere else. It happened there because the
remote region bred a fiercely independent and resourceful lineage of family
boatbuilders and designers who nurtured an industry.
Top: Paul and Gary Nordlund with their mother, Phyllis, who worked for 50 years in
the Nordlund company office her husband started. Bottom: Plum Duff, a testament to innovation by Admiral Marine. (Click images to enlarge)
Generations led by a handful of visionaries felt a kinship
within their trade, taking chances together, sharing information and pooling
resources. It began when the stodgy ships of European explorers and Native
American canoes were the only local craft. Alaska’s gold rush brought notoriety.
The forests were logged, filling coves with timber-laden tall ships, while
commercial fishermen harvested rich coastal grounds. American explorers Lewis
and Clark, gold, salmon and cedar electrified this corner of the continent and
suddenly, in a terrain too rough for roads, boats were king.
As supplier to Alaska’s lucrative commercial fishing fleet,
Northwest builders were flush with woodworkers. Unrestrained by convention, they
devoured the emerging high-tech resources. While other regions imported the
yachting industry as an economic opportunity, the Pacific Northwest’s heritage
was a cherished community asset.
"I came to the Northwest with the concept of cored construction
in the sixties," recalled Tom Johannsen, who brought Airex foam core technology
from Switzerland.
 Golden Delicious, a 98-foot Westport and breakthrough composite megayacht that
set the Northwest trend. (Click image to enlarge)
According to Johannsen, the Dutch laid groundwork for composite
construction with pilot boats and landing craft, but they abandoned the
techniques and went back to metal. While Johannsen explored a few projects in
1968 in New England and Vancouver, it wasn’t until the technology arrived in
Seattle that a boatbuilding community understood and seized the potential.
Recreational boating still was an outgrowth of the commercial
fishing industry, which favored solid laminates, and while a few sporadic
composite projects came out of Vancouver, the nation’s first composite large
yacht was built at Nordlund in 1973. Designer Ed Monk Jr. and Johannsen
convinced Norm Nordlund to build a 76-foot composite yacht for Tacoma’s George
Russell. Nordlund began reluctantly, but finished the project a convert. The
Nordlund Boat Company is one of those family businesses that has inspired the
folklore of Northwest builders. Every customer is a repeat customer from a
handshake deal.
Top: Rick and Randy Rust combined commercial fishing boats and composite technology
into one of the Northwest’s premier yacht companies. Bottom: Jack Sarin’s designs launched Westport, Crescent, West Bay, Admiral, Northcoast
and the composite generation. (Click images to enlarge)
"Northwest yards got a jump on the industry because they often
dealt with owners who preferred to run their own boats," explained Jack Sarin, a
naval architect responsible for major innovations in big-boat fiberglass
techniques. "Their appreciation for boat handling, inspired by our cruising
grounds and the less-formal owner relationship, allowed an interaction between
us that propelled design and construction, as did the cooperation among
yards."
What in most regions would have ended as a simple success story
for one project became, in the Pacific Northwest boating community, a catalyst
for composite evangelism. Brothers Rick and Randy Rust, who owned Tacoma
Fiberglass, bought Westport Shipyard in the seventies and turned from solid
laminate commercial fishing boats to composite recreational yachts. They got
Johannsen to distribute his product, and designers Monk and Sarin promoted the
benefits of coring materials. By the eighties, the Pacific Northwest was alone
in its crusade for composite construction.
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