Boatbuilding is in Nick Blake’s blood. He’s the fifth generation of Blakes to build at least one boat since the Blakes settled in Mississippi in the 1830s. Not long after he launched his 16′ Whitehall, CURLEW, he began mulling over building another boat. He and an old high-school friend had chartered a boat to go fishing off the Gulf Coast. The trip rekindled his interest in fishing—in his teen years he’d fished the Florida coast in OTTER, a 16′ flatiron skiff that he and his father, Daniel, had built from pine boards. It was powered by a 5-hp Johnson outboard, which provided enough speed to get to and from the fishing ground faster and more reliably than sailing or rowing could. CURLEW wasn’t well suited to outboard power, so a new boat was in order. The bottom was planked fore-and-aft with seams backed up by battens.
photographs by Julia Blake
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Could have saved some trouble just building a Simmons’s Sea Skiff, but nice boat.
Thanks! For us, though, banging our heads against the wall trying to figure things out is most of the fun. Building the Sea Skiff would have robbed us of that opportunity.
Nick
Very nice boat! Handy steering/shift/throttle arrangement. I may use that set up myself in the CLC Peeler skiff build I’ve got going. As to Joe’s comment, I say Suum Cuique !
Great boat by a great guy! Nick is my “nephew-in-law,” the husband of my niece. I graduated from the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY, class of 1970, and graduated with his Dad from H.V. Cooper HS in Vicksburg, MS. Danny and I considered ourselves the class Rednecks. Danny lived ten miles north of town in Redwood community while I lived ten miles south of it in the Redbone community! We weren’t typical rednecks as our parents all were educated, both both our mothers were artists, and were avid readers. I too have had a lifelong love of boats and water. I was active in the merchant marine for nine and a half years, spent a lot of time afloat, but never made a boat. Kudos to Nick and Danny for their great accomplishments! “Acta Non Verba” is the Kings Point motto—Deeds Not Words. Neither were able to go but both would have made the Academy proud!
Thanks, Uncle Mark! That is quite a compliment.
All the best to you and yours!
Nick