KALINDA on Cowan Creek, NSW in 2011, restored to its original condition.

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Kalinda

Vessel numberHV000463

Vessel Registration Number1950N

Builder Lars Halvorsen Sons Pty Ltd (1924 -)

Date1950

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 14.32 m x 13.72 m x 4 m x 1 m, 16 tonnes (47 ft x 45 ft x 13.12 ft x 3.28 ft, 15.74 tons)

DescriptionKALINDA was built at the Halvorsen's Ryde building shed and was job number 977. It was launched April 1950 and loaded aboard the cargo ship KANANGOORA on 3 May 1950, shortly after sea trials in Sydney Harbour where photos were taken for brochures of the 47 footers. It was accompanied on the ship to the USA by Carl Halvorsen and his family and landed in San Francisco on the west coast. In search of the Hollywood market, Carl and family motored the cruiser down the Californian coast to Long Beach and Newport. Carl sold the cruiser on 17th June, just one week after arrival. It was bought by Mr Cormier for $34,500 and named REIMROC V (Cormier backwards).

At an unknown date in the following years, it was bought by Ray Wilcox (originally from Reno and owner of the Washington Asphalt Company) with money won from a craps game. Its name was changed to HARDWAY- a craps' term. A legend was soon formed and passed on, declaring that the dice from that game were still rolling around in the bilge. The boat was housed in a boat house on Wilcox's property in Washington, but became run-down when Wilcox began to suffer from ill health. He later died and the vessel was repossessed by his family from a broker who had bought the cruiser but then defaulted on the payment.

The family then sold it in 1984 to Charlie Life, a shipwright in Seattle. He bought the boat to use as a live-aboard with his wife and two young boys. Life restored it and did a number of interior modifications such as creating a 'home office' in the front cabin and installing creature comforts including a furnace for the cold Seattle winters, a laundry, a trash compactor, a dishwasher and a cat flap!

In 1991, Nancy Bailey (a redhead) bought the boat and renamed it THE REDHEAD. Bailey lived aboard with her partner and her Maltese poodle. Bailey said 'I immediately changed the HARDWAY's name to THE REDHEAD (Yes, I'm a redhead). I joked that I'd done things "the hard way" all my life, and "redhead" had the same meaning to me as "hard way." The name change was the first of several a controversial decisions I made as Redhead's new skipper, such as installing a fabulous hot tub in the cockpit, and changing her canvas color to a rich, warm burgundy. I removed the ugly beige curtains and installed pleated shades. I furnished her sparse interior with antiques, installed lavish deep-pile mauve carpeting throughout. The ol' boys on the dock were appalled! Charlie took great umbrage with my changes! Imagine my audacity to change her style from "salty" to "elegant!" What uproar! You'd think I changed the smile on the Mona Lisa! After a year on Lake Union, living under a microscope, where everything I did on my boat was criticized and discussed, from chroming the ugly green painted scuppers on the bow deck to installing electronic ignition, I moved REDHEAD to Olympia in South Puget Sound. The Olympia slip was not covered, and I realized the upkeep would become labor-intensive, so I found a covered slip in Port Orchard, and moved my floating home once again. We were very happy there for the next three years. I even opened up my own Yacht Brokering firm, Bay Street Yachts, using the silhouette of my REDHEAD as the company logo.'

Bailey sold her beloved THE REDHEAD in 1995 when her partner decided he no longer wanted to live aboard. It was bought back by the Life family, renamed HARDWAY and owned firstly by eldest son James then sold onto younger son Paul. Both sons lived on the boat with their young families. In 2003 HARDWAY was bought by a pilot from Seattle, Jack Wilkes who swapped it with Paul Life for his Grand Banks 50. HARDWAY and the Grand Banks rafted up together in the middle of Lake Union and the owners tossed their belongings over the decks as they swapped boats.

In March 2007 it went on sale at Wolfe Marine, Seattle, and an Australian Halvorsen club member flew to Seattle for an inspection, then promptly secured it and began planning its shipping back to Australia. The new owner and his family met Jack and Nora Wilkes who told stories of their life aboard HARDWAY and their constant amazement at the welcoming committee that would form on the docks everywhere it went, mesmerized by its beauty, even without knowing the history of where it was from.

It was cruised for the last time in American waters across to Seaview East Boatyard where the shipping cradle was being made. The boat was fumigated and shrink wrapped and after plans fell through to ship it from Seattle, on 1 October 2007 the boat and the cradle were trucked on 2 separate trucks with police escorts in the middle of the night from Seattle to Vancouver. It was then loaded on top of hatch #2 of the Swire vessel PACIFIC FUTURE carrying bulk soda ash, and after a Pacific Ocean crossing arrived in Newcastle NSW on 12 November 2007.

The cruiser was offloaded by the stevedores with great care but as anticipated, was taking water after the long period aboard ship. With pumps, some drama and Water Police assistance it was escorted to a shipyard. Here it was serviced and prepared for a coast voyage on 3 December 2007, motoring down to Cottage Point NSW, a haven for many other Halvorsen craft.

Early in 2008 it was renamed KALINDA by the new owners, which is an Aboriginal woman's name meaning 'the sea' or 'a lookout'. This continued a Halvorsen tradition of naming a vessel with a woman's name and it fitted with its sister ship KUR-ING-GAI. Restoration began with the intention of returning the vessel to the original layout while ensuring structural work was done to commercial standards. The project included removing all the 'live-aboard baggage' that was added in the USA. The entire internal space including the bilges were stripped and restored. In July 2009 it received approval for the hull structure under USL Code Class 1E.

In the process of restoration, when the fuel tanks were removed in January 2011, the legendary set of dice from the craps game in the 1950's was found in the bilges, under the back cockpit.

SignificanceKALINDA is a bridge-deck cruiser designed and built by Lars Halvorsen Sons in Sydney 1950. It was one of the four 47 footers built by Halvorsens in that period as a speculative venture for export to the USA market. It was taken to the USA by Carl Halvorsen and was sold within one week of its arrival on the west coast. It remained in the USA until 2007 and had a colourful history of ownership during this period, with many of the owners living aboard with their families and pets. KALINDA is an example of the firm's high quality construction and fitout for their luxury craft which has become one of their hallmarks. It has now been restored in Australia and is in excellent condition.