Some people spend their summers lounging on the beach and working on their tans. Others come to Newport for a week to take a boatbuilding class at IYRS. We've been sponsoring a series of
classes throughout the summer in partnership with the folks at
Chesapeake Light Craft. At the end of the week, each student goes home with their very own boat. Antone is one such student, and he was kind enough to send us photos from the launching of his 17' Northeaster Dory.
Antone found that Newport is a little more than a tourist destination during his week here:
"Although Newport is arguably one of the most beautiful towns ever, it turned out to be more than a fun summer hotspot for yachtsmen; there is a whole diverse community of boatbuilders! I had no idea anyone still built wooden boats proffessionally, or that there was such a demand for them. Actually taking part in that process, and learning about the boat building community was almost as valuable as coming home with a boat.
Once he got home with his boat, he needed to do the finish work to get her ready for the water. Not wanting to lose momentum from the previous week of full-time building, he spent the next week, 8 hours a day, sanding, epoxying, and applying finishes. When he was done she had 3 coats of epoxy and 4 coats of varnish inside and 4 coats of epoxy and 5 coats of paint on the outer hull. He hasn't painted the seats yet, but expects to have some "crazy colors" to offset the clean varnished interior. Antone writes:
"The morning she was dry I woke up at 4, put her ontop of the car, woke up my brother, mom, and dad, and took her down the road to the 8 Mile River.
We only have one set of oars, but we took turns rowing and even with the four of us, we cruised down the river at a considerable pace, only drawing about 6". The best part is that I'll have this boat for the rest of my life!"
Her name is (L). She's quite the beauty. Antone plans on taking his new boat down the Connecticut river sometime in the near future.
There really is nothing like moving across the water in a boat that you've made yourself.