The
Polaris Jack
Story
A Lyle Hess Bristol Channel Cutter
A true classic, Polaris Jack is a 26' Bristol Channel Cutter designed by Lyle Hess and built in North Carolina. The BCCs are famed for their simple beauty and remarkable seaworthiness.
For most of her life, Polaris Jack was owned by a Charleston, S.C., pilot boat captain named A.O. Halsey. In the wake of A.O.'s death in 2008, his good friend George Heyward took ownership. Polaris Jack was moved to Bluffton, S.C.
In December of 2021, George passed the boat along to Jon with hopes that Polaris Jack would be loved and sailed. He sailed her south to the Bahamas for the winter, then north to Maine in the spring.
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For more info about Bristol Channel Cutters, click
The Legend of Pelorus Jack
Polaris Jack was named after a dolphin in New Zealand named Pelorus Jack--a Risso's dolphin famed for spending a quarter of a century guiding ships through dangerous waters. Near Nelson, New Zealand, Pelorus Jack would escort sailors from Pelorus Sound to French Pass and back.
The Captain & Crew
Or is it
the Crew & the Captain?
Meet Mavis, the best looking first mate on the coast. She's a sheep-chasing English Shephard who's logged plenty of miles aboard Polaris Jack. She can tie a bowline knot with one paw and is chief in charge of psychotherapy aboard (additional fees may apply).
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Captain Jon Keller grew up sailing on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, but quickly moved west where he spent 8 years as a backcountry guide and mule packer in Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness. In 2005, he earned an MFA from Boise State University, then moved to Downeast Maine, where he's lived ever since (when not living on a sailboat somewhere...), working as a writer, clam digger, and sternman aboard lobsterboats. In 2015, he was trained to be a NOAA At-Sea Monitor serving the offshore ground fish fleet in the Gulf of Maine--a job he quickly left. Check out below for links to some of Jon's writing.
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A novel...
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Some Maine Essays...
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Cold Water Coast, The Island Journal
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Old Salt, The Island Journal
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A Downeast River, The Island Journal
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A Couple Sailing Essays...
My First Cruising Boat, Cruising World Magazine
Once In a Blue Moon, Cruising World
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And One from Montana...
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Headwaters, American Cowboy Magazine
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The Harbor
The coast is not the coast; some places are special--they strike you when you enter. Eastern Harbor is one of those places, and it's not one you'd just stumble upon.
Halfway between Moosepeak Lighthouse and Petit Manan lighthouse--25 nautical miles east of Acadia National Park--Eastern Harbor is a traditional working harbor with no commerce save for the commercial fishing wharves.
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We're off the beaten path here, not yet trammeled by t-shirt shops and shoreline development--lost in time and hoping to stay that way.
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