When I meet Yvonne Harwood at Steveston Coffee House on a bright Sunday morning I think at first she’s brought along a friend. But she’s merely been sharing the shade with a friendly stranger.
Upon closer inspection, I realize she has brought a friend, after all. A beautiful cream coloured pooch is at her side patiently panting in the heat. The dog’s name is, apparently, Bitsa.
“Yes, she’s bitsa this and bitsa that,” says Yvonne, grinning mischieveously.
In actuality, the dog’s name is Sasha, whom Harwood adopted from the Richmond Animal Protection Society six years ago and resides with Harwood and a cat named Shaka not far from Steveston. Cat and dog, living in perfect harmony? Well, not exactly.
“When I brought Sasha home the cat attacked her, just launched itself at her head,” says Harwood laughing.
Ironically, “The Lady with the Hat,” as she has been known in her capacity as a Richmond real estate agent for 27 years, is not wearing her chapeau on this fine day. And as the sun is baking, she nips in for an Americano coffee before we head to the pier in search of shade.
Harwood earned the nickname “Nipper” from her father, who grew up in Guernsey, a picturesque island off the coast of France belonging to the British Isles. Nipper is an old sailor term for shiphands, usually young boys, who would nip under the arms of the sailors hoisting the ropes to ensure everything was in place and not snagged on anything.
It’s apropos, as sailing is deep in Harwood’s paternal bloodline. Her great grandfather once had a fleet of five brigantines plying trade out of St. Peter Port.
Harwood got the “bug” of sailing at the age of 16. Later, when she moved with her husband, Gordon, to Australia in 1969 he decided he wanted to build his own sailboat to travel the world with her. There was only one small, tiny problem. Her husband didn’t sail.
“I don’t know if he’d even lifted a hammer before!”
It took five years to build the 42-foot fibreglass sailboat from scratch. Just as the two were set to depart on their adventure a family emergency in Canada caused them drop everything and sell the boat.
They built another boat on Gabriola Island in 1979-80, but while the boat wasn’t leaking, the marriage was; this time it was a divorce that cancelled the trip. Ironically, the man who hadn’t sailed before he met Harwood got the sailboat in the settlement.
However, the big adventure came in June of 1999 when Harwood left with her brother, Pierre, for a 27-month circumnavigation of the globe, touching the ports of 19 different countries.
The two endured a storm at sea, but nothing so tumultuous as a month after they returned home, when Pierre had a massive heart attack and passed away.
“That really knocked me about,” says Harwood, who was very close to her brother.
Shortly after his death, she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which took her away from major sailing expeditions. However, thanks to modern medicine, she’s in better health and is once against shopping for a sailboat.
Harwood moved to Richmond in 1988 after sailing to Hawaii and back with her boyfriend, Erik, and has called it home ever since, using real estate as a means to get to know the community.
“With some families, I’ve done business with three generations,” she says proudly.
Despite her worldliness, Richmond is her beloved home.
“I like Richmond because it’s so close to the water so we have sailing and river trails. And it’s flat so it’s good for cycling, too,” she says laughing.
With the coffee finished and Sasha trying to chase a pigeon from the pier I say adieu to Harwood — may she sail away again some day.
