Dave Sharp & the wooden tug "Dominion" - Sharp Marine

Today’s podcast is Part 1 (HOWB 135 is Part 2) of an interview with Jon Wilson – founder of the WoodenBo in Brooklin, ME. WoodenBoat is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. That is truly amazing – congratulations to Jon and the whole crew at WoodenBoat! In today’s interview, Wilson discusses his growing up years in Rhode Island with summers in the Thimble Islands; when and how he started boating and getting interested in wooden boats; and the first 10 years of WoodenBoat magazine.

27 Jan 51min

Today’s podcast is an interview with Dick Wagner – founder of the Center for Wooden Boats, and Aislinn Palmer – director of the 38th Annual Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival in Seattle, WA on July 4-6, 2014. I peppered Dick with questions about how and why the very first festival was started in 1976, who attended, how many boats were there, did they intend to make it an annual event, and on and on. It was fascinating to hear why it’s always been July 4th weekend, how the toy boat project started, and concerns about the cost of having enough toilet paper for the festival After talking with Dick, the conversation turned to Aislinn who grew up around boats in Maine, and has been directing the festival for 3 years. According to Aislinn, this year’s event will be quite different from the prior 2 years as the footprint of the festival will be smaller and more personal, and Seafair will have their venue separately.

20 Jan 53min

Today’s podcast is an interview with Jim Miller – President, General Manager and Publisher of WoodenBoat in Brooklin, ME. Jim grew up in Rhode Island and played a lot of sports as a youth. He participated in some boating activities but the goal was mainly to catch fish and have fun. After obtaining his business degree and working for a few years, Miller spotted a classified ad (in 1985) – WoodenBoat was looking to hire a Business Manager. Jim didn’t know anything about WoodenBoat, but he was living in Maine, so he interviewed for the position and was hired. At the time, he owned a center console fiberglass boat. He soon came to love wooden vessels and has since purchased and built several. Miller owns a 1984 Bolger PowerCruiser – Blackbird. She was built by Onion River Boatworks in North Hero, VT and continues to “turn heads” cruising around Maine’s waters (see pictures below). Jim and I also discuss highlights of the 23rd Annual WoodenBoat Show in Mystic, CT – June 27-29, 2014.

13 Jan 42min

Today’s podcast episode is a recording I made for HOWB002 (October 2011) about a 16.5ʹ Mill Creek kayak that I built and sold. It is a fascinating story because of the circumstances surrounding the person who purchased the kayak (he called it a canoe) who lived in a high rise building in New York city.

6 Jan 30min

Today’s podcast episode is an interview with Korey Ruben and Christina Cogan. They moved from Florida in September 2013 so Korey could attend the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock, WA. Before moving from Florida, Korey was pursuing his helicopter pilots license so he could become a commercial pilot. Christina was working as a microbiologist at a large company in Florida. Korey had begun sailing and lived on a small boat for a time. He started listening to the HOWB podcast and heard about the school in Port Hadlock. In September 2012, he and Christina flew to WA to attend the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival and check out the boat school. I had the privilege of meeting them at that time, and we had a great time hanging out and attending the festival together. Korey will finish school this summer and he and Christina will pursue their dream of building a boat and sailing around the world! This is fun stuff folks

30 Dec 202434min

Today’s podcast episode is an interview with Pete Leenhouts of Port Ludlow, WA who is the Executive Director of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock, WA. Pete is a retired career U.S. Navy Officer, and was the Captain of a Wooden Mine Sweeper for several years. After retiring, Pete moved to the Port Townsend area, enrolled in the Boat School and took all three boatbuilding courses – Contemporary Construction, Traditional Small Craft, and lastly Traditional Large Craft. Pete has written numerous articles about and for the School, is an avid photographer (of wooden boats especially!) and before becoming the Executive Director, served on the Board of the School. Leenhouts is very passionate about the mission and purpose of the school and in his “spare” time, works on building a Bolger Clam Skiff in his garage at home.

23 Dec 202447min

Today’s podcast episode is an interview with David Nichols of Austin, Texas. Nichols has been building and designing boats for almost twenty years, and is the author of three books: A Working Guide to Small Boat Sails; Lapstrake Canoes; and Building the Sea Eagles. He’s written articles for WoodenBoat and Boatbuilder magazines, as well as writing and producing boatbuilding videos. David also taught boatbuilding at the WoodenBoat School, in Brooklin, Maine, for five years and Great Lakes Boat Building School, in Cedarville, Michigan, for two years. David is a partner in the Small Craft Skills Academy (SCSA) along with Howard Rice and John Welsford. SCSA conducts virtual boatbuilding classes. During these webcasts the student is in his or her shop while the instructor builds a boat on camera. Envision a multi-camera TV broadcast that is real time interactive with the student using a web-camera in their shop, asking real time questions and get real time answers.

16 Dec 202450min

Today’s podcast episode is an interview with Buzz Scott, President and Founder of the Oceanswide.org research organization in Newcastle, Maine. Buzz’s maritime adventures began as a young fisherman growing up on Matinicus Island, Maine. His love for the ocean grew greater with time and his parents provided him with his first boat at the age of 12 – small double ended boat called a peapod that came with 25 wooden lobster traps. For years Buzz rowed his peapod around Matinicus, exploring its coves, beaches and ledges, fishing for lobsters, cod, mackerel and flounder and anything else that might swim, wiggle or crawl. He constantly found himself looking over the side of his boat into the water as far as he could see. As he grew older and began seining for herring, setting long lines for halibut, and dragging for scallops, there was one thing that never changed – he was always looking over the side, watching and waiting yet again to see what would surface from below the ocean. After finishing school, Scott spent 17 years as a commercial fisherman in the Gulf of Maine. He also spent 2 years on supply ships in the Gulf of Mexico and 4 years working for the United States Antarctic Program as a marine technician and marine projects coordinator, sailing on scientific research ships around Antarctica. More recently Buzz traded in the cool Antarctic climates for a slightly warmer spot. He has spent 8 years sailing up and down the west coast of the United States, Mexico and Canada. He was “sailing” as a pilot and mechanical technician, “flying” a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, California. He worked closely with scientists from around the world as they studied the deep canyons and volcanic fields below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

9 Dec 202445min