Wooden Boat Puts Their Best Plank Forward

For 17 years Wooden Boat has been putting their best planks forward and this year was no different. On June 27, 2009, I had the pleasure of attending my first Wooden Boat Show. I thought it was going to be like all the other in-water boat shows. Boy was I wrong! This one had personality. The rain stayed away, the seaport in Mystic CT was magical and people drove from miles around to attend.

One of the biggest hits was the “I built it myself’ contest.  “Last year we had 37 entries,” says Michele Corbeil of Wooden Boat, “this year we were turning people away, there was only room for 50 boats. This was the first year we had a waiting list.” This was set up in the Village Green.  Every boat was owner built boats and had to apply to participate. There were boats in all kinds of categories for a variety of reasons – the craftsmanship on some was incredible. You can tell who spent hours building their boats, right down to the joints and hardware used.  There were boats in all kinds of categories for a variety of reasons – the craftsmanship on some was incredible. You can tell who spent hours building their boats, right down to the joints and hardware used.

Besides looking at these boats, there were lots of other things to do for young and old alike. The Charles W. Morgan whaling ship was available if you wanted to climb the 5 story staircase to see her. Amongst the Tall Ships were the training ship Joseph Conrad built in 1882, and the Amistad. Children could build their own toy boats, for $5.00 they could get a canvas, easel, brushes and stand to paint their own memories. Knot tying was available also for ages 8 – 108 (according to the sign).

There were lots of demonstrations as well amongst the houses/cottages and shops of Mystic Seaport; Japanese Tools were grinding down tools, and iron works was teaching a student.  Inside the tent were book publishing companies, a demonstration for screws, sewing a sail, custom names on hats, etc.