NEWS
18 CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016TELL TALES
The start-up inertia to build your own boat is hard to overcome. But
add a trip to a waterfront museum or school, a private instructor and
pre-made parts – and then you’re talking, writes Chris Museler.
Chesapeake Light Craft, the stitch-and-glue small-boat kit-maker has
been partnering with non-profi t bodies around the country to off er
build-your-own boat classes. Many of the spring courses, that include
building the row-and-sail Northeaster Dory or the 17ft (5.2m) rowing
trainer Annapolis Wherry, are at the company’s base in Annapolis,
Maryland. As summer warms the waters, Maine, Michigan, Seattle and
Toronto become destinations for the week-long courses. Participants
start with the parts and leave with a complete boat and only some
painting and rigging work left to do. Just the names of the craft off ered,
among them the Sassafras Canoe and Kahalo Stand-up Paddleboard,
may be spur enough to book a fun ‘working’ vacation.Steve Isaac, head of the Gulf Coast’s Water Tribe, is determined
the show will go on, after the 2015 Everglades Challenge
had to be cancelled, Chris Museler reports.
“Last year was abnormal,” says Isaac, who organizes the 300-mile
small-craft run from Tampa Bay to Key Largo, Florida. “A microburst
hit a cluster of craft and a small sailboat capsized with a man in his
seventies aboard.” The sailor’s daughter dialled 911, precipitating a
full US Coastguard rescue that forced the race to be closed down.
The popular ‘mega raid’ has been going on for more than a decade.
Isaac applied this year for a Coastguard event permit for the fi rst
time but was told he didn’t need one. At the time of going to press,
100 craft were registered for the March Everglades Challenge.After 18 years of guiding the
educational programmes at the
International Yacht Restoration
School (IYRS) in Rhode Island,
Clark Poston has taken the helm of
the new Classic Yacht Owners’
Association, intended to provide a
“unifying function” for the growing
group of owners and professionals
within. “This should prove to be a
vehicle to grow the industry,” says
Poston. “Each year for the past fi ve
years has produced four to fi ve
large restorations. People feel we
have hit capacity.”
Poston says that the new
association, which is launching a
website this spring to connect
events, owners and professionals, is
largely a networking tool for
boatbuilders, yacht owners,
sailmakers, crews and captains.
And although there is a growing listSTATE-WIDE
Boatbuilding holidays EVERGLADES, FLORIDA
After the storm
IYRS
New
association
to unify US
classics
JAMES ROBINSON TAYLORC/O CHESAPEAKE LIGHT CRAFT C/O EVERGLADES CHALLENGEof classic yacht racing (sail and
power) events from May to
September in New England, only
the sponsored ones are accessible
online to enthusiasts outside the
USA. The association hopes not
only to connect local events into
exciting series like the popular
Panerai Classic Yacht Challenge,
but also to showcase the
community and entice yachts
from the Mediterranean to the
country’s eastern seaboard.
“The Med model is one we’re
going to be looking at closely,” said
Poston. “The events there deeply
involve the local communities.”
Owners and captains of signifi cantyachts in America are working
together with Poston.
“Owners should have a unifi ed
voice,” says Dennis Gunderson,
captain of the Herreshoff NY 40
Marilee. “The west coast
community is trying to do the same
thing. They have similar problems.
Hopefully they will tag along.”
Marilee’s owner, Tim Rutter, as
well as skipper Gunderson, are
keen to convince the rest of the
existing NY40 class, including
Chinook (CB318), now in Europe, to
come to the USA for the class
centenary this year, as the fi rst
great result of the association’s
eff orts. By Chris Museler“
The Med
model is
one we’re
going to be
looking at
closely
CLARK POSTON”