Where guideboats are born

SARANAC LAKE - A guideboat sits overturned and elevated on A-frames above a pile of sawdust. Tools, some dating back to the 19th century, are everywhere. Some hang on the walls; others are hidden under lumber.

Seated amid the tools, guideboats and scent of pine, Chris Woodward explains the building process.

"In a typical boat, the ribs and stems would be steamed and bent," he said. "Well, these aren't. They are all sawed to shape. It is known as a 'sawn rib.' But in order to get the grain to follow the curve of that rib, you need a curved piece of wood."

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Inside IYRS: The backbone begins to take shape

Written by: Tom
10/12/2009 9:30 PM

The first year students are busy building backbone parts these days.

We'll start things out with a little correction. In the last entry, I said that the hull construction for the Gar Wood was Batten and Seam while the construction of the Chris Craft was double planking. Well, that's both correct and incorrect. The hull above the chine on the Gar Wood is Batten and Seam, while below the chine it's double planked. And on the Chris Craft: it's the same thing Thanks to 2nd year student Jens for clearing that up!

When students are accepted at IYRS, they get an extensive list of tools that they'll need. The first years are getting lots of opportunities to use these tools now as they are deep into the production of boat parts. Let's take a look.

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Building the Ebihen 15 Sailboat, a boat building blog

Stan Richards writes "I am a 2nd time boat builder after retirement.

I am maintaining a blog of my building experience at http://stansboat.wordpress.com/"

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Two dead and sixteen rescued after yacht crashes into rocks

Well-known Sydney yachting identity Andrew 'Shorty' Short has died after his boat ran aground during a race off the NSW south coast.

Short, 48, of The Spit, and crew member Sally Gordon, 47, of Darling Point, were pulled from the water unconscious early this morning but could not be revived.

The 16 surviving crew members were rescued and taken to Wollongong hospital suffering minor injuries and hypothermia.

Short was the owner and skipper of the 24.4m maxi yacht Shockwave, sponsored by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, which crashed into rocks off Flinders Islet off Port Kembla and ran aground at about 3am during a race from Sydney to the island and back. A police and emergency services rescue began shortly after 3am after authorities received a number of distress calls about the 18-metre maxi yacht.

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W.I.B. Crealock dies at 89; yacht designer and author

By Tony Perry
October 10, 2009

W.I.B. Crealock, a yacht designer, sailor and sailing author, died Sept. 26 at his home in Carlsbad after breaking his hip in a fall. He was 89.

Crealock was part of the "golden age" of fiberglass design in the 1960s, when the use of fiberglass made boats quicker and less expensive to build and easier to handle.

He worked for several boat makers, and some of his designs became bestsellers.

"He was a good designer, a good sailor and a very good shipmate," said Richard Valdez, retired founder of Orange County-based Columbia Yachts.

Crealock was known for his meticulous concern for details and his rigorous work ethic. He rode his bicycle to work and could be seen late into the night working at his office in Newport Beach.

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Rebuilding a champion: Bay City native restores gold-medal sailboat to honor those who battle cancer

In 1952, the American-crewed sailboat Complex II won the gold medal in the 5.5-meter class regatta at the summer Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland.

For the four-man crew it was an unbelievable moment. But the vessel was forgotten, left to deteriorate in Newport, R.I., for 50 years.

Bay City native Rex E. Howland, 56, for years walked by the faded multi-colored Olympic rings on the side of the 32-foot-long wooden boat wondering how the crowning achievement of American sailing in the mid-20th century ended up being stationed in a parking lot.

Howland said he and his best friend always dreamed about buying the boat and having it restored, but that's all it was - a dream - until Howland's friend was diagnosed with brain cancer.

"As a tribute to him, to keep his spirits up while he was fighting this disease, I decided to buy the boat," said Howland, who left Bay City in the late 1970s and now lives in Stamford, Conn. "I bought it with the intention of creating a foundation."

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