Shavings Volume 14 Number 3 (September 1992)

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Volume XIV Number 3 September, 1992

Wrapping The Presents The 1992 Lake U n i o n Wooden Boat Festival brought two important gifts to Seattle: a memorable collection of wooden vessels and the drought relief we all prayed for - though we positively d i d n ' t pray for the Mother of Monsoons that inundated our Festival. H o w hard d i d it rain? The lake was so frothed d u r i n g the worst of the d o w n p o u r , it looked like milk. D i d it matter to the visitors? N o t to the kids I saw Saturday m o r n i n g , anxiously waiting in the rain for the wood and tools to arrive at the T o y Boat B u i l d i n g workbenches. They came to the Festival motivated to connect with their dreams and fantasies - just like the adults. No amount of rain w o u l d stop them. M o r e than 100 vessels were moored at o u r piers or displayed on shore. W h i c h were the best? John Gardner once responded to that question by asking: "What's the best dog?" Actually, we let the public handle that issue by voting. This year's People's Choice A w a r d , sponsored by Northwest Yachting magazine, went to

Bijou II, a 40' 30 Square Meter Class sloop built by I. Beck & Sonne, Germany, in 1972 and owned by Russell De Lombard and Tina Gilbert. The Boatbuilders' Choice A w a r d , sponsored by Fisheries Supply, went to Persistence, a 39' Gene Wells designed ketch, built by American Marine, H o n g K o n g , in 1966 and owned by Paul Williams. M y m i d d l e name i s " P o l i t i c " so, of course, I l o v e d them a l l . H o w e v e r , I w i l l especially cherish the m e m o r y of seeing Kirin, the elegantly understated 24'6" L y l e Hess cutter of R i c h and Barbara Blacker. The justright p r o p o r t i o n s and d e t a i l i n g of the 23' Kutter class sloop Jaunty, designed by E r l i n g Christoffersen and o w n e d by B i o r n and Fred Sundt. The salty-as-an-old-geezer Friendship sloop Marie-Anne, D i a n e Echeverria's p r i d e and joy. My heart went to the classic Duchess, the 1934 S h a i n - b u i l t cruiser of P h i l a n d Ledjie Ballard and those Percherons of the sea, the tugboats Lorna Foss (1903), Challenger (1890) a n d Arthur Foss (1889). Even if one doesn't like watercraft,

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the mass of 100-ton sailing vessels w o u l d give anyone pause. In the heavyweight category were the 1938 Sparkman & Stevens yacht Odyssey, 1913 Crowninshield schooner Adventuress, 1903 Danish ketch Krestine, 1924 W i l l i a m H a n d schooner Zodiac, 1983 Melbourne Smith schooner Californian, and 1989 brig Lady Washington. Of course, there are always fixin's with the main course. The musicians outdid themselves; the food booths were a "gastronomic extravaganza. Brion Toss, master rigger, charmed hundreds into believing that rigging was a performance art - a cross between "Pinafore" and "Chorus Line." Rich K o l i n gave oarmaking seminars, Ron Mueller explained stitch and glue construction, Dennis Armstrong held court on knotwork and M i k e Oswald told us how to make a Seagull motor run (if English cooks made English engines and English mechanics made English food, wouldn't we have boringly simple engines and exciting, unpredictable cooking?). Lee Ehrheart showed us how to


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