Capt. Leif E. Knutsen, Designer & Owner

I started commercial fishing in Kodiak, Alaska in 1964. Through the '60s I continued to fish commercially off the Oregon and Washington coasts during the winter months and Alaska during the summer. During the off-seasons I would pick up the odd boat repair job. A farm upbringing endowed me with tool handling skills that proved helpful to a fledgling boat builder and my fishing experience taught me first hand to appreciate the extremes that my work would have to endure.

Through the 1970s, '80s and '90s I helped to raise a family, primarily working as a shipwright. First, for the Port Townsend Boat Works, then as a Founder of the Port Townsend Shipwright's Co-op. I remained with the Shipwright's Co-op for a twenty-year run as one of it's Directors. For the most part work at the Shipwright's Co-op consisted of repair and maintenance on many of the Pacific Northwest's commercial fishing vessels.

Years spent repairing the Pacific Northwest's commercial fishing fleet have taught me a great creativity in maximizing a vessel's usable footage. Constantly, during the process of repairing commercial fishing vessels, one is learning to respect what will work and what does not work under the pressure of the daily fishing routine in these, sometimes, treacherous waters. This experience has influence me deeply as a designer of vessels. It has taught me to adhere to three very important design principals: keep it simple, form follows function and every boat is a compromise.

Jack Beaton, Yacht Design

Born in 1951 in Vancouver, B.C. Jack has lived his entire life by the ocean. He started boating around the age of eight and has maintained a strong connection to the sea ever since. As a graduate of the Yacht Design Institute in Brooklyn, Maine, Jack started his design career with Samson Marine Design in Vancouver. He then transferred the skills learned there to the drafting/design department of SP Metalcraft, builders of the Amazon series of steel sailing vessels.

His next challenge was a unique opportunity to cruise and live aboard, as well as manage a large shipyard, in the British Virgin Islands. After a number of years there he was recruited back to Canada to help set up Coast Yacht Designs' very successful suite of yacht design software, AutoShip. A wonderful opportunity arose to join the team of Creative Systems, developers of GHS, the world's most recognized trim and stability software, in Port Townsend, Washington

It was while working at CSI that Jack had the opportunity to begin working as the chief designer for Capt. Leif Knutsen, then with the Port Townsend Shipwrights Co-op. A desire to return to Canada took him to Victoria to work with Albacore Research, another design software company that was developing plate expansion software called ShipCAM. At that point Jack set up his own independent design office. He has been living for the past 12 years in Victoria and working very closely with Bigfoot Marine in Port Townsend. He has designed and developed a number of successful boats—everything from a small plywood dinghy to our latest collaboration the lovely Townsend 47.

 

Capt. Leif E. Knutsen aboard Shadowfax