As work was winding down for the day and the hand tools went back to the storage and workbench area, I asked Rankins about his company’s niche, as it covers a lot of territory, from teaching to serving small-boat artists, cruisers and nonprofits with traditional vessels. “I worked at big sailing events with boats that came with a lot of money and just wanted to win, win, win,” Rankins replied. “But I also saw cruisers, young people, couples with kids, singlehanders and competitors that had no backup of any type.”
The Rankins on their 1936 spidsgatter. Photo by Dieter Loibner
loft to stay small and fun and was great about me coming and working when I could,” said Kays, who took up sail making because she “loved boats and wanted to do something useful, producing something.” When she’s not working in the sewing pit or repairing huge workpieces like the heavy Norlam- mainsail of a 96-foot Sparkman & Stephens motorsailer, Kays runs the Schooner Martha Foundation with her husband, shipwright Robert D’Arcy. It’s a nonprofit that offers sail training vacations for families and youth aboard the 1907-built, B.B. Crowninshield-designed vessel of the same name. “Teaching and mentoring, which has been part of my work on Martha, still challenges me,” Kays noted. “I show apprentices what works for me and let them figure out their own solutions.”
Figuring out solutions is also part of the job for Inger Rankins, Sean’s Norwegian wife of nearly 30 years, who runs the canvas portion of the business. “I like big boat covers; they are very satisfying for me,” she says. Like her husband, she relishes variety. She learned at a canvas shop in town that only dealt with sailboats, but when she went into business for herself, she started to make powerboat covers and interior and exterior cushions. Inger’s reasoning? “It’s fun to do different things instead of the same stuff over and over again.”
Sean Rankins at work. Photo by Dieter Loibner
112 | The Report • June 2021 • Issue 96
She met Sean in Greece on a ferry while crossing the Meltemi-tossed Aegean Sea as most other passengers were feeding the fish courtesy of mal de mer. They lost contact but ran into each other by coincidence years later at the central train station in Munich, Germany, with Sean recognizing Inger’s colorful wool pullover that she had been knitting on that ferry trip. Both were globetrotters, Inger often traveling with her sister, while Sean worked as a sailmaker for North at big regattas. Before the Internet and social media, they kept in touch by writing letters, arranging to meet in different places around the world, but serendipitously ended up in Port Townsend in 1989. They have called it home ever since. In their leisure time they sail their 1937 spidsgatter Cito or the iconic little double ender Havhesten (Norwegian for sea horse), which they imported from Norway.
One of these unsupported racers, the late Mike Plant, left a deep impression
on Rankins. He met Plant and his self-built Open 50 Airco Distributor during the Sydney stopover of the 1986/87 BOC Challenge. “Everyone had an army of people around and lots of money, but Mike had nobody and was just trying to get on. I always was attracted to those people and wanted to work for them. And that’s what happened when I came to Port Townsend. There were people who were getting boats together to go off and realize their dreams.”
After 45 years of building sails, Rankins’ commitment is still obvious to anyone who makes it past the ground floor of the Westrem Building to climb the steps that lead to the quiet refuge of Northwest Sails and Canvas.
This article was originally published on the Soundings website
https://www.soundingsonline.com and is republished here with our thanks.
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