SKIPPER’S BLOG: Wooden Boats, Working Art

A short while ago I penned a blog (wow, I mean I TYPED a blog… the old habits die hard, and my birth certificate keeps getting yellower) referring to a great many dying arts in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I talked about simple things like knitting, cooking traditional meals, dancing a two-step, skulling a boat with a single oar, filleting a fish and the like (if you feel so inclined you can read that enlightened piece of potpourri right HERE)

Another art form I touched on — and one that is far more technical and detailed than the ones I mentioned above — was the art of boat-building.

There was a time when building a boat wasn’t considered an art, it was considered a necessity. But make no mistake, it is a remarkable form of art, and there artists who are true masters.

This weekend, the town of Winterton in Trinity Bay, NL, will play host to the 5^th Annual Wooden Boat Conference. The event is one that is part of the monumental and ongoing efforts by those involved with the boat museum and heritage crew in the area to not only preserve the history of wooden boat building in this part of the world, but also to ensure its continued existence.

And that’s an effort worth celebrating.

While wooden boats may not necessarily always be a practical application in today’s modern fishing and shipping era, they are not without their place nor without their use both in terms of craftsmanship and use on the water.

In fact, if you want to get all wistful about it, Newfoundland and Labrador — and really North America as a whole — owes its very existence to the art of wooden boat building. After all, was it not wooden boats that the first explorers (be they Vikings, John Cabot, Christopher Columbus or whomever) used to find this place? And was it not wooden boats that settlers used for a wide variety of purposes from catching fish for sustenance to shipping of supplies to the moving of people? Those people could not have survived without wooden boats, and that ideal remained true up until the advent of steel and fiberglass.

And while the wooden boat may not be the practical choice anymore, it is certainly an esthetically pleasing one, and one that carries a great deal of esteem.

The people who attended the launch of the 44-foot wooden schooner Leah Caroline in Trinity a few weeks back will tell you wooden boats are still very much part of the marine lexicon in this province.

Anyway, back to the point: this weekend’s conference.

If you have an interest in boats, boat building, traditional Newfoundland art, and having a great time, then you should consider checking out the 5^th Annual Wooden Boat Conference.

Tomorrow, Sept. 7, things will get underway with a flotilla that will include the aforementioned Leah Caroline sailing into the harbor, the launching of a traditional punt built by Frank French, and a meet and greet session. The Navigator crew will be there documenting the events.

On Saturday, there will be a series of sessions including presentations on the Newhooks of Trinity - The Schooner in the Conception Bay Trades - Ships & Shipwrights of Heart's Content. There will also be a video showcasing the construction of the Leah Caroline from start to finish, and of course a wide variety of other events like a proper home cooked feed, and a kitchen party.

And that’s just a few of the things that will be happening, so it’s definitely worth checking out.

You can get conference information by contacting Beverley at 583-2070 or

email bkingheritage@gmail.com