wooden boat
Monday, August 14, 2006
  wooden boat: Schooner Isabella launched in Essex
August 13, 2006

ESSEX, Mass. --Someone compared it to giving birth.

It may not have been quite so painful, but those involved were pretty tense. Nearly 3,000 people stood at attention, listening for the telltale creaks and whines that meant a nearly 40,000-pound wooden schooner vessel had reached its tipping point.

Sunday was the official launching of Isabella, a privately commissioned boat built in the style of an early 1800s fishing vessel.

It was built in the Burnham Shipyard, and sent to sea using the traditional side launch method. A wooden skeleton, called a bilge, was built around the vessel. The craft was slowly -- very slowly -- jacked toward greased planks that lined one side of the bilge.

Each creak of wood was followed by a collective gasp. The movements of the vessel were slight, as crewmen pounded wedges under the boat to encourage it to tilt. Then everything stopped.

And with seemingly no provocation, except, perhaps, that of gravity, something gave. The boat slid into the water.

The town of Essex burst into applause.

"How else would you do it?" Harold Burnham asked. "It went textbook. Textbook perfect. Absolutely, textbook."

Burnham, of H. A. Burnham Boat Building and Design, and about a dozen crewmen -- who he refers to as his gang -- spent nine, six-day-a-week months building Isabella.

Around the museum, everyone seems to know that Burnham is an 11th generation shipbuilder. He, however, said he's not keeping track.

"A lot of people mistake ship building ... as a family business and they ask how many generations of a family has been involved," he said after rowing back to shore from Isabella.

"That really doesn't matter. What happened in this town is the ship building became a part of the culture and almost anyone who can trace their heritage to this town in any way shape or form is as closely tied to the industry as I am."

The sentiment was visible in the people drifting in kayaks and lining the banks to watch the launch.

And the sentiment was alive in people like Sarah Gunboot, 21, affectionately referred to as a "grease girl," or "putty god." She worked on the nine-month project in various capacities. Sunday's big feat was greasing up the launch ramp so that Isabella would slide easily into the water.

How did she get involved with the project? She shrugged her shoulders, "I'm an Essex kid," she said.

For 350 years, Essex was a center of wooden schooner construction. More than 4,000 vessels were built here; at the height of production, builders were cranking out about one a week.

The vessel's owner, William Greene, built his first boat when he was 20 -- "With a skill saw and a hammer and a hand drill," he said proudly. Since then, he said, he's owned a few sail boats, he even spent a month in the British Virgin Islands in one. But Isabella, named after his wife's mother, Isabel, was different.

It started when one of his sons asked for advice.

"He asked me, 'Dad, should I get a plastic boat or a wooden boat?'" Greene said.

"I said, 'well, the plastic boat is going to be no problem, but you don't want to get to be a 70-year-old guy who's regretted never having a wooden boat.'"

The 73-year-old man crossed his arms and laughed "Well, even if I am 70, I don't have to regret it, I can get one."

He chose Burnham.

"You can see why I was right," he said, as Isabella bobbed calmly in the water.


© Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
 
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
  wooden boat: What's Happening -- Community Calendar
Posted: 8/8/2006
Wednesday

Nevada County Fair: Featuring exhibits, livestock shows and auctions, a carnival, entertainment on three stages, culinary competitions, puppeteers and a petting zoo from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Aug. 9-13 at the Nevada County Fairgrounds, 11228 McCourtney Road, Grass Valley. Cost: $3-$12. Details: 530-273-6217.

Seniors Concert and Lunch: The Del Sol String Quartet performs a special concert for seniors at noon Aug. 9 at the Truckee Donner Senior Apartments Community Room, 10040 Estates Drive, Truckee. Cost: $3 suggested donation per meal for seniors age 60 and older, $6 per meal guest fee. Details: 530-587-2408 or 530-587-4611.

Guitar Clinics in Tahoe: Open to all levels of guitar enthusiasts. Beginners focus on chords, tuning and timing. Intermediate guitarists learn to utilize greater choice and variation. The advanced group receives some individualized instruction from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 9; 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Aug. 10; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 11 and 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Aug. 12 at Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort, California 267. Cost: $300 includes all four days or pay the one-day rate of $100 per person. Details: 530-562-1010 for reservations.

Concours d'Elegance: As part of the antique and wooden boat show, the Ladies Luncheon and Fashion Show takes place at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Antle's Lakefront Estate in Rubicon Bay, $55 per person. A barbecue for men is at noon Wednesday at the Turner Lakefront Estate in Homewood, costing $45 per person. The potluck grand finale takes place at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Gatekeeper's Museum, Tahoe City, costing $25 per person. Details: 530-581-4700.
 
Monday, August 07, 2006
  wooden boat: Incline wood boaters take it all in at Concours
Tom Meyer
August 7, 2006

INCLINE VILLAGE - Shortly before judging of the 34th annual Concours d'Elegance began, Incline resident Scott Bryant wiped raccoon paw prints off of the Alina Be, a '67 Century Resorter.

Eight years ago, those paw-prints would probably have gone completely unnoticed.

"It was a disaster (when I found it), but it had those lines," Bryant recalled. He purchased "Be" from a children's charity in 1997 for $675, then spent 21Ú2 years restoring it.

"Buying it was the single cheapest thing about restoring it," said Bryant.

His efforts have thus far paid off: Alina Be has won second place in the show's utility class four times, and was named "Best Century in Show" last year.

The show is the highlight of the Tahoe Yacht Club Foundation's Wooden Boat Week, which brings nearly 100 wooden boats to the North Shore. Bryant is one of five Incline participants.

Incline resident Charlie Marvin's Stealth Princess is steered from the stern by a small wooden rudder that blends in almost perfectly with its port-side railing.

What's more, its flat-topped green canopy looks like it would rip away as soon as she built up speed.

None of that worries Marvin, however, since the electric-powered Princess is only capable of about 4.5 knots.

"(I) wanted to be able to enjoy the lake while being able to listen to music or enjoy the wildlife," Marvin said.

The Princess's eight batteries, which weigh up to 160 pounds each, provide her with enough amperage for a 10-hour cruise at full power.

The boat was designed by Budsin Wood Craft, a North Carolina firm that specializes in wooden electric boats. Completed in 2005, the Princess is the youngest boat in the show, and one of only two that are electrically-powered.

None of the boats in this year's feature category, "Boats of the Fabulous Forties," were from Incline - though John and Mary Lahti's Cracker Barrell makes its harbor in Tahoe City.

The 19-foot custom runabout is a native of the region, and was delivered to its first owners in Reno in 1941. It won second place in its class at Concours in both 2004 and 2005.

Boat Week runs through Aug. 11. Visit the Tahoe Yacht Club's Web site www.tahoeyc.com or call (530) 581-4700.
 
Thursday, August 03, 2006
  wooden boat: Build your own wooden boat
More than two-dozen informative demonstrations, workshops and seminars will be offered to attendees of the 15th annual WoodenBoat Show, which will take place from Aug. 25 to 27 at the Newport Yachting Center.

No additional charge is required to take part in these sessions.

This year, for the first time, the show will provide an opportunity for showgoers to learn directly from the boat builders. Individuals can try to take a long shaving from a plank, learn how to make their own wooden cleat, or how to work a steambox. At the Hands-On Workshops, scheduled from 2 to 5:30 p.m. each day of the show, boat builder and teacher Aime Fraser, WoodenBoat Associate Editor Tom Jackson, students from the International Yacht Restoration School, and a cast of drop-in boat builders will be on hand to put them to work.

In addition, industry experts will offer daily demonstrations of various other wooden-boat-building skills throughout the weekend, such as evaluating and tuning hand planes by Harry Bryan and steam bending by Tom Hill on Friday. Subjects to be covered on Saturday include epoxy-plywood construction by Geoff Kerr, tool sharpening by Aime Fraser, and understanding lofting presented by the IYRS faculty and students. Peter Arenstam from Plimoth Plantation will discuss early rigging styles.

Show exhibitors will also present workshops related to their products or services.

The 15th annual WoodenBoat Show will present traditional classics and contemporary wooden boats of every type. In addition to dozens of beautiful boats, this unique celebration of craftsmanship, ingenuity, and beauty features products and services by 150 companies from across North America, plus a full schedule of workshops and demonstrations by industry leaders. Families can enjoy free activities for children of all ages at Captain Kidd's Discover Point and all show visitors are welcome to board the three-masted Portuguese barkentine tall ship Gazela Primeiro.

Discounted admission tickets are available at www.TheWoodenBoatShow.com or by calling 1-800 273-7447. Aug. 14 is the deadline for discounts. Tickets at the gate will cost $12 per day or $18 for the entire three-day run.
 
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