Boatbuilding, like writing, can be a solitary preoccupation. Working out problems on your own time, with your own logic, is often best done in isolation. It isn’t uncommon for a boatbuilder to consult half a dozen references, seek advice from a couple of other builders at a boat show—and then go ahead and do what he was going to do anyway.A recording of a home boatshop might reveal only a series of whacks and thuds, the momentary screech of a power tool, the scraping of a plane blade, more whacks and thuds, and maybe the occasional grunt or groan. It’s a kind of music. But only when the boat is launched and begins to live its own life will it prove the merits or faults of each decision. And when the boat sails or rows in company with others— that’s when its true personality will emerge. In conceiving the 2007 Small Reach Regatta, we had envisioned the cove filled with lugsails, spritsails, gaff sails, tanbark-colored sails, white sails (and maybe a blue one), pulling boats—and there it was, everything we had hoped for. For three days, the waters off WoodenBoat swarmed with small boats.
Benjamin Mendlowitz
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