Literary Journalism
THE WOODEN BOATS SAT IN THE WATER at the starting line. On a clear spring day in 1960, the sun was shining and the wind was moderate. Over 500 young teens were congregated at the starting line in Mission Bay at the regatta, ready to set sail to their small wooden boats. The big moment that everyone had anticipated was coming nearer. Soon, if they were lucky and the wind treated them right, the boats would be gliding across the water. 14‐year‐ old Fred Davis had been anticipating this moment. Finally, it was time. The contestants let go of their boats ‐ the race had begun. Fred and his classmates had been building their boats for the regatta in wood shop class for weeks. In the 50s and 60s, activities such as model‐ making were popular. Building model boats and airplanes were popular pastimes for children and teens, typically boys, of that era. With girls, embroidery, sewing and knitting were popular hobbies. These hobbies were also carried out in school in classes such as home That ugly boat won the race! economics and woodshop. In Fred’s junior high class, the boat‐making was taken very seriously by all the students. As he recalls, Fred says that “peer pressure could be tough”, and there was pressure on everyone in the class to make their boat the best. Even weeks before they arrived at the race, it had already become a competition between classmates. Fred worked diligently alongside his peers, trying to make his boat both aesthetically pleasing and able to sail smoothly. As much as he tried, his boat somehow looked different than the rest. He wanted his boat to look unique and different, but the plan to make it look nice didn’t quite work out. As it turned out, Fred had the ugliest boat in the class. The boat was shaped differently than all the others in the class, and this is only where the problems began. In an attempt to make his boat as smooth and flawless as possible, Fred spent a large portion of his time sanding the wooden vessel. He sanded the boat so much that he could poke right through the wood in places with his finger. To fix the problem, he packed the holes with bonding putty, only making the boat uglier. This mishap didn’t bring down Fred’s confidence. He didn’t give up or doubt himself and continued to work ‐ even though the boat was still ugly. While everyone painted their boats a solid, shiny color, Fred decided to paint his boat red, white and blue. This meant an extra step of work: putting masking tape on the wood while painting so the colors would not bleed. This precaution failed, and the patriotic colors ran into each other. The other students in wood shop laughed and made fun of it constantly. Fred’s flawed boat had turned into the joke of the class. When his class arrived at the regatta, there seemed to be little hope