Repeat Offenders

Thursday, July 16

Today was just more boards. We used a different method of determining the side of the boards. That way we get exposed to several different methods. Geoff (the teacher) has a set of patterns for the boat and we will just start using his patterns tomorrow for the rest of the planks on each side. That will speed things up quite a bit.

Since we didn’t do a lot that I haven’t talked about before, I am going to ramble on about other things.

I think all of the sailing schooners visit the school each week. Normally around mid-day a bunch of people will show up. There are signs up about not disturbing the classes but most of them will ask you a question if you are close to the door and don’t appear to be busy. Of course, since we after a few days are all experts in the joys of boat building we are more than willing to impart great knowledge upon them. I had to leave the shop today for a couple of minutes to get a tool I left laying on the picnic table where I had lunch. As I was leaving, a group asked me about the class and I expounded with great knowledge. They then ask where I was from. I replied I was from Jersey. For some reason they didn’t believe me. They were all from North Carolina and where here escaping the heat.

One of the things I like about the school is the friendliness of the staff and teacher. There are great group of people who work here. And the community of Brooklin is a great little place. The students are a strange mix of people. Everyone in my class has either a graduate or a professional degree. There seems to be a bunch of highly educated people looking to learn how to use their hands and not their minds. Or, it could be that they are just looking to take a break from the stressful mental strain of today’s work environment. Every now and again you will find some soul who is tormented and wants to become a professional boat builder but this seams to be a rare occurrence. You see a lot of father and son, grandfather and grandson and husband and wife teams. While the former normally take classes together the husband and wife rarely take the same classes. In this group there are three women taking boat building classes while there husbands are learning to sail. Also about half of the people here are repeat offenders. It just seem to be a place you just can’t go once.