April 2012

April 2012


Dear friends,

Yesterday was one of those great days that come every so often. It started by putting the last-minute touches on Sirius. The proof is in the pudding, don’t know where that expression comes from but it’s true. With the push of the starter buttons, the 871 roared alive. Capt. Dave Culver nodded his head and the gang way came aboard, the lines were tossed and just when Sirius started to move forward, my partner Stephanie Smith yelled “Wait!” It was perfect timing. Dave nudged Sirius back towards the dock and we gave Stephanie a strong hand aboard. Our guys were checking the shafts and yelled up “Okay,” just as we cleared the Rybovich channel.

There waiting to come into the slip the Sirius just left was Capt. Ted Schmidt on the Trumpy “America.” Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a picture when the bows of two great Trumpy yachts crossed paths since I was on one of them but these are moments I will always remember.

Capt. Dave slowly notched up the throttles. The purr of the motor made you feel Sirius coming back alive after a long sleep. All the hard work was done. This was Devin Lloyd’s first project as lead carpenter and you could see the sense of accomplishment on his face. Devin is a Florida boy, grew up on these waters boating, fishing and surfing.

I have been asked many times through the years why we restore old wooden boats and yachts when there aren’t that many of them left. The answer was written on Devin’s face: Satisfaction. We headed out the inlet. The sea was calm with a slight roll. A bright sun on clear blue-green waters, it was a great day. When we made it back, it was like Trumpy Central with four of them tied to the dock. There was my boat Aurora II as well as Liberty, Sirius and America. This doesn’t happen often enough and that made the day particularly one I’ll remember.

After all of us got off after the sea trial, Capt. Dave and Pam Culver slid the lines aboard again and Sirius gracefully slipped away from the dock and then she was gone.

Sirius’ new home will be Grand Rapids, Michigan and Dave and Pam will be heading north later this spring.

Back at the shop, the 40’ Garwood was ready to come out of the paint shed. We work on this sleek beauty every year with minor touch ups but this year our painter Bernard Smith put two coats of Dupont MS-1 clear everywhere and it was just magic. She gleams and with twin 550 HP engines, she flies as well.

When I got back to my desk to check on emails, there was one from Nate Smith at Moores Marine Yacht Center in North Carolina. There she was, “Pilar” on a mobile boat mover being transported from the carpentry shop to the paint shed, see photo. Any one of these events would have made my day. Happening all at once made it particularly special.

Next, summer is almost here which means it’s time to think about what James, my youngest son, is going do. Camp, camp and more camp.

First, there’s Boys Scout camp then Chapman School of Seamanship then off he goes to North Carolina for the state maritime museum’s sailing camp, where James has a chance to be a junior sailing instructor this year. Then he will work with his Uncle Nate at our boat yard.

I want to foster in James my love of wooden boats and the water. About a month or so ago, I was thumbing through a magazine when I stopped on an advertisement. There was a beautiful varnish model sailboat with a website, www.modelsailboat.com. Within seconds there I was watching these boats sail in a video online. I ordered the T37. The gamble was would James be interested in building a wooden boat? Just because I like something, would he? When he showed no interest I took the book to the boat. “James, we will read the book together.”


The next day, we started to read. Then we put the hull together. James built the rudder and bent the rudder shaft in a vise. It fit. Yesterday, with all that was going on, I wasn’t able to help him. But at the end of the day, James started telling me that he had glued the rudder post in and resin saturated the bottom. There is a spark in his eyes and a tone in his voice. Someone recently told me it’s not how much you know that makes a great teacher. It’s how much you inspire someone to learn. James has already picked out a name for his boat, “Scout.” We are already talking about the next boat and we haven’t finished this one. We will see.

One last story. As I was driving to work today I got a call from Marty Isenberg. He was driving to work too. I had forwarded photos of Pilar, Nate Smith’s project in MMYC, on to him and we were talking of simpler times. He said, “I remember when I used a hand pump in the galley. We both laughed. I remember wind scoops used for air conditioning and the smell of tung oil varnish. Well not really on that last one.

Simplicity still has an important place in the boating world. The more complex we make it, it seems to distract us from what originally drew us to boating, going places and having fun. Sleeping on the foredeck on a moonless night gazing at stars or seeing land off in the horizon and hoping your course was accurate. Or, sitting on the back deck eating a sandwich when a cool breeze blows up off the water and takes your paper plate flying.

These aren’t things we can tell our kids to inspire them, we have to drag them along and hope their eyes open to the joys of these moments.

Until next time,

Jim Moores

P.S. I had the opportunity to have three clipper bows from three different decades all tied at the dock at the same time. Aurora II being the first, from the 1940s, Liberty from the 1950s and finally Sirius from the 1960s.

It was amazing to see the evolution.