About M/Y FAUN

Faun is a Blanchard Standardized Cruiser, built on Lake Union in Seattle, Washington, and launched in June, 1926 by the N.J. Blanchard Boat Company for W.N. Winter of Medina, Washington. She was named for Winter's wife, Faun Twelves Winter. She was designed by Leigh H. Coolidge. Her original purchase price was $6000. She was one of the most luxurious of the twenty-five or so of the 36’ Cruisers built by Blanchard, only a few of which survive today. Faun will soon celebrate her 100th birthday.

She was originally powered by a single Van Blerck gas engine, and since 1946 has been repowered three times, each time with a Chrysler Crown 6 cylinder 110 hp gas engine, most recently rebuilt in 1986. Average cruising speed is 8.5 knots.

Her hull is western red cedar, her frames are white oak, her keel is fir, and her brightwork and house are teak. She still has her original stove, a Neptune, originally wood-burning, now converted to kerosene.

Faun has had approximately sixteen owners over the years. By some miracle, none of them have ever changed her name, a rare thing for a vessel that has had so many ownership changes.

In WWII, she was painted battleship grey and put on patrol, almost certainly in Lake Union, as a member of a Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla. Traces of grey paint remain visible in obscure locations.

Her interior has been completely and beautifully refitted, and her exterior has been restored and is maintained in impeccable condition. In 2014, she completed a 15-month refit which included replacement of all the frames, ribs and planks below the waterline.

An award-winning yacht, she has several times placed among the winners in the Seattle Yacht Club Opening Day Parade: Classic Power Under 40’, including First Place; has twice been a member of the winning fleet in the Wilson Seamanship class in the Opening Day Parade; was awarded Best Overall Powerboat at the Victoria Classic Festival in 2014, and Best Dinghy in 2015.

Faun has been featured in several books and magazines, including 48 North Sailing Magazine (May, 2022), the book Classic Wooden Yachts of the Northwest by Ron McClure (2000). She was featured as Miss October in Benjamin Mendlowitz’s 2010 Calendar of Wooden Boats, and has graced the cover of Northwest Yachting Magazine. She is also the subject of a series of pastels by San Juan Island artist Nancy McDonnell Spaulding.

She is proudly owned and cared for by Michael J. Passage and Laura Stone Shifflette of Seattle, Washington, who have owned her for 25 years and are pleased to be her longest-term owners yet.

LOA: 36.2’ Beam: 9.15’ Draft: 3.3’