Sucker for Punishment
I just can’t seem to help myself.
So I first started this, in a garage in Sydney, Australia. We were in the middle of one of the most severe lockdown moments of the pandemic, it was looking increasingly like I wasn’t going to be able to get to the yard to work - so I decided to start an 11’ Acorn rowing skiff, designed by Iain Oughtred.
Made from high quality marine plywood, I was hoping to be able to smash through this little build, and sell it to recoup some of the lost time that seemed to be coming my way.
The transom was made from the scrap pile of a major restoration job I was working on at the time. The historic yacht ‘Morna’ had had her deck removed and with so many old fixing holes and rotten bits, I took a leaf from watching Leo on Tally Ho! and seeing him repairing her transom with a lot of graving pieces. So I pulled a load of lengths out of the bin and pulled the bronze out of them. Then remachined and glued together the lengths.
Covid morphed into something the world felt like it could handle, as vaccines rolled out and work picked up. The project came to a halt - put on the back burner.
Suddenly it was time for us to head back to Blighty and, well I wasn’t about to let the hard work I’d put in go to waste! So I had the bits I’d made, shipped back.
With a good clear out of my current workshop, I realised there was space for her to restart her journey…and in doing so, began building two different boats at the same time! Both moving incredibly slowly!
What I do find, though, is that it seems to suit my work pattern. I think my way forward on one project, sort that, then come up against the next challenge, so whilst I think about that, I’ve been subconsciously thinking about the other project and jump onto that. Switching between things in this way is sometimes chaotic, but can help push through the slower, trickier moments by not squandering time away by standing, over-thinking and ending up with another day gone and nothing much to show for it!
At least that’s what I tell myself to feel better…
