Vol. 25, No. 4 - Traditional Small Craft Association
Vol. 25, No. 4 - Traditional Small Craft Association
Vol. 25, No. 4 - Traditional Small Craft Association
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The<br />
Ash Breeze<br />
Journal of the <strong>Traditional</strong> <strong>Small</strong> <strong>Craft</strong> <strong>Association</strong>, Inc.<br />
<strong>Vol</strong>. <strong>25</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 4<br />
Winter 2004 - $4.00<br />
In This Issue:<br />
The Lady Returns Home<br />
The Canadian Canoe Museum • In France, 2004<br />
Jetty Island • From the Shop Floor<br />
Croisière Loire, France • Tribute to One<br />
Youth, Wood Shavings & Dories, A Formula with a Future<br />
Ensuring a Future for the John Gardner Grants
The Ash Breeze<br />
The Ash Breeze is the quarterly journal of<br />
the <strong>Traditional</strong> <strong>Small</strong> <strong>Craft</strong> <strong>Association</strong>,<br />
Inc. It is published at 1557 Cattle Point<br />
Road, Friday Harbor, WA 98<strong>25</strong>0.<br />
Communications concerning membership<br />
or mailings should be addressed to:<br />
P.O. Box 350, Mystic, CT 06355.<br />
www.tsca.net<br />
<strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>25</strong> Number 4<br />
Editor<br />
Dan Drath<br />
drathmarine@rockisland.com<br />
Contributing Editor<br />
John Stratton<br />
President’s Message<br />
We welcome a couple of new chapters into the organization. One is in California<br />
and another is in Maine. Several more chapters are organizing in Michigan and<br />
Missouri. I especially envy those Chapters operating in warmer climates right now.<br />
As I write this my season is winding down with winter settling in. However the<br />
camaraderie and friendships of my own chapter’s monthly meetings help keep my<br />
blues away and satisfy my watercraft interest through the winter. The programs and<br />
speakers at these meetings really get people to come out and share their current<br />
projects, interests and plan future outings. I mention this to encourage people to<br />
participate in a chapter if possible. It’s amazing the friendships that are made, the<br />
talents discovered and the enjoyment of talking and participating with fellow small<br />
craft enthusiasts.<br />
If not near a chapter, consider starting one. All that’s needed are 5 people to<br />
officially have a chapter. Don’t have 5? Start with whatever you can and more will<br />
join. Chapters tend to be informal, sometimes to a fault. Yet informality seems to<br />
work the best. If you lack for ideas, contact other chapters and they’ll gladly tell you<br />
what works for them.<br />
We still need nominations for next years 3 council seats that will need to be filled.<br />
Send in your nominations so we can get them published next issue.<br />
Copy Editors<br />
Hobey DeStaebler<br />
Charles Judson<br />
Jim Lawson<br />
Editors Emeriti<br />
Richard S. Kolin<br />
Sam & Marty King<br />
David & Katherine Cockey<br />
Ralph <strong>No</strong>taristefano<br />
Ken Steinmetz<br />
John Stratton<br />
Layout with the assistance of<br />
The Messing About Foundation<br />
The <strong>Traditional</strong> <strong>Small</strong> <strong>Craft</strong> <strong>Association</strong>,<br />
Inc. is a nonprofit, tax-exempt educational<br />
organization which works to preserve and<br />
continue the living traditions, skills, lore,<br />
and legends surrounding working and<br />
pleasure watercraft whose origins predate<br />
the marine gasoline engine. It encourages<br />
the design, construction, and use of these<br />
boats, and it embraces contemporary variants<br />
and adaptations of traditional designs.<br />
Tom Shephard<br />
TSCA Wares News<br />
By John Weiss<br />
Info on the availability of TSCA wares<br />
is now on the web at<br />
www.tsca.net/wares.html.<br />
President Tom Shephard negotiated an<br />
agreement with Alex Bridge at NORS<br />
Gear in Maine (www.norsgear.com) that<br />
will benefit both TSCA and NORS. Alex<br />
has been a long-time supporter of TSCA,<br />
so I encourage you to patronize his shop<br />
as well as buy up our wares.<br />
In addition to direct order from NORS,<br />
Tom Shephard at the Delaware River<br />
Chapter and Al Gunther at the Puget<br />
Sound Chapter (likely to be transferred<br />
to me in September) have supplies of<br />
wares for boat shows and Chapters.<br />
Chapter reps/officers can request bulk<br />
orders from Tom without prepayment.<br />
Gardner Grant News<br />
By Ben Fuller<br />
This year we took in a half dozen proposals.<br />
All proposals were worthy, with<br />
some benefiting more people than others.<br />
Youth proposals were weak in that many<br />
are doing nothing more than buying commercial<br />
kits and building them. The quality<br />
proposals most recently have been<br />
documentation proposals, or youth proposals<br />
that have been more traditional.<br />
The Grant Committee recommended to<br />
the Council that two grants be awarded,<br />
one for $1,000 to the Pine Lake TSCA for<br />
documenting and developing plans for the<br />
Skaneateles Boat Model #5, and the second<br />
for $700 to CWB for a project to develop<br />
plans for small sailboat based on the<br />
Herreshoff Columbia model to encourage<br />
homebuilding, sailtraining and develop<br />
part of a class boat.<br />
TSCA is an enjoyable yet practical link<br />
among users, designers, builders, restorers,<br />
historians, government, and maritime<br />
institutions.<br />
Copyright 2004 by The <strong>Traditional</strong> <strong>Small</strong><br />
<strong>Craft</strong> <strong>Association</strong>, Inc.<br />
Front Cover<br />
Staff members Paschal and Frederic are pushing their Seil to the max in a gale on<br />
the river. The lug spar broke shortly after this picture was taken. A group of TSCA<br />
members from the West Coast attended the Brest 2004 <strong>Traditional</strong> Boat Festival and<br />
then spent a week rowing and sailing down the Loire River. Story inside. François<br />
Lelièvre photo.<br />
2 _______________________________________________________ The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004
Down East<br />
Chapter Formed<br />
An Idea Whose Time has<br />
Come…Again<br />
By Muriel Curtis<br />
The first meeting of the Down East<br />
Chapter of the <strong>Traditional</strong> <strong>Small</strong> <strong>Craft</strong><br />
<strong>Association</strong> was held on September 11 at<br />
the Atlantic Challenge facility in<br />
Rockland, Maine. Although it was noted<br />
that a Maine TSCA chapter did exist many<br />
years ago, it has long been inactive. We<br />
felt that it was time to establish a strong<br />
and active TSCA chapter in Maine in<br />
keeping with our states long and continuing<br />
maritime and small craft heritage.<br />
The meeting was blissfully informal.<br />
Our primary purpose, clearly, is to mess<br />
about in boats and aid others to do the<br />
same, but officially the purposes look<br />
something like:<br />
1. Promote activities and “mess<br />
abouts” with like minded<br />
people on the water.<br />
2. Support other related<br />
organizations such as Atlantic<br />
Challenge.<br />
3. Co-sponsor events such as a<br />
winter lecture series and/or<br />
story telling sessions.<br />
4. Support boatbuilding efforts in<br />
Maine.<br />
5. Support maritime efforts<br />
involving youth such as Station<br />
Maine.<br />
6. Function as a legislative<br />
“watchdog” organization for<br />
small craft interests in Maine.<br />
We voted to maintain the “KISS”<br />
method of governance, with one coordinator<br />
elected and rotated on an annual<br />
basis, and one annual meeting. Other<br />
meetings, events, rowing adventures, and<br />
sailing adventures will undoubtedly follow.<br />
Following the meeting we launched our<br />
various boats, joining those of Atlantic<br />
Challenge and Station Maine, and participated<br />
in the annual “Short Ships” race to<br />
the lighthouse and back in Rockland’s<br />
protected waters. This was the first event<br />
of what looks to be a vibrant Maine chapter.<br />
•<br />
Gardner Grant<br />
Update:<br />
Island Star Project<br />
Gets New Life<br />
By John Weiss<br />
On October 1, 2004, John Calagero and<br />
his crew on San Juan Island, WA turned<br />
over the Island Star project to the Old<br />
Anacortes Rowing and Sailing Society<br />
(OARS) on nearby Fidalgo Island. The<br />
current state of the project consists of<br />
plans, molds on a strongback with a partially<br />
planked hull, fastenings, lumber, and<br />
an endowment for construction that includes<br />
a grant from the John Gardner<br />
Foundation.<br />
David Jackson, representing OARS in<br />
Anacortes, WA, relates that “I met with<br />
John Gardner four times. Each time he<br />
was an inspiration, encouraging us with a<br />
kind smile and knowing, sometimes mischievous<br />
eyes.” David’s plan is to store<br />
the hull and strongback for two years while<br />
a prior obligation is finished, then complete<br />
the hull for use with the Anacortes<br />
Sea Scouts and the community based rowing<br />
club, OARS. The members of OARS<br />
have been rowing two 21' gigs, Glide and<br />
Erica (named after Erica Pickett of the<br />
Flounder Bay Lumber Co. in Anacortes)<br />
for 20 years now. The boats have 12 regular<br />
crews and are starting to show the wear.<br />
The Island Star, a replica of the 27' General<br />
Lafayette, which is in the livery at<br />
Mystic Seaport, will be a working replacement.<br />
One other replica is known to have<br />
been built.<br />
The John Gardner fund awarded the Island<br />
Star project a $500 grant in 2000,<br />
and several project updates have appeared<br />
in the Ash Breeze since then. TSCA member<br />
Colin Hermans of Friday Harbor is one<br />
of a handful of people who had worked<br />
with John Calagero on the boat for several<br />
years, and may know as much as anyone<br />
about the history of the boat. The<br />
project has been dormant, however, since<br />
John moved to Europe to continue his education.<br />
Further information on OARS and<br />
future updates on the Island Star project<br />
will be available at<br />
www.woodenboatsanacortes.com<br />
and www.oarss.org •<br />
Lone Star Chapter<br />
News<br />
By Howard Gmelch<br />
Saturday, October 23, the Scow Schooner<br />
Project hosted the first event of the<br />
newly formed Lone Star Chapter of the<br />
TSCA and the Project’s fourth annual Festival.<br />
Eleven small craft gathered for some<br />
fun in the Trinity River Delta before the<br />
sky opened up.<br />
This year’s event was held in conjunction<br />
with the celebration of the Centennial<br />
of the Lone Star Canal, operated by<br />
our hosts, Chambers and Liberty County<br />
Navigation District. Along with our <strong>Small</strong><br />
<strong>Craft</strong> Festival, the Upper Texas Coast<br />
Water-Borne Education Center gave free<br />
rides on the river on their two education<br />
vessels. Several other area organizations<br />
participated with educational displays,<br />
artifact exhibits and even a duck race. A<br />
local canoeing/nature study club, the Master<br />
Mariners, made the Festival the destination<br />
for its morning paddle.<br />
The Festival was kicked off with the<br />
ceremonial launching of the skiff that will<br />
be the scow schooner’s tender. It is a<br />
stretched Gardner flattie skiff, built by<br />
Schooner Project volunteers. The launching<br />
was well attended by local elected officials<br />
and the heavy skiff floated very<br />
lightly on the water…right side up!<br />
The most popular event of the festival<br />
was the Kid’s Boatbuilding Shop. The<br />
volunteers were kept busy helping youngsters<br />
build all sorts creative small craft. •<br />
The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004_______________________________________________________ 3
“Only if our children are introduced to boats at an early age and grow<br />
up using them on the water will what we are doing today have any<br />
relevance for the future.”<br />
– John Gardner (former counselor, Pine Island Camp)<br />
Founded in 1902, Pine Island remains true to the simple, island life-style established by<br />
the current director’s grandfather and committed to providing an adventurous, safe summer.<br />
<strong>No</strong> electricity, an absence of competitive sports and the island setting make Pine<br />
Island unique. Ten in-camp activities offered daily, include rowing, canoeing, sailing,<br />
kayaking, swimming, workshop, archery, riflery, and tennis. Over thirty camping trips<br />
each summer, include backpacking, canoeing, kayaking and trips to the camp’s 90-acre<br />
salt water island. Campfire every night. Write or call the director for more information.<br />
Ben Swan, P.O. Box 242, Brunswick, Maine 04011<br />
Win a TSCA<br />
T-shirt<br />
Members whose articles are published<br />
in the Ash Breeze are awarded<br />
a TSCA T-shirt. An article is a<br />
complete piece of writing that<br />
informs and educates. Anecdotes,<br />
Chapter news and reports, etc., do<br />
not qualify, although a T-shirt will be<br />
awarded to regular contributors of<br />
Chapter reports at the Editor’s<br />
discretion. How about writing that<br />
article for Ash Breeze? Tell me your T-shirt size when<br />
you send in your story.<br />
Benefactor<br />
Life Member<br />
Samuel E. Johnson Sidney S. Whelan, Jr. Jean Gardner Bob Hicks<br />
Generous Patrons<br />
Lee Caldwell<br />
Michael S. Olson<br />
...and Individual Sponsor/Members<br />
Mr. & Mrs. Rodney W. Agar<br />
Doug Aikins<br />
Rob Barker<br />
Ellen & Gary Barrett<br />
Bruce Beglin<br />
Charles Benedict<br />
Willard A. Bradley<br />
Robert C. Briscoe<br />
Charles Canniff<br />
Dick & Jean Anne Christie<br />
James & Lloyd Crocket<br />
Richard F. Cullison<br />
Thad Danielson<br />
Stanley R.Dickstein<br />
Dan & Eileen Drath<br />
Thomas Dugan<br />
Frank C. Durham<br />
Albert Eatock<br />
Tuck Elfman<br />
John D. England<br />
Tom Etherington<br />
Ben Fuller<br />
Roy Gaines<br />
John M. Gerty<br />
Geoffrey J. Grosguth<br />
Mr. & Mrs. R. Bruce Hammatt, Jr.<br />
John A. Hawkinson<br />
Peter Healey<br />
Colin O. Hermans<br />
Gary F. Herolds<br />
Roger Holzmacher<br />
Stuart K. Hopkins<br />
Townsend Hornor<br />
John M. Karbott<br />
Carl B. & Ruth W. Kaufmann<br />
Thomas E. King<br />
Richard S. Kolin<br />
Chelcie Liu<br />
Jon Lovell<br />
James D. & Julie Maxwell<br />
Dean Meledones<br />
Charles H. Meyer, Jr.<br />
Howard Mittleman<br />
King Mud & Queen Tule<br />
Michael S. Olson<br />
David J. Pape<br />
W. Lee & Sibyl A. Pellum<br />
Michael Porter<br />
Tom & Susanne Regan<br />
Ronald W. Render<br />
Don Rich<br />
Nelius N. Ronning<br />
Bill & Karen Rutherford<br />
Philip T. Schiro<br />
Karl Schmid<br />
Richard Schubert<br />
Paul A. Schwartz<br />
Michael O. Severance<br />
Gary L. Shirley<br />
Walter J. Simmons<br />
Stephen Smith<br />
Robert W. Sparks<br />
Peter H. Spectre<br />
Randall Spurr<br />
Zach Stewart<br />
John P. Stratton, III<br />
George Surgent<br />
Benjamin B. Swan<br />
Gary Thompson<br />
Sigrid H.Trumpy<br />
Ray E. Tucker<br />
Peter T. Vermilya<br />
Eleanor Watson<br />
John L. Way<br />
Richard B. Weir<br />
John & Ellen Weiss<br />
Stephen M. Weld<br />
Michael D. Wick<br />
Leland W. Wight<br />
Andrew Wolfe<br />
Robert & Judith Yorke<br />
J. Myron Young<br />
4 _______________________________________________________ The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004
Gardner Grants<br />
“To preserve, continue, and expand the achievements, vision and goals of John Gardner by enriching and disseminating<br />
our traditional small craft heritage.” In 1999, TSCA created the John Gardner Grant program to support projects for<br />
which sufficient funding would otherwise be unavailable. Eligible projects are those which research, document, preserve,<br />
and replicate traditional small craft, associated skills, and those who built and used them. Youth involvement is encouraged.<br />
Grants proposals are reviewed semiannually, typically in May and October.<br />
Proposals for projects ranging from $200 to $2000 are invited for consideration. The John Gardner Grants are competitive<br />
and reviewed semiannual by the John Gardner Memorial Fund Committee of TSCA. The source of funding is the John<br />
Gardner Memorial Endowment Fund, and funding available for projects will be determined annually.<br />
Eligible applicants include anyone who can demonstrate serious interest in, and knowledge of, traditional small craft.<br />
Affiliation with a museum or academic organization is not required. Projects must have tangible, enduring results which<br />
are published, exhibited, or otherwise made available to the interested public. Projects must be reported in the Ash Breeze.<br />
For program details, applications and additional information visit TSCA on the web at www.tsca.net<br />
TSCA Chapters<br />
Join or start a chapter to enjoy the fellowship and skills which can be gained around traditional small craft<br />
Adirondack Chapter TSCA<br />
Mary Brown, 100 Cornelia St., Apt. 205,<br />
Plattsburgh, NY 12901, 518-561-1667<br />
Annapolis Chapter TSCA<br />
Sigrid Trumpy, 12 German St., Annapolis,<br />
MD 21401, hollace@crosslink.net<br />
Barnegat Bay TSCA<br />
Patricia H. Burke, Director,Toms River<br />
Seaport Society,PO Box 1111, Toms River,<br />
NJ 08754, 732-349-9209,<br />
www.tomsriverseaport.com<br />
Connecticut River<br />
Oar and Paddle Club<br />
Jon Persson, 17 Industrial Park Road, Suite<br />
5, Centerbrook, CT 06409<br />
jon.persson@snet.net<br />
Delaware River TSCA<br />
Tom Shephard, 482 Almond Rd, Pittsgrove,<br />
NJ 08318, SShep41556@aol.com<br />
Down East Chapter<br />
John Silverio, 105 Proctor Rd, Lincolnville,<br />
ME 04849, work 207-763-3885, home<br />
207-763-4652, camp: 207-763-4671,<br />
jsarch@midcoast.com<br />
Floating the Apple<br />
Mike Davis, 400 West 43rd St., 32R, New<br />
York, NY 10036, 212-564-5412,<br />
www.floatingtheapple.org<br />
Florida Gulf Coast TSCA<br />
Roger B. Allen, Florida Gulf Coast<br />
Maritime Museum, PO Box 100, 4415<br />
119th St W, Cortez, FL 34215, 941-708-<br />
4935 or Cell 941-704-8598<br />
Friends of the <strong>No</strong>rth Carolina<br />
Maritime Museum TSCA<br />
William Prentice, 315 Front Street, Beaufort,<br />
NC 28516, <strong>25</strong>2-728-7317,<br />
maritime@ncmail.com<br />
John Gardner Chapter<br />
Russ Smith, Univ of Connecticut, Avery<br />
Point Campus, 1084 Shennecossett Road,<br />
Groton, CT 06340, 860-536-1113,<br />
fruzzy@hotmail.com<br />
Long Island TSCA<br />
Myron Young, PO Box 635, Laurel, NY<br />
11948, 631-298-4512<br />
Lost Coast Chapter - Mendocino<br />
Dusty Dillon, PO Box 1028, Willits, CA<br />
95490, 707-459-1735, plasgal@saber.net<br />
<strong>No</strong>rth Shore TSCA<br />
Dave Morrow, 63 Lynnfield Str, Lynn, MA<br />
01904, 781-598-6163<br />
Oregon TSCA<br />
Sam Johnson, 1449 Southwest Davenport,<br />
Portland, OR 97201, 503-223-4772,<br />
sjboats@comcast.net<br />
Patuxent <strong>Small</strong> <strong>Craft</strong> Guild<br />
George Surgent,5227 William's Wharf Road,<br />
St. Leonard, MD 20685, 410-586-1893 or<br />
410-326-2042<br />
Pine Lake <strong>Small</strong> <strong>Craft</strong> Assoc.<br />
Sandy Bryson, Sec., 333 Whitehills Dr, E<br />
Lansing, MI 48823, 517-351-5976,<br />
sbryson@msu.edu<br />
Puget Sound TSCA<br />
Al Gunther, President, 34718 Pilot Point<br />
Road NE Kingston, WA 98346, 360-638-<br />
1088, agunther@silverlink.net<br />
Sacramento TSCA<br />
Daphne Lagios, 172 Angelita Avenue,<br />
Pacifica, CA 94044, 650- 557-0113,<br />
dlagios@smace.org, www.tsca.net/<br />
Sacramento<br />
Scajaquada TSCA<br />
Charles H. Meyer, 5405 East River, Grand<br />
Island, NY 14072, 716-773-<strong>25</strong>15,<br />
chmsails@aol.com<br />
South Jersey TSCA<br />
George Loos, 53 Beaver Dam Rd, Cape<br />
May Courthouse, NJ 08210, 609-861-<br />
0018, georgeloos@hotmail.com<br />
South Street Seaport Museum<br />
John B. Putnam, 207 Front Street, New<br />
York, NY 10038, 212-748-8600, Ext. 663<br />
days, www.southstseaport.org<br />
TSCA of Wisconsin<br />
James R. Kowall, c/o Door County<br />
Maritime Museum, Box 246, Sturgeon<br />
Bay, WI 54235, 920-743-4631<br />
Potomac TSCA,<br />
Maury River Chapter<br />
& Upper Chesapeake TSCA<br />
Chapters are reorganizing.<br />
The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004_______________________________________________________ 5
The Lady Returns<br />
Home<br />
By Richard Kolin<br />
At the border of Washington and Oregon<br />
the mighty Columbia River reaches<br />
the Pacific Ocean. Just to the north lies<br />
Willapa Bay, a large shallow tidal basin<br />
once called Shoalwater Bay. Nestled along<br />
the shores of Willapa Bay lies the historic<br />
village of Oysterville. It was here in 1853<br />
that Chief Nahcati of the Chinook tribe<br />
revealed to Robert Espy the existence of<br />
beds of native oysters. The high-rollers of<br />
San Francisco were hungry for oysters and<br />
created a market which made fortunes for<br />
the busy oystermen of Oysterville.<br />
Time and the tides have eroded away<br />
the saloons, stores, and businesses of the<br />
once prosperous main street. They have<br />
been replaced with the soft sound of rustling<br />
grasses and the gentle lapping of the<br />
water coming and going with the timeless<br />
tidal cycles. The 19th-century boomers<br />
have been replaced by descendants of the<br />
original pioneers, and a few newcomers<br />
enticed by the quiet ambiance of old houses<br />
dating from 1863 looking out at the bay.<br />
In the winter, the village has a population<br />
of 14. In the summer, extended families<br />
return to the place of their birth to celebrate<br />
the vibrancy of their roots.<br />
From the earliest years Shoalwater Bay<br />
boatbuilders created a fleet of beautiful and<br />
practical sailing oyster boats or “plungers,”<br />
which towed small barges called<br />
bateaus to and from the oyster beds. At<br />
low tide, a large percentage of the area of<br />
Shoalwater Bay emerges as mud flats. In<br />
many cases, the boats had to be anchored<br />
over a mile from<br />
shore so they would<br />
not be forced to<br />
spend most of their<br />
time sitting on the<br />
mud. To get back and<br />
forth to land, a rowing<br />
boat was developed<br />
notable not only<br />
for its great beauty,<br />
but for its speed and<br />
The new Shoalwater Bay Oyster Dinghy built by<br />
boatbuilding students in 2003. She is shown here visiting<br />
Oysterville in 2004 crewed by Nancy Lloyd and Rich Kolin.<br />
easy movement<br />
through the water.<br />
The boats were 14 to<br />
18 feet long and were<br />
built with double<br />
ends and square<br />
stems. The double<br />
ended versions were<br />
most popular. This<br />
boat has come to be<br />
called the Shoalwater<br />
Bay Dinghy.<br />
Almost ten years<br />
ago, I stumbled on to<br />
this little boat when<br />
I traveled to South<br />
Bend, Washington,<br />
on the Willapa River<br />
to learn more about<br />
the sailing oyster boats. There I met<br />
Marion Lauderback, son of the legendary<br />
boatbuilder Dan Lauderback. Dan<br />
built many of the last and greatest of the<br />
sailing oyster boats and went on to build<br />
powered oyster dredgers and oyster tugs.<br />
At least two of these, the Tokeland (an<br />
oyster dredge built in 1910) and the Daring<br />
(a small tug built in the mid 20s) are<br />
still plying their trade. Under the tutelage<br />
of his father, Marion learned the<br />
trade and became a<br />
local legend in his<br />
own right. Many of<br />
the oysterman who<br />
held on to the older<br />
wooden dredgers<br />
hired Marion to<br />
Shoalwater Bay Oyster Dinghy built in 1928 by Dan<br />
Lauderback at the Willapa Bay Interpretive Center.<br />
On the Beach at Carna Beach State Park in 2004. Interior<br />
view of the new Shoalwater Bay Oyster Dinghy.<br />
maintain their<br />
boats.<br />
It was Marion<br />
who told me the<br />
tale of the<br />
Shoalwater Bay<br />
Dinghy. He showed<br />
me half models<br />
carved by his father and a surviving example<br />
of a 14-foot, square-stemmed boat<br />
which he had collected. I made several<br />
trips to South Bend to visit with Marion<br />
and he graciously gave of his time. He was<br />
92 at the time and still pursuing his trade.<br />
Before I could visit again he passed away,<br />
leaving lasting memories of the time I<br />
spent listening to his stories.<br />
In 1928, Dan Lauderback built a 14- foot<br />
double-ended Shoalwater Bay Dinghy,<br />
which after a life of hard work ended up<br />
in the Willapa Bay Interpretive Center at<br />
Nahcotta, across the Bay from South Bend.<br />
I made several trips to measure this boat<br />
in hopes of building one in a boat building<br />
class that I teach for the Center for<br />
Wooden Boats in Seattle. In 2002, I finally<br />
had the opportunity to build this boat with<br />
the help of students at my shop in<br />
Marysville, Washington. I named her<br />
Marion.<br />
It took six weeks to build this boat. According<br />
to Marion, Dan could deliver a<br />
boat like this in two weeks. The Marion is<br />
carvel planked with six planks per side as<br />
6 _______________________________________________________ The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004
was the original. Her stems and breast<br />
hooks were glued up to resemble the originals,<br />
which were carved from tree roots.<br />
Her construction follows the original<br />
boat’s with large oarlock pads designed<br />
so that the rowers can reverse direction<br />
without turning the boat. This was a must<br />
in a shallow bay where grounding in the<br />
mud was a recurring problem.<br />
The construction of this little boat is<br />
unique to this type as far as I can see. At<br />
each thwart is a single knee, fitted to the<br />
hull port and starboard, reaching from the<br />
rail to about a foot below the thwart. The<br />
knee is notched to provide a rest for the<br />
seat and a short riser is fitted tightly<br />
through the knee and attaches to a frame<br />
on either side. Planking thickness is 1/2<br />
inch and each plank is “backed out” or<br />
carved to fit the shape of the hull. Some<br />
of the planks start out as thick as 7/8 inch.<br />
The rowing positions are laid out so that<br />
the boat is always in trim no matter the<br />
passenger load. We launched the boat at<br />
Cama Beach State Park on Camano Island.<br />
All present marveled at her beauty and<br />
easy movement through the water. But I<br />
knew that something was missing until I<br />
had the chance to launch her on<br />
Shoalwater Bay. This year the opportunity<br />
came. My friend, Nancy Lloyd—artist,<br />
historian, and Oysterville resident (her<br />
house dates from 1873)—invited me to<br />
take part in the Oysterville sesquicentennial.<br />
I couldn’t resist the chance to bring<br />
the Marion to Oysterville to introduce her<br />
to people who would appreciate her pedigree.<br />
The highlight of my visit to Oysterville<br />
came when we launched the Marion onto<br />
the bay at the historic Oysterville Sea<br />
Farms, owned and operated by Dan<br />
Driscoll. Dan was kind enough to allow<br />
us to use his launch ramp even though we<br />
would be weaving through his carefully<br />
tended oyster beds. The waters were thin<br />
but the boat floated quickly. She lived up<br />
to her billing by rowing effortlessly and<br />
accelerated quickly to cruising speed.<br />
Thanks to the Gardner Grant of the <strong>Traditional</strong><br />
<strong>Small</strong> <strong>Craft</strong> <strong>Association</strong>, plans are<br />
available for the 14-foot, double-ended<br />
Shoalwater Bay Dinghy through The Center<br />
for Wooden Boats (CWB). Contact<br />
Dick Wagner, telephone: 206-382-BOAT<br />
or 1010 Valley Street, Seattle, WA 98109-<br />
4468.<br />
For information about boatbuilding and<br />
other classes taught by Rich Kolin, see the<br />
CWB web site at cwb.org, or contact Rich<br />
Kolin at kolin1@gte.net or 360-659-5591.<br />
Additional reading:<br />
1. Oysterville, The Road to Grandpa’s<br />
Village, Willard R. Espy, University of<br />
Washington Press, Seattle and London,<br />
1977, 1992.<br />
2. Shoalwater Willapa, Douglas Allen,<br />
Snoose Peak Publishing, South Bend, WA,<br />
2004.<br />
3. Observing our Peninsula’s Past, the<br />
Age of Legends Through 1931, <strong>Vol</strong>ume<br />
One of the Chinnook Observer Centennial<br />
Project, Nancy Lloyd, A Chinook Observer<br />
Publication, 2004. •<br />
Sailing Oyster Boats racing on the Willapa River<br />
at the turn of the 19th century.<br />
The Oyster Dredge Tokeland, built by<br />
Dan Lauderback in 1910.<br />
The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004_______________________________________________________ 7
The Canadian<br />
Canoe Museum:<br />
Preserving Our<br />
National Heritage<br />
By Brian Burton<br />
“Wherever there is a channel for water,<br />
there is a road for the canoe.” Henry David<br />
Thoreau (1817-1862)<br />
The Canada we know today exists as a<br />
direct result of the canoe. The canoe is a<br />
recognized symbol of Canada and helped<br />
determine our national boundaries, long<br />
before the aboriginal life. It was the principal<br />
means of trade and communication<br />
between the arrival of Europeans in the<br />
Western Hemisphere; the canoe was at the<br />
center of First Nations.<br />
There is an ancient and rich diversity<br />
in canoe shapes, construction<br />
and purpose, a knowledge that Native<br />
builders have refined over the<br />
past centuries. Some canoes were<br />
elegantly carved and formed from the<br />
massive trees of the northern Pacific<br />
coast for trade, war and for hunting<br />
the great whales. Other builders<br />
carved smaller canoes, well suited for<br />
travelling rivers, creeks and small<br />
waterways. In the harsh treeless<br />
Arctic landscape, the generosity of<br />
the ocean and rivers provided Inuit<br />
builders with animals and driftwood,<br />
from which they perfected the seaworthy<br />
shapes of their covered hunting<br />
craft.<br />
The word “canoa” or “canoe,” meaning<br />
boat or vessel, appeared in the earliest<br />
writings about the First Peoples of the New<br />
World, and was adapted from the Arawak<br />
language of the Native Caribbeans.<br />
As the early 17th-century Europeans<br />
ventured deeper into the <strong>No</strong>rth American<br />
continent, they discovered extensive aboriginal<br />
trade networks already in place<br />
along established canoe routes. They<br />
found that their own heavy boats were not<br />
suitable for traveling the lakes, rivers and<br />
portages and learned quickly the value of<br />
the canoe.<br />
The collection features examples of Aboriginal craft that span the continent of <strong>No</strong>rth<br />
America. They range from great cedar whaling dugouts of the West Coast, to fine<br />
bark canoes, to the skin kayaks of the Arctic.<br />
Canadian Canoe Museum<br />
The Canadian Canoe Museum is <strong>No</strong>rth<br />
America's only canoe museum. With more<br />
than 600 canoes and kayaks and 1,000<br />
related artifacts, the Museum’s collection<br />
is the largest of its kind in the world.<br />
The collection features examples of aboriginal<br />
craft that span the continent of<br />
<strong>No</strong>rth America. They range from great<br />
cedar whaling dugouts of the West Coast,<br />
fine bark canoes, to the skin kayaks of the<br />
Arctic. These vessels demonstrate the<br />
skills and ingenuity of the builders who<br />
constructed them using available resources<br />
from the land and sea, using them for<br />
hunting, fishing, trade and warfare.<br />
Today, these vessels serve as teaching<br />
tools, help to revive canoe-building traditions,<br />
and create an appreciation of heritage<br />
and culture in communities across the<br />
nation.<br />
The museum houses a variety of historic<br />
wooden canoes, (built in the canoe manufacturing<br />
centres during the late 1800s and<br />
early 1900s), many examples of international<br />
craft from Senegal, Africa, Papua<br />
New Guinea, Taiwan, and Polynesia, dugout<br />
craft with outriggers, and unique sewnplank<br />
canoes.<br />
About 100 craft are on display in the<br />
Weston Centre. (The remainder of the<br />
approximately 600 total craft are stored<br />
in the Collection Centre, which is not open<br />
to the public. The Board of Directors is<br />
working on a three-year plan, which may<br />
eventually see a portion of the Collection<br />
Centre open to the public.)<br />
Kirk Wipper, Founder of the CCM<br />
Kirk Wipper has a remarkable passion<br />
for Canadian history and canoes, and it<br />
was his idea to create a museum of canoes<br />
and kayaks originally assembled and exhibited<br />
at the Kanawa International Museum.<br />
“Every Canadian owns part of this collection<br />
and they present a wonderful story<br />
of survival,” said Wipper.<br />
There is a story behind every canoe in<br />
the collection, which he has been building<br />
since he received an ancient dugout<br />
canoe from a friend in 1955.<br />
In 1990 Kirk turned over his impressive<br />
Kanawa collection to the new Canadian<br />
Canoe Museum.<br />
How The Canadian Canoe Museum Was<br />
Created<br />
In the conceptual stage, Commonwealth<br />
Historic Resource Management Limited<br />
led a team of consultants who worked<br />
closely with the canoe museum directors<br />
throughout the three-phase development<br />
process. The feasibility study suggested<br />
that, with proper design, planning, and<br />
marketing, a museum dedicated to the Canadian<br />
canoe was indeed a viable possibility.<br />
Commonwealth began by formulating<br />
the museum’s interpretive goals and ob-<br />
8 _______________________________________________________ The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004
Throughout much of the rest of<br />
Canada, the rind of the White Birch<br />
tree helped Native builders to overcome<br />
the challenges of overland and<br />
coastal travel. Builders of bark canoes<br />
removed the supple skin from<br />
these trees, tailored them into carefully<br />
proportioned vessels of their<br />
own traditions, and lined the entire<br />
craft with a lightweight wooden<br />
frame. In a land crisscrossed by a<br />
myriad of rivers and creeks, the birch<br />
bark canoe provided the traveler with<br />
a craft that could carry a great load,<br />
was light enough to be carried as the<br />
need arose, and which could manage<br />
the rigours of early travel.<br />
jectives and by developing a comprehensive<br />
site plan.<br />
According to John Stewart, Principal of<br />
Commonwealth, the interactions enabled<br />
the development and refinement of a master<br />
plan for the eight-acre site and refurbishment<br />
of two buildings totaling<br />
140,000 square feet.<br />
“A key factor in enhancing the canoe<br />
museum’s impressive collection,” reports<br />
Stewart, “involved creating a comprehensive<br />
historical sequence for the visitor’s<br />
experience.”<br />
Janice Griffith, Manager of the Museum<br />
explained, “In many respects the museum<br />
site and our extensive collection was configured<br />
to illustrate the European experience<br />
from the first contact in <strong>No</strong>rth<br />
America. As the British and French explorers<br />
gradually discovered the extensive<br />
aboriginal trade networks that were already<br />
in place along established canoe<br />
routes, they also discovered the amazing<br />
range of watercraft constructed from available<br />
natural resources.”<br />
“Our exhibits are professionally designed<br />
to demonstrate the unique relationship<br />
between aboriginals and Europeans,<br />
and the development of the canoe over<br />
time as it was used for different purposes.<br />
We also want our visitors to understand<br />
the extent of aboriginal ingenuity and<br />
adaptability and their environmentally<br />
sustainable approach to life.”<br />
These vessels exemplify the skills and ingenuity of the builders who constructed<br />
them using available resources from the land and sea.<br />
Survival Planning<br />
Until last summer, attendance steadily<br />
increased, reaching 40,000 visitors two<br />
years ago. But the rough economy has<br />
taken its toll. Last year the number of visitors<br />
dropped dramatically. While very successful<br />
in obtaining private and<br />
government funds for capital projects, the<br />
Canoe Museum, like many cultural and<br />
heritage organizations, has always had<br />
difficulty obtaining enough operating<br />
funds. Last October a severe lack of operating<br />
funds forced the museum to shut<br />
its doors and lay off all paid staff.<br />
Recognizing the value of this unique<br />
and irreplaceable collection, the City of<br />
Peterborough stepped forward with funding<br />
to hire professional restructuring counsel.<br />
The Board of Directors met weekly<br />
from October through May. A one-year<br />
restructuring and survival plan was created.<br />
The City of Peterborough gave<br />
$60,000 towards the 2004 operating budget.<br />
The County of Peterborough came<br />
forward with $10,000 to help. Hudson’s<br />
Bay Company gave $<strong>25</strong>,000 to restart the<br />
education programs. A membership drive<br />
brought in another $80,000 and special<br />
events $65,000. A new lender/donor<br />
stepped forward to assume the bank liability<br />
at very favourable terms. A manager<br />
was hired and with only two full-time staff<br />
and an army of volunteers, the museum<br />
reopened its doors May 1, 2004.<br />
“While we are doing very well following<br />
our survival plan for 2004,” reports<br />
Griffith, “we are not yet completely out of<br />
the woods financially. We are currently<br />
raising dollars in a one-time local campaign<br />
of $100,000. Half will go towards<br />
operating expenses, half towards debt reduction.<br />
The woodworking shop volunteers<br />
have done a beautiful job of trimming<br />
out a 15-foot fiberglass canoe (value<br />
$2,000) for a raffle.<br />
To learn more about the museum and<br />
fund raising events, visit CCM at http://<br />
www.canoemuseum.net<br />
About the Author<br />
Brian Burton recently completed a third<br />
term with the CCMC’s Standing Committee<br />
for Technical Evaluations and is a regular<br />
contributor to many leading<br />
landscaping and engineering publications.<br />
He is affiliated with the Tree Canada Foundation.<br />
To contact Brian e-mail<br />
bburton@bba.on.ca<br />
Photographs and drawings are provided<br />
through the courtesy of Commonwealth<br />
Historic Resource Management Limited.<br />
For more information surf over to:<br />
www.chrml.com •<br />
The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004_______________________________________________________ 9
In France, 2004<br />
By Todd Bloch<br />
For the second time in as many festivals,<br />
the San Francisco Maritime’s felucca<br />
<strong>No</strong>uvo Mondo represented the Bay Area<br />
and the USA at Brest 2004. Joining her<br />
volunteer crew on the coast of Brittany this<br />
time around were members of the Sacramento<br />
TSCA. Although one of the smaller<br />
boats at the event, <strong>No</strong>uvo Mondo and her<br />
complement garnered some significant attention<br />
and enjoyed a spectacular six days<br />
of sailing and just being sailors.<br />
Our boat was crewed by SF Maritime<br />
volunteers Bill Doll, Jason, Caitlin and<br />
Arlo Rucker, Rich Pekelney, Inka<br />
Peterson and myself. From the TSCA were<br />
Susan and Richard Geiger and Clifford<br />
and Marian Cain. One of the things I enjoy<br />
about meeting up with friends in out<br />
of the way places, such as the northwest<br />
coast of France, is hearing about the different<br />
routes that people take to get there.<br />
I calculated that I spent about 20 hours of<br />
nonstop travel—via car, plane, bus, train,<br />
car—en route to Brest. Others took more<br />
indirect routes—Bill had arrived via Italy,<br />
the Cains via Spain, the Ruckers via Scotland<br />
and the Geigers via a gunkhole on<br />
the Loire River. Inka chose the opposite<br />
approach and embarked on a two-week<br />
voyage after the festival as a crew member<br />
returning a ship to Germany.<br />
The maritime festival in Brest, one of<br />
the biggest, occurs every four years and<br />
attracts boats and people from around the<br />
world. This year featured special guest<br />
countries of Switzerland, Brazil, <strong>No</strong>rway<br />
and Ethiopia. <strong>No</strong>uvo Mondo was moored<br />
with several other felucca types opposite<br />
the contingent of Swiss boats. This afforded<br />
the opportunity<br />
to meet the Swiss<br />
crews, do a little sailing<br />
on their boats,<br />
drink Swiss beer and<br />
eat fondue (the Swiss<br />
pavilion served fondue<br />
all day—really).<br />
This also gave us our<br />
best chance to show<br />
off the boat to the international<br />
press. A<br />
reporter from the<br />
Geneva newspaper<br />
Les Temps decided to<br />
write one of his five<br />
daily reports about <strong>No</strong>uvo Mondo and our<br />
experiences at the festival.<br />
We wanted to give the reporter a proper<br />
felucca experience, so Inka and I took him<br />
for a sail aboard <strong>No</strong>uvo Mondo. Conditions<br />
were good that day, so we had one of<br />
the better sails of the trip. We cruised<br />
across a good portion of the “Rade de<br />
Brest” near the entrance to the Elorn River.<br />
This brought us through the heart of the<br />
tall ship fleet that was also out that day.<br />
Among the big ships that we encountered<br />
close was the Grand Turk, a replica of a<br />
22-gun frigate. If anyone has watched the<br />
Hornblower TV series, you’ve seen this<br />
ship as the HMS Indefatigable.<br />
We had several other sailing adventures<br />
with <strong>No</strong>uvo Mondo. As anyone who has<br />
sailed on her knows, she’s not a quickly<br />
maneuverable boat, so in the midst, oh, of<br />
1000 boats leaving the harbor at the same<br />
time, it can only be described as an adventure.<br />
This year’s festival<br />
was several days<br />
longer than previous<br />
events, so that gave<br />
us more time to enjoy<br />
the other activities—fireworks<br />
shows, night-time<br />
lighted-ship parades<br />
and the local and<br />
visiting cultures.<br />
With the range of<br />
visiting countries,<br />
one can image the<br />
kind of culture<br />
clashes that arose—<br />
Swiss Alphorns interrupted<br />
by the roving Brazilian party/<br />
marching band, <strong>No</strong>rwegian traditional<br />
dances and Brittany cow milking demonstrations.<br />
And in regard to cultural stew, I<br />
can’t forget Editor-in-Chief Richard Geiger<br />
sitting on a San Francisco boat of<br />
Mediterranean style playing American<br />
folk songs on a guitar borrowed from an<br />
Englishman sailing a replica of Slocum’s<br />
Spray. Paramount among the cultural experiences<br />
however, was the food. The<br />
ships were great, but we did need nourishment<br />
after all. We needed the crepes,<br />
mussels, cider, cheese, quiche, wine,<br />
pate—the list could go on.<br />
Among this large mix of cultures and<br />
nationalities, <strong>No</strong>uvo Mondo was apparently<br />
the only American vessel registered<br />
at the event. Our crew seemed to be the<br />
majority of Americans; the only others we<br />
met were either expatriates or crew on<br />
European ships. However, nationalities<br />
did not matter. There was notable inter-<br />
10 _______________________________________________________ The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004
est that <strong>No</strong>uvo Mondo came all the way<br />
from San Francisco (“such a long way”)<br />
and that lateen rigs had found their way<br />
to the U.S. West Coast, but her American<br />
flag seemed appropriately irrelevant. This<br />
was a gathering of boats and their crews<br />
and that was all it was. Conversations<br />
were about sailing and personal interests;<br />
time together was spent on each others’<br />
boats. Nationalities and politics were<br />
never mentioned.<br />
At the conclusion of festivities in Brest,<br />
a good portion of the fleet packs up and<br />
spends a day sailing to another festival in<br />
Douarnenez. Seeing this flotilla of several<br />
thousand traditional sails make this<br />
voyage is one of the most spectacular<br />
sights I have seen. After leaving the<br />
“Goulet de Brest”, the fleet rounds the<br />
“Pointe de Penhir,” which features a number<br />
of closely spaced islands (more like<br />
big rocks) just off the point. It seems to<br />
be tradition that as many ships as possible<br />
squeeze between the mainland and the first<br />
rock. If you want to be really, really close<br />
to some big ships under way, this is the<br />
place to be. The group then rounds the<br />
“Cap de la Chevre” into the “Baie de<br />
Douarnenez” before arriving at the small<br />
traditional village of Douarnenez itself.<br />
Weather predictions indicated a potentially<br />
rough sail that day, and with <strong>No</strong>uvo<br />
Mondo still taking water through her<br />
seams (she had been out of the water for<br />
some time), we decided that she should<br />
be taken by trailer to Douarnenez. Most<br />
of our group was able to find positions on<br />
ships for the sail. One-year-old Arlo<br />
couldn’t get his hands around any of the<br />
big ship’s lines, so he, Jason, Caitlin, and<br />
I made the drive between the cities. This<br />
provided the opportunity to see several<br />
small villages and a view of the fleet arriving<br />
in port.<br />
Douarnenez is a smaller town and festival<br />
than Brest and caters a bit more to<br />
the smaller boats. It is still retains its fishing<br />
village atmosphere and is thus a bit<br />
more scenic location for a traditional boat<br />
festival. This was an occasion to wind<br />
down after the time in Brest, especially<br />
for those who had been traveling before<br />
the first festival. One of our last activities<br />
together was a picnic at sunset on a very<br />
scenic beach overlooking the Baie de<br />
Douranenez. We were not on the beach<br />
itself because it was raining, and a nice<br />
big pine tree was providing adequate protection.<br />
We never really saw the sunset<br />
either, because, well, it was raining. We<br />
did have a good time however, enjoying<br />
the cider, cheese and quiche. A passerby<br />
whom we managed to have take a picture<br />
of us lounging on the damp ground left us<br />
shaking his head and saying “Only sailors…”<br />
•<br />
CROPC and New<br />
London BBB<br />
By John Stratton<br />
The Connecticut River Oar and Paddle<br />
Club and the John Gardner Chapter enjoyed<br />
a sparkling day at the Sail New London<br />
Boats Books and Brushes (BBB)<br />
events on the historic Thames River on<br />
September 11, 2004. The small-craft<br />
component of the BBB harbor activities<br />
committee was attended by 16 CROPC<br />
and JGC stalwarts (m/f) and ten vessels,<br />
including a Whisp with forward-facing<br />
rower, a San Francisco Bay Pelican, a<br />
1906 canoe beautifully restored, a highperformance<br />
kayak (in historic Western<br />
Approaches “dazzle” camo), the new<br />
Armitage/JGC Monument River Wherry,<br />
a guideboat, two dories, and two of the<br />
21-foot CROPC triples. Some other vessels<br />
within visual range included the<br />
USCG barque Eagle, the USS Jimmy<br />
Carter (SSN 23), Mystic Seaport’s 1932<br />
schooner Brilliant, the auto ferry Cape<br />
Henlopen (an ex-USN LST which served<br />
June 6, 1944, at <strong>No</strong>rmandy), the USCG<br />
icebreaker Morro Bay, several high-speed<br />
catamaran ferries, and a number of other<br />
large sailing yachts and historic vessels.<br />
Hotdogs, hamburgers, and other comestibles<br />
were grilled and eaten or imbibed<br />
directly from box, bag, or bottle and served<br />
with grace and wit on the soft white sand<br />
of the river mouth beach of Mitchell College.<br />
A sunny September day on New London’s<br />
Thames River saw Donna and Larry<br />
Magee, left, with their dory. Named Jane,<br />
after John Gardner Chapter member Russ<br />
Smith’s wife, the dory is the first of several<br />
built by the chapter. Its design is from the<br />
lines of a club “Beater Boat,” which they<br />
saved from its demeaning repose as a<br />
garden planter. “We all agreed that she<br />
rowed and handled wonderfully and<br />
proved very simple to build,” said Larry.<br />
In the foreground, George Spragg’s Whisp<br />
is equipped with an EZ-Row forward<br />
facing rig (www.ez-row.com) which he<br />
reports enjoying greatly.<br />
Other chapter vessels that graced the<br />
Thames included two of the Connecticut<br />
River Oar And Paddle Club’s 21-foot<br />
triples, here being prepared by, left to<br />
right, Barry Stratton, Colleen Stratton,<br />
Rob Pittaway, and Rod Oakes. In the<br />
foreground is the new, bright yellow<br />
Monument River Wherry built this summer<br />
by JGC’s Bill Armitage and two friends<br />
from New Zealand. They took it on an<br />
inaugural tour in upstate New York this<br />
August.<br />
Photos by the author.•<br />
The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004_______________________________________________________ 11
Jetty Island<br />
By Gary Powell<br />
This has to be nearly the perfect messabout.<br />
My adventure began early on Saturday<br />
in a flurry of packing the van, unloading<br />
the garage so I could get to the boat, and<br />
hitching her up. I roused the crew with a<br />
“hey, daylight’s burning”—of course that’s<br />
not much of an incentive to a teenager...so<br />
“breakfast is served” did the trick and the<br />
crew wandered down for it. To be sure that<br />
we wouldn’t starve or be short of ballast,<br />
the crew volunteered to pack lunch. Two<br />
sandwiches, two apples, four cans of juice,<br />
bag of nuts, bag of dried fruit, four cookies,<br />
ice pack…Hey Dad, did you want anything?<br />
At the crack of 9:45 we were in the van<br />
rolling down the driveway, screech...back<br />
for the lifejackets...back for one last hit at<br />
the head, back for the sunscreen. After<br />
coming to a grinding halt in Bellevue traffic,<br />
we inched our way out and up to<br />
Everett. We arrived a bit late at the docks<br />
and I met Ralph Merriman with his glass<br />
kayak and Harry Broady with his classic<br />
streamlined yacht. They kindly agreed to<br />
wait for us to get into the water. The crew<br />
and I furiously loaded the boat in the standard,<br />
toss-and-heap mode, raised the mast,<br />
rigged the sails, put in the plug and rolled<br />
her back down the ramp, back up and<br />
rolled her again—well maybe ramp 4 is<br />
better than ramp 6 after all. And she is in<br />
the water and we are not. Unhitched the<br />
lines, waded in and unhitched the tie<br />
downs, put the plug back in and this time<br />
tightened it. Park the car, run back to the<br />
dock, and push off, raise the sails, fend<br />
off dock 3, fend off dock 4, clear the marina<br />
entrance.<br />
Whew, we’re moving!<br />
By this time, Al<br />
Gunther in Isabell, a<br />
strip-built 8' tender<br />
of his own design<br />
lines that is similar<br />
to Iain Oughtred’s<br />
Wren Tender, had<br />
become a red dot on<br />
the Southern horizon.<br />
Al claims to have a slow boat but by<br />
George the only time I got close to him<br />
was well after he beached it.<br />
Ralph and Harry, feeling sorry for us,<br />
tail-end Charlies, came back and paddled<br />
with us. Harry went back, and picked up<br />
Jim Compton in his forward rowing skiff.<br />
Man, watching that boat move hurts my<br />
head. I keep thinking “how does he do<br />
that?”<br />
Down to the southern tip of Jetty Island<br />
we drifted. Ralph warned us about the<br />
rocks so we gave it a wide berth. Harry<br />
went even wider and sailed a giant circle<br />
around us. I think there was a bit better<br />
wind outside but that wooden canoe yawl,<br />
<strong>No</strong>rd Vinden, is fast in the light stuff.<br />
After rounding, Ralph left us and<br />
headed out to see where Al was going.<br />
From where we were, it looked like he was<br />
headed for the Camano Island State Park.<br />
Harry followed and soon we were left adrift<br />
in a beautiful 2-knot northerly breeze. Just<br />
for practice, the crew and I furled the jib<br />
and then put a single reef in the main. It<br />
all worked as planned but who knows if<br />
we’ll be able to do so well when the wind<br />
really blows. But still, practice helps. As<br />
Al cut across our bow (about a mile ahead)<br />
we spotted a Dall’s porpoise rolling about<br />
100 yards off our beam. This was<br />
viewed as a good omen for the day.<br />
As we headed in for the northern<br />
tip of Jetty Island, we noticed<br />
that water seemed unusually clear,<br />
and the bottom awfully close. After<br />
heeling and still bumping the<br />
bottom (sand only, I think) we<br />
tacked and headed out and a bit<br />
more northerly to clear the point.<br />
Good thing as Ralph came out in<br />
his kayak to make sure that we<br />
rounded to the east of the green<br />
buoy and not cut the corner. A curious<br />
seal followed us in and I think knew<br />
what we were headed for, as it kept poking<br />
its head up and watching the show.<br />
So, following Harry— well I don’t think<br />
Harry came within an inch of the buoy—<br />
we cleared it and headed for shore. The<br />
current was sweeping us to the south, the<br />
wind from the southeast and we were not<br />
making the beach. So we furled the jib,<br />
dropped the main and discovered why we<br />
need to add “lazy jacks.” After detaching<br />
the boom from the mast I cleared the oars<br />
from the mainsail and rowed us in for a<br />
delightful lunch.<br />
Jetty Island is a man-made pile of river<br />
dredgings. I don’t think you would be allowed<br />
to make one of these now, and who<br />
knows what is under all that sand, but for<br />
the casual boater its like being in South<br />
Florida with an active Naval yard off your<br />
beam. Well, okay, it’s not deserted except<br />
during midweek, but it is a cool place for<br />
a picnic.<br />
Then who should appear but Tom<br />
Neiman and his son in their beautiful<br />
wooden Swampscott dory complete with<br />
a green plastic-tarp spritsail. That is one<br />
cool way to make a sail. I plan on working<br />
something simple like this out for my<br />
dory as well to use when fishing—a<br />
minimalist rig, unstayed mast single-sail<br />
with lots of easy-to-reef points.<br />
A few gawking kayakers dropped by to<br />
admire the beautiful wooden boats and as<br />
our skin began to turn a bright shade of<br />
pink we shoved off and headed for the<br />
marina. However old Neptune had one<br />
more trick up his sleeve. In trying to sail<br />
with the current—moving south, and the<br />
wind blowing from the south—we were<br />
held in position with no actual water moving<br />
across the rudder! Well, I broke out<br />
an oar and paddled us forward to break<br />
being in irons, not once but twice before<br />
12 _______________________________________________________ The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004
we were well on our way. Harry and Al of<br />
course were but distant specks on the horizon,<br />
seafaring men with a bit more sense<br />
than to drift about.<br />
So up the ramp with my tried-and-true<br />
method of trailer backing, drive the van<br />
near the ramp and walk the trailer down<br />
and we were out. It was 4:30 or so by the<br />
time we put the last of the rig into the van<br />
and the crew voted that the day was well<br />
spent.<br />
Today a quick trip to the local marine<br />
store at lunchtime and I’ve the line,<br />
fairleads and cleat for rigging lazy jacks.<br />
Leastwise a first cut at them.<br />
See ya next time!<br />
About the Author<br />
Gary has been sailing since 1973. He<br />
started with the Sea Scouts in Rochester,<br />
NY, first in Lightnings, then Dragons. He<br />
moved to Seattle in 1980 for a job but kept<br />
racing Dragons, then Thunderbirds, and<br />
now Thistles on Lake Washington and<br />
Puget Sound. He has only recently bought<br />
the Swampscott dory. Gary has always<br />
wanted to do boat camping but never had<br />
either the boat or a group of friends to do<br />
it with. His dory home page is http://<br />
www.geocites.com/garyLambda/<br />
SwampscottDory.html •<br />
Lost Coast<br />
Chapter Formed<br />
The charter meeting was held in<br />
Mendocino, CA, October 30, with 10<br />
founding members. The first Mess About<br />
was held in <strong>No</strong>yo Harbor, Fort Bragg CA<br />
on Saturday <strong>No</strong>vember 13 at 11 AM. The<br />
members are very excited to be part of<br />
TSCA; some are even planning to come<br />
east in the spring. •<br />
Become a<br />
Sponsor Member<br />
From the Shop<br />
Floor:<br />
The Apprenticeshop,<br />
Rockland, Maine<br />
By Meredith Currier Bell<br />
The smell of cedar. Most people notice<br />
the smell of cedar before anything else<br />
when they walk into the Apprenticeshop.<br />
What I notice is the sound. <strong>No</strong>t of planers,<br />
or saws, or draw knives as they go<br />
through wood, but the sounds of laughter,<br />
silence, or voices discussing how to approach<br />
a project.<br />
Imagine, for instance, the moment when<br />
apprentices hear that the project they have<br />
been waiting for has finally come through.<br />
The silence of anticipation teeters on the<br />
edge, then free falls down the face of hearing<br />
good news to explode at the bottom<br />
into peals of laughter and cheers. Or,<br />
imagine the pensive whisper of someone<br />
speaking to herself about how to build a<br />
rudder, uplifted by the strong tenor of<br />
someone who has done it before offering<br />
a bit of advice.<br />
These sounds of apprenticing have become<br />
familiar to me over the past three<br />
years. In fact, they had become so familiar<br />
that I didn’t even notice them for<br />
awhile. But this year, I began to hear them<br />
again. The sound that brought me back<br />
was the amusement of new apprentices<br />
working with old to get projects done to<br />
improve the Shop. The crew that built<br />
the lofting table enclosure under the stairs<br />
was clearly audible outside my window<br />
laughing about their task — I don’t even<br />
know what it was exactly that got them<br />
going.<br />
These sounds of the Shop remind me<br />
that the boats we build inspire, but do not<br />
create, the din which I love. The Murray<br />
Peterson Old Gaffer and the Carney 24<br />
Lobsterboat, opposite each other on the<br />
bottom floor, have already evoked the silence<br />
of sighting a fair line on the lofting<br />
table. They will cause the low rumble of<br />
discussion around spiling a carvel plank,<br />
and most excited heights of yelling when<br />
frames are pulled from the steambox. The<br />
Joel White Nutshell Pram and Orvil Young<br />
Sailing Whitehall upstairs will bring on<br />
the silent whisper of lapstrake bevel calculations,<br />
and the giddy laughter of shucking<br />
ear muffs at the end of a day of riveting.<br />
The boats may plant the seed for a<br />
sound, but the apprentices are the source<br />
and nourishment behind their existence.<br />
We have begun the year productively.<br />
Anyone walking into the Shop can see the<br />
new floor, several walls, and a few benches<br />
that stand at the ready. Or they can curiously<br />
eye the cryptic lines of lofting. But<br />
if they really wanted to notice the productivity<br />
of early fall, they would open their<br />
ears to apprentices talking and learning<br />
together. Our group this year is really<br />
quite remarkable at producing sound indicative<br />
of enjoyment and genuine enthusiasm.<br />
The smell of cedar is nice, but hearing<br />
each crew’s opus as they conduct symphonies<br />
inspired by their project—this is my<br />
favorite part of September.<br />
About the Author<br />
Meredith is the Shop Programs Director<br />
for The Apprenticeshop of Atlantic<br />
Challenge, Rockland, Maine. This article<br />
is reprinted with permission from The<br />
Apprentice, Newsletter of Atlantic Challenge<br />
Issue 3 <strong>Vol</strong>. 8, Fall 2004. •<br />
Boat for Sale<br />
Kingfisher, built by John McCallum, of<br />
Veneta, OR.<br />
This yawl was inspired by the Chesapeake<br />
Bay log canoes.Specifically, the<br />
Poquonson log canoe seen in Chapelle’s<br />
American <strong>Small</strong> Sailing <strong>Craft</strong>. The log canoes<br />
were descendants of Native American<br />
dugout canoes. The Chesapeake log<br />
canoes were made of 3 or 5 logs fitted together<br />
and carved to shape.<br />
They had distinctive sprit leg-of-mutton<br />
sails set on raking unstayed masts. The<br />
Poquonson model was a shoal draft<br />
centerboarder with moderate deadrise and<br />
rather hard bilges.<br />
The hollow entrance and run were made<br />
by cutting saw kerfs in the forward and<br />
aft sections of the bottom planks and forcing<br />
them into shape. The split plywood is<br />
reinforced with 24 oz. bi-axial fiberglass.<br />
She lies in Port Townsend.<br />
Fran Richart<br />
360-321-1157<br />
richart@whidbey.com •<br />
The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004_______________________________________________________ 13
Croisière Loire,<br />
France<br />
July 3-8<br />
By Richard Geiger<br />
For Susan and me, it started with an<br />
email from France to the National TSCA<br />
group, asking whether anyone going to the<br />
Brest 2004 traditional boat festival might<br />
want to row and sail for a week down the<br />
Loire River.<br />
The trip sounded a lot like San Francisco<br />
Maritime Museum’s annual<br />
Gunkhole trip—row and sail all day, camp<br />
at night and enjoy good companionship<br />
and good food.<br />
We’ve done the Gunkhole trip—a number<br />
of times and have always liked it. In<br />
addition there would be time to enjoy cultural<br />
treasures along the Loire (but could<br />
it be more “cultural” than a funky Delta<br />
bar?).<br />
Since we had already committed to attending<br />
the Brest 2004 festival, we<br />
checked our airplane tickets and it turned<br />
out we had time to do it. Then there was<br />
the debate—we didn’t know any of planners<br />
or other participants. This was only<br />
their second cruise—would it really come<br />
off? We didn’t have a boat and we would<br />
have to charter one sight unseen. Counting<br />
the boat rental and deposit, it wasn’t<br />
going to be all that cheap.<br />
Finally we decided go for it. The deciding<br />
point was that we knew from experience<br />
that it is always better to travel with<br />
locals than to spend a lot of time driving<br />
around in an air-conditioned car, spending<br />
days at typical tourist destinations, isolated<br />
in your own world.<br />
We sent in our<br />
registration and<br />
rented a Seil, which<br />
is a handsome open<br />
boat approximately<br />
18' by 5' (http://<br />
www.canotage-defrance.com/<br />
seil.htm).<br />
The boat had<br />
double rowing positions<br />
and an elegant<br />
high-peaked lug<br />
sail. The boat is a bit<br />
heavier than our<br />
Gunning dory, a little harder to row, but<br />
more stable under sail. It turned out to be<br />
an excellent vessel for our trip down the<br />
Loire.<br />
We rendezvoused on the river at<br />
Brehemont, a small town a little west of<br />
Tours. The Club de Voile du Saumurois<br />
supplied our rental boat and transported<br />
it to the launch area. The Seil boatbuilder<br />
and chief organizer of the event, François<br />
Lelièvre, personally checked me out on the<br />
boat. We also met the other trip planners<br />
and safety boat crew—seven in all, not<br />
counting gourmet Chef Claude and his<br />
assistant.<br />
The registered crews included four<br />
Dutch boats, two French, one German and<br />
one American (us). In addition there were<br />
three French staff boats, which were all<br />
Seils, two with outboards.<br />
Two Dutch crews brought “12' Dinghy”<br />
class boats which were very fast. One captain<br />
was the national champion of Holland.<br />
Another Dutchman had a<br />
70-year-old farmer’s skiff that looked a<br />
little like a wooden shoe. Another had a<br />
beautiful, big, dark blue lapstrake with a<br />
plumb stem. The German, a school principal,<br />
had a lovely sailing skiff that he<br />
had built himself. He was the only one to<br />
sail solo on the trip. A French crew from<br />
La Rochelle brought another handsome<br />
varnished lapstrake dinghy. The other five<br />
boats were Seils, including our rental.<br />
The captains’ meetings were always<br />
held in French, but then translated into<br />
English for the benefit of us Americans,<br />
and also some of the Dutch, who understood<br />
English a bit better than French.<br />
The first day was mostly rowing, because<br />
we were in an unmarked, wild part<br />
of the river. We had to prospect channels<br />
and ended up dragging our boats across<br />
some shallow sandbars. The sun was out<br />
and I found this a lot of fun. Susan sat<br />
back in the stern sheets and directed.<br />
We camped in modest campgrounds<br />
along the river for about 8 to 12 Euros a<br />
night. There was grass to pitch tents and<br />
welcoming hot showers.<br />
Chef Claude, equipped with his van and<br />
trailer, made sure we had three gourmet<br />
meals a day. Lunch and dinner always included<br />
wine. He always greeted us with a<br />
14 _______________________________________________________ The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004
warm smile and hot food as we dragged<br />
in after a long day on the river.<br />
We set into a rhythm of rowing, sailing,<br />
lunch, and touring on foot at midday,<br />
more sailing and then at our destination,<br />
pitching tents, then a glass of wine and<br />
dinner. Later, if we had the energy, we’d<br />
have a campfire and pull out some musical<br />
instruments and sing.<br />
There were some lovely wild stretches,<br />
with almost no signs of man, and then<br />
quaint towns, magnificent chateaus, and<br />
ancient bridges. At times we were drifting<br />
in light airs and then there would be a<br />
perfect, brisk, sailing breeze. We enjoyed<br />
tacking back and forth, making sure not<br />
to get too far ahead and trying to catch up<br />
if we were falling behind.<br />
Things went on that way for several days<br />
until the weather started to change. A big<br />
front blew in from the Atlantic Ocean to<br />
the west and things got blustery. At one<br />
point a powerful squall came down on us<br />
and capsized one of our boats and managed<br />
to rip our mast and sail right out of<br />
our boat. Repairs were made and we<br />
headed on.<br />
The rough weather continued, with most<br />
of the wind right on the nose. We rowed<br />
and or sailed until we could do no more.<br />
At the end there were just two boats still<br />
sailing, both in Seils, Susan and I and two<br />
of the staff members, Paschal and Frederic.<br />
Although we were triple-reefed a huge<br />
gust hit us and we dipped a huge load of<br />
water and had to call it quits. The same<br />
gust hit the other Seil and broke the lug<br />
spar in half.<br />
At this point, we secured the boats<br />
ashore and hiked and car-shuttled to the<br />
next campground, returning to retrieve our<br />
boats the next day, which was the last<br />
scheduled for the cruise.<br />
We had a festive farewell dinner at<br />
Claude’s restaurant near the Loire. Many<br />
warm toasts were made and we left full of<br />
good memories.<br />
A number of photos are posted on the<br />
Web at:<br />
http://www.canotage-de-france.com/<br />
loire2004.html •<br />
The Avery Point<br />
Dory and the EZ-<br />
Rower<br />
by Gail E. Ferris<br />
Last Sunday afternoon I got to try my<br />
EZ-Rower in an Avery Point dory in what<br />
I thought was supposed to be 10 to 15<br />
knots out of the northeast. Heading south<br />
out of the bay in Mystic with the wind at<br />
my back rowing facing forward was not<br />
all that demanding and I slid though the<br />
passage to Mason’s Island with no problem<br />
because I was rowing facing forward.<br />
I found myself enjoying being able to take<br />
in the upcoming shoreline comfortably<br />
studying the details as I wished without<br />
having to worry about smashing into some<br />
object had I been rowing in the normal<br />
backward method. The EZ-Rower has<br />
compound levers mounted to the original<br />
oarlock pin holders. I had the EZ-Rower<br />
modified from the original shorter oared<br />
design to 8 foot oars as the dory rows best<br />
on open water with 7.5 to 8 foot oars.<br />
I headed east toward more open water<br />
where I found some lovely one-foot swells<br />
from the south combined with the halffoot<br />
waves from the north. I delighted<br />
playing the swells as I headed back north<br />
to Mason’s Island passage just as if I were<br />
in a kayak. The pleasure with playing the<br />
swells with oars rather than a paddle is<br />
that oars generate more instantaneous<br />
thrust, handy for that moment when you<br />
want to shoot down the face of a wave. I<br />
like that kind of fun playing the waves of<br />
open water and letting the boat show her<br />
colors.<br />
I especially enjoyed gunkholing behind<br />
the islands through a narrow shallow<br />
rocky passage observing the biota as the<br />
large white egrets and grey herons watched<br />
me. The birds were not fearful of my presence<br />
because the oars do not look nearly<br />
as threatening to these weary birds as a<br />
kayak paddle. Had I been kayaking I<br />
would have had to resort to paddling with<br />
a single paddle so as not to flush these<br />
fascinating birds.<br />
As I rounded the last peninsula heading<br />
for the passage I found myself beset<br />
by a solid 20 knots of wind in my face out<br />
of the north. I found myself digging in<br />
hard stroke after stroke to make way. To<br />
my relief the EZ-Rower functioned flawlessly<br />
and I missed no strokes in my physically<br />
demanding continued strokes.<br />
Missing a stroke would have meant several<br />
strokes to make up for lost ground,<br />
not fun, but that is the reality of being out<br />
there against 20 knots of wind.<br />
It was a delight to see the landmarks<br />
passing by in my tough grind back to the<br />
dock. I made it back fine and the grind<br />
was not any more physically demanding<br />
than if I had been using regular oars. I<br />
felt it was even easier rowing facing forward<br />
because I could see exactly where I<br />
was going and micro-adjust for any slight<br />
course deviation.<br />
There is one drawback with the EZ-<br />
Rower. The oars cannot feather and in 20<br />
knots with a few higher gusts I had a few<br />
moments when it would have been good<br />
to have had oars which feather. Ron<br />
Rantilla’s invention, the FrontRower, does<br />
offer self-feathering oars however the<br />
FrontRower does not fit into an Avery<br />
Point dory.<br />
I could readily understand from the intense<br />
pleasure I experienced while testing<br />
my EZ-Rower why Maine lobster dories<br />
are rowed facing forward, it is much easier<br />
to truly see in great detail where I am going<br />
and what is out there.<br />
The EZ-Rower with 8-foot oars— which<br />
can be purchased at EZ-Rower, 685 Linden<br />
Street, Taylor Falls, MN 55084—<br />
solved my problem of rowing facing<br />
forward in a dory. •<br />
Boat for Sale<br />
I have an 11' 3" Susan Skiff built by<br />
the ApprenticeShop that I must now sell.<br />
Jane Greenberg<br />
516 367 3678<br />
meriwich@aol.com<br />
The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004_______________________________________________________ 15
Tribute to One<br />
Mary Alice “Mimi”<br />
Gerstell Neary<br />
May 4, 1933- <strong>No</strong>vember 1, 2003<br />
By Sharon Brown<br />
Almost a year has passed since I wrote<br />
the following words published in Mystic<br />
Seaport’s staff bulletin. The sentiment,<br />
however, is current.<br />
“Last week Mystic Seaport lost a loyal<br />
supporter when Mary “Mimi” Neary of<br />
Montclair, New Jersey crossed the bar after<br />
a brave fight against cancer. Mimi, a<br />
lawyer by profession, was a free spirit who<br />
loved the sea and boats and those who care<br />
for both. She joined Mystic Seaport in<br />
1987 and took sailing classes offered by<br />
the Community Sailing Program, joining<br />
the Anderson Island Irregulars in their<br />
championing of museum sailing opportunities.<br />
She was an active Museum member<br />
participating in special events, bus<br />
trips, tavern tales, lantern light tours, and<br />
supported the Emma C. Berry crew. In<br />
1991 she purchased a sailing model of the<br />
Chaisson dory tender built by Barry Thomas<br />
and Bill Sauerbrey in the John Gardner<br />
Boat Shop and a beautiful set of oars<br />
built by Bill. She rowed and sailed her dory<br />
at her summer residence on the Niantic<br />
River with her Beetle Cat, Cat’s Meow II,<br />
which she purchased after taking a<br />
boathandling class at The Boathouse. She<br />
joined the <strong>Traditional</strong> <strong>Small</strong> <strong>Craft</strong> <strong>Association</strong>,<br />
contributed to the John Gardner<br />
fund, and became an annual student at The<br />
Boathouse, recording during each class<br />
some new piece of lore or documenting in<br />
her log a new-found boathandling skill<br />
which her colleagues<br />
were eager to share.<br />
When she ordered a<br />
new Beetle Cat hull,<br />
Cat’s Meow III, her<br />
tired old friend was<br />
passed about the local<br />
scene, eventually<br />
accompanying<br />
Walter Ansel to<br />
WoodenBoat School<br />
before going to a new<br />
owner. Mimi was a<br />
fine human being,<br />
with a positive upbeat<br />
attitude and never an<br />
unkind word. She<br />
had a great sense of<br />
humor and laughed<br />
Mimi rowed her own Chaisson dory around her cove in Niantic<br />
Bay and was always studying ways to improve her technique.<br />
readily, and despite her diminutive size<br />
and sense of clothing style, she was never<br />
too timid to approach the gruffest of salts<br />
to learn the tugboat bowline or the best<br />
way to prepare smelts. She was a great<br />
field trip companion. Mimi is mourned by<br />
her friends and family including two<br />
daughters, Lisa and Mary Louise, and four<br />
grand children who danced in excitement<br />
whenever she came into view.”<br />
The rancor of the election would have<br />
you believe that this is a different world,<br />
but whether it be on the E train or at the<br />
laundromat, people are wanting to share<br />
their hearts. They are basically generous<br />
and have a common need to be respected.<br />
They want to connect. One person can<br />
make a difference and certainly Mimi had<br />
a positive impact on clients, colleagues,<br />
family and friends.<br />
It is appropriate that we honor here a<br />
Beetle Cat owner who shared waterborne<br />
adventures with neighborhood youngsters<br />
whom she mentored<br />
in seamanship.<br />
Subsequent to her<br />
service at St.<br />
Cassian’s Church,<br />
Upper Montclair, I<br />
accompanied George<br />
and Jane Spragg to<br />
Beetle, Inc. on Smith<br />
Neck Road in<br />
Padanarum—a trip<br />
All seriousness at the helm, Mimi steers the 31 Herreshoff<br />
ketch Quiet Tune back to Mystic, with crew Bill Ziegler on the<br />
port quarter.<br />
we made frequently<br />
with Mimi—to visit<br />
master painter Shawn<br />
Sipple and boatbuilder Charlie York, then<br />
in the throes of selling the business. Mimi<br />
and George met when they learned to sail<br />
in 9' Dyer Dhows in the same Museum<br />
Community Sailing Class in the program<br />
I used to teach. “We’re here to pay homage<br />
to Cat’s Meow III.” Shawn replied, “I<br />
know where she is. I’ll take you to her.”<br />
When we parted we headed for the Cape<br />
and Howard Boats of Barnstable where<br />
Bill Sauerbrey worked. It was a form of<br />
catharsis to be with those who cared for<br />
Mimi, to talk about feelings, her boats and<br />
the old laughs.<br />
In the spring, Lisa and Mary Louise<br />
donated Mimi’s Chaisson dory tender to<br />
Mystic Seaport for use at The Boathouse<br />
and on Good Friday, April 9, colleague Jim<br />
McGuire and I picked up the hull with<br />
rudder, tiller, mast and sail at her Niantic,<br />
Connecticut, cottage. Her friend and<br />
handyman, Charlie, helped put the boat<br />
in the bed of the pickup, and while we secured<br />
the rig, spoke fondly of their times<br />
together fishing and drinking coffee with<br />
the locals.<br />
It was sad but redemptive for Mimi’s<br />
Boathouse friends to have her boat return<br />
to Mystic Seaport, entrusted to our care,<br />
where she will be used by visitors, staff<br />
and volunteers. Though we have yet to<br />
launch her, reluctant and busy both, we<br />
spent some reflective hours removing<br />
spent paint. We sanded and painted just<br />
like in old times when we helped Mimi<br />
with her annual commissioning ritual, especially<br />
when the dory overwintered in<br />
16 _______________________________________________________ The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004
Mimi, always game, is coached by<br />
Captain Jim McGuire to try out his<br />
favorite on board position, sitting on the<br />
main boom of Quiet Tune.<br />
John McLaughlin’s Quonset hut in Mystic.<br />
These were occasions for celebration<br />
of boats, books and Yorkies, marked with<br />
champagne and good food.<br />
Peter and Trisha Bradford of<br />
Middleboro, MA met Mimi at the 1994<br />
John Gardner <strong>Small</strong> <strong>Craft</strong> Workshop<br />
where their Gunning dory, Imp, debuted<br />
and was admired by John Gardner. Their<br />
boat was named for the Lincolnville Imp<br />
(the same figurine which adorned candlestick<br />
holders on John McLaughlin’s table<br />
and was admired by Mimi) acknowledging<br />
Peter and John’s common U.K. heritage.<br />
Records show that Mimi took the Mystic<br />
boathandling class seven times, beginning<br />
in August 1994, and sailed the<br />
Herreshoff ketch Quiet Tune twice in 2001.<br />
The class she took in 2001 was featured<br />
in a James Gorman column on the front<br />
page of the weekend section of the Friday<br />
New York Times on July 20, much to the<br />
astonishment of her sister, Roberta, who<br />
recognized Mimi in a photograph of her<br />
rowing the good little skiff, Waldo<br />
Howland. Even when suffering side effects<br />
from chemotherapy that drained her physically,<br />
Mimi sought spiritual sustenance<br />
from that which she derived pleasure,<br />
people and boats, and she arranged adventures,<br />
relishing a row into downtown<br />
Mystic for “lunch” though she couldn’t<br />
even think about eating.<br />
Mimi’s miniature model fishing fleet in<br />
the back window of her car precipitated<br />
conversations with men who wouldn’t otherwise<br />
have dared a connection—gas station<br />
attendants and fishermen she met on<br />
the shore. She was surprised to find her<br />
new <strong>Vol</strong>vo sedan had a hot engine, and<br />
she used it! In her professional life she<br />
cared deeply about the frailty and human<br />
condition of her clients in estate matters<br />
and divorce, and championed the underdog.<br />
She was proud of her daughters and<br />
found joy in the presence of her grandchildren.<br />
A few weeks ago Phil and Pat Lord and<br />
their young daughter Kaylee of Hampden,<br />
Massachusetts, brought a photograph of<br />
Mimi to hang in The Boathouse, with<br />
those of other colleagues who have crossed<br />
the bar. The photograph is of Mimi paddling<br />
her Beetle Cat out of the channel in<br />
front of her summer cottage at Pine Grove<br />
with young Tim Lord as her crew. With<br />
her newly painted Chaisson nearby, we<br />
said a few impromptu words in tribute to<br />
Mimi’s indomitable spirit, posed for photographs,<br />
and as the Lords departed,<br />
turned back to work. Mimi’s place in our<br />
hearts now permanently acknowledged on<br />
the wall, we recalled images of her visits<br />
to The Boathouse, sitting on the ramp recording<br />
notes in her log of the tips she<br />
had just picked up whether it be docking<br />
Waldo Howland under oars or sailing the<br />
Beetle Cat Leo J. Telesmanick . We were<br />
longing for one of Mimi’s rollicking great<br />
laughs, while musing over her incredible<br />
sense of style, her curiosity expressed on<br />
visits to Greenport boatbuilder Andy<br />
Langendal, her saucy talk with a New<br />
Bedford trawler captain who succumbed<br />
and handed her a bag of fresh fillets, her<br />
delight in capturing the moment with her<br />
Rollei, or in Wayland, Massachusetts<br />
where she carefully turned each page of<br />
an old photograph album chronicling the<br />
life of John Gardner’s sister Sallie.<br />
During a recent serendipitous meeting,<br />
Charlie White, waterfront manager at the<br />
Herreshoff Museum in Bristol, Rhode Island,<br />
learned of Mimi’s death and in shock<br />
characterized her with two words, “unconditional<br />
enthusiasm.” Charlie, who<br />
worked for Beetle Inc., marked each New<br />
England boating season’s beginning and<br />
end by delivering and retrieving Beetle<br />
Cats, and sailed often with Mimi.<br />
The program from her mass included a<br />
quote from “The Ship,” by Anonymous<br />
which describes death as similar to a ship<br />
going over the horizon “Gone from my<br />
sight, that’s all. She is just as complete in<br />
mast and hull and spar as she was when<br />
she left my side and just as able to bear<br />
her precious burden to the place of destination.<br />
Her diminished appearance is in<br />
me, not in her. And at the very moment<br />
when someone at my side says “There—<br />
she’s gone”—other voices call with gladness<br />
‘here she comes.’ And that is death.<br />
Death is only a horizon and a horizon is<br />
the limit of our sight.”<br />
Grieving is a precarious process: uncharted<br />
waters no matter how many times<br />
you sail the same course, like using a boat,<br />
never the same. Mimi is missed on a daily<br />
basis. Rarely does one person know another<br />
completely, yet we are fortunate that<br />
Mimi shared her love for family, mankind,<br />
nature and boats, and led by example, a<br />
decent, thoughtful human being. •<br />
Photos by the author.<br />
Her bandana anchoring an unwieldy<br />
wig, and wearing an orange coat ahead<br />
of the fashion, Mimi pauses for the<br />
camera. Her spirit registers in her grin<br />
as she stands on the deck of the Cross<br />
Sound Ferry, Susan Anne, on the way to<br />
Orient Point, NY.<br />
The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004_______________________________________________________ 17
Report on the success of<br />
last year’s John Gardner<br />
Memorial Endowment<br />
Grant which was awarded<br />
to Clark Lane Middle<br />
School and the JGTSCA.<br />
Youth, Wood<br />
Shavings & Dories:<br />
A Formula<br />
with a Future<br />
By Bill Armitage, President,<br />
JGTSCA<br />
Clark Lane Middle School, Waterford,<br />
Connecticut, in cooperation with the John<br />
Gardner Chapter, was awarded a grant in<br />
the amount of $1,200 during the 2003-<br />
2004 school year to conduct a small craft<br />
building program with seventh and eighth<br />
grade students. The primary goals of the<br />
program were to provide students with the<br />
opportunity to gain hands-on experience<br />
in both the construction of traditional<br />
small craft and their safe use. A secondary<br />
impact of the grant was to establish a<br />
forum in which children and their families<br />
could interact with members of the<br />
local chapter.<br />
Special care was taken when selecting<br />
the vessel which would be built. Key considerations<br />
included the ease of construction<br />
and the limited use of potentially toxic<br />
materials. The chapter decided to construct<br />
a prototype dory and produce<br />
wooden patterns to aid in the production<br />
of multiple craft.<br />
The boat is a takeoff<br />
on the dories which<br />
appear in John<br />
Gardner’s The Dory<br />
Book and Phil<br />
Bolger’s Gloucester<br />
Gull. The construction<br />
process was<br />
modified to use<br />
precut marine<br />
Occume plywood<br />
panels wrapped<br />
around a single center<br />
frame and secured<br />
to a traditional tombstone transom<br />
aft. The bow is constructed with a moldedin-place<br />
stem consisting of an interior composite<br />
fillet with the exterior sheathed in<br />
fiberglass cloth. The prototype vessel was<br />
constructed in the Chapter’s boathouse on<br />
the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point<br />
Campus. Launched in December of 2003<br />
the first Avery Point dory was christened<br />
Jane, after founding Chapter President<br />
Russ Smith’s spouse. The chapter now had<br />
a full set of patterns required to construct<br />
the vessel.<br />
Members gathered in the Avery Point<br />
Boathouse during January to fabricate four<br />
dory kits. Chapter funds were allocated to<br />
construct two boats for use during our<br />
weekly rowing activity. The two kits<br />
funded by the John Gardner Grant were<br />
delivered to Clark Lane Middle School.<br />
Each kit consisted of two cut to size side<br />
panels, a rough cut bottom sheet, center<br />
frame and transom. Chine logs of cedar<br />
and rub rails of mahogany were ripped<br />
from stock and left long for fitting by construction<br />
teams. The chapter hosted a<br />
weekend boat building<br />
activity for members<br />
and the<br />
community during<br />
which the first two<br />
kits were assembled.<br />
Building the two<br />
chapter boats provided<br />
members with<br />
the skills and experience<br />
needed to<br />
guide middle school<br />
students in the construction<br />
of the grant<br />
funded boats. The<br />
focus of our activity then moved from<br />
Avery Point to the middle school technology<br />
lab.<br />
Participation in the program was open<br />
to all students at Clark Lane. More than<br />
20 students had responded to the initial<br />
offering of the after-school activity when<br />
it was announced at the beginning of the<br />
school year. Each student who had expressed<br />
an earlier interest was contacted<br />
and provided with a notification form<br />
which required parental authorization<br />
prior to participation.<br />
Special needs-students were successfully<br />
recruited to expand the diversity of<br />
the group. A meeting was held in early<br />
March and the 15 students were organized<br />
into two groups which would work for an<br />
hour after school on either Tuesday or<br />
Thursday. Construction crew assignments<br />
were loosely based upon grade level. Initially<br />
there were more boys than girls but,<br />
over time, attrition and recruiting of<br />
friends produced a closer balance. Construction<br />
of the vessels was accomplished<br />
over a period of 14 weeks.<br />
Several chapter members volunteered<br />
to help as project coaches. Russ Smith<br />
and Larry Magee attended most of the sessions<br />
and contributed immensely to its<br />
success. George Spragg provided a lesson<br />
on fitting and beveling chime logs and<br />
Geoff Conklin showed up with an adjustable<br />
angle laminate trimmer to facilitate<br />
the trimming of the bottom panel once it<br />
had been installed. Over spring break the<br />
assembled hulls were brought back to the<br />
Avery Point boathouse to have the stems<br />
and exterior of the chines fiber glassed<br />
and faired, this avoided contamination of<br />
the technology lab with epoxy and fiber-<br />
18 _______________________________________________________ The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004
glass dust. The fitting out of inwhales,<br />
thwarts and rub rails as well as painting<br />
were accomplished by students during<br />
May and the first weeks of June and the<br />
boats were launched in a local pond during<br />
the last week of school. The launch<br />
ceremony of the boats, named Tuesday and<br />
Thursday, was attended by builders and<br />
their parents, school staff and administrators,<br />
and several teachers, brought their<br />
classes down to join the festivities. The<br />
boats were returned to Avery Point boathouse<br />
and have been used extensively by<br />
chapter members and guests. The JGTSCA<br />
fleet of rowing dories— we have five—<br />
are available to community groups and<br />
local youth organizations. The Clark Lane<br />
aquaculture program will be using the<br />
boats this spring to study the marine environment<br />
of eastern Long Island Sound.<br />
Several factors contributed to the success<br />
of this project. The first and possibly<br />
the most important is choosing a design<br />
which is well within the capabilities of<br />
your target participants. Many middleschool<br />
students have yet to acquire basic<br />
hand-tool skills. This may be their first<br />
opportunity to hammer a nail, use an electric<br />
drill or drive a screw. Our primary<br />
goal was to have students feel that “they”<br />
built the boats rather than simply helped<br />
with construction. Chapter members acted<br />
as coaches and explained how to perform<br />
an operation and then slipped their hands<br />
into their pockets while the kids worked<br />
through the task.<br />
As you supervise, realize that it may be<br />
necessary to compromise your standards<br />
of craftsmanship! <strong>No</strong>vice boatbuilders<br />
tend to view the success of their project<br />
by the lack of leaks rather than the quality<br />
of joinery. It is important to keep kids<br />
busy. There is a tendency to have more<br />
students involved than there are jobs to<br />
do at any given time. Students who are<br />
not actively involved will not come back<br />
next week. Consider a rotating schedule<br />
which will insure that the more timid students<br />
will have a chance to participate;<br />
they may be the ones who gain the most<br />
from the project. The success of youth boat<br />
building is not measured solely by the<br />
launching of a finished<br />
craft. The first<br />
pull on the oars of a<br />
boat which you have<br />
helped build is an<br />
experience which can<br />
last a lifetime.<br />
currently is the Chapter president. A<br />
former director with Travelers Insurance<br />
Co., Bill has been teaching technology<br />
education for ten years and at Clark Lane<br />
Middle School for the past three. Bill has<br />
supervised five youth boatbuilding projects<br />
and has been involved in the construction<br />
of more than a dozen rowing craft. An<br />
avid rower, he has competed in major regional<br />
events such as the Blackburn Challenge<br />
and the Soundkeeper’s Lighthouse<br />
to Lighthouse Race. His summers have<br />
been spent on extended rowing/camping<br />
trips including the entire Erie Canal, Lake<br />
Champlain and the Thousand Islands region<br />
of the St. Lawrence River.<br />
Bill resides on Long Pond in Ledyard,<br />
Connecticut with his wife of <strong>25</strong> years,<br />
Frances, and their son, John. He can be<br />
contacted through the JGTSCA website<br />
www.tsca.net/johngardner. •<br />
About the Author<br />
Bill Armitage has<br />
been a member of the<br />
John Gardner Chapter<br />
since 2000 and<br />
Bill Armitage at work. John Hitchcock<br />
photo.<br />
The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004_______________________________________________________ 19
Ensuring a Future<br />
for the<br />
John Gardner<br />
Grants<br />
by Sid Whelan<br />
A TSCA Council member has generously<br />
designated part of a life insurance<br />
policy to add $13,000 to the <strong>Traditional</strong><br />
<strong>Small</strong> <strong>Craft</strong> <strong>Association</strong> Fund (the Fund)<br />
at the Maine Community Foundation<br />
(MCF). As reported by Tom Shephard in<br />
the Fall issue of The Ash Breeze, TSCA’s<br />
Gardner Grants are funded solely by donations<br />
to the Fund — your dues do not<br />
fund these grants at all.<br />
Our goal is an endowment of $100,000,<br />
but we’re a long way form achieving that<br />
objective. Here are the total funds contributed<br />
by year:<br />
1997 $13,824.69<br />
1998 $16,950.24<br />
1999 $ 5,193.00<br />
2000 $ 4,350.00<br />
2001 $ 1,850.00<br />
2002 $ 1,300.00<br />
2003 $ 200.00<br />
2004 $ 0.00<br />
Total: $43,667.93<br />
MCF has done a good job of managing<br />
the Fund. In mid-September 2004, it was<br />
valued at $48,230.16, and that is after<br />
Gardner Grants totaling $7,850 had been<br />
awarded.<br />
You can see what has happened: this is<br />
typical for fund-raising that is motivated<br />
at least in part in memory of an individual.<br />
Those who knew and worked with John<br />
Gardner made their gifts and pledges early<br />
on, frequently paid over a three- or fouryear<br />
period. Some of those gifts were in<br />
four figures.<br />
From here on, reaching and, we hope,<br />
exceeding the $100,000 goal will be done<br />
increasingly by TSCA members who may<br />
not have had a personal tie to John but<br />
who are motivated by the voice and programs<br />
of TSCA.<br />
Ben Fuller and the Gardner Grants<br />
Committee currently choose candidates for<br />
funding from applications submitted. The<br />
recommended awardees’ names and objectives<br />
are then reviewed by the TSCA<br />
Council before the grants are made. The<br />
committee follows up to confirm the performance<br />
and achievements of the grantees.<br />
The MCF file for the Fund will include<br />
ample information for MCF to follow this<br />
procedure in the unlikely event of TSCA’s<br />
demise.<br />
In the past, several potential donors have<br />
asked how they can be sure that the Gardner<br />
Grants will continue if TSCA ceases<br />
to exist. We don’t expect TSCA to dissolve<br />
any time soon, but MCF has adopted the<br />
purposes of TSCA as its guide for the<br />
Fund. Those purposes are printed in the<br />
masthead column on page 2.<br />
You may choose “planned giving” as an<br />
alternative to, or in addition to, direct contributions<br />
to the Fund. John Weiss is the<br />
Council member who has chosen a paidup<br />
life insurance policy as his vehicle for<br />
increasing the Fund. Happily, John and<br />
his wife, Ellen, have many years ahead of<br />
them. But here’s what he has to say about<br />
his gift. Please read it with your own gift<br />
planning in mind.<br />
I, like so many others, am a procrastinator.<br />
I just did my “annual” review with<br />
my financial advisor — three years after<br />
the last one. The inevitable “death and<br />
taxes” (planning for the former; attempting<br />
to avoid the latter) take up a significant<br />
portion of such reviews. While<br />
preparing for the review, I actually remembered<br />
something about Gardner Grants,<br />
“planned giving,” and a long-delayed intention<br />
to do something in that vein —<br />
probably somewhat influenced by the recent<br />
delivery of the Fall issue of The Ash<br />
Breeze and a phone conversation with Sid<br />
Whelan.<br />
Among the tidbits I found in my pile of<br />
papers for the review was an old, paid-up<br />
life insurance policy that I had almost forgotten<br />
about. It turned out to be a convenient<br />
and painless method of breaking out<br />
of the procrastination rut. We no longer<br />
are paying premiums on the policy, so it<br />
will cost us nothing up front. We have<br />
other, adequate insurance policies, so I<br />
wouldn’t miss the few thousand dollars<br />
later on. The policy also happens to be<br />
on my wife, so I wouldn’t have to keep<br />
looking over my shoulder for the Gardner<br />
Grant Committee’s hired hit man.<br />
After consulting with my wife (since she<br />
had to sign the papers), we decided we<br />
could afford to give the proceeds of that<br />
policy to the Gardner Grant Fund. It took<br />
an additional 30 seconds or so during the<br />
previously scheduled financial review to<br />
fill out the change of beneficiary form.<br />
<strong>No</strong>w I can pat myself on the back for “doing<br />
good” as well as actually finishing a<br />
task I had started thinking about over<br />
three years ago!<br />
If you do have a will, here are<br />
some reasons to reconsider and possibly<br />
update it:<br />
You’re committed to preserving<br />
our traditional small craft heritage<br />
through the objectives of TSCA.<br />
You and/or your spouse retire.<br />
You move to another state<br />
You remarry and want to make<br />
provisions for your new spouse.<br />
Your children reach adulthood<br />
and achieve financial stability.<br />
New tax laws are enacted.<br />
You start a business.<br />
The value of some of your assets<br />
changes.<br />
New members join your family<br />
through birth or marriage.<br />
A friend or relative presents you<br />
with a sizeable inheritance.<br />
If you don’t have a will and you<br />
get hit by a truck (figuratively?) You<br />
won’t be the first. Abraham Lincoln,<br />
who we all know practiced law with<br />
skill before his presidency, died<br />
without a will. The law at the time<br />
divided his estate into thirds, with<br />
his wife, Mary, getting only onethird.<br />
His two sons (one was 12, the<br />
other was already on a promising<br />
legal track) received the balance.<br />
State succession laws do not take<br />
life circumstances into account.<br />
Another surprising example:<br />
Harrison Tweed, a founding partner<br />
of one of the most prestigious law<br />
firms in the U.S. and a former president<br />
of the New York City Bar <strong>Association</strong>,<br />
died without a will. Here<br />
too the succession laws of Mr.<br />
Tweed’s home state of New York<br />
took over, with no consideration of<br />
what he might have achieved with<br />
his wealth had he left a valid will.<br />
20 _______________________________________________________ The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004
Many of us have seen John Weiss on the<br />
water, rowing or paddling about. In his<br />
other life, he flys big jets. He is a frequent<br />
contributor to the Ash Breeze.<br />
For anyone else who may be thinking<br />
of a similar gift, realize that you can designate<br />
any portion of a life insurance<br />
policy’s proceeds for the purpose; it need<br />
not be the entire amount. Simply designate<br />
a percentage or dollar amount on the<br />
beneficiary (or change of beneficiary) form<br />
to go to the <strong>Traditional</strong> <strong>Small</strong> <strong>Craft</strong> <strong>Association</strong><br />
Fund at the Maine Community<br />
Foundation (we often call it the ‘Gardner<br />
Grant Fund’; they officially call it the<br />
‘TSCA Fund’). You don’t even have to hire<br />
a financial advisor to do it! However, if<br />
you do have a financial advisor, have her<br />
help you play the tax game, too, since there<br />
are many ways to skin that cat. Remember<br />
that any contribution to the fund, as<br />
well as your dues and other direct contributions<br />
to TSCA, are tax deductible as<br />
charitable contributions.<br />
The choice of a paid-up life insurance<br />
policy is one vehicle for increasing the<br />
Fund, and it is a simple, direct way. An<br />
equally direct way is by a bequest in your<br />
will to the Fund, probably enabling you to<br />
make a larger contribution to preserving<br />
our traditional small craft heritage than<br />
might be possible during your lifetime.<br />
With or without a little salesmanship on<br />
your part, a $10,000 to $20,000 bequest<br />
probably won’t result in your relatives<br />
stomping on your grave; by now if six<br />
TSCA members had each left a bequest of<br />
$10,000 to the Fund, we’d have our goal<br />
in hand.<br />
But don’t worry: the Gardner Grant<br />
Committee won’t hire a hit man to get<br />
bequests moving through the pipeline. It’s<br />
long term; that’s what planned giving is<br />
all about. The most important point is<br />
for more of us to follow the lead of others<br />
and provide for the Fund now and<br />
in the future.<br />
Here’s the language to be used for a bequest<br />
in your will:<br />
“I give and bequeath (a dollar amount,<br />
or specific assets or a portion of the estate)<br />
to the Maine Community Foundation,<br />
a public charity based in Ellsworth, Maine,<br />
for its charitable educational and scientific<br />
uses and purposes.<br />
“I desire that this bequest be added to<br />
the <strong>Traditional</strong> <strong>Small</strong> <strong>Craft</strong> <strong>Association</strong><br />
Fund at the Maine Community Foundation<br />
to be used in accordance with the<br />
Resolution of the Board of Directors of the<br />
Maine Community Foundation establishing<br />
the <strong>Traditional</strong> <strong>Small</strong> <strong>Craft</strong> <strong>Association</strong><br />
Fund, dated March 24, 1998, and<br />
amended by the Resolution of September<br />
10, 2004.”<br />
As John Weiss has explained, the designation<br />
of a life insurance policy is even<br />
simpler. Ask your insurance agent for a<br />
“Change of Beneficiary” form, and fill in<br />
the name and address of the TSCA Fund<br />
at MCF as the beneficiary for all or part<br />
of the proceeds. You can designate a percentage<br />
of the proceeds or a specific dollar<br />
amount:<br />
<strong>Traditional</strong> <strong>Small</strong> <strong>Craft</strong> <strong>Association</strong><br />
Fund<br />
Maine Community Foundation<br />
(Tax ID 01-039-1479)<br />
245 Main Street<br />
Ellsworth, ME 04605<br />
If you have questions for TSCA or MCF,<br />
here are some helping hands:<br />
Ellen Pope, MCF Vice President:<br />
Maine Community Foundation<br />
245 Main Street<br />
Ellsworth, ME 04605<br />
epope@mainecf.org<br />
www.mainecf.org<br />
207-667-9735<br />
1-877-700-6800 (toll-free)<br />
207-667-0447 (fax)<br />
Ben Fuller, TSCA Gardner Grant Committee<br />
chair:<br />
HCR 68, Box 196-C, 88 Mason Cove<br />
Lane, Cushing, ME 04563-9801;<br />
bagfuller@compuserve.com<br />
Sid Whelan, former TSCA Council<br />
member:<br />
7 West Lane, Niantic, CT 06357<br />
860-739-8423<br />
SidWhelan@aol.com •<br />
<strong>Small</strong>craft<br />
Events<br />
Center for Wooden Boats<br />
December 4-6: Marine Carving<br />
December 11: Knot 8, Chest Beckets<br />
1010 Valley Street<br />
Seattle, WA 98109-4468<br />
206-382-2628<br />
E-mail: cwb@cwb.org<br />
www.cwb.org<br />
Connecticut River Oar and<br />
Paddle Club<br />
December 10: Christmas Party at<br />
Maritime Education Network<br />
January 1, 2005: Annual New Year’s<br />
Day Row<br />
Sacramento Chapter<br />
January 1, 2005: Hair of the Dog<br />
Row on Tomales Bay, Lee Caldwell<br />
415-435-1975<br />
January 8, 2005: Annual Planning<br />
Meeting, Aeolian Yacht Club, Pete<br />
Evans 510-652-2034<br />
Contact: Richard Geiger<br />
rgeiger@sfchronicle.com<br />
JGTSCA Chapter<br />
A few members of the club<br />
continue to row each Sunday<br />
morning. This is an informal<br />
activity. Plan for a two hour row<br />
with a stop for coffee. Bring a boat<br />
and have some fun!<br />
The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004_______________________________________________________ 21
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Samuel<br />
Johnson<br />
BOATBUILDER<br />
1449 S.W. Davenport Street<br />
Portland, Oregon 97201<br />
(503) 223-4772<br />
drathmarine<br />
http://drathmarine.com<br />
1557 Cattle Point Road<br />
Friday Harbor, WA 98<strong>25</strong>0<br />
Mole got it right...<br />
E-mail: sjboats@comcast.net<br />
ALBERT’S WOODEN BOATS INC.<br />
• Double ended lapstrake<br />
• Marine ply potted in Epoxy<br />
• Rowboats – 15' & fast 17'<br />
• Electric Launches – 15' & 18'<br />
A. Eatock, RR #2, 211 Bonnell Rd.<br />
Bracebridge, ONT. CANADA PIL 1W9<br />
705 645 7494 alsboats@surenet.net<br />
Museum Quality<br />
Wherries, Canoes and Cabin Cruisers<br />
54442 Pinetree Lane, <strong>No</strong>rth Fork, CA 93643<br />
559-877-8879 trapskiffjim@sti.net<br />
Richard Kolin<br />
Custom wooden traditional small craft<br />
designed and built<br />
Boatbuilding and maritime skills instruction<br />
Oars and marine carving<br />
360-659-5591<br />
kolin1@gte.net<br />
4107-77th Place NW<br />
Marysville, WA 98271<br />
22 We thank our Sponsor/Members for their support and urge all members to consider using their services.
Fine <strong>Traditional</strong> Rowing<br />
& Sailing <strong>Craft</strong><br />
NORTH<br />
RIVER<br />
BOATWORKS<br />
RESTORATIONS<br />
741 Hampton Ave.<br />
Schenectady, NY 12309<br />
518-377-9882<br />
Builders of <strong>Traditional</strong> and<br />
Contemporary Rowing and Sailing <strong>Craft</strong><br />
Richard Cullison 11515 Kenton Drive<br />
301-946-5002 Silver Spring, MD 20902<br />
www.Cullison<strong>Small</strong><strong>Craft</strong>.com<br />
BOATS PLANS BOOKS TOOLS<br />
Specializing in traditional small craft since 1970.<br />
Duck Trap Woodworking<br />
www.duck-trap.com<br />
We thank our Sponsor/Members for their support and urge all members to consider using their services. 23<br />
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Redd’s Pond Boatworks<br />
1 <strong>No</strong>rman Street<br />
Marblehead, MA 01945<br />
Thad Danielson (781) 631-3443<br />
JAN NIELSEN 361-8547C<br />
656-0848/1-800-667-2275 P<br />
<strong>25</strong>0-656-9663 F<br />
P.O.Box 2<strong>25</strong>0, Sidney<br />
BC Canada V8L 3S8<br />
westwind@islandnet.com<br />
WALTER F. HUBNER<br />
Cazenovia Boat Works, Unltd.<br />
3455 RIPPLETON ROAD<br />
CAZENOVIA, NY 13035<br />
BUY, SELL, TRADE, BUILD AND RESTORE WOODEN BOATS<br />
SPECIALIZING IN ROWING SHELLS<br />
315-655-3223<br />
24 We thank our Sponsor/Members for their support and urge all members to consider using their services.
This innovative 17'6"<br />
adventure craft<br />
designed by Chuck<br />
Paine is lightweight,<br />
seaworthy, beautiful,<br />
affordable...<br />
the stuff legends are<br />
made of!<br />
Avalon<br />
House/<br />
<strong>No</strong>rseBoat<br />
tel: 902-659-2790<br />
fax: 902-659-2419<br />
info@norseboat.com<br />
www.nor<br />
.norseboat.com<br />
The Mathis/Trumpy Skiff<br />
a 12' flat bottom skiff<br />
designed by John Trumpy, c. 1930<br />
find the official builder of the Mathis/Trumpy Skiff at<br />
www.traditionalboatworks.com<br />
*see the skiff in the Collection of the Annapolis Maritime Museum*<br />
full set of numbered plans available for $40<br />
Sigrid Trumpy, 12 German Street<br />
Annapolis, MD 21401<br />
410-267-0318 or hollace@crosslink.net<br />
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We thank our Sponsor/Members for their support and urge all members to consider using their services. <strong>25</strong>
ROB BARKER<br />
Wooden Boat Building<br />
and Repair<br />
615 MOYERS LANE<br />
EASTON, PA 18042<br />
Damaged Journal?<br />
If your Ash Breeze is missing<br />
pages or gets beaten up in the mail,<br />
let the editor know.<br />
$28<br />
Support TSCA<br />
Become a Sponsor/Member of TSCA and your ad will appear in four issues<br />
of this journal for only $1<strong>25</strong> a year.<br />
Ad size is 2-3/8" H by 3-3/8" W. Photos should be scanned at 200 dpi<br />
grayscale, or send camera-ready copy. Ed.<br />
26 _______________________________________________________ The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004
Copy Deadline,<br />
Format, and Ads<br />
Deadlines<br />
v26#1, Spring 2005, January 2<br />
Articles<br />
The Ash Breeze is a member-supported<br />
publication. Members are welcome to contribute.<br />
We encourage you to send material<br />
electronically. Text may be sent in the<br />
body of an e-mail message or, alternatively,<br />
as MSWord attachments. Send photos by<br />
US mail or as e-mail attachments in jpg<br />
or tif format. Typewritten material or material<br />
submitted on computer disk will be<br />
accepted too. Please give captions for photographs<br />
(naming people and places) and<br />
photo credits. E-mail to:<br />
drathmarine@rockisland.com<br />
Advertising Rates<br />
Effective July 1, 2003<br />
Yearly rates, 4 issues/year<br />
Individual Sponsor - <strong>No</strong> Ad $50<br />
Corporate Sponsor - 1/8 page $1<strong>25</strong><br />
Corporate Sponsor - 1/4 page $<strong>25</strong>0<br />
Corporate Sponsor - 1/2 page $500<br />
Corporate Sponsor - 1 page $750<br />
Corporate Sponsors with 1 page ads<br />
will be named as sponsors of a TSCA<br />
related event and will be mentioned in<br />
the ad for that event.<br />
Members’ Exchange<br />
50 words or less. Free to members except<br />
$10 if photo is included.<br />
Back Issues<br />
Original or duplicated back issues are<br />
available for $4 each plus postage.<br />
Contact Flat Hammock Press for ordering<br />
details.<br />
<strong>Vol</strong>ume Year Issue<br />
Newsletter 1975-77 1,2,3,4<br />
1 1978 1,2,3,4<br />
2 1979 1<br />
3 1979 1<br />
1980 2,3,4,5<br />
1981 6,7,8,9<br />
4 1982 1,2,3,4<br />
5 1983 1,2,3,4<br />
6 1984 1,2,4<br />
7 1985 1,2,3,4<br />
8 1986 1,2,3,4<br />
9 1987 1,2,3,4<br />
10 1988 1,2,3,4<br />
11 1989 1,2,3,4<br />
12 1990 1,2,3,4<br />
13 1991 1,2,3,4<br />
14 1992 1,2,3,4<br />
15 1993 1,2,3,4<br />
16 1994 1,2,3,4<br />
17 1995 1,2,3,4<br />
18 1996 1,2,3,4<br />
19 1997 1,2,3,4<br />
20 1998/99 1,2,3<br />
21 1999/00 1,2,3,4<br />
22 2001 1,2,3<br />
23 2002 1,2,3<br />
24 2003 1,2,3,4<br />
<strong>25</strong> 2004 1,2,3<br />
Flat Hammock Press<br />
5 Church Street, Mystic, CT 06355<br />
860-572-2722<br />
steve@flathammockpress.com<br />
TSCA WARES<br />
Caps<br />
Pre-washed 100% cotton, slate blue with<br />
TSCA logo in yellow and white. Adjustable<br />
leather strap and snap/buckle. $15.<br />
($14 to members if purchased at TSCA<br />
meets.)<br />
T-shirts<br />
100% cotton, light gray with the TSCA<br />
logo. $15.00 postpaid for sizes M, L, and<br />
XL and $16.00 for XXL.<br />
Patches<br />
3 inches in diameter featuring our logo<br />
with a white sail and a golden spar and<br />
oar on a light-blue background. Black<br />
lettering and a dark-blue border. $3.00<br />
Please send a SASE with your order.<br />
Decals<br />
Mylar-surfaced weatherproof decals<br />
similar to the patches except the border<br />
is black. Self-sticking back. $1. Please<br />
send a SASE with your order.<br />
Burgees<br />
12" x 18" pennant with royal blue field<br />
and TSCA logo sewn in white and gold.<br />
Finest construction. $30 postpaid.<br />
Visit the TSCA web site for ordering<br />
information.<br />
www.tsca.net/wares.html<br />
TSCA MEMBERSHIP FORM<br />
I wish to: Join Renew Change my address<br />
Individual Membership ($20 annually) Patron Membership ($100 annually)<br />
Family Membership ($20 annually) Canadian Membership with Airmail Mailing ($<strong>25</strong> annually)<br />
Sponsor/Membership ($50 annually) Other foreign Membership with Airmail Mailing ($30 annually)<br />
Enclosed is my check for $____________________________________ made payable to TSCA.<br />
Chapter member? Yes <strong>No</strong> (circle) Which Chapter? _________________________________<br />
Name<br />
Address<br />
Town<br />
E-mail<br />
________________________________________________________________________<br />
________________________________________________________________________<br />
______________________________State_______ Zip Code________________________<br />
_____________________________________________________________________________<br />
Mail to: Secretary, <strong>Traditional</strong> <strong>Small</strong> <strong>Craft</strong> <strong>Association</strong>, Inc., P. O. Box 350, Mystic, CT 06355.<br />
<strong>No</strong>te: Individual and Family Memberships qualify for one vote and one copy of each TSCA mailing. Family Memberships<br />
qualify all members of the immediate family to participate in all other TSCA activities.<br />
The Ash Breeze - Winter 2004_______________________________________________________ 27
The Sacramento Chapter enjoys Marshall Beach during their annual September encampment. Don’t you wish you had the<br />
chairs concession? Brendan Geiger photo.<br />
The Ash Breeze<br />
The Secretary, TSCA<br />
PO Box 350<br />
Mystic, CT 06355<br />
<strong>No</strong>n-Profit Org.<br />
US Postage<br />
PAID<br />
Providence, RI<br />
Permit <strong>No</strong>. 1899<br />
Address Service Requested<br />
Time to Renew? Help us save postage by photocopying the membership form<br />
on the inside back cover and renewing before we send you a renewal request.