Cover of Wooden Boat's May Issue!

Well, yesterday when we went to get the mail we were "psyched" to see the May issue of the venerable magazine WoodenBoat features a Dan Tobyne photograph on the front cover of the schooner Ardelle and it really does capture the magic of launch day on July 9, 2011.

Inside,the issue there is a great photo essay of the building of the schooner Ardelle. The article came about through a lot of hard work on the part of Harold and the volunteer crew of boatbuilders, Dan's tenacity and talent, and geniune interest and support from the staff at WoodenBoat magazine including its editors' Matt Murphy and Tom Jackson. Harold wrote the text and incorporated Dan's story as well but the talented team at WB always make it look just right.

Being on the cover of WoodenBoat has created a lot of buzz here and we have some happy folks around the yard these days. There really are some very good yet subtle messages to this story and one is we really don't want Harold to be the last Essex shipwright and hope to see shipbuilding continue into the next generations. So, yeah, if you have a young child who loves things like Bob the Builder and/or has a tendency to like to make a lot of banging noises...you might have the next generation of shipbuilders in Essex on your hands. Bring 'em on down here and put them to work. They will never forget or regret it!