A Sailor's Story

The Abigail Anissa lies alongside at the little town of Durrell.

Gordon Webb and his wife, Sharon, are born and bred Newfoundlanders and live aboard their 48-foot cutter-rigged sailboat in the little town of Durrell, east of Twillingate. Gordon built the boat in his backyard over a period of 16 months and he did all of it from plans in his head. That's right. Gordon could see the boat in his mind's eye, he told me after he invited us aboard.

In a strong Newfoundland accent he explained he had gone into the woods with his chainsaw and cut the ribs for the vessel out of hardwood juniper. He shaped the elbows of wood with his saw and then went to the lumberyard and bought his planking of Newfoundland spruce.

We saw his boat while we were snooping around the harbor and approached the couple who were sitting in the sun.

He told us he and his wife live aboard the Abigail Anissa and it only costs $150 a month for the slip, including the water and electric. He isn't planning to sail her away to the warmer climate of the south, he said. When we stepped aboard, we found his main cabin had a home-sized wood-burning fireplace with a slab of stainless steel as its hearth. He uses a refrigerator from an RV motor home that runs off propane or 12-volt or 120 volt AC. And he even installed a washer and dryer.

The boat is rustic below, but it is practical He has two steering stations, one up at the stern, one down below when the weather is Newfoundland-ish.

He and his wife had just taken her out in the early morning because today was the first day of the three-week personal cod-fishing window. You are allowed to keep 15 fish per boat and Gordon said he caught his limit in two hours. He planned to go out every day and catch his limit, he said. He has a freezer ashore where he can store the cod.

Jo wanted to know why we have been told all the cod are gone if this is not the case. “There's more cod out there now than there ever was,” Gordon said. What's going on, Jo asked. “Ah, these do-gooders want to leave all the cod for the seals to eat,” he said with disgusted laughter.

He has no winches aboard to help him trim the sails so that must be a feat of strength. But he does have a John Deere diesel engine under the floorboards and when he opened the hatches to show me the ribs he had cut, there was no water in the bilge.

As we chatted about his exploits, he pointed out the bowsprit of a boat in his brother's backyard, up on a hill across the harbor. He invited us to drive over to take a look. That vessel also was built of wood and is covered in fiberglass. It has a hinge on the mast that allows his brother to lower it and place it all the way back, hanging off the stern. He won't launch until next spring, Gordon told us.

I asked if he and his brother were competing but he said not. “We both just love boats, he said.