Handmade timber yacht built on North Queensland cane farm set to sail again

From our ABC by By Cristy-Lee Macqueen 24 October 2024

Peter Jacob may have taken his final breath this year, but his daughter can still feel his spirit whispering through the sails of the 13-metre yacht he built by hand.

Jules Parker and Eugene Murphy are the new owners of the PEBS. (ABC News: Cristy-Lee Macqueen)

As Sabine Lambert climbs aboard the deck of the sunburnt orange PEBS, memories of her father building it in the 1970s surface.
"This was his dream," she said. "I think he got the idea when he came from Germany because he came from Germany on a boat."

It's been eight years since the PEBS last set sail and the yacht has been left to the elements in the muddy mangroves of Mackay in north Queensland. But there's life in the old ketch yet, and thanks to the dedication of an experienced sailor and his novice partner, it's destined for the open seas once again.

"I know nothing about sailing, but I do know about making stuff beautiful," new owner Jules Parker said. "I just want to do a sympathetic renovation of her as a vintage boat."

Blood, sweat and tears

The story of the PEBS harks back to 1955 when, at age 16 and unable to speak English, Peter Jacob arrived in Australia from East Germany and took up a fruit picking job in Melbourne. He was soon enticed up the east coast to the warmer climes of the Queensland tropics, which set him on course to find love, both on land and at sea.

"He cut [sugar] cane by hand on my grandfather's farm, hence how he met my mum," Ms Lambert said.

Peter Jacob built the PEBS by hand over a decade. (Supplied: Sabine Lambert)

The ocean kept calling and married with two young children, he bought plans to build an 11-metre Roberts Mauritius, which he lengthened another 2 metres.

"Dad bought a house, we demolished it as a family, and Dad built the hull with the timber from the house," Ms Lambert said.

While other kids were playing sport, Ms Lambert and her brother spent weekends by their father's side as he built his masterpiece over the next decade. She was a teenager when the boat was finally launched at Mackay Harbour in 1984. The yacht was named PEBS, an acronym for Peter, his wife Edna and children Barry and Sabine.

"Blood, sweat and tears have gone into the boat from the four of us," Ms Lambert said. "It's still standing today, 45 years later. The workmanship that he did was second to none. "Dad wasn't a welder, he wasn't a carpenter, he wasn't a mechanic, but he learnt. If it could be done, Dad would do it."

Sabine Lambert and Jules Parker at the wheel of PEBS. (ABC News: Cristy-Lee Macqueen)

Months spent at sea

Peter Jacob would often sail his labour of love to Airlie Beach by himself and take the family on extended trips up Australia's east coast.

"One that clearly is very vivid is our trip when I was 17, we went up to Princess Charlotte Bay [on Cape York Peninsula]. That's closer to Lizard [Island] than anywhere else," his daughter remembered. "I was with Mum and Dad on the boat for probably more than three months, and for me, those memories will never fade." Peter's final trip on the PEBS was to Airlie Beach in 2016 when he was 78. After that the unique orange ketch became run down and was moored alone in the muddy mangroves for several years in Mackay.

New life in an old boat

Unable to do the boat justice, his family sold it to Jules Parker and Eugene Murphy, who recently had it craned out of Barnes Creek in Mackay for restoration work.

"We're super excited. I used to drive past and it always looked like the boat that you drew as a child, you know, with the sails," Ms Parker said. "She's so beautiful."

Eugene Murphy with an original oil lamp below deck. (ABC News: Cristy-Lee Macqueen)

The couple has been in Airlie Beach for the past 18 months, where locals still remember the boat from its heyday.

"People said, 'Oh there was a guy who sailed up here in an orange ketch every year,'" Ms Parker said. "She's in beautiful working order. Peter did an amazing job of building her. She just needs a really beautiful tidy up and some love."

Restoration ahead of around-the-world adventure

Jules Parker looks over old maps of the Coral Sea. (ABC News: Cristy-Lee Macqueen)

The couple now plans to sail the PEBS around the world and has no intention of changing the yacht's distinctive orange colour. Eugene Murphy's focus is on the 80-horsepower diesel engine.

"Naturally aspirated like it is, it doesn't get much simpler. And to hear it just chug away, it's like a song. It's got a beautiful rhythm to it," he said. "It went out of construction 40 years ago … so it's an old tractor motor that just keeps going."

Honouring Peter's legacy

Jules Parker and Eugene Murphy plan to make the PEBS home once they finish the 12-month restoration project. Ms Parker said they would do their best to honour Peter, who died at the age of 86 in June 2024.

A copper kettle still sits on the stove below deck.  (ABC News: Cristy-Lee Macqueen)

"His gorgeous copper kettle, which we'll never get rid of, is down on the stove," she said.

They also plan to welcome Ms Lambert and her family aboard for future sailing adventures and trips down memory lane. Ms Lambert hopes the time will then come to finally spread her father's ashes.

"I'd like that. It's something that feels right," she said.