HOWB 125 – Interview | Tom Jackson, Senior Editor WoodenBoat Magazine 02.27.14

Today’s podcast episode is an interview with Tom Jackson, senior editor of WoodenBoat Magazine in Brooklin, Maine.

Tom built his first boat at the age of 10 while living in the mountains of British Columbia, and his interests then and since have included woodworking, boatbuilding, maritime history, nautical archaeology, sailing, and rowing. He worked as a journalist in Oregon and Washington after graduating from the University of Oregon, at the same time always looking for boatbuilding, sailing, and racing opportunities.

In the early 1990s, he served as a volunteer boatbuilder on a project to build three boats at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland. In 1997, he joined the editorial staff at WoodenBoat, combining his professional experience with his lifetime passion. His interests range from yachts to small traditional craft.

Since moving to Maine, Jackson has served as crew in such races as the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta, the Marblehead-to-Halifax Race, and the Bermuda Race, most notably on a cold-molded “spirit of tradition” 76- footer. He is the co-author, with Maynard Bray, of Worthy of the Sea: K. Aage Nielsen and His Legacy of Yacht Design, published in 2006.

In 2005, he sailed the Blekinge Archipelago as part of the one-week Raid Sweden, crewing for a Kalmarsund Pilot Boat replica. In 2008, he sailed from Dublin, Ireland, to Roskilde, Denmark, as one of 65 crew in the undecked, 98’ Viking ship replica HAVHINGSTEN FRA GLENDALOUGH. His articles for WoodenBoat have taken him into shipyards to work alongside professional shipwrights, notably on the C.A. THAYER restoration in Alameda, California; the CHARLES W. MORGAN restoration and a whaleboat construction at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut; and the ADVENTURESS restoration at Haven Boatworks in Port Townsend, Washington. He is currently working on a history related to the 1841 whaleship CHARLES W. MORGAN.

Tom is also the founder of Maine’s Small Reach Regatta, a “raid”-like event for rowing and sailing craft which is now in its ninth year. In 2008, he launched his 17’8” traditionally crafted lapstrake Nomans Land boat, which he built himself, down to casting his own bronze hardware and building his own sails.