No Man's Land boat gets a new set of sails

Geoff Gordon was here this a.m. putting the masts away on his No Man's Land boat. This boat was finished by Dave Brown and volunteers at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum (http://www.essexshipbuildingmuseum.org/) in 2004 and Geoff and his wife, Therese Sellers won it in a raffle  The two have been sailing around Cape Ann ever since.  They brought their boat here for a new, larger, set of sails. We built the first set in 2004. We are having a good time working with them planning their new rig.

November morning at Burnham Boatbuilding

November morning at Burnham Boatbuilding (above) and Daisy the dog trying to keep up with Harold

The weather couldn't be better for a boatbuilder - especially as Harold is caulking the yawl "Sawdust" inside the barn..but the barn door is open and it is still warm enough to keep it that way. The sound of a caulking mallet in an Essex shipyard is probably a familiar one to generations before us but less so now. It is one that a trained ear can distinguish very clearly from the sound of hammers and nails. It is a sound all of its own.

White Pine logs arrive...like an early Christmas present

It was a busy day at Burnham Boatbuilding yesterday but it is always great to see beautiful white pine arriving at the sawmill. Harold will be using the wood from these logs for the deck of the new Pinky Maine..commonly called the "Re-Maine" as parts of the old Maine will be used on the new boat. It is probably not as commonly known outside of the boatbuilding world but finding good wood for schooner building is a huge undertaking. Part of the reason Harold can get the wood he needs, in advance of a big project, is that he cuts it all himself on the sawmill at the base of the picture. These trees were given in trade by John Abizaid of Mayer Tree Service for work Harold has done cutting cherry for John's custom-built, post and beam dream house in New Hampshire. For those of you who hate to see trees cut ...think how the tree in the foreground of this picture feels...just look at its expression of dismay!

New arrival at the yard and last sail of the season

The yard looks great these days with a lot of interesting projects lined up. Today, the Muscongus Bay sloop "Dream" owned by Tom Benton arrived from a yard in Mattapoisett. She will be worked on this winter to give the owner some great sailing days next summer out of Winthrop, MA. Now, the "Dream" sits next to two other Friendship Sloops in the yard this winter - the "Maria" owned by Harold and the "Flying Jib" owned by Sarah Beck.. In the background is a No Man's Land boat called Ariel which just came out of the water this week. In the barn,  Harold has been busy caulking the yawl "Sawdust," and is tying up a lot of other additional loose ends. Although there are still a few sailing afternoons left, he did bring the Pinky up river for her last sail about a week or so ago so we have included a picture here of her under full sail heading into the creek where she will stay for the winter.

Getting out on the road

Harold and the gang from Boothbay Harbor Shipyard visit Direcktor Shipyard

Harold has been keeping busy this week and last with trips to New Bedford, Mattapoisett, Bridgeport, CT, Boothbay Harbor, Maine and around this area.
Harold most recently went with the men from Boothbay Harbor shipyard on a day long excursion to Direcktor Shipyard - one of the region's largest shipyards - to look at a large Turkish-built vessel.  Harold has a great rapport with all of these guys who have a great deal of expertise among them.

While cutting the wood for the new schooner, a lot more people have been coming by the yard. The other day we had a lot of the smaller boats coming out of the river and our neighbor Simon Koch was hauling his boat. Simon is now en route to Bermuda on the schooner Roseway and while putting the boat away for the winter before his trip, he had some friends helping him haul the boat. One of his friends used to work for Gammon and Benjamin on Vineyard Haven a few years ago and another one worked around boats as well. They said it felt like being back at the Vineyard boatyard and the atmosphere here was great. On a fall day with the boats coming out of the water and the Pinky Maine coming up river for its last sail - it was a great day. The last sail of the season was a charter and the family on board were also Burnhams' - but grew up in the midwest. It was fun to show them around and they had a great sail up the Essex River from Gloucester along the Annisquam River as well - with peak foliage all the way.

The "Flying Jib" Comes to the Yard and more...

The "Flying Jib" sailing in the Gloucester Schooner Festival this past Labor Day and a custom-built yawl heads into the barn for some work.

Mid-October and the skies are getting a little grey but Harold's spirits are high as two boats are now in the yard with work to be done on them this winter. Sarah Beck arrived today with her Friendship Sloop "Flying Jib" and last week, a beautiful, custom built yawl came into the yard and is now inside the barn. Both vessels are a welcome addtion and Harold has been moving about the yard from place to place at his usual lighting speed. Additionally, Harold has been cutting deck beams and trunnels in preparation for the new schooner and he is very busy on the sawmill cutting wood to dry...and using the remainders for firewood as it is getting cold and the woodstove is going constantly. There are three or four small boats in the river basin that need to be hauled for the winter so it seems official..the sailing season is just about done.

Harold is off on a five day October sail

"Sailing alone around the room..."

The author of this post is covering a sailing event in beautiful Bermuda, but I believe that Harold Burnham left this a.m. for his annual sail with a group of men aboard the Pinky Maine. Just prior to leaving he had a really busy day getting the boat he will be working on this winter into the barn. Although the author was not home while he was managing this task, it was no doubt done with a lot of sweat and muscle with the help of friend John Drake and most likely Harold's father, Charles.  Today, he is out of the Essex River and on his way to Martha's Vineyard with friends Davis Griffith, Michael March, cousins Tom and Steven Hastings, Pierre Erhard, and Jim Aaron.  No doubt they will have a mug up and a lot to gab about. Oh, I forgot that men don't gab..or do they?  Well, many of the men on this sailing trip do have something in common. Wood.  Jim is a sawyer from Western Mass, Pierre is an aborist and tree warden from Wenham, MA, Davis is an artist who works with wood , Tom and Steven are involved in forestry and Michael sails a wooden boat.  If they have something to talk about that they all enjoy talking about it will be wood and any variation on that theme.