Dan Newland has accomplished a lot in his lifetime. In his prime he built a 34′ IOR 3/4-ton sloop and three weeks after finishing it entered the 1982 Singlehanded Transpac, a 2,100-plus-mile race from San Francisco to Kauai, and took first place. He won the race again in 1986 and 1992. For the 1992 race he finished three days ahead of the next boat in a boat he designed and built using fabrics he designed while working for a company making composite fabrics. He also designed the fabrics for the boat’s sails, which he also designed and built. Dan’s career in composites included designing fabrics for AMERICA’s Cup projects and making carbon-fiber parts for rockets and satellites. He also built pricey boarding ladders for megayachts. (If you have to ask how much they cost, you can’t afford one. Hint: Think five figures.)Surprisingly, Dan considers himself a late bloomer and writes, “I wasted the first five years of my life.” At the age of six, he began making up for his misspent youth by building model airplanes. His work improved after he learned to read. He learned Bernoulli’s Principles of Fluids in Motion sitting on his father’s knee, and soon after was reading about flight dynamics and could recite by heart his favorite passages to his bewildered friends. By the age of nine he was building model airplanes that could actually fly, and even took flight himself by taking flying lessons.Dan was 12 when he built his first boat. It was a plywood hydroplane that he’d seen detailed in a magazine; he hounded his parents to fund the project. No one in his family really had an interest in boats; his dad had a canoe only as an accessory to his true interest—fly-fishing. Dan’s parents caved in, as he recalls, “to shut me up.”
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I am amazed and appreciative of all of Steve’s talent and achievements. Not only has he not wasted any of his life, he has accomplished enough for two lives.
The brightwork is stunning. What a wonderful story. Great reminder of why children should be encouraged to dream. And by bringing dreams to fruition, they develop the sense of reward brought by hard work and attention to detail.
Congratulations, Dan, on all of your accomplishments.