Mar 18, 2025

1936-2025

While growing up on the Skagerrak in Aalborg, Denmark, Bent Jespersen fell in love with boats, so at age 15, he started his four-year apprenticeship at the local shipyard—the largest business in town—where his dad, older brother and uncle were already employed. But in 1955, at age 19 and liking travel, he opted to emigrate to Canada as he “had enough money to get to Toronto,” he told me in an earlier interview. He did not stay there long, moving west, finding work at a tug-and-barge builder in New Westminster, then choosing a higher-paying carpenter job at a pulp mill in Port Alberni. There he met Dutch-born Jannie and they launched their 68-year marriage. The couple subsequently moved to Sidney, BC where Bent spent from 1962 to 1971 working as a boat builder at Philbrook’s Boatyard. Then, still having a yen for travel and adventure, he accepted a UN offer to teach boat design/building in Akosombo, Ghana, so he and Jannie packed up their four children and Bent spent 18 months teaching Ghanaian fishermen to build dory-type 24-26ft canoes that could be constructed without machinery.

Returning to Sidney, he rejoined Philbrook’s as a foreman, but the company’s focus changed to fibreglass construction and Bent wished to continue working with wood. When a local physician ordered a one-off, wooden boat, Bent took on the assignment and founded his own company: Jespersen Boatbuilders.

Many of the one-design boats the firm has built have used the specialized, cold-moulding process, in which laminated, crisscrossed layers of wood create a hull that is strong, stiff, lightweight, and resistant to worms and other pests. Modern epoxy resins (unheated, hence the name “cold moulded”) bond the wooden layers together creating a composite that doesn’t absorb water, swell or leak. It’s labour-intensive, traditional wooden boat building using modern materials.

The company’s list of one-off designs is impressive. Jespersen built the Laser designer Bruce Kirby’s six- and eight-metre sailracers, classic Baltic traders, a Peterson-designed 41-foot offshore racer, cruising sailboats, schooners, pilot boats, and a fleet of other powerboats, sailboats and dinghies. The late naval architect Bill Garden liked the firm’s work and often sent customers Jespersen’s way.

Boating was a family affair and the six Jespersens sailed a Herreshof 28, cruising around Vancouver Island. Son Eric caught the sailing/racing bug early, eventually competing on Canada I in the America’s Cup; Bent and he helped modify Canada I into Canada II for the subsequent contest. As a father-and-son team, Bent and Eric built a Star and eventually Eric medalled in the Barcelona Olympics in that class.

Bent retired in 1994 and he and Jannie travelled widely. Eric continues to run Jespersen Boatbuilders, constructing one-offs and revitalizing older wooden boats.

In November 2024, Bent received the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Maritime Achievement with Eric accepting the medal on his ailing father’s behalf. Bent leaves his wife Jannie, four children, ten grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and a second-generation boatyard with a sterling reputation.

Marianne Scott