Lynn Bolkan: A Unique, Brilliant Individual
This is how a friendship that would last for almost 50 years began.
We were told that Lynn was an excellent mechanic, so we contacted him by radio only to be told that it was his birthday, and he did not work on his birthday. However, since we were behind schedule getting back to the U.S., Lynn agreed that if we would sail the boat back to the harbor, he would look at it.
Betty and I first met Lynn and his wife, Deloris, in 1983 when we were cruising Expectation in the Sea of Cortez and developed engine problems. We were in the islands north of La Paz and within VHF radio range of the fleet there.
In 1966, Lynn had been a logger in Oregon, when his house burned down. He and his wife, Deloris, decided they wanted a better life and contemplated moving to Australia. They visited Australia, stopping on the way in Hawaii, Tahiti and New Zealand where they observed cruising boats and a life that had great appeal.
Australia was expensive, and it was tough to find employment. They returned to Oregon and began building a sailboat to explore the world with their family. No problem that neither one of them knew how to sail or even the first thing about sailboats, there were books on the subject after all. So in 1971 Deloris took a hospital job and Lynn continued logging as they started construction of a 65-foot ferro-cement yacht which they named Endless Summer. Deloris headed South to cruise the Sea of Cortez. A pattern developed whereby we would sail Expectation from late October until May, and Lynn would come to the boat wherever we had left it each fall, complete a list of repairs and improvements, and get the boat ready for our arrival.
It was all pretty routine until the first summer we left the boat in Panama. Knowing how damp their summers were, I had gone to the Panama Canal free zone to buy a dehumidifier to keep the boat dry while it was at the dock in Colon. Dehumidifiers were out of stock, so I made a deal with another sailor to buy one when they were back in stock and install it. The sailor misunderstood and bought and installed a humidifier so by the time Lynn arrived at the boat it was so damp inside that there was green mold everywhere, the doors and drawers were swollen shut and Expectation was uninhabitable. Remarkably Lynn had everything in perfect shape by the time Betty and I arrived in Panama.
At that time, Colon, Panama, was one of the most dangerous cities in the Western Hemisphere and the only safe place was the heavily fenced and guarded area around the Panama Canal Yacht Club. On our third day there, the four of us went to a nearby restaurant for dinner. As we were walking down the road to the yacht club gates, two men with knives started chasing us. Providentially, a guard at a container yard saw our predicament and fired his pistol into the air and scared off our attackers. They had gotten close enough to me, since I was bringing up the rear, that the guard asked if I had been cut!
After that, Betty and I would call a cab to the yacht club if we had an errand to do and the driver insisted Betty stay in the car with the windows closed while I went into a shop. One day the yacht club phone was out so I decided the only way to get a cab was to get out on the main street, which I did after taking off my watch and turning the pockets of my shorts inside out to prove I had no valuables and was not worth robbing.
One day, we were sailing across the Sea of Cortez next to Endless Summer and, being an old racing sailor, I realized that Lynn’s sails were as beautifully cut as fine racing sails. Knowing his budget was limited I called in on the radio and asked him where he had gotten them. Lynn said he had made them himself. When I asked him how he could do this without a sail loft or any experience his reply was “I read a book.” Lynn was so smart that I’m sure he could build a computer if he had a book and a few crude parts.
Lynn and Deloris continued their annual fall overhaul and upgrade for all twelve years Betty and I had the boat and, in addition, we had some wonderful shoreside adventures including a visit to the ruins of Tikal in Guatemala, traveling together to explore St. Lucia, and many other exotic places.
Our final adventure was Carnival in Trinidad after which they sailed Expectation on its final voyage (under our ownership) back to Fort Lauderdale to be donated to a charitable sailing organization for student training. Lynn and Deloris extended our cruising enjoyment by several years.