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Hi guys,

LEZAH does not have a hull number that I am aware of, as the hull was imported by JJ Taylor in 1959 to be completed in Toronto for Hazel Morris and her husband. If I had to guess, I would say that she was one of the very first off the line back in the O'Day. Both were avid yachting people and raced out of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto . They wanted something smaller for Hazel to skipper and the Dolphin provided all the numbers (including a high handicap) to allow her to be successful when competing. Taylor went on to parlay his fibreglass experience into a successful truck company in Unicell after building the Canadian version of the Contessa.

LEZAH (Hazel spelled backwards) was launched in 1960, powered by a 1959 Palmer 6 hp gas single cylinder engine. I can only imagine how classic her lines looked when new. Since then she has seen a lot of wear and tear, breaking loose from her berth a few decades ago in a storm and smashing up against a concrete pier. That damage and the other cracks will soon be less visible as my guy completes the refinishing of the decks and coach roof. I was probably well past the "worth" of the boat when I bought her, but I'm now in the "unrecoverable" area. I'm hoping she'll last another 40 or more years that I have left to sail her in the North Channel, where she'll be berthed in Kagawong, Manitoulin Island. She's never seen salt water, and now she never will; I had hoped at one time to sail her down the St. Lawrence to Port Aux Basques Newfoundland to visit friends. I'll have to find another boat for that passage.

LEZAH is heavier than the later Dolphins I imagine as she was hand-laid up fibreglass an inch thick in spots. So she would have handled ocean-going much more capably than her size would suggest (as you boys in San Francisco and Buzzard's Bay would attest).

From the second and third pics you can see the three bronze opening ports (pictures coming) that I purchased from a foundry in BC through Dowsar Marine in Hamilton ON, but you can find a similar though costlier product at New Found Metals in Washington. The original port hardware was aluminum and was replaced by the second owner, who worked with aluminum. He extruded seven god-awful rectangular portlight frames that cast great light below decks, but made the boat look like a bad home-built - especially the portlight on the front of the coach roof. That one is now gone, and LEZAH will never leak from bashing head-on into waves again. Belowdecks will remain sparse. She retains a v-berth and two aft berths that are crude plywood construction, but enough to get a night's sleep on. She still has a head, but I will have to replumb it to include a waste tank as the original design just dumped the waste overboard. I repowered LEZAH with a 7 hp BMW engine that I had a guy rebuild though V12 Engineering in Northern Ontario.

I hope to be sailing again in the late spring as the North Channel remains hypothermic cold until late May/early June...but who knows with the global temperature rise. On that subject, make a point of watching Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Regardless of your politics, I think sailors will find this concerning.

And one last word in this lengthy email...I'd like to express my condolences to the Gainey family for the loss at sea of Laura. She was crewing on the Picton Castle, a square-rigged barque recently out of Nova Scotia. Laura's dad, Bob Gainey, is a Canadian hockey hero from the 70's and early 80's, having won 5 Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadians. She and the family had overcome so much. My thoughts are with them.

Best regards in the upcoming holiday season,

Chris Vandersteen

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