Snow Days to Remember
How winter days and boat building continue to bring people together.
Three years ago to the day was the last time we had enough snow to write home about. At my house we have been treated to four inches of snow, three days with no school and two small children. “Enjoy it while it lasts, they grow up so fast”, I’m sure you’ve heard or are guilt of giving this oft cited “advice” knowing full well this sentiment only develops with hindsight. Our brains only remember the fun parts of challenges after the challenges are over which explains questions like… Why would you build another boat? or Why would you do another Everglades Challenge? (more on that soon) or Why would you take your small children on another long road trip? Only kidding of course! (not) no we are very much enjoying these rare snow days at our mild latitude. This was Henry’s first time on a proper snow sled and we made do with a man made hill out here in the coastal plain.
Graham took this cool aerial shot over Vandemere, NC with his drone looking to the NE above his house. The B&B crew should be back full time at the workshop come Monday.
Locally, our intrepid Class Globe 5.80 racer Josh Kali is still making feverish last minute preparations for his circumnavigation in Oriental and posted to his fb page the boat covered in snow! Town dock added this article about Josh’s adventure by Jennifer. Another good read.
Trying to stay up to date on all the B&B launchings is almost a full time job but here are a few you might want to click through with a surprise at the end.
This is a big one….Steve launched his Ocracoke 256! This is a build we’ve been following since November 2015 a full 9 years in the making. Projects are like that sometimes (ask me how I know) but as with many things the journey is just as memorable as the destination. Which is another funny variation of “enjoy it while it lasts”. Check out his entire build thread on the Messing-About forum here.
Here is a video from his first outing. Having emailed back and forth with Steve through his entire build I can say that he put an incredible amount of time and attention to detail into this build.
Jay in Connecticut launched Marissa #97 named “H” in November which he built from a B&B Kit that he started in July 2022.
Got it in the water after New Year for a chilly test ride…The mechanics got 32 mph with 2 people on board…Very happy with the whole build process and your help.
She really came out looking sweet Jay! You might have caught “H” in the Sept /Oct issue of Wooden Boat Magazine’s Launchings and you can see more pictures here.
And now the Spindrifts! As our most popular models these are launching with great regularity and so if we missed yours please send me a note to remind me! There are more on the B&B forum not mentioned here yet!
Suski and Bergie launched their Spindrift 9 Nesting. Check our their build log on the forum here. And they also have a cruising website. The Spindrift 9N is an excellent cruising dinghy! They built their boat from their own homemade CNC kit. The will use the boat as a tender on their Amigo 40 “spitzgatter”. Great work guys!
Robin put together this great video of his Spindrift 10 Nesting Build #1340 christened the 'Magicienne'. The mahogany really looks nice and that boat looks like a perfect tender for cruising.
“Although it seemed to take longer than I planned (because I was distracted by other adventures), it all went well and seems to sail and row nicely too. Thank you again to everyone who helped design the boat and prepare plans etc. The dinghy will be used when we next go cruising on our Sadler 34 to Europe. Below is a brief video showing the build and sailing on the Newtown creek on the Isle of Wight” -Robin
And, for something a bit warmer… This week we received a very cool email from Gail Varga in New Zealand. Gail built a Spindrift 10N a few years ago and wrote all about it on her blog. Gail writes…
All of us are on the North Island. Somehow, Peter managed to bring all three of us together at the same time! Although Lindsay's boat was the only Spindrift in attendance, I took my magazine articles, and we shared some nice stories! Peter dubbed it 'the first meeting of the NZ Spindrift Builders' Association'!
Judging by your mail-outs and your attitude, I think bringing people together around and through the pleasures of boating and boatbuilding is one of your callings, so I thought you might like to see a picture of your three southern hemisphere fans on the other side of the world having a lovely time together. Next time sailing maybe!
We love the idea of the NZ Spindrift Builders Association. Looking at our records B&B has sent 16 Spindrift plans to NZ since late 2018. Definitely enough for a meetup. If anyone down there wants to meet up with these guys next time reach out to me and i’ll put you in touch.
Sledding down the front steps will be a wonderful memory now captured digitally. My childhood exploits require digging out the 8mm film canisters, setting up the screen and finding the bulb in the projector needs replacing. Bravo!