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Deck the Hulls
For more than 30 years each May, handcrafted wooden boats with their
proud owners in tow have made a spring pilgrimage to
Beaufort-by-the-Sea where the North Carolina Maritime Museum has
welcomed waves of nautical notables to its annual Wooden Boat Show.
For the
 wooden
boat owner, the event offers the opportunity to network, and net
some sound advice from other wooden boat owners and builders while
admiring and showcasing the craftsmanship and attention to detail
harbored in every wooden vessel. Awards are presented to boat
exhibitors in the categories of best sail and best classic sail;
best power and best classic power; best row and best classic row;
best paddle and best classic paddle; best original boat; oldest and
newest boat and people’s choice just to name a few.
For those who don’t own or build wooden boats, the event offers a
myriad of on-the-water fun from demonstrations and sailboat rides
and races, to a nautical arts and craft fair, antique car show,
nautical displays, workshops and much more. This year marks the 34th
annual Wooden Boat Show with events starting on April 27, 2008 and
culminating in a day-long festival May 3.
A new event making waves at the 2008 Wooden Boat Show is the
National Boatbuilding Challenge. This is a two-person team
competition where each team builds an identical 12-foot skiff – a
handsome one at that, according to event organizers. As teams sign
up and submit their entry fee, they are immediately given the set of
building plans so that they can hatch their game plans and practice,
practice, practice.
On the day of the Challenge, May 3, each team is issued the building
materials to complete their craft. Teams use their own tools, and as
the official calls, “Gentlemen, start your Skil-Saws,” a whistle
sounds, and the teams have four hours to build a boat. Speed of
construction and quality of work carry equal weight in determining
the winners. The national record currently stands at two hours, 27
minutes and 33 seconds, so there’s no time to dilly-dally.
At least one, and possibly the three top teams, are then eligible to
compete against other top teams from other coastal communities
including Georgetown, South Carolina and Belfast, Maine in a
national championship saw-off scheduled in Mystic, Connecticut
during the Wooden Boat Magazine Wooden Boat Show in late June
2008 (these people are serious). Wooden Boat Magazine hopes
to develop seven or eight team-cities in the next few years with
Beaufort being the third community to come on board.
During
the Challenge, a local champion will be crowned by not just an
incredible display of building speed and quality, but also by rowing
speed. Teams build their own oars in addition to their own boat and
compete against each other in a relay race, with each member of the
two-man team rowing one leg of the relay (so choose your partners
wisely, participants). The race takes place on Taylor’s Creek, and
lucky for participants and race viewers, seldom do any of the
homemade boats sink…. Rule 12 of the Challenge regulations
specifically states, though, that all participants need to bring
lifejackets.
Not
only is the National Boatbuilding Challenge exciting for
participants, but it is also spellbinding for the public as these
time-strapped woodworkers display their skill and strength in
building and eventually actually rowing the skiff, which they get to
keep after the Challenge. To offer up a proper Challenge, the
event’s Committee (headed by Susan Sanders of Harbor Specialties of
Beaufort) is requesting event sponsors. Many benefits are offered
for those businesses, organizations and individuals willing to chip
in. Levels of sponsorship vary from lieutenant to admiral. For more
details on the North Carolina Maritime Museum’s 34th
annual Wooden Boat Show, phone 252-728-7317 or visit
www.ncmaritimemuseum.org.
For details on the National Boatbuilding Challenge, phone
252-838-0059 or visit
www.beaufortboatbuildingchallenge.com.
Read more feature articles in the print edition of Waterfront
Magazine.
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