don't the Lord love a two by four

You ask him how to do somethin'

and he's say just like Noah built the ark

you got to hold your mouth right son

and never miss your mark....

(from The Carpenter by Guy Clark)

Got a nice trip down memory lane courtesy of Seth who is building a Pathfinder up in the mountains of Virginia. He finally sent me a photograph of his build (thanks Seth!). The photograph gave me flashbacks to the 20 months I spent building Spartina. I've got to say that is was a lot of work, a lot of fun. I remember the hand plane peeling off slices of wood, the rich smell of douglas fir, sawdust so thick on the garage floor it was like walking around in snow. When I finished the boat I went in to a period of mourning, something was missing from my life when I came home in the evening and did not have a list of boat building jobs.

It looks like Seth is doing a great job and will have a very nice Pathfinder. He was at the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival last month and came by to take a look at Spartina. He had told me he would be there and wanted to take some photographs of the boat. I said why not take a sail too! That's Spartina below with Seth up forward taking a look at the construction and his mother Barbara to the right (Barbara was a delightful woman and a great conversationalist - I've kept your business card Barbara, you'll be hearing from us next time we are up your way on the Bay!). We had a nice breeze and a great sail once we got out on the Miles River. Seth had a lot of questions about construction and I tried to answer as best I could, but it has been four years since I built Spartina and I have forgotten many of the details. He is obviously doing fine without my help, I look forward to seeing his progress on the boat.

Now that I think about it, building the boat was fun, but sailing it is a lot more fun. You'll see what I'm talking about soon, Seth.

steve