For the past 12 months, 21-year-old Trevor Webster has been hard at work bringing a piece of British Columbia history back to life.
In 2009 the Victoria resident purchased Cresset, a 40-foot sailboat, on Lasqueti Island. Since hauling her out of the water on June 17 of last year, he has been working on her full restoration from bow to stern.
The process hasn’t been smooth sailing by any means, as the 82-year-old vessel needed significant repairs. Webster had Cresset towed from Thetis Island to Jack’s Boat Yard in Lund, put her on stands and gutted her right down to the bare hull. The rest, quite literally, is history.
Many of the boat’s key components needed to be completely rebuilt. “We re-laid most of the deck [when she was still] in the water” said Webster, estimating he used about 150 to 170 linear feet of planking. On land, he began to tackle the remainder of the repairs. Half of the floor timbers are brand new, as are the keel bolts and about 70 of the ribs. The hull has been refastened and nearly everything else has been re-bolted. The interior is new as well, redone with custom cedar bulkheads. “It’s pretty much a new boat,” Webster chuckled.
But Cresset is indeed a very old boat. Designed by Doug and Wavell Urry between 1926 and 1927, built by George Askew and first launched on June 20, 1929 in Vancouver, the vessel was based out of Royal Vancouver Yacht Club for many years. Used for both cruising and racing, Cresset had only a couple of previous owners before Webster made his ambitious purchase.
Despite his young age, this is not the first boat Webster has owned. His first was a Minto sailing dinghy, a gift from his father when he was 11. Following that, he maintained a fleet of sailing skiffs until 2005 when he purchased Huntington, a dilapidated 25-foot Lightning sailboat built in 1948.
Webster rebuilt Huntington and went on to win Best Open Sail at the 28th Annual Classic Boat Festival in Victoria. In addition to repairing and rebuilding boats, he also enjoyed racing them for much of his teen years.
In 2008, at the age of 16, he purchased the 25-foot Penna, a 1950s’ Folkboat with the money from the sale of Huntington. That same year he and several friends raced the vessel and won second place in the Round Salt Spring Race. He later sailed Penna solo to Desolation Sound and caught the attention of a Victoria television station.
Rain or shine, calm or gale, Webster could be found every day after school out in Esquimalt Harbour or sailing the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Fast forward four years and that same passion hasn’t dwindled. Rain or shine, calm or gale, he can now be found in Jack’s Boat Yard working on his newest project.
He does admit that his time on land has made him eager to return to the open water though. “It’ll be nice to get out of the yard and go sailing again,” he said. Webster has been camped out at Lund doing nearly all of the labour himself under the shade and shelter of his boat shed and while the vessel still needs a mast, sails and rigging, Cresset’s exterior is once again ready for the sea.
At 4 pm today, Cresset will be lowered back in the water on the 83rd anniversary of her first launch. Rain or shine, calm or gale, she’ll be there. And of course, so will her very dedicated young owner.
For more information on Webster and the Cresset project, interested readers may visit his website.
