Dear PTMTA subscribers, I am taking an editorial liberty by creating this personal post.

In case you happened to read the latest Working Waterfront WBF issue of which there are some 15000 copies printed, you will have seen an article I wrote about Leah Kefgen and Best Coast Canvas. I am an amateur writer at best but what they printed was my early draft I first presented when encouraged to submit an article. From that draft I learned what was working and what not, thanks to a few friends and then feedback from the Leader’s new editor Meredith Jordan.

After submitting a rewritten article with corrections and having it accepted with a thumbs up, someone at the Leader used the first draft instead and then renamed my article, “A Touch of Trades Leads to Canvas”. (???) I would never be that clueless about my trades community!

As a record of our stories and local features and to set an error right, I am posting the story that was supposed to be printed in the August 28, 2024 Working Waterfront. It is both similar and very different from what was actually published and can key one into the writing process if you are inclined. My only advice is to never send out anything you aren’t sure is what you want printed. I met the Leader’s deadline which gave me little time to write but I should never have shared a draft before it was ready. Lesson learned.

Below is the article that was supposed to be published.

More than meets the eye  –  by Ashlyn Brown

It’s a good thing we have a blanket term like Marine Trades to cover a vast array of disciplines, including some that are difficult to define with a singular label. The individuals who carve a living out of this industry possess layer upon layer of skills learned either on the job or at boat school, while sailing around the world or commercial fishing, or a combination of all these and more. Every one of them has a history that defines their craft and how they approach it. Job titles like Shipwright, Machinist, Sail Maker or Rigger, are just a few examples where, “the many apply to the one.”

For Leah Kefgen of Best Coast Canvas, answering to a narrow job description gives her pause. “I guess I think of myself as a soft-wear engineer,” She says with a smile. It may be a play on words but line, sail cloth, and canvas, are all essentially soft materials and engineering-level 3D thinking is required to create well made rigging, sails, dodgers, and yes, wearable goods like her durable marine canvas gear and outerwear.

Leah grew up in the San Juan Islands on boats. She learned traditional seamanship on tall ships in Scandinavia as a teen and has continued to log sea miles since. She has been employed and trained as a sailmaker and has built ship’s rigging for movies. She studied and mastered canvas dodger construction and frame bending for sailboat cockpit shelters but she hasn’t stopped there. Her pathway to the present demonstrates how diverse but related skills learned add up.

Ocean sailors inevitably absorb problem solving skills and a make-it-yourself practicality. Hence, when unable to find a type of sailor’s smock she liked, Leah made one inspired by garments worn during her tall ship days. Fellow sailors and her canvas customers loved it. Encouraged, she embarked on a new voyage designing and constructing durable marine wear, using natural fabrics stitched as fastidiously as she might a cockpit dodger stretched drum-tight over a frame.

Understanding what sailors need to withstand the elements informs the design work and material choices are motivated by her love and respect for the sea, striving to protect it within the scope of her work.
“Mariners wore natural fiber clothing for hundreds of years,” Leah explains, “Now there are fabric mills that produce natural fiber fabrics that have made huge strides in developing waterproofing technology.” Specifically Fluorocarbon free. “So, it’s bringing back something ‘old-school’ but with a modern approach.”

Why is this important? Consider the micro plastics contaminating our oceans globally, 16-35% of which come from synthetic textiles. “I don’t see the big brands doing anything to solve the problem,” Leah notes. She is challenging that norm as well as that of offshore production, “To manufacture in a tiny (American) town is even more unique.”

Even though her waxed canvas garments lined with wool have garnered the attention of big brands, she decided against any partnership that might dilute her brand and high standards. She designs for different body types and will customize for individuals in a way that corporate “unisex” styling does not. With a tenacity inherited from her mother, an Alaska fisherman, knitter and weaver, Leah’s work pays homage to her strong Norwegian “foremothers and their tradition of gender equality.”

While running a business working on projects ranging from rigging a viking ship to sewing hardy work aprons & tool bags, Leah continues to learn other trades, including traditional lapstrake boat building.  She passes her skills on to the next generation by teaching marlinspike* classes. (*working with rope, knot tying & splicing). She has customized her large, open workspace with massive work tables, and shelves stocked with goods & materials. The location is in the Armory Building at Port Townsend’s Point Hudson, significant for its 85 years of continuous maritime use.  For Leah personally, the building represents 25 years of learning from master trades people before her and finding a unique niche for herself.

Being a woman owned business is significant for Leah, as is a responsibility to make ethical and environmentally sound choices. She works with other small and local businesses, making Best Coast Canvas part of our collaborative maritime economy. This practice has built Port Townsend’s maritime culture for many decades; one of local trades people working together.

When asked about her core work ethic, Leah echoed something else often seen with our marine trades, “I take an artisan approach to consumable goods and I see myself being part of a new industrial revolution with the effort towards an economy that supports its people.” Through her work on rigging, marine canvas, or her unique garments, Leah seeks to make a positive impact in small circles with potential ripples outward. “Getting high-fived at the grocery store by customers wearing my products,” she adds, ” That’s the ultimate feeling of fulfillment.”

*author: Ashlyn Brown owns Port Townsend Watercraft with boatbuilder Russell Brown and is an advocate for the local marine trades and working waterfront.

Photo by Ashlyn Brown

photo by Ashlyn Brown