Wednesday, November 17, 2010

A Pretty Sailing Canoe

Someday I'll get better pictures of this, the first boat I built:


Its interesting how important things sneak into one's life.  Case in point: A few years ago I was a self-employed carpenter working like mad, 7 days a week, 12 hours a day.  Ambitious.  At some point we had a 3 week break in between houses.  I can't tell you what happened during those three weeks.  I was so tired.  For two weeks I think I just existed, recovering.  During the third week I saw the drawings for the boat pictured here on the internet.  I don't know what possessed me to build it, but once I had a taste of building something truly beautiful, I knew I could never go back.  From then on, house carpentry was just how I made my living.  But boatbuilding, well at that point I knew I would do it until I died, preferably for a living, since that's the only way I can afford to do it all the time!


This design is a MacGregor by Iain Oughtred.  Named after the famous Scot John MacGregor of  "A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe" fame, this boat is a nod to the type of boat John MacGregor made famous in the late 19th century.  15'-8" long, 31 inches beam.  Its far more gorgeous in person...just a beautiful object.  And a great sea boat too!