the queen of kensington › december 2006 › a living history › edmonton

A 32-year-old dream passed from one owner to another as a prairie-landlocked ocean-going sailboat was freed from a property in northwest Edmonton.

When area neighbours saw a crane suddenly move into place, they called out the media.

The boat, dubbed by CTV Edmonton as The Queen of Kensington, was hoisted from its backyard berth on December 12th, 2006 and placed on a coast-bound carrier.

CTV's Sheldon Larmand was at the scene, but crime reporter David Ewasuk provided the prose and post-production voice-over for Edmonton television viewers.

You're not looking at the latest footage from some tropical storm. You're actually witnessing slow progress on what some said was an idea that would never float.

Raise your hand – anyone who's seen this vessel ... sometimes being built, mostly rusting ...

... hopelessly beached in a back yard near 134th A Avenue in Kensington.

Larmand: "Can you tell me how long do you remembering it being there?"

Kid: "A long time."

Old Man: "Since 67 when I come here it was there."

A lot of people don't remember the sixties.
Perhaps building a boat in a back yard seemed like a brilliant idea.

But it sat for so long that it went from just being landlocked to becoming a landmark.

Man: "Even when we moved here I asked someone at work where we moved, he said 'Oh is that where that big boat is?' "

At times during its big lift out of the backyard it all looked like a scene from one of those Disney movies where a kid saves a whale.

The original homeowner and boatbuilder sold the property – boat and all.

Now the new skipper sees snow tires for now – salt water just ahead.

New owner: "It's the beginning of a new adventure, a new journey."

Word is the Queen of Kensington will be trucked to the B.C. coast to see if the dream really holds water.

David Ewasuk, CTV News, Edmonton.

The boat was originally built by local musician and businessman Eddy Bayens.

Construction started in 1974 with original classic Dutch plans amended to a ferro-cement design.

At the last minute, the build medium was changed to fibreglass.

The boat's colours were inspired by a scheme once used by Pacific Western Airlines.

During construction, many kitchen pots and pans were sacrificed as lead recovered from wheel-alignment shops was melted and poured into the ship's keel.

The family's back yard was also sacrificed for over three decades to the Dutch boatbuilder's dream – who sometimes referred to the craft as the Dory Funk.

Neighbours, who put up with years of the sound of hull-grinding, regarded the fish-out-of-water sea vessel as a conversation starter and a convenient landmark by which to direct friends and relatives along Kensington's twisty main thoroughfare.

Now the 'Queen' is gone. Perhaps residents will now say, "Turn left where the boat used to be."

The new owner said he planned to take the boat through Canada's Northwest Passage.

After surviving thirty-two years of Alberta winters, the Dory Funk will surely be up to the test.

edmonton - a living history - the queen of kensington