I wish everyone could row a boat, go sailing, smell the ocean, or feel what it’s like to lose sight of land and find the place you were looking for at the end of navigating an impartial and unforgiving ocean. I also very much wish everyone, everyone, could visit a boat shop. Almost all of you here today in person and watching this livestream have … even though they might not have stepped foot in one.
It’s never been enough for me to do something and keep it to myself. After getting summarily kicked out of Mystic Seaport for having filmed a little bit of Mayflower II’s 3-inch-thick planking coming out of a steam box and going in, after thinking my verbal press credentials from WoodenBoat Magazine would do just fine to traipse on board, I called my dad and said that maybe I had gone too far. Maybe I felt a little too entitled or privileged and had overstepped somewhere. “No, Anne Marie,” he said, “that’s what you do. You show people special things they couldn’t have seen if you weren’t there.”
That is what we do here. That’s what we’re really preparing for you every week. It’s what goes through my head every time I pick up the camera. We’ve sought to bring into the shop with us … and not just the shop, but through the experience of problem solving, the challenge of learning something new at a time of life at which we thought we’d already have everything figured out, and the reminder that slow, steady progress leads somewhere good. We haven’t taught anyone how to build a boat. We’ve shared a journey, and you’ve supported the telling of a story.
But Steve doesn’t know how to sail. Well, friends, he didn’t know exactly how to build a boat, either. Sure, this isn’t a common way to come to the water: to build a boat and to have your very first sail aboard that same boat is, at best, very rare. Steve knows and wants deeply this unique opportunity, and so kept it as a goal despite people telling him how they came to the water, and that it’s definitely the right way. All of us sailors got aboard some boat at some time that was our first, why not have Steve aboard this boat, a proven design, surrounded by friends who are so glad to continue sharing their knowledge with him and all of you, too?
I would ask that you please look at this boat and remember this boatbuilder, back when he had tree-felling experience and building chops but nothing in his past specific to building boats. He was told he couldn’t do it. Told he maybe *shouldn’t* do it. Observe keenly that he didn’t exhibit some rugged individualism in any of it: he invited a dear friend immediately and continued the trend as our crew changed and grew. And then, as you look at this new sailor in front of you, and when you leave here today, meeting anyone with beginner’s eyes hopeful for support and encouragement, that you, too, will become the friends who removed barriers. Or who, at least, didn’t build them.
Espouse the humility to be new at something. Be astounded and stare deeply at your curiosity.
Encourage beginners at every age. A lot of people comment that they really admire Aaron’s part in all of this: He was invited. Intergenerational friendships like the one Steve and he share are crucial. Please mentor, cheerlead, and share abundance if you have it. I began my journey on the water at 32, and dedicate the pride I feel today for my part in this to my parents, for seeing and empowering who I am, and to Dr. John Pearson, who provided the warmest of welcomes and an encouraging mentorship when I got started in boats.
While I have your attention, I’d like to say a few other things before I give up this microphone and introduce my dear friend, Steve:
1. Wooden boats are not dead, and they are not dying. We have a vibrant community and there are many more YouTube channels who deserve your attention and support. There are also a lot of boat shops and sailors operating without video departments, because they’re busy enough building boats or sailing and maintaining them. I plan to tell you more about those soon: I’ll shine a light on them in some videos.
2. Yes, we have had short-term volunteers, but all of our staff is paid. If we live in a world where experiences such as this one are essentially, since they are unpaid, only offered to people of great means, or who are retired with spare time, we are squandering the potential of deserving young people just starting out and working class folks who cannot and should not work for free.
3. And finally, please seek out your local maritime museum and join it. Seek out WoodenBoat magazine and subscribe. These museums and journalists are true keepers of the sort of information we convey every week, but they have a full spectrum of experience, artifacts, and access to on-the-water experience that welcomes new people like Steve and some of our crew who are coming to the water.
We are so proud to host you today. Thank you for honoring us with your presence and your support. Have a wonderful day with us today. And be sure to talk to some strangers, you all have so much in common with each other.
Editor’s note: Anne Bryant, a multi-talented journalist, sailor, entrepreneur and member of Steve Denette’s “A2A” team, addressed the many drenched people who gathered on June 17 to witness the official launch of the sailboat Arabella into Mattapoisett Harbor. Below are her remarks to the crowd immediately prior to the launch.