by Emily Greenberg

Journal reporter

Two big people and one big dog are puttering around the islands this month on a 13-foot, restored, 1950 vintage ski boat.

The Big Dipper, the only “pocket yacht” of its kind, is Jeff and Linda Patterson’s pride and joy, their window to the world, so to speak, and a venture in adaptability.

“Flexibility is really important for us,” Jeff Patterson said. “We want to see a lot of places and do a lot of things, but we don’t want to put a lot of money into it.”

The Pattersons rescued the Big Dipper in 1998. It sat on a trailer off the street, full of planted Azaleas. They bought the boat for $50, planted the flowers in their yard and began restoring the boat.

Step back in time to 1978 where Jeff was on the verge of entering architectural school. That year he and his father came to the San Juan Islands on a sailing trip. A broken engine and a stop-over in Friday Harbor would change his life forever.

Patterson apprenticed under yacht designer Jay Benford whose philosophy was to design boats that were affordable to maintain and own. However, he went on to study criminology and became a reserve officer in the islands before returning to Oregon and finding the Big Dipper.

Somewhere along the way, Linda and Jeff got married and in the early 2000s returned to the islands, where the Big Dipper functioned as a crabbing boat. Over the years Jeff became a sheriff’s deputy on Orcas and Lopez and Linda worked as a dental hygienist. Now semi-retired, the Pattersons presently enjoy a life of travel, creativity (she’s an artist and writer, he’s a potter) and construct small pond yachts in Ashland, Ore.

At this year’s Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend, they happened upon a tiny boat like theirs, but this one had a cabin top. Jeff went to work immediately designing and building a cabin for the Big Dipper.

“I built it in eight weeks and lost 20 pounds,” he said. “We wanted to get it done so we could have some time out on the water this fall.”

And so they have it. The tiny boat relaunched three weeks ago and was then trailered up to the San Juans behind their pickup truck, which, as far as pickups go, is tiny, too. Even though the Pattersons stand tall, he at 6-foot 5-inches, she at 5-foot 10-inches and their dog Polly weighs about 85 pounds, there are no plans for a bigger boat.

The beauty of the boat is that the Pattersons don’t have to drive it in the water to get to wherever they are going, and they’re happy to camp on land or sea. The San Juans, Alaska, Lake Tahoe, the Columbia and Snake rivers – there are big plans for this little boat.

“If you’re in a small boat and it’s raining with a dog and you’re not getting along,” he said, “you’re really not getting along. Everything you do has to be with the other person’s best interest at heart.”