In late May Cricket and I will join Graham McKay, Executive Director of Lowell's Boat Shop, and Douglas Brooks, renown documenter and builder of traditional Japanese boats, in Shelburne Nova Scotia. We will spend the next two weeks working with Milford Buchanan, the last builder of the iconic Shelburne Dory. [...]

Time flies. And it's way past time to update the blog. I'll start with sharing this exciting photo. The inside of my eyeballs are doing fine--don't they look great? Here are some shots of what they get to see as I sip my morning coffee. We had a magnificent series [...]

Here's a heads up on the classes Cricket and I will be teaching at WoodenBoat School. Click the links for a full description. So sorry! Both classes are full as of January 5. You can get on a waiting list if you like, as some folks do cancel once they [...]

Walter's Camp to Fisher's Landing (WTF) is a little visited flatwater run on the very lower Colorado. Slow flat water, no rapids, complicated to access, limited hiking options due to impenetrable tule grass, unpredictable water levels, and for the most part, simply pointless. We love that sort of thing. For [...]

First, an important announcement. No, we are not selling Fretwater Trading Cards. Or at least not yet. Off Center Harbor, a website out of Brooklin, Maine, where Cricket and I teach, did a lovely video about the course we taught last month at Lowell's Boat Shop in northern Massachusetts. They [...]

Before Cricket and I headed East, we got the crew started on three more personal Doryaks--the fourth set of triplets to be birthed here. Here's Bruce learning the fine art of quick and dirty scarfing. Glade cutting framing parts. Three sets of side panels getting glued up. Turns out you [...]

At Fretwater, it's first class all the way. Well, since Fretwater Boatworks runs all its expenses through an American Airlines credit card, we eventually get a few free treats. And a visit to the Admiral's Club. It sure beats the cacaphony of the terminal We picked up our ride in [...]

We've often prided ourselves at how much we accomplish in the boatshop, on the river, and in our travels. Well, in late August my body and mind informed me, rather abruptly, that in my 70th year I might need to take a break now and then. It was not a [...]