CRAFTSMANSHIP WOODSTOCK BOATYARD
L Main picture: one of the main workshops with benches and table saw. Above right: the place has grown organically – these are storerooms. Above far right: Ken Wilkinson repairs Charm III’s bowsprit
ike many successful operations, Antigua Classics owes some of its success to “the backroom boys”. So when the Anguillabased Alden schooner Charm III bust her bowsprit in a collision on just the second day of racing last year, it could have been a serious set back for owner Richard West... unless there was an outfit skilled enough to help him carry on. Luckily there was, is, in the shape of Woodstock Boatbuilders where the boys got straight to work and were able to fashion a new spar overnight. Apparently they carried it onto the dock the next morning asking for the boat that ordered the bowsprit, for all the world as casually as if someone had ordered a pizza. Richard West and Charm III were awarded the Spirit of Regatta trophy, but it was Woodstock which saved the day. The company of boatbuilders (and metal fabricators) works out of a ramshackle collection of sheds and workshops just up on the road to Liberta, away from the comparative bustle of the Falmouth waterfront. It was founded in 1990 by Andrew Robinson, from England, who had drifted west on boats after learning his trade at the IBTC (International Boatbuilding Training College, Lowestoft). Woodstock, his VHF handle, seemed the ideal name for a traditional boatyard. As the company has grown it has taken on more people with 20 to 30 now regularly working at the yard – and it offers a whole range of services, from repairing wooden boats to cabinetry on superyachts. Most importantly they have recently started taking on apprentices, teaching five local youths (including one girl at present) the skills needed for a career working on boats. The scheme started through Andrew’s desire to give something back to the local community, but also to widen the pool of available skilled labour. “People are underemployed, rather than unemployed, here and it is a problem that seems to be getting worse,” he says. “There’s no welfare to speak of, so you have all the problems of poverty and especially disaffected youth.”
Andrew has drawn on old principles to teach the apprentices, pairing each with a master craftsman to learn his trade. The work might include going aboard a superyacht to repair or replace some carpentry, to being in the shop repairing a beautiful boarding ladder from a much-loved classic. Showing me a recent example of just such a repair, Andrew surmises that Woodstock is probably the only workshop that can do this work locally now. We meet Jan Welter, a metal fabrication engineer from Germany who joined Woodstock around 18 months ago. His apprentice is Randy Edwards, 24, who was offered the chance to learn boatbuilding after he dug a trench, which took away rainwater that otherwise flooded the yard. “I had been asking for a job for a while,” he says, “and I wanted to learn boatbuilding to better myself. Working with Jan is good because there is something new to learn every day.” Jan adds: “When we are given a new job I divide up the work and think about what Randy can do. I know I’ll have to explain the background theory at the same time. You have to realise that what is missing here is a level of technical skill. In Germany we would be going to school two days a week to learn our theory. Here they do have a technical school but it’s just for theory, there are no part-time courses – there isn’t a system for getting out and practising what you have learned.”
Helping young people Last autumn Woodstock helped set up and run a 12-week course for 40 other local young Antiguans, which has been a big success. It was monitored by the GARDC (Gilbert Agricultural & Rural Development Center), which is a local Methodist Church NGO aiming to improve employment prospects for youths and women, particularly in rural areas. It is funded by the American government-backed USAID. “Basically I worked up the course content to include six modules of two weeks each in: woodwork, CLASSIC BOAT MAY 2013
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