The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Continued from page 17 and put his dream on hold for a few years. He worked for his father and played guitar in a rock band, in an effort to gather as much money as he could in order to begin his company. Everyone he talked to told him the idea would fail and there was no way of being successful in the ship building business. Fortunately, Ken refused to listen, going ahead and opening his business near Scarborough, Ont. He moved to his present location just east of Nestleton in 1990. irst job was restoring an old ‘Folkboat’, which he had purchased at a reasonable price. It took him sev- eral months and when it was finished it carried a price tag of $10,000. A father and son came in to view it and a deal was struck on the spot. The son, Tom, sailed the boat and became one of Ken’s best friends. To this day the two are still close, sharing the passion of sailing. Ken’s business developed steadily. Word of mouth was his best advertising and his craftsmanship was sec- ond to none. The business grew and now, after 27 years, Ken employs a staff of six skilled restoration specialists. His warehouse holds 80 boats, 40 of which are his own and are being restored to sell When interviewed last fall, Ken had just completed a 15 foot replica of a 1957 Peterborough; complete with a Johnson 35 horsepower outboard. The attention to detail is incredible and the boat is a piece of art. “It’s being shrink wrapped next week and shipped off to BC. J will never see her again,” Ken said, as he moved his fingers along the smooth surface of the cedar and mahogany planks. Ken has restored more than 300 boats in the 27 years he has been in business. Some of them have quite a Ken Lavalette stands proudly beside one of the restored vessels. The future for Ken Lavallette will be the same as the past; restoring boats. “I may slow down a bit but I will story. ‘Kitty Hawk’ is a 32 foot Gidley, which was built never stop. Maybe when I’m old I will go back to building models and playing with my grandkids, but for now, this is my life.” Visit Ken’s website at www.woodwindyachts.com By Jonathan van Bilsen Focus on Scugog in 1928 and was owned by Orville Wright. After Ken restored her she went to Georgian Bay, where she now enjoys her new owners. ‘Merenneito’ is a 35 foot racing sloop, built in Finland. She was purchased and raced by George Gooderham (Gooderham Distillers) and has recently been restored by Ken. Today she is back in Finland competing once again in international races ‘Chimera’ is the pride of the Port Credit Yacht Club. Built in Germany in 1962 Ken restored her in the early nineties, keeping only six pieces of wood and the ballast and keel from the original craft. A1959 Greavette mahogany launch, with the strange name “10 to 12”, was originally owned by radio and televi- sion personality Gordon Sinclair. Fully restored 10 years ago, she is still owned by the original family and has found a permanent home in the Muskoka Marine Museum. Ten of Ken’s boats are on Lake Scu- Photos by Jonathan van Bilsen gog. “I wish there were fifty,” he said, A detailed reproduction of a 1957 Peterborough made of mahogany and cedar, complete smiling. with an original Johnson 35 HP outboard was shipped to its new owner in Bt FOCUS - APRIL 2010 37