On Saturday, July 10th, we all sailed to Angel Island on three lovely wooden boats from Spaulding; Polaris, Peagasus and Arete. It was a foggy and mild sail over but we had lots of wind and put our rails in the water on the way back home. At Angel Island,we spent a few hours of [...]
FIRST WEEK OF 2010/11 SPAULDING YOUTH PROGRAM KICKS OFF We had a great first week with 18 new students and a couple of alumni returning. We fixed up our new classroom space and began work on the strong back and molds for the Spaulding 16. I was impressed with how much we accomplished and how [...]
These photos of the new workshop for the 2010 Youth Apprentice Program were taken during the open house at the Spaulding Center on April 24. Pictured is a 12 foot Norwegian sailing/rowing pram built by a previous class.
The Spaulding Wooden Boat Center’s 2010 Youth Apprentice Program will offer a rewarding experience for high school aged boys and girls. Apprentices may spend as many as 11-hours per week at the boatyard but will also have the flexibility to work around their other commitments. Apprentices will learn the art and craft of traditional wooden [...]
Lightly Salted, a Norwegian sailing and rowing pram built by the students in this year’s Youth Boatbuilding and Sailing Program, was launched with much fanfare at the Spaulding Center on Saturday.
Students put finishing touches today on the 12 foot Norwegian pram they’ve been working on for months. This is the second Norwegian pram built in the program. The first, Guppy, was built by the inaugural class in the program last year. The students took a vote on what to name this year’s boat. The winner? Lightly Salted, [...]
A few of our students from last year have been dropping by to help us build. One of the “Guppy girls” from last year, Destiny Smith, was here this week helping with the planking and the stern thwarts. She wrote a lovely poem about her visit: Finally Back! The saw dust in the air, And [...]
We laid the final plank last week and removed the molds. GuppyII (working name until we launch her) is looking good with lovely lines. August will be a busy month to get her frames, thwarts and rigging installed. We hope to keep to our scheduled early September launch. Come by Spaulding on Tuesday or Saturday [...]
Year Two of the Youth Boatbuilding has started with a great group of new students and adult volunteers. This year we are moving at lightning speed with most of the students finishing their wood working projects in only two classes. Last week we constructed the strong back, which is the frame that will support the [...]
The December issue of Latitude 38 has an article about the November 8 launch of “Guppy” at the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center. Click on image to view article. Used by permission of Latitude 38.
The newly completed Norwegian sailing pram, christened “Guppy,” and built by our 2008 Youth Boatbuilding & Sailing Program, was feted and launched at the Spaulding Center this last Saturday. Well over 100 family and friends attended the launch party and BBQ on our docks. Photos from the event are below and also in our Media Gallery. Photo [...]
After 8 weeks we have finished the hull. This took a lot of work by everyone, laying the keel, attaching the transoms and shaping and riveting 8 planks. Here is a little time lapse slide show of the the work we have done so far. To see a larger version go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/Javadad51/SpauldingBoatTimeLapse It loads [...]
The pram is starting to take shape. We have laid the keel plank, set the molds, attached the stern transom and riveted in our first two planks. Everyone seems to love the riveting, which is good, since we will have to set more than 350 copper rivets before the hull is finished. Next steps are [...]
The first week of classes to build the Norwegian Pram started out great. I had built the “strongback” ( a frame that the boat will sit on during construction) the week before the first class. On Saturday, we had 16 students divided into two teams, On worked on lofting the curve of the keel and [...]
I am sorry that I am just getting around to posting a few more pictures from our last class. I wasn’t able to get photos of everyone with their project, the students all did great work! Looking forward to the boat building phase in June.
As we come to the end of this phase I am happy to see how nice the students projects are coming out and all the happy faces. During the break this week, all of the students had a lot of fun touring Polaris, a restored 34-foot gaff rigged “pumpkinseed” sloop built on San Francisco Bay [...]