Site Navigation:

Site Search:

Looking for more? Search for Articles on the Nauticapedia Site.

The Sailing Yacht Tiffany

by Yvonne Higgs 2018

Tiffany I

The Tiffany (Photo from the John MacFarlane collection.)

In 1961 Pelagic Pacific built a sailboat mould and laid up 4 or more hulls on it. They were 10.36m x 3.23m x 1.49m (34.0’ x 10.6’ x 4.9’) but were 40’ (loa). She was powered by a 38bhp diesel auxiliary engine.

Some of the boats were finished as sloops, and two as ketches. The Tiffany, finished at Philbrook’s boatyard in Victoria as a ketch, with the aft mast mounted directly above the rudder post. We always laughed and said it could be a ketch or a yawl and named it our ‘yetch’. She had a center cockpit, aft cabin. She was rigged with foresail, loose footed jib beam, main rolled on to the beam, small mizzen sail and provision for an ‘aap’ (monkey sail) between the main and mizzen.

The boat was originally named Tiffany, but the second owner let the name registration lapse when he purchased the boat and renamed it Nordlys. The third owner reverted to Tiffany on registration but as that name was in use for another registered power boat, she took the name Tiffany I. My husband, Dave Higgs, and I purchased the Tiffany I from Janet Thibodeau on March 6th 1992 and were the fifth owners. After my husband died in May 2002, I sold the boat to Dennis Hudson in Comox, where it is still docked.

Tiffany I

The Tiffany (Photo from the Yvonne Higgs collection.)

In 1963–1977 she was owned by David Angus, Victoria BC. In 1978–1979 she was owned by David A. Oliver (MO), Saanichton BC. In 1980–1988 she was owned by William B. Sampson (MO), Victoria BC. In 1989–1992 she was owned by Janet L. Thibodeau, West Vancouver BC. In 1993–2003 she was owned by Yvonne Higgs, Comox BC. In 2004 she was owned by Jacinthe A. Trottier, Simcoe ON. In 2011–2018 she was owned by Jacinthe Trottier and Dennis Hudson, Comox BC.

Tiffany I

The Tiffany (Photo from the Yvonne Higgs collection.)

The interior layout in the main cabin was, on descending the steps, a U–shaped galley on the left, then a diesel stove. In the center part of the U, was an insulated cold box running some length out under the port side cockpit seat. On the right, a chart table with drawers, radio equipment, radar and Loran mounted above. A bunk on both port and starboard sides, a center folding table butted against the mast. Forward of the mast on the left, the head, with basin. On the right a hanging locker. Further forward a V berth bunk with a bath tub under the left side of the bunk. A roof hatch located centrally allowed one to sit in the bathtub and look out the hatch! It was simple to rig a solar heated water bag from the loose footed gib beam to deliver hot water into the bathtub for a shower. The aft cabin held a double bed narrowing slightly as it went aft. The person sleeping on the starboard side had very little head room!

Tiffany I

Dave Higgs, my daughter and myself (Yvonne Higgs), sailing the Tiffany, taken between Goose Spit and Sandy Island, Comox about 1997. (Photo from the Yvonne Higgs collection.)

Tiffany I

The famous Tiffany diamond spinaker Tiffany (Photo from the Yvonne Higgs collection.)


To quote from this article please cite:

Higgs, Yvonne (2018) The Sailing Yacht Tiffany. Nauticapedia.ca 2018. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Tiffany.php

Nauticapedia

Site News: April 17, 2024

The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 92,205 vessel histories (with 15,628 images and 13,173 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters). The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,616 entries (with 4,013 images).

In 2023 the Nauticapedia celebrated the 50th Anniversary of it’s original inception in 1973 (initially it was on 3" x 5" file cards). It has developed, expanded, digitized and enlarged in those ensuing years to what it is now online. If it was printed out it would fill more than 300,000 pages!

My special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into a semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.

Also my special thanks to my volunteer content accuracy checker, John Spivey of Irvine CA USA, who has proofread thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 11,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.

© 2002-2023