Hi! My name is Eden Murray, great great grand niece to Allen and Sharie Farrell. Since 2022, I've had the most profound pleasure of being China Cloud's steward. Since acquisition, my dad (a shipwright) and I with the help of many friends have slowly but surely been putting in the work of continuing her restorations. The amount of work it took Allen and Sharie to keep up this tidy and immaculate salty abode was a full time job, and thus the lifestyle continues.
These two, Allen & Sharie, are the people that built China Cloud, and all her predecessors on the beaches of Coast Salish Territory. If you'd like to learn more about their incredible lives, a quick google search or a jont to our website will tell you more! China Cloud being their last boat was launched in 1982; a unique 40' wooden junk rig vessel made with hand tools on Lasqueti island.
Like these beloved humans, I too am an artist. I have been putting off asking for financial help to save this precious wooden vessel properly, so that I can offer my lino prints depicting her in return for your generous contributions. One day this will happen, but for now we have oh so many China Cloud projects that I really need your help!
With your help since the spring, we have successfully kept the fresh water rain out with a boat cover until decks and cabin tops are restored down the road. We also finished our annual painting just in time! These are huge! Now that she is protected for the winter months, we can move onto phase two: rigging!
On the new to do list: Fresh battens to replace the rotten ones, new line to redo rigging, fresh coats on the masts, and a complete new suite of sails and handmade blocks to replace broken ones and sun-rotten/teared tanbark. A wonderful part of this project, is that it is truly a communal effort and skill share. I have been collecting educational support from a generous local sailmaker on Quadra Island and sailmakers in Port Townsend, Including Carol Hasse and Emiliano Marino from The Artful Sailor. Once I have the funds for sail material and wood for battens, my dad and I will be well on our way to getting her sailing again! Other things we hope to do this year include buying a new battery to run the bilge pump, buy new foam for redoing interior cushions and mold proofing them, and perhaps even start on a dory rebuild! Aa lot of things to do though I am so much more hopeful of continuing to be able to steward this vessel for many years, with your help.
We are now onto phase 2 of the fundraiser, gearing up to Samhain on November 1st, the 3rd anniversary of when we received the boat and first sailed her home. Join us in celebrating by meeting our October goal of $500! Or share to help us meet it!
We are always open to support working on the boat and material donations also. A list of things we are looking for can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15QEXpDzs5k3sQhmrQmUKYB90l0n2qykAPFivJhTl4uQ/edit?tab=t.0
All of this is happening to keep this relic alive and to one day offer the space to artists as a residency program and group workshop experience while going on wee little sailing trips. The dreams are big, and we need your help in making them happen.
When my dad and I first sailed away with her from Sooke to Esquimalt, I lit a fire and offered some sage I was gifted in a pink pouch to the woodstove's flame. The felt sense of Allen and Sharie were there with me those first few months, along with this unshakeable feeling that this vessel is meant for more than myself and my family, but an extended kin of folks to visit and find home within her embrace. The project of making home for myself, and soon space enough for others to experience the art of sailing and taking time with wind and salt and wild meadows via week long trips is the steady goal. Let's make it happen! First task-prevent further rot complete. Next up, get her wings back on. <3
You can read more about the vessel, and restorations we have done so far on my website here:
Email me with any and all questions!
xo
Eden & Family
ft. slick lines after a month on the hard doing hull restorations and painting <3
First photo credit to Dag Goering from the cover of 'Sailing Back in Time'.
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Organizer and beneficiary
Hans Murray
Beneficiary