Major at Williams: English

 

I suppose it would have to be boats; my father was boat crazy and we lived by the water in Westport, Massachusetts. I also suppose there should have been an interim profession after Williams but I seem to have been driven to make something tangible. Houses didn’t work and furniture, a bit too precious. At least the wooden boat world could tap some of my preoccupation with the sea and some new found woodworking skills. It was 1978.

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For twelve years I worked for companies in Maine and Rhode Island building whatever would keep the doors open. My own company, Customary Boat, existed for a baker’s dozen, which is something, considering Managerial Finance almost led to my undoing at Williams. I began teaching boat construction part time in Maine in 1987 and full time in 2003 at The International Yacht Restoration School in Newport, Rhode Island. Suddenly I had whole teams of young and not so young people to work with, and a plethora of historic wrecks to restore or replicate. And health insurance. Twenty years later, somewhere near sixty boats have touched the water and touched the students that created them.

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An artist acquaintance once remarked that it seemed I liked watching boats go by more than actually being in them; lucky thing, the former is more affordable. But I do love the stages wooden boats go through: a piece of sculpture when upside down on the moulds, approaching furniture when right side up and fitted out, and akin to a living thing when underway, all slathered in salt water and sunshine. I guess that’s why I stuck with it, not to mention the wonderful people who helped me ply the way.