Learning Curves (and Summer Travels)

By: Patrick Mahon, Director of Education

The summer months bring a change from the daily routine of the full-time boat building program.  The Summer Workshop program keeps the shop and staff busy seven days a week, with this year hosting more than 80 participants and overseeing the building of 35 boats.  This is the time we also spend on the road attending boat shows and other events, promoting the school, visiting with prospective students, and contacting potential employers of our graduates.

One of the biggest events is the WoodenBoat Show, held each year on the grounds of Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut.  The show is put on by WoodenBoat magazine, and is attended by almost everyone in the country who is involved in wooden boat construction, repair, design, and education.  Our attendance this year was made special for the school as we delivered the whale boat, built for Mystic Seaport Museum as part of the restoration of the whaling ship, Charles W. Morgan.

Bud McIntire and second-year graduate Ed Greiner brought the whale boat from Michigan to the East Coast; you can imagine the comments it received as they made their journey!  Each stop for fuel or food turned into a mini boat show.  After a stop in Traverse City to show the boat at the Maritime Heritage Alliance, Bud and Ed met me in South Haven for the two-day show put on by the Michigan Maritime Museum.  Upon arriving in Mystic, the shipyard crew unloaded the boat and set it up as part of our display on the museum grounds.

For the next three days, Bud, Ed, my wife Lisa, and I talked to a continuous stream of visitors, who were anxious to learn more about the boat and the school.  There were many memorable exchanges, as well as with the Seaport staff and the other builders who took part in the whale boat project.  One of the most gratifying was having Willits Ansel take a particular interest in our boat and comment on the authenticity of its details and finish.  Willits is the highly regarded author of “The Whale Boat”, the definitive writing on the history and construction of this unique American craft.  Willits visited with us numerous times over the weekend, and at one time there were three generations of Ansels at our booth; all three are involved in the Museum and the restoration of the Charles W. Morgan.

The whale boat, built by the class of 2013, is now on permanent display at M.S.M., where it will be part of the Morgan’s complement of whale boats.  It will also be used in the Seaport’s ongoing program for youth in rowing and sailing instruction.  At the time of our launching of the boat here on Lake Huron, I told the students that this is their boat and they should be sure to visit it and use it whenever they could.  I hope all of you reading this will also make a point of visiting M.S.M. and the Michigan whale boat.

Lisa, Ed, and I returned home with the now empty trailer while Bud continued on with a busy schedule.  He attended the Classic Boat Show on Lake Muskoka in Ontario, Canada, and then in upstate New York, made scheduled visits with the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, the Hacker Boat Company, Garwood Custom Boats, and Tumblehome Boat Works.  These visits were far more than sightseeing stops.  They served as an important part of the commitment to our students to prepare them for careers in wooden boat building, and to help them find meaningful employment after their schooling.  Our higher than average placement rating is a result of these contacts with the companies and individuals who will employ our future graduates.

The summer event schedule continued in Michigan with our attending the South Arm Classic Boat Show in East Jordan, ACBS sponsored Boats on the Boardwalk in Travers City, and lastly, but of course we all think the best, the Les Cheneaux Antique Wooden Boat Show, here in Hessel.

The last show of the season for us is the Wood Boat Festival in Port Townsend, Washington.  Attending this three-day show gives us the opportunity to visit with potential full-time and summer workshop students on the other side of the country, as well as peers from the other schools and organizations that share the same goals and challenges that we have here.  It is always a very fruitful journey.

As this goes to press, we are looking forward to greeting sixteen new students for the first year program and four returning students for the the second year; just the right-size class for another very exciting and rewarding year at GLBBS.