Larry Cheek’s memoir, The Year of the Boat, tells the story of building his first wooden boat, a Sam Devlin–designed Zephyr 14, a modest sprit-rigged daysailer. His work, he wrote, was “incomprehensibly slow, stumbling, often incompetent, plagued by doubt, and at the same time infected by too much pride to ask for help.” Even though he had embarked on the project knowing he was “fully unqualified to build a boat,” he pressed on for 18 months “buoyed by the belief that every first-time boatbuilder is unqualified, by definition.” When launched in April 2007, and christened FAR FROM PERFECT, Larry’s boat sailed well and became a source of pride. With all the plywood parts for the boat and the strongback precut by a CNC machine, Nick and Larry, both graduates of Texas Tech, got the Ilur boatbuilding project off to a quick start in Larry’s spacious shop. Here, they’ve just finished the stem. Beyond the boat’s stern is Larry’s Inspiration Wall where he has quotations posted with blue masking tape: Michael Ruhlman—“All great accomplishments are composed entirely of interlocking details.” Richard Todd—“The problem of insistence on a pure vision is that so much life exists within the impurities.”
Photographs courtesy of Nick Grumbles, Anna Lee Haag, and Larry and Patty Cheek
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Congrats to you all, on every level! What a year and a half you have had – but the next year will be even better! I’ve been enjoying the work of Ron Mueller as the owner of his build, an ILUR. I’ve owned her for 16 months – with 5 nights aboard. My lug rig has been fun to learn and I’ve enjoyed its simplicity. Congrats!! on the new (family) friendship, the boat and years of enjoyment to come!
Life is good,
R
I love boat shows as much for the people as for the boats.
The give and take and the mutual respect is just a bunch of fun.
What a great story and project!
I’ve found for me, the greatest satisfaction building a boat is sharing my knowledge while helping someone build their boat.
The boat is beautiful and what a great story. I’ve been plugging away at a Pygmy Wineglass Wherry and feel like I’m such a hack with having no real experience with building anything like this and seemingly only able to learn (hopefully) from mistakes. To read that others have struggled with self doubt helps.
A wonderful story of friendship. Boating is full of surprises. I’m good friends with the 91 year old who built my 12′ Scamp with lug rig.