Wooden Boats for Blue Water Sailors

Book excerpt: Exploring the world's mystery from the deck of an ocean-going sailboat propelled by the wind and your own wits and skills, is the most magnificent of personal accomplishments. Amateur ocean sailing developed during the first half of the 20th century and reached its peak during the two decades after WWII. Then, mass produced and marketed boats subtly undercut the bond between the sailor and his boat. The sport lost its meaning. Wooden Boats for Blue Water Sailors explores the quiet counter-revolution to mass production boat-enabled by cold-molding and the epoxy bonding of wood--which has presented an opportunity for sailors to re-bond with their craft.Wooden Boats for Blue Water Sailors begins with a history of ocean sailing. Then it uses the sciences of material and structure to demonstrate the superiority of wood as a boat building material. It climaxes with the description of a new way for building an epoxy bonded wood boat that will last the next generation to use. An afterword describes use of the new technique to restore to life traditionally built wood boats that are failing, yet too precious to abandon. For sailors, Wooden Boats for Blue Water Sailors is a celebration of the wits and skills they exercise to sail upon the sea. For builders, Wooden Boats for Blue Water Sailors offers new techniques for economically building ocean going boats. For designers, Wooden Boats for Blue Water Sailors offers history to inspire them to remember, reflect and refine the requirements of the sea overlooked in the rush to modernity. For the craftsman, by itself, a short appendix concerning use of the tape measure will earn the cost of the book.Wooden Boats for Blue Water Sailors will delight and inform the sailor, boat builder, yacht designer and bring joy to those who love beautiful sailboats.