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A few days before the messabout, Bruce Hector
and I drove over to Montreal to see Peter Lenihan's Bolger Windermere |
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Han Van Pelt explains some detail
about his Bolger Champlain: "Mudlark" |
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Han sits in the elaborate and elegant interior
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The under-berth storage system is ingenious
and simple to use |
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Here is one of the clever slide out storage
areas... |
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...and the galley. All in all this is an
unbelievable boat with the finish of a piece of furniture. |
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Steve Bosquette unloads his Bolger Sneakeasy
"Katie". He gave rides throughout the weekend - everybody
wanted one. |
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Steve shows a model of a possible modification
of his Sneakeasy. He later decided to build an AF4Grande
instead |
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Bob Chamberland brought his flawless Bolger
Hawkeye all the way from Sutton's Bay Michigan |
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Hawkeye at speed |
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Hawkeye interior - Bob did a fantastic job
on this boat |
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John Bartlett readies his self designed
"Turtle" for launching... |
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...then takes a minute to demonstrate his
spare with hub and bearings included in cast of a flat or bearing
burnout. |
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Turtle's interior is airy and functional |
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The "TIMS" sailed several times
over the weekend with varying numbers of modules. This is an
early run without all the units bolted in. |
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Several of the TIMS units were assembled
at the messabout. Here, Chris Bullen works on his. |
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Then a group of helpers grabbed it and launched
it without further ado. |
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A lot of maneuvering was needed to insert
the additional units into the boat. |
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Finally, the nearly 100 ft. boat gets underway.
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Nancy and Vic Koschmann brought their modified
Bolger Microtrawler from Ithaca New York.... |
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....the boat is named "Mudlark"
and why not? It was built by Han Van Pelt who later built the
Champlain above |
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Here's Bruce with a fender (don't ask).
He named the boat " Twisted
Seagull" because it wasn't square. I can't
see it, can you? |
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The sharp little boat got used a lot during
the messabout... |
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...and suffered a bit of wear. |
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Frank San Miguel brought his Michalak AF3... |
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Steve Fisher paddling his Selway-Fisher
Lil' Kate |
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Garth Battista (publisher of Jim Michalak's
book)
and Lilly Golden brought a Toto
and a Piragua
as well as their daughters Isabel (5) and Rose (2) |
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Garth (here with Isabel at the Sunday morning
breakfast) is the proprietor of Breakaway
books |
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This modified Bolger Fishcat was brought
by Herb Taylor |
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Herb gave a lot of rides. |
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Jeff and Julie Blunck of Wyoming
fame came, but did not bring their as yet unfinished boat. |
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David Spencer made a big hit with this Bolger
Brick Schooner... |
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...and it sailed like the wind... |
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...he also brought this cute little Nutshell
Pram. |
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Jack Kern built the great little scow in
the background. He made the mistake of showing a teenaged boy
how to sail it, and he hardly got to use the boat himself. |
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Chris and Julie Bullen brought this CLC
17 called "Piglet"... |
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This is Bruce Gordon's Windsprint. |
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I didn't get a good picture of Jim Rankasky.
He brought a nice little Piccup
Pram. |
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Here Jim is sailing the boat with David
Billsbrough as first mate. |
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David came all the way from Florida. Here
he tries out Bruce Hector's Nymph. |
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Someone had to bring one of Gavin
Atkin's Mouseboats. It happened to be Bryant Owen,
a longtime contributor to this website |
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To Lincoln Ross: This is the only picture
I got of you. I'm sorry it had to include your swamped Brick.
As far as I know, this was the only incident of this type. |
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As Bruce Gordon looks on, Susan Davis shows
off her Cape Cod Frosty... |
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...which, believe it or not, she cartopped
along with this nice Bolger Gloucester Gull. |
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I don't remember this gentleman's name,
but he came with a fine sailing model of Canada's famous Schooner
Bluenose |
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Bill Jaine is rightly proud of his Auray
Punt ("Cygnet") which he rowed around the harbor with
his wife aboard. |
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Gavin Atkin, who had something to do with
the project, is currently designing a cruiser
based on this hull shape. |
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Particularly romantic for a Texan like me
was the attendance of these three distinguished French speaking
boat builders. On the left are Jean and Gaby who are building
Le Cabotin,
a Bolger AS29. On the right, Alain Routhier who is building
Jim Michalak's Jukebox2. |
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Last but not least, our good friend and
frequent contributor to this site, Richard Frye came with Tear
Drop trailer loaded with various Yakoos and skinboats. Here
he is loaded for the trip home. |
I'm sure that I am forgetting
a lot of the people who were there. It's just that I was taking
pictures of boats, and missed several who, like myself, did
not bring one. Among those are Paul Brown, Paul McLellan, Pat
Whitehead, Dave Stutzman, Vic Koschmann, Lee Rust, and Mike
Labossiere. I hope I did not leave anyone out.
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Also of note are the spouses, first mates, crews and otherwise
long suffering women friends of boat builders. Here is a partial
list of those in attendance: |
Juliee San Miguel, Ann Thornton-Hill (above on
the left), Colleen McLellan, Eve Whitehead, Joanne Donati (pesky
crew), Danielle Browne, Susan Jaine, Janet Young, Amanda Yilmaz,
Nancy Koschmann, Renee Fisher, Fran McLaren (shown above playing
the accordion), Sally Bosquette and Martha Anne Robson-Gordon.
Finally I want to thank Elaine Hector (wife of Bruce), the real
organizer of the event.
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