s/v PickPocket is a canoe yawl designed by Wm. Garden and published in his 1977 book Yacht Designs. He traces its roots to George F. Holmes who is described as the father of the canoe yawl and Albert Strange who played a key role in developing the type. Mr. Garden’s Eel is a somewhat smaller and lighter interpretation of Holmes’ Eel. John MacGregor famously described his travels in a tiny canoe yawl in his book A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe. L. Francis Herreshoff’s “Rozinante” claims a similar ancestry.
So far, s/v PickPocket has participated in every Salish 100. She is home ported in Portland, OR, and makes frequent pilgrimages to the Salish Sea. Paul and Liz have owned and sailed her since about 2000. Although easy to sail, I figure in about another 10 years or so we will have learned how to sail her properly.
Construction #
Launched in 1981, Pick Pocket is one of about 15 Eels built by Schooner Creek Boatworks in Portland between 1977 and 1987. Open cockpit, flush-decked and cuddy cabin variations were built. She is cold-molded of layers of western red cedar and mahagony and carries ~400 lbs of lead in her shoe keel and a bit more in her centerboard and rudder.
Rig #
Pick Pocket is rigged as a yawl and carries a sliding gunter main which yields short spars for ease of trailering and make her easily manageable for single handing.