The Tribute Post

Well, the sides are now fully planked out and we finished plugging them today. I'll post pictures tomorrow but I'd like to take this moment to pause for a tribute to all of the people who made this project possible so far.

The reason for this trip down memory lane is the overwhelming feeling of nostalgia that came over me at the sight of the freshly plugged hull the other day. Doing the sides today brought it back just a clearly so I figured it was a sign that it was time to write this post.

The first name to be mentioned is George Orsi, who was my sailing instructor when I was about 9 years old. He's first because he took me, and a few others in our class, on a trip to Beaton Boats in Mantaloking, NJ. For those who don't know, Beaton's is a place on Barnegat Bay where wooden boats are built, restored, kept, etc. The nostalgia at seeing a freshly plugged boat takes me back to that trip where I first saw such a thing. I had been around boats for most of my life up to that point, but to see one actually being made for the first time made quite an impression on me and I have to say, started me in my life of things nautical. Mr. Orsi also imparted a lot of other sea lore, like navigation and some marlinspike and his teaching has served as the foundation for my nautical knowledge ever since.

Now for a rogues gallery of others who have contributed to my delinquency:

My uncle, Bernie Sobon, a true craftsman, who not only imparted key nuggets of wisdom over the years but has also contibuted in no small way to my tool chest.

My old boss, Larry Ellis, at USMI for giving me the chance to learn how to make some really great boats.

Also at USMI, Bryant Bernhard, once chief engineer, now president, for teaching me the basics of naval architecture (although he might deny it if he saw this boat), and for that matter all of the guys on the shop floor there, especially Karl LaBouve (who works for the US Gov., not USMI) for being patient with the young yankee so that he could keep his job and keep learning the ropes from them.

My great friend, Chris Chadwick and his father Jack, who kept me in sailing and boats when I could have drifted off to learn to smoke dope under the boardwalk. Instead, Chris and I learned the maximum amount of beer an A-Cat's crew could drink during one race (13.5 cases).

Also, Richard Switlik Sr., my wife's grandfather, who lent me one of his row boats so that I could teach myself the basics of wooden boat repair. It probably didn't mean anything to him, but it meant a lot to me.

Their names are too numerous to list here, but honorable mention to most of the guys on the SPYC Saturday morning tow. I'm not sure if I learned much beyond some salty language and a few local tactics, but it was a formative experience in my boating life. Sort of my two years before the mast.

This list wouldn't be complete without a mention of my mother, Eleanor Welch, and not just because I wouldn't hear the end of it if I didn't include her. It was her infinite patience with the meriad junk boats, cars, bags of tools, cans of paint and beer at her house in Seaside that enabled my brother and I to indulge our strange obsessions.

Of penultimate importance is my brother in law, Greg "Earl" Switlik, who has been not only a source of cheap labor, but a great sounding board for my ideas on how to fix things that I've screwed up the first time, a source of those ideas, and that indispensable set of extra hands that no boat gets built without.

The most important of course is my wife Kassia, who let me build the boat shed in our tiny back yard between my chicken coop and bee hive. I think that sums up the latitude that I have been given in taking on this, and all my other wacky projects.

There are quite a few other people who deserve to be on this list, and if you don't see your name here but you think you deserve a mention it's probably missing because your contribution would require too much space to explain fully.

In the future, I plan to post a list of people who have actively thwarted my efforts to date but I may run out of server space on that one.

Pictures tomorrow.