A classic arrives at Marina YE

The classic motor vessel Lara berthed at Marina YE is indeed a much travelled vessel. Built in Seattle USA in1948, the Ed Monk-designed, twin-engined Lara is a classic 42 foot Grandy Bridgedeck Cruiser.

The Grandy Boat Company of Seattle, established in 1903, was renowned for building vessels of Lara’s type. It is said that Grandy Boat Company customers were impressed by the quality, seaworthiness and speed of Grandy boats.

Lara’s owner Livio Andolfatto purchased Lara in Seattle and sailed her to Vancouver where she was loaded onto a cargo vessel and shipped to Australia.

Livio’s recollection of that journey from Seattle to Vancouver in wintertime is an amazing story. Despite encountering numerous engine problems, the storms with 30 knot winds that whipped up two-metre seas, the leaks that developed as a result of those storms and the logs in their hundreds, more like

telephone poles, that no-one told them about, Livio and Lara made it to Vancouver and ultimately to Australia.

Lara is in magnificent condition and now sits gracefully with the composure of a middle-aged woman at Marina YE.

Livio says she is like other girls – spend a bit of time and lots of money on her and she purrs.