Author Tags: Essentials 2010 Geography Kidlit & Young Adult Maritime Outdoors Travel


Articles: 4 Articles for this author

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Teelo, the sensitive and curious cat from A Cat in a Kayak, is back for another adventure in A Seal in the Family (Annick $7.95), both illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes. The cautionary tale by Maria Coffey is based on a real-life harbor seal discovered on a west coast beach and wrongly presumed to be abandoned.

Coffey, who lives on Protection Island, has simultaneously released a revised paperback version of Fragile Edge, her memoir of loss and reconciliation. It recounts her love affair with elite British mountaineer Joe Tasker who perished while climbing Mt. Everest's 'unclimbable' Northeast Ridge in 1982.

Seal 1-55037-580-6
Fragile 1-55017-218-2

[BCBW WINTER 1999]

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Teelo the cat endures a kayak ride to Victor's island home. Everything is perfect. Peace and quiet and a cozy wood stove to curl up under. Then Victor, who's a veterinarian, brings home a rooster and three hens. Soon he adds a terrier, a snake, a parrot. It's too much. Teelo stows away on the kayak for a little solitude and ends up having the adventure of his life in A Cat in a Kayak (Annick $6.95), a first children's book for Nanaimo's Maria Coffey, a kayaking travel writer.

[BCBW 1998]

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I WAS REMINDED OF WHY I SOLD THE ONLY sail boat I ever owned after reading Maria Coffey's Sailing Back In Time (Whitecap $39.95), about the adventures of legendary coastal couple Sharie and Allen Farrell. After a particularly harrowing white knuckle sailing experience, Allen tells Coffey, "Now you know all about sailing. You're either bored stiff or terrified."

Sailing Back In Time is one of two new books on the Farrells, who met in Pender Harbour in 1945. He was married at the time; she wasn't. She said, "Build me a boat." They lived on the beach and built their first sailboat, the 36-foot "Windsong", launched in 1947. They sailed together to the South Pacific in the early 1950s. The Farrells have maintained an adventuresome, non-materialistic lifestyle, building boats out of driftwood--and drifting through the waters of the Pacific Coast. Even in their 80s, the Farrells recently gave away their possessions and flew down to Mexico to live on the beach.

First off the mark was Dan Rubin's warm tribute to the boat-building sailors, Salt On The Wind (Horsdal & Schubart $18.95).

Rubin, who has been a disciple of the Farrells for several years, has put together a chronology of the octogenarians' remarkable lives. With the cozy feel of the family albums and personal journals that served as a resource, Rubin traces these maritime lives, from Allen's birth in Vancouver in 1912 to the present day. Sharie, born in Ontario in 1908, moved to Vancouver with her parents in 1918.

For lovers of boat design, building and handling, Rubin's text is rich in technical detail, but more importantly he has worked with the Farrells to give the reader the rationale behind their designs. Boats designed, built and sailed by the same person bring that person very close to godliness as the boat is humankind's greatest metaphor for earth.

But it is the Farrells' humility and humanity that makes them such endearing characters. "Windsong" began a pattern that has been repeated several times over the course of the couple's life. After building a dream boat, the Farrells sail it to the South Pacific, grow homesick for the Pacific Coast and then either sell or sail the boat home. It they still have the boat when they return, they will sell it shortly after. With complete freedom from materialism, the boat is sold to the "right person" rather than the highest bidder.

In between sailing trips, the Farrells lived on land, in houses they built themselves, occasionally squatting. People like Ralph Payne who still appreciate the squatter's life, prompted Allen to comment, "it used to be easy to be a squatter. You found a nice spot, collected some wood, built a shack... These days people make you feel uncomfortable if all you're doing is picking bark off the beach in front of their place."

Rubin takes us to several of the Farrell's past and present homes along the coast and gives a glimpse of an idyllic life that was possible before population pressures brought No Trespassing signs and destruction by development.

The Farrell's obvious success in living a warm and rich life well into their 80s is beautifully chronicled in Coffey's Sailing Back In Time. Richly illustrated with 65 colour and black-and-white photos, by Dag Goering, Coffey's partner, the book takes the reader on an extended summer cruise along the Strait of Georgia with the Farrells on their most recent boat, the three-masted "China Cloud". Built from driftwood, the boat is propelled solely by junk sail and sculling oar.

I read the Coffey book after having read the Rubin book and delighted in the way the two complimented each other. With my knowledge of the Farrells' life, I was anxious to spend time onboard with them and that is exactly what Coffey's book did for me.

In a series of trips, we wandered from the Gulf Islands north through Nanaimo and over to Lasqueti, around Pender Harbour, and north to Lund and Galley Bay. It was much more than a scenic tour, although Coffey shares her delight in the scenery, as we visited the Farrell's many old haunts and friends. If anyone has any doubt that island life no longer attracts interesting people this collection of characters will correct that.

Much of the reminiscing is in a similar vein, as this couple look back at fine lives lived in a very giving land. At the same time they see the crop of brand new houses with "Private Property" signs sprouting near every shoreline. The Farrells' commitment to not become tied to material possessions is illustrated when they give their boat to a friend who wants to go sailing.

In Sailing Back In Time, many of the stories that I read in Salt on Wind were repeated. The effect was of hearing once again an oft told family history. The familiarity was an added pleasure. While I am not a sailor, I have sat around many fish boat and tow boat galley tables listening to well told stories. This book gave me that experience in a dozen comfortable bays. Coffey and Goering sailed their own small boat on the trip and rafted up with the Farrells each evening.

[Alan Haig-Brown}
BCBW, Autumn 1996

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"The islands stretch away as far as the eye can see, fading to a translucent grey-green against the horizon... In the dimming light, China Cloud is like a fairy-tale craft with her big moth wings, smoke curling from her stove pipe, and a white-haired couple at the tiller, singing old songs."

In May 1995, renowned travel writer Maria Coffey and her husband, photographer Dag Goering, began a three-month journey by wooden boat along Canada's spectacular western shores. Leading the way were legendary boat builders and sailors Allen and Sharie Farrell, on their last voyage aboard China Cloud. Powered only by sail and sculling oar, they took Coffey and Goering to their old haunts along the coast, places where they homesteaded, fished and built boats. And they shared with them their remarkably simple lifestyle, closely connected to the sea and the land.

Years rolled away during this nostalgic voyage, as the Farrells recounted decades of memories with passion, insight and humor. Sailing Back In Time weaves the fascinating account of a unique voyage with an intimate look at eighty years of coastal history, as seen through the eyes of these two remarkable people.

From the quiet waters of the Gulf Islands to the snowcapped mountains of Desolation Sound, the majestic scenery of the coast provides the backdrop for an unforgettable adventure. This panoramic trip comes to life with Dag Goering's lush photographs, while Allen Farrell's boat sketches and beautifully textured oil paintings reveal a bygone era.

-- Whitecap Books


"...a highly readable and enjoyable story of two genuine BC coast enthusiasts who not only tell a good tale, but have lived it!"
- Jim Spilsbury, author and West Coast legend.