Postscript

Writers love coincidences and tend to make more of them than is useful, but it was personally satisfying nonetheless that Rebecca was launched on May 8, 2001, the day after this book was officially published.

I’m happier still to have recently received an e-mail from Ginny Jones noting that on Wednesday, November 28, Rebecca sailed into Tortola, having left Bermuda five days earlier (“So she’s not only beautiful but a real flyer. . . . Several 200 nm-plus days at the beginning and never turned the key on the engine the whole trip.”) It was her first big journey. Ginny also noted that Nat had drawn the lines for Juno, the new 65-foot schooner, and that the yard had a total of six boats to build by 2004.

This is good news for G&B, certainly, but it appears to be only part of the larger picture in the world of wooden boats. In May 2001, WoodenBoat editor Matt Murphy, describing a tour of Maine boatyards that bustled with activity and new projects, had already noted in his magazine column an apparent renaissance in wooden boat construction. “The number of people employed in wooden boat building and repair has increased dramatically in the past ten years,” he told me. “Hard numbers don’t exist, but many reputable shops have seen an eight- to tenfold increase in skilled employees in the past decade, and several new shops have opened.”

Who knows if this will continue? I hope it does, certainly, but it’s idle to guess the future when there are planks to spile, rabbets to chisel, and lines to loft on a newly painted floor.

Michael Ruhlman January 2002