Dan,
it's a good story! Early last year I noticed an "old salt" bobbing around in his dinghy off the stern of our boat while I was bbq'ing dinner. Being neighbourly, I waved at him and asked if he wanted to stop over for a beer. He motored over to our finger but didn't get out of his dink. He had the biggest grin on his face and proceeded to tell me that I had the best boat in the marina. I knew he was just being polite as I know that Papillon needs a LOT of cosmetic work done, but we had decided to work on the systems first and paint and polish later. I thanked him and asked why he thought the way he did.
Well, he shut the motor off and told me this tale. 30 years ago, he worked for the local Ericson dealer here in False Creek in Vancouver. One of their customers, a retired British colonel or something had bought this beautiful, dark green hulled 35 because it was his wife's favourite color. He loved the way the Ericson sailed but had been having trouble with a pesky oil leak from the engine oil pan. Back then the warranty period was short and such a minor thing was no longer covered. My new friend saw his opportunity and offered to fix the leak himself if the Brit would lend him the boat for a few days sailing. After thinking about it for just a few seconds, he responded by agreeing as long as the boat was back in his hands the following Monday (6 days later).
Keeping his eye on the prize, my new acquaintance realized that time was a wastin' and he wanted to go sailing! So he got a couple of buddies to help him. They pulled the Westerbeke out onto the dock and loaded it into a wheelbarrow and humped it down the Creek to the local machine shop. A little welding magic later, they had the motor back in the barrow and on its way home. They had everything back in and running nicely by the following evening - oil leak banished forever. That gave him 5 days sailing the Gulf Islands in my Papillon. 5 days, he says were the best 5 days of sailing in his life. And that is why when he sees her on the water, she's the prettiest girl at the dance.
Well, I had to ask him how he recognized her with her new/old white and blue paint job. He responded that he had always kept his eye out for her and her name has always been the same, so he was aware that she dressed differently now. He pointed out a small area on the stern where the paint had flaked off to reveal the old, dark green gelcoat. Well I was quite impressed with his story, although I doubted the veracity of his claim from 30 years ago. Anyway, he thanked me for my time and promised to look for an old brochure he had laying around that he thought might be for an E35 mkII and promised he would drop it by sometime. We shook hands, waved good bye and he motored off into the evening. I didn't think much about it until a week or so later when we came aboard to find a manilla envelope in the cockpit containing an original E35 brochure in decent shape, and much to my delight, an old polaroid photo of Papillon on the hard, in all her green-hulled glory! And in the photo you can clearly see the ship's bell, just where it sits today on the stern rail! Unmistakably, this was our boat! Pretty cool!
