Meredith Project

22/04/2026

Anybody know what this is? Why it's a big bandsaw and it's also a tool that we need at the school. If anyone knows where one is that needs a new home, we are looking. Currently we have a small one (14 inch) but a bigger one is what we want. Of course, the closer to Fort Bragg, California, the better but all leads are appreciated! By the way, this one I would guess is around 26 inches. Bandsaws are measured by the wheel diameter...

20/04/2026

Another beautiful sailing vessel launches on Lopez Island! Our friend Steven Brouwer built and launched WREN, a lovely sailing vessel that has a lovely story too. Years ago, when we were building our schooner ALYRIA on the same island, Steven was building a 40 foot sailboat named LOON for his wife's parents who later invited us to sail with them to the Quenn Charlotte Islands, north of Vancouver Island. Amazingly, they included our then less-than-two year old son Julian in the invitation! Such a sweet family. Check out this short video from our friend Sue DuMond...

Wren Launch

20/02/2026

Well it’s happened. We have our building for our boat building school!!! This picture does not show the actual building (which is just outside the image) but definitely gives you an idea about the setting. It’s in Noyo Harbor, California and we could not be more excited! Stay tuned as we will be announcing more details in the near future…

20/02/2025

A bit of Varua History

It was in the 1970’s that Varua had just experienced a major rebuild in Pago Pago and was then sailed to Hawaii where she spent some time being fitted out and having her new interior built. During that time a (then) young man and his sister were fortunate to spend some time sailing aboard Varua. Here we see Sam and Tanya Holroyd hanging out in the rigging of Varua’s foremast near the lower yard in 1978.

The lower yard is the pole that cuts diagonally across the picture and when in use, has a square sail hanging along its length. It is called the “lower” yard because there is also an upper yard which, if it had been installed at the time of this picture, would be visible near the top of the picture.

Sailors of square rigged vessels will understand that in this picture, the yard is cocked at an unusual angle. While sailing, the yard is generally parallel with the horizon but in a modern harbor, even in the 1970’s, square rigs were a thing of the past and there was no room to have the yard in its normal position.

Sailing between Honolulu and Tahiti was a regular event back in the days when William Robinson (Robbie) was alive. Varua was able to make quick work of that passage because of her speed under sail. She put tens of thousands of miles under her keel during her life with Robbie and considerably more with her second owners, most of which was in the Pacific Ocean.

Although Sam and Tanya have moved on with their lives since this picture, there is no doubt that Varua and her story made a lasting impression on both of them as she has with nearly every person who has come into contact with her. After all of the intervening years, Sam, now a successful architect, accompanied me to Washington State to take measurements of Varua in preparation for moving her to her new rebuilding location in Northern California.

14/02/2024

How do you launch a schooner when there's no modern equipment to pick up all 32,000 lbs of the vessel and put it into the water? Simple, you just drive it down to the beach at low tide, set it all up and wait for the tide to come in! In this picture, the schooner Alyria is just starting to feel the salt water on her keel for the first time. While she gets used to the idea, her humans are all having a party on the beach neaarby. June 30th, 1996. Lopez Island, Washington.

26/10/2023

Ok Meredith Project fans, it’s time for your pieces of Varua quiz for the day! Today’s mystery item is a super easy one. Since we’ve never done this before we thought we’d start out nice and easy! So friends, what exactly is this image? The winner gets the satisfaction of being right! 🤣 We’ll note the correct answer in the comments. Bonus points for telling us what it’s made of!

18/10/2023

Getting the spars painted for Varua, William Robinson’s famous brigantine. Her rig is one of the more unusual we’ve seen, a combination of old and new. She has 2 masts, the main mast being hollow (square) and the foremast solid (round). The foremast needs to be solid because it carries 2 yards. All spars will be painted for lower maintenance. Here we see the 70 foot mainmast with a fresh coat of paint. There’s a lot of work to be done before we see these back in the boat!

15/08/2023

Here's another recent image of Alyria as she looks today, charging along somewhere in Maine! It's easy to see why these boats were so popular in their day, and are having a revival today.

30/07/2023

This is Alyria today, with her new owner Chris, sailing out of Camden, Maine. She's an Alden designed Malabar ll that Lance Leonard, co-founder of Meredith Project, built in the '90's. She is a simple, low-tech gaff schooner who at 27 years old is still in excellent condition and looks great. Lance and his wife Lyndia (with their son Julian) sailed her many thousands of miles in the Pacific Ocean and now she gets to experience the Atlantic! Since she's in waters close to where her original design came from, she's sure to eventually meet some of her sisters, at least 2 of which hail from that part of the world. In these short videos, you can sense her awesome speed and grace. She still has no engine after all these decades and her very experienced captain knows how to handle that! Sail on Alyria!

14/04/2023

Here we are. The last load of pieces of Varua, our 93 foot brigantine, arrived at Noyo Harbor, California!!! These parts are tall so we needed to use a truck with a very low bed (called an RGN), and one that can handle loads that are also extra wide. The hull is around 15 feet wide at these sections but we turned them 90 degrees so that they are “only” 12 feet wide, maximum. This way we stay away from the much greater expense of having police es**rts. Still, in California at least on one highway we need an es**rt (Highway 20). The day we unloaded was rainy and cold but the next day was beautiful. We are so excited to at last have the entire hull not only in one place but at the building location; it’s a good feeling! We unloaded both pieces with a big forklift since the crane was not working that day.

If you look at the section on the left, you can see the forward watertight bulkhead. (For the uninitiated: bulkhead is essentially a wall inside of a vessel which is perpendicular to the fore and aft centerline; anything perpendicular to that centerline is said to be “athwartship”) This adds a level of safety. Should the vessel ever strike something near the bow which causes a major leak, the water would not be able to flood the whole boat which means that she would stay afloat. The section with the watertight bulkhead shown will eventually be the cabin for some of the students on voyages. This section is located just abaft (behind) the foc’sle (the forward-most part of a boat) which will be used for the crew quarters and storage. Looking even more closely, you might notice that two of the frames (sometimes called ribs in smaller vessels) are much bigger than the smaller ones in between those two. This is because the forward mast is located in this cabin and the hull needs to be extra strong with the strains imposed by this square rigged mast.

The section on the right side of the image is located just forward of the after-most section of the hull and will become the captain’s quarters. Of course, we intend for this to be the last time that the captains quarters is ever upside-down! For the imaginative, you can see a bit of the lovely shape of this vessel from these two sections. Next we’ll be replacing the main keel timbers once we locate the proper wood for the job.

03/04/2023

Lovric's Sea Craft is the marina/shipyard where our vessel Varua sat for many years before we aquired her.
We got her out of there in the nick of time as it turns out.
Of all of the many vessels that have visited or been associated with the yard, Varua is one of the few mentioned in the article.
It's a testament to her fame and the great affection that so many sailors have for her.

A Seattle-based company is bringing a new look to a long-time shipyard and marina in Anacortes.