Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - February 2021

— Continued from previous page
On our way ashore the following morning, we met another boatbuilder. Sam
Hermiston was a 12-year-old Scot living board his family’s ketch, which was also
anchored in the harbor. Sam was fishing off the dinghy dock when we pulled up.
“You building a model boat at Benson’s,” he declared in a decided Scots accent,
spying the wood blank in Havana’s hands. “I built one there too.” He reeled in his
fishing line, put down his pole, and off we all went. The boys got on famously,
sharing an interest in models and in boats.
Later that afternoon, we took Sam out to his family’s ketch, Sea Warrior, so he
could show us his model. The small 14-inch model, made from gumwood, had been
hollowed out and decked over, to make it lighter. It was sloop rigged, with a tall mast,
self-tending jib, deep weighted keel and no rudder. Sam climbed into our dinghy, set
his model gently in the water and gave her a shove. Off she went as straight as an
arrow in the ten-knot breeze that ruffled the harbor. The tiny model laid over in the
gusts, righting itself and bobbing along in the chop. As we followed it in our dinghy
the boys were all smiles to
see the small boat flying
along, all by itself: no remote
controls, no battery-powered
motor, just the breeze and
the magic of the boatbuilder’s
craft to harness the wind.
Back at the shop, Havana’s
hull was clamped in the vise
and Benson showed Havana
how to use a hand plane to
complete the job of squaring
off the outline of the
laminated planks. Benson
then drew a line on the hull
where he figured the turn of
the bilge would be, where
the waterline might be. With
his machete, he chopped
away the excess wood creating the rough shape of the boat’s underbody. More
planing as the profile of the boat took shape. Next would be carving away the wood
from stern to the stern to create the completed shape of the hull.
When it was completed, Havana could begin the long, tedious task of sanding the
hull. We tested the hull’s buoyancy in seawater. It sat too low. To lighten the boat,
we’d have to remove wood from inside the hull, and then deck it over. That is, if
Havana wanted his model to actually sail.
“Do you make any models that actually sail?” Havana asked Benson.
“No, but many of the kids do,” he replied. “We have a model boat race here every
year during the Bequia Easter Regatta. Here — I’ll show you one of the winners.”
From off a shelf came a half a coconut, rigged with a mast and long bowsprit and
cotton cloth for sails. “The lads put a few stones in the coconut for ballast.”
But it would be some time before Havana’s boat would feel the wind and taste the
water, as he had a lot of sanding to do. This, to be followed by two coats of primer,
sanding between each coat, then two to three coats of topside paint, then bottom
paint, a boot stripe and deck paint. The mast and boom needed to be shaped, and
then stays and shrouds and halyards rigged. Lifelines? Deck hardware might be
added, and finally the name needed to be painted on the stern.
As we cruised farther through the Caribbean islands, Havana was busy sanding
the hull and designing the rig and deck layout for his model boat, often taking an
idea here and there from the yachts we passed or that anchored next to us.
Whether his model ever made it into the water or not wasn’t as important as the
Above: Models of whaleboats and large yachts share a counter in the showroom.
Left: Sam with his model that sails.
lessons he would learn along the way. The patience it takes, and the skill of hand
and tool that Benson imparted, along with the feel of the wood — it’s the process
not the product that teaches.
Later, while spending a month in English Harbour on Antigua, we visited the local
shipyard and had a piece of sheet aluminum cut out for the keel. A nearby wood
working shop cut out a piece of scrap mahogany plywood for the deck. But it wasn’t
until we returned to Maine that Havana fished his model.
She did sail once, but she was a bit too tender. She needed to be lightened more,
and more weight added to the bottom of the keel for stability.
Havana’s model sits here in our Maine house, a reminder that his ideas can be made
real. All it takes is patience and acquiring skills, and those he is now learning. He’s now
20, off to Solent University in the UK, studying marine engineering and yacht design.
FEBRUARY 2021 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 23