the shrewdness of apes

Re-reading your letter and am glad to see that you are finally building your boat. My own boat the sampan is at a standstill. After finishing the yawl boat for the Clearwater, working 10 – 12 hour days and weekends, I fell into a lull and couldn’t get out of it. And then I started working on the computer, learning how to use it and the internet and also writing a grant proposal from which we received $8 000. We are now building a 5’4” hollowed, carved model of the gig complete with thwarts, oars, masts, sails etc and maybe two scaled figures, one seated in rowing position and another standing. A display base with folding handle and removable 6” wheels on the bottom and plexiglass cover for transportation is in the plans too. I’m using Spanish cedar for everything; nice carving wood.

We have 5 students in two groups coming over three days a week, one during the school day and the other after school. They are good students and I hope they will form the core group as we accept more students. I hope to have adult volunteers and eventually apprentices in the future.

We will start the molds for the gig soon. I’m wondering if i should loft? Lofting familiarize everybody with the different components, myself included as it has been almost 9 years since I’ve worked on a gig and 7 since I last saw one up close. It has been 9 years, Dario, since I was an apprentice and you were my teacher and the gig was my first project. Lots of salt water under the bridge, huh? I just turned 40 by the way to answer your question, Dec 20. The alternative is to just draw the molds, stem and transom/stern post full-scale which will save us a lot of time. The original plan was to have the gig ready for AC 2002 in Rockland, but we will not be able to make the deadline with the boat. We will still raise money to send as many of our kids as possible to the contest but will have to use one of the existing boats.

We have also hired an Executive Director, Charles Thompson. He was very involved with Outward Bound, North Carolina and met Lance there and participated in AC ’96 in Ireland. A good man to have. He lives on board his 34’ sloop in Jersey City with his wife. I went up to Portland, Maine to help them sail the boat down to NYC in Nov, very cold, and had to motor most of the way. I was thinking of your passage thru the same waters with Kim and Simplicity. I later met somebody by the name of Joey Santiago whom Lance and I have been in touch with, with the potential of having him work with us at the E R A’shop. He told me that he was at Woods Hole, Buzzard’s Bay, on the same day we were, helping his friends sail their boat up to Maine, from guess where? Wayno’s shop in upstate NY. David Lovering was the owner’s name I think and it was a Colin Archer type boat. Wasn’t that the boat that was there when you had Simplicity hauled out? After motoring thru Hell Gate in Manhattan, I am amazed how you motored Simplicity thru it with that little outboard you had on the inflatable! We were fishtailing all over the place. Did you go thru on the slack tide?

We still need a lot of money and a piece of expensive NYC waterfront property donated, which will mean more money needed to build the boat shop and a bigger program. Come spring we will be borrowing a gig from the A’shop, maybe Communaute, or from Cape Cod; they have two gigs built already and use only one. That way we can get our sailing program started and work with more kids which is good for fund-raising. It will also be good for the morale too, mine included. I need to finish my boat to go sailing but the space that we are in is very depressing, especially after 6pm or weekends. Another reason why I haven’t gotten back to my boat. The space is provided free, though, by another non-profit.

So as you can see, Jim wasn’t stretching the truth too much about the new A’shop. Let’s see how this unfolds.

Haven’t seen Kim yet since her return. Spoke to her once, will have to call her again. Jim how they are doing with Mitch gone; Are Marty and Dana still there? Also that Ken D St F is headed to Ireland? to run an apprenticeshop? Do you know anything about that? He told me he asked you to take the job. Kim tells me Ken is a totally different person. That is good to hear. I regret many things I’ve done and one of them is my abusive vulgar tirade at him. I hope I can apologize to him one day.

I think some of the Smithsonian’s plans are listed on the net, not all. That is the case with Mystic’s plans. I’ll check for you, it’s something that interests me too. My cousin just moved to D.C. and I hope to visit them and the Smith.
I have been doing a little bit of preliminary designing – a 33’ junk-bowed junk yawl with plumb ends and low-profile pilothouse. Will send you the plans when I finish them. I’ve also designed a couple of planes – a pivoting, compassing rabbet plane and a true low-angle block plane where the blade is attached onto the bottom back half of the plane body, making contact with the wood stock, and thus the cutting angle is only the bevel of the blade, 25 - 30º, instead of 37 – 42º of a 12º block plane. Will send you the drawings or prototypes if I get them made.

Well dear friend, hope you had a good holiday; did you go see family? Mine has been very quiet. You’d probably be back at work in the new year. Here’s to a good new year and a speedy completion to both our boats. Maybe we’ll meet halfway in the middle of the Atlantic……

I even have an email address now – fungusamongus@yahoo.com. Let me know if you have one or access to one; many, like yahoo are free.