I freely admit, I am drawn to old stuff. To me it is the way that it brings people together in modern times, to tell stories, and gives them the ability to do things that were inspiring to them as a child. After listening to my good friend Brian Larkin talk about the times he spent ice boating years ago, I jumped at the chance to get his old boat down out of the rafters of his barn last weekend and go for a ride.
Brian’s boat is a relic. A single seater he nailed together some 20 years ago from what he called “barn junk”. On our way to the pond, passing by our good friend Havilah Hawkins place, we swung in to see if he wanted to come along. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Haddie exclaimed, “I just hung up the phone with a guy up in Ellsworth, who says he had an old stern steerer that needed a good home. I told him that with my own kids out of the house I saw it as another piece of history I’d have to store in my dooryard. I hadn’t even thought about you! You’re just half crazy enough to really get into something like that!”
Needless to say, we made the journey to Ellsworth Friday after work, loaded her on a truck and made for the Brooklin Boat Yard to see what we really had.
Like I said in the beginning I love the way old stuff brings people together. Saturday at the boatyard was a revolving door of people from town who had heard about our new acquisition and just came by to have a look. Havilah came peeling into the yard with a gaff rig all ready to go that hd come out of an old catboat that his grandfather built in the 40’s. Brian showed up with a handful of turnbuckles he got off an old derelict Atlantic rig and the bullshit really started to fly.
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Jeff Patrick says:
So finish the story, Eric! Or, perhaps, the inevitable crash was so traumatizing that you can’t even say the word, Iceboat. Let alone write about one. That’d be a shame.
John Thomson says:
A couple of guys from the Orient Ice Yacht Club, restored an old ice boat similar to the one pictured, last winter. I’m not sure if it got on the ice last winter or not, but it was a fun project. A couple of the members sail on Damariscotta Lake regularly. I have been spending hours watching the videos from OCH. The best. Thanks
Ben Fuller says:
Rumor has it that there is a major iceboat outing to be held on Damariscotta March 10/11. I will have an antique two person boat, the good ship Tippy there. And there maybe other old timers.
David Kelly says:
This is why Brooklin is the boat building capital of the world! This is awesome!
Havilah Hawkins says:
I like the Pete Chase method wrap your self in bubble wrap!
Eric Blake says:
I’ve heard toilet paper works as well
Molly Blake says:
I am going to buy Eric a helmet!