Avenger
Rig: Gaff Schooner
LOA: 54'
LOD: 47'
LWL: 36'
Beam: 11' 4"
Draft: 6' 6"
Built: Second Peninsula Nova Scotia 1966
Major Rebuild 2001
Designer / Builder: David M. Stevens
Homeport: Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Built by David Stevens in 1966-67, AVENGER is one of three schooners built to the same half model. This was the only model David liked enough to build more than once though some “tweaking” was done in the building process so that the boats are not exactly alike. The others built to this model were SKYLARK, now SARAH ABBOT, and ATLANTICA, which was built at Expo ‘67 in Montreal.
AVENGER’S first owner was Dr. Ken Maclntyre, who was tragically lost off Kitchen Shoal Bermuda in the wreck of the ketch RAMONA. She was next owned by Tom Ling, of Ottawa, who sold her to her present owner, Tom Gallant. David always said that Dr. Ken had dreams of sailing to the tropics, so he would have liked what her present owner has done.
After “learning the boat”, Tom and his wife Melissa sailed her to the Caribbean in 1982. They chartered her in the St. Bart’s, St. Martin area that first winter, and sailed her home in the spring. This became their lifestyle for the next nine years when more that fifty thousand deep water miles passed under her keel. During this time, AVENGER sailed in many great races, including the Bequia Regatta (One trophy), the Opera House Cup in Nantucket, the Newport Classic Yacht Race (Special trophy) and the Mayor’s Cup Schooner Race in New York City (Two Trophies). AVENGER became a well known vessel in the East Caribbean, from the Virgins to the Grenadines, and was always successful in the charter trade.
AVENGER has seen more than her share of heavy weather, including a survival gale off Newfoundland in 1981 when she suffered three pitchpoles. All of this took a toll on her, and she has been under refit for the last few months (spring 2000). Not a single frame from the mainmast to the transom was found to be intact when the interior and ceiling were removed. She was staying together by force of habit. Lunenburgers arc hard to change once they’ve become set in their ways. Every frame has been replaced with new ones, laminated of two three quarter inch thick pieces of White Oak, steamed in and glued with 5200. She is being replanked in the stern with Wana, a tropical hardwood from Surinam, and her new sheerplanks will be of Angelique. All the new fastenings are silicone bronze. She will sail into the new millennium stronger than ever.
Rig: Gaff Schooner
LOA: 54'
LOD: 47'
LWL: 36'
Beam: 11' 4"
Draft: 6' 6"
Built: Second Peninsula Nova Scotia 1966
Major Rebuild 2001
Designer / Builder: David M. Stevens
Homeport: Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Built by David Stevens in 1966-67, AVENGER is one of three schooners built to the same half model. This was the only model David liked enough to build more than once though some “tweaking” was done in the building process so that the boats are not exactly alike. The others built to this model were SKYLARK, now SARAH ABBOT, and ATLANTICA, which was built at Expo ‘67 in Montreal.
AVENGER’S first owner was Dr. Ken Maclntyre, who was tragically lost off Kitchen Shoal Bermuda in the wreck of the ketch RAMONA. She was next owned by Tom Ling, of Ottawa, who sold her to her present owner, Tom Gallant. David always said that Dr. Ken had dreams of sailing to the tropics, so he would have liked what her present owner has done.
After “learning the boat”, Tom and his wife Melissa sailed her to the Caribbean in 1982. They chartered her in the St. Bart’s, St. Martin area that first winter, and sailed her home in the spring. This became their lifestyle for the next nine years when more that fifty thousand deep water miles passed under her keel. During this time, AVENGER sailed in many great races, including the Bequia Regatta (One trophy), the Opera House Cup in Nantucket, the Newport Classic Yacht Race (Special trophy) and the Mayor’s Cup Schooner Race in New York City (Two Trophies). AVENGER became a well known vessel in the East Caribbean, from the Virgins to the Grenadines, and was always successful in the charter trade.
AVENGER has seen more than her share of heavy weather, including a survival gale off Newfoundland in 1981 when she suffered three pitchpoles. All of this took a toll on her, and she has been under refit for the last few months (spring 2000). Not a single frame from the mainmast to the transom was found to be intact when the interior and ceiling were removed. She was staying together by force of habit. Lunenburgers arc hard to change once they’ve become set in their ways. Every frame has been replaced with new ones, laminated of two three quarter inch thick pieces of White Oak, steamed in and glued with 5200. She is being replanked in the stern with Wana, a tropical hardwood from Surinam, and her new sheerplanks will be of Angelique. All the new fastenings are silicone bronze. She will sail into the new millennium stronger than ever.
