IN THE FIELD: It’s all About Boats

Whenever I see boats in the water, I have this insatiable longing to be around them.

I’m pretty sure this passion for boats began when I was eight years old. That summer, my mother bought me a wooden toy sailboat made by Star Yachts in Birkenhead England. I would tie the end of a spool of kite string to the bow, take it to the ocean’s edge and let it sail into the waves towards some far away land across the sea.

When the boat was well on its way across the Atlantic and I only had a few feet of string left on the spool, I would give a tug on the string and turn the boat towards me. After it made it’s way back to the shallows I would turn it out to sea and repeat the process again. And again…all day long. The little yellow sailboat brought me many hours of joy.

A few years later I progressed to other things that float such as canoes and kayaks. And I even learned how to sail a big person’s sailboat.

I love boats of any size, shape, or construction, but my true passion is wooden boats. In fact, owning a wooden boat has been a dream of mine for many years. So I built one. Well…actually two…although, they are on a much smaller scale than full size.

This is a 1/12 scale model of a typical Maine Lobster Boat. I built everything you see in the photo. The dock, buoys, skiff, lobster traps, and the lobster boat itself, are all made of wood. The vessel is radio controlled and I can pretend I am at the helm and control speed, direction, and various lighting systems I installed.

Even though I built this boat several years ago, she looks as good now as she did when I first launched her. And whenever I need a boating fix, all I have to do is look up to the shelf above me, and there in her cradle sits the Maiden Marie.

We may live a few hours from the sea, but my pride and joy, the Maiden Marie, will take me in my dreams anywhere I want to venture. I suppose I’m still a little boy at heart.

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